MLS Cup 2024 (Saturday, 12/7) pregame/in-game/postgame thread [R]

I read Moneyball the book. Just remember that Billy Beane himself did not make it as a pro player, and that he used to claim that he was the best athlete in the A’s locker room. He also didn’t like scouts because they thought he was not pro material.

Why would former players, who played in MLS for > 10 years each, have any special knowledge about strategy or tactics or anything else? To phrase things the way you usually do: Wow, what a question!

 

Actually I think it was the opposite. Beane didn’t like scouts because they *did* highly tout him as someone who all the “tools”. But he didn’t have the intangibles and tended to get in his own head too much. He came to realize this as his playing career fizzled and it helped to form his opinion about scouting. Beane himself was like the guy who rakes at the NFL combine but flops in the NFL, like Trey Lance, Ryan Leaf or the many other examples.

The famous counter example to the highly touted “specimen” in the book was the portly catcher, Jeremy Brown, who had a knack for getting on base despite his lack of pure athleticism.

 

The whole point is that Beane didn't make it as a pro player because he actually had brains and to succeed as a pro athlete you pretty much have to be delusional? Do you think his roommate Lenny Dykstra who did would make a better GM than Beane, who is like the only GM in the history of MLB to be given an ownership piece of the team because of his success? You have to actually understand the things you read it's not enough to just read them!

Funny enough Donovan (who not only played in MLS for over 10 years but is the best player in MLS history) looks even dumber now than when I wrote that yesterday:

So Dortmund is ok starting Gio Reyna against Barcelona in the Champions League but Alexi and Landon Donovan think he should go to MLS 😭😭

— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) December 11, 2024

gio reyna, dortmund vs. barcelona (70 minutes)pic.twitter.com/Gw9iqfPA1w

— twofeetelite (@twofeetelite) December 12, 2024

 

MLS Cup linear audience down massively on Fox in year two of Apple deal
More people tuned in for the second-tier USL Championship Final on CBS last month.

https://awfulannouncing.com/soccer/...e-down-massively-fox-year-two-apple-deal.html

 

Garber put all his huevos in the Messi basket.

 

Not sure egghead with no pro soccer playing experience Will Kuntz will be able to handle the pressure as he lacks the MLS playing credentials of former Galaxy president who was so bad he got ousted in a fan coup Chris Klein, Quakes brilliant hire as GM over Kuntz Chris wooden spoon Leitch, etc. etc.

“MLS is a league that punishes you for having success” - Will Kuntz LA Galaxy GM

The bar has been raised and Kuntz & co are already thinking about @TheChampions #LAGalaxy #VamosPod pic.twitter.com/GRuLfwZ7bZ

— herculez gomez (@herculezg) December 13, 2024

 

Garber should never have scheduled the SEC Championship game for that same day, what was he thinking!

It should be noted that last year’s MLS Cup was played on a much lighter day for sports on television, with its main competition being the Army-Navy football game. This year’s final was played directly against the SEC Championship game at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon.​

 

Did anyone actually watch the MLS Cup Final on Apple TV?
According to Nielsen, the impact of MLS Cup on Apple TV viewership was negligible leading us to ask whether anyone actually watched.

https://awfulannouncing.com/soccer/did-anyone-actually-watch-the-mls-cup-final-on-apple-tv.html

 

Oh no they have to play a few more games with a chance to win another championship, kind of line euro Champions League? Oh no!! The punishment!!

 

Just be glad the Quakes rarely have to suffer like the top MLS teams

 

Was going to mention that. I also read that somewhere in the internets. Didn't feel like looking for it. Let's be honest MLS has grown quite a bit but college football & NFL are still king in the States.

 

I know I feel better now.

 

How much demographic overlap is there between your typical SEC and MLS fan?

 

Close to none. Texas and Goergia were in the SEC Final. So, Atlanta and Austin fans who probably didn't care much about LAG and Red Bull anyways...

 

Watched the MLS Cup instead of the SEC Championship. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Congrats Galaxy, btw.

— Jim Mitchem 🖤 (@jmitchem) December 7, 2024

More scoring and action in the MLS Cup Final than the SEC Championship so far #ItJustMeansMore

— Garrett (@GarrettQuinn) December 7, 2024

Dudes I know who are obsessed with college football were texting about the MLS final right now. The SEC “championship” game is too brutal for even the biggest CFB fans. 😂😂😂

— Hawk Takes (@Hawk_Takes) December 7, 2024

Watched the MLS Cup partly because the Galaxy were playing (a little childhood nostalgia), and partly because the SEC championship is dreadfully boring.

— Dr. Justin Zimmerman (@JZPhilosophy) December 7, 2024

There are even people who watched both simultaneously?

After watching the Bruins game leading into watching the MLS Cup and SEC Championship simultaneously, it really hit me. Football kinda fucking sucks. Soccer and hockey are so much better. It’s not even close.

— Conman (@chorgs17) December 8, 2024

 

Where they drunk or high? Or both?

 

If you think many MLS fans aren't also fans of mainstream US sports I would say just go to a game and ask around.

 

They might ask the same of the geniuses who post on this board!

 

Oh maybe you are right, maybe I got that part backwards. But the net result was the same — that he didn’t trust scouts’ opinions and that’s why he liked analytics better.

 

Maybe Alexi and Landon think Gio should go to MLS because we have better physios here. After all, Luis Suarez was supposed to have no knees left. I still don’t understand how he played so much this season and at such a high level if he couldn’t even pass the ball with his son.

But frankly, I am not a fan of Gio Reyna. Everytime I watch him play, I see a basketball player. Years ago, he said basketball was his fave sport. Even if he could stay fit, I don’t think he will ever make it to a better league and more playing time than where he is now, But he could shine in MLS, where the level of play is a quantum level below world class.

 

Yes the medical care in Germany is terrible and Borussia Dortmund as a superclub with a multi-billion dollar valuation probably can't afford good physios for the players they sell to other superclubs as the key part of the business model (see Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, etc.) that has turned them into a multi-billion dollar club.

Sure if Reyna can't make it to a better league than where he is currently going 72 minutes vs Barcelona in Champions League just yesterday and having more passes into the final third than any other Dortmund player, obviously he should go shine for the Colorado Rapids instead, brilliant as always...

Gio Reyna had 31 touches yesterday against Barcelona, off that low volume he hit 9 progressive passes. He probably had 3 chalked off because of offside calls. That’s an incredible job of finding space against an elite opponent.

— Bob Morocco (@bob_morocco) December 12, 2024

 

Yeah, he felt that scouts were kind of stuck in the old ways of looking at the game, kind of baseball truisms passed down over generations and accepted as gospel w/o really looking at evidence, and that there were different ways to look at things.

 

ok

GIO REYNA 30 SECONDS INTO THE SECOND HALF TO OPEN THE SCORING FOR DORTMUND 🇺🇸

WHAT A GOAL 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sGVVM1ZQeO

— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) December 15, 2024

The “Landon Donovan jinx” is real, alive and helping American soccer.

Thank you patriot 🫡🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/nRfguDQZAr

— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) December 15, 2024