Does anyone know what happened to Ian Plenderleith's commentaries on DC United? Ed Morgans has one on the KC game, and it is stated that he will be doing a weekly comment. The last Plenderlieth piece I could find was dated March 17. I'm wondering if the Stoitchkov episode has anything to do with it. He wrote a piece about it -- highly unflattering to Hristo -- which, apparently, DCU refused to run. Plenderlieth then put it out on his own web site, and, so far as I can tell, hasn't been heard from since. Ian? Are you there?
Re: Re: from dcunited.com I'd love to see something like that in the Post every week! Steven ... are you listening?
Re: Re: Re: from dcunited.com When they get rid of that useless Cornholio ne Kornheiser and give Goff a column, we might just see such stuff in the Post!
i'd say a soccer column is imperative here in the post. you have two professionals teams, one of which is the best known and most successful team in the US, a local college team in the final 4, i believe AU also made the college tournament, i know GMU has had good teams in the past, large ethnic communites that follow the sport, huge numbers of youth who play, solid USMNT support, the Barra Brava, the Screaming Eagles, The Choir, La Norte... we need a soccer column in the post and goff should write it, in addition the post should have a daily United piece, weekly USMNT-related coverage, weekly summary of English, German, Dutch football, regular stuff on the Freedom, etc.
Ian, Enjoyed the article. Hope bounds a new at the season start. keep it up, and I agree with fellow poster, I would like to see articles like yours in the post or times. The Far Side
If you're a fan of the game, certainly a fan of it as it's played in the British Isles, you should go out and get a few issues of When Saturday Comes pronto. Our man Ian's had some pieces there in the past (and on their website). It can be a bit samey at times (hundreds of articles on how a particular owner is ruining a team, or how big money is destroying the game, which while both true can make for heavy lids at times). Still some of the best and funniest stuff I've ever read about association football is therein contained.
there will never be a soccer column in the Washington Post. Steven Goff already does more coverage than almost all other national newspapers. there is not enough interest, plain and simple. yes, all of us here on these boards are die-hards and would read it...but no one else would. so let's just enjoy what we have and stop begging for more.
Hey, I like horse racing and often read Andrew Beyer's columns, but what percentage of sports-page readers to you think read him regularly? I'd say it's a smallish number. Beyer is a guy that does straight reporting on his sport but is also a columnist covering his sport and I wouldn't mind seeing an occasional such column from Goff. William Gildea will occasionally do a column on soccer. Wilbon touches on us once in a blue moon, but rarely as more than a comparison to something else or a side note. Has Sally Jenkins done them too? Anyway, it's by no means a regular thing, but I'd say a soccer column might rate up there with the outdoors columns and the horse racing columns in terms of general sporting interest.
Many thanks for the feedback, once again. There should be a column most Tuesdays. Just to clarify about the Stoichkov piece - I had no problem with the club declining to post it. It's their website, after all. And it will be their prerogative to turn down future pieces. There will be a piece in the June issue (out circa mid-May) of the above-mentioned mag 'When Saturday Comes' about the Stoichkov affair, including commentary on the MLS Disciplinary Commission's tragi-comedic report on the matter. I've seen 'WSC' in various shops in and around DC - in Barnes & Noble, and that big mag shop near Dupont Circle. Naturally I would recommend it, but it even received high commendation in The Washington Post's 'Magazine Reader' column last year. Mike Woitolla also writes for it now and then. I disagree that there's neither space nor demand for a soccer column on US media sports pages. Other sports are so over-covered that I can't believe there's not room for a single weekly commentary piece in favour of cutting back on, say, high-school lacrosse reports. Or in The Post's case, scaling back coverage of the Orioles - a consistently ailing side not even DC-based.
Glad to add to the chorus of kudos. Well-written. Goff is a great reporter, as he's paid to do, but it's nice to have a proper columnist writing about United as well. btw...for anyone not watching the Arsenal v Man U match right now, it's a beauty.
i guess i was thinking more along the lines of the everyday Boswell-Kornheiser-Wilbon columns - i don't think there will ever be demand enough for that for a soccer-specific column. however, i'd forgotten about the occasional horse racing columns from Beyer and how the regular columnists will speak about soccer once in awhile. so i guess there probably could be maybe a once a month deal (i mean, if horse racing can have something semi-regularly, i don't see why soccer can't). i'm just glad that we have Goff and his already excellent coverage. anyway...i'm off to try and catch Arsenal/ManU
What I don't want to see anymore in the Post is six columns/articles written by the same three people in two days about Jordan's last game at MCI Center for the Wizards.