I took a look at the MLS standings in the Merc sports section this AM, and I see that according to the table printed there that the Quakes have dropped to last place in the EASTERN division, behind the Red Bulls...
Yes, the table shows the Western Conference as having 7 teams (Houston,LA, Colorado, Seattle, RSL, CUSA, Dallas) and the East with 8 teams. 7th in the East is NY with 16 points, and 8th is SJEQ with 20 points.
Same thing happened last weekend, but it was corrected the next day. Perhaps someone with a GOOD relationship with the Merc would write to them and request that the error be corrected. Too bad that there isn't anyone on the Quakes' Big Soccer boards who still has a subscription to the paper, and is polite enough to make the request. Unfortunately, it seems that all people here do is criticize the paper.
Yeah, it's our fault on BigSoccer that the Mercury News cannot print the MLS standings correctly -- and makes the same mistake repeatedly.
Not too many years ago any major paper (even the Mercury) would have been embarrassed by such a mistake happening once, much less (as you say) twice in two weeks. That is worthy of criticism, and a mark of the decline of the business. In this case, it is amplified because whoever is editing the copy doesn't know the hometown team and what is happening with it enough to know that a mistake happened. They buy the content from elsewhere but don't depend on their own staff to check it; or, their own staff made the typo that transposed the location. The Mercury-News SHOULD be the "newspaper of record" for their own local professional team to which others will go for authoritative information. This was just a humorous example that symbolizes the larger problem in this case.
the San Jose Mercury News fail the San Jose/Bay Area soccer community daily... ...I would even go so far as to say that they do our community a dis-service with their meager, shoddy, innacurate reporting and their clear disdain for, and ignorance of, the worlds game. They could be a great champion of the local team, and forge a natural, supportive relationship with us, like they did apparently in the NASL days... ...but instead they ignore the home side and are, in fact, a detriment to our growth. In a word, they suck.
The EQ did contact the Merc yesterday about this error and pointed out that the "Look Ahead" section (that appears in today's - Sunday- print version of the paper) was ALSO wrong. It shows that the EQ play a friendly vs Copa Alianza all-stars at PAL Stadium at 8 PM "Today".
It was pathetic that it happened more than once in a month's period... I noticed it, but I didn't care. Sorry, I have more important things to worry about...
Close, but no cigar! The correct answer is: Mark Purdy and all the stench-filled, flammable effluvia he is made of.