Speaking of Oliver, did his head explode yet? Mine just did after pages of Freddy's NT status in a Julie Foudy thread. Thx, Jay!
Can someone clear this up for an amused reader of this thread, Thomas Flannigan is Jamie Trecker, right?
Every now and then, when it's really dead in the women's forum I think "I kind of miss the old days when TF was constantly baiting the newbies with his ridiculous rantings." After reading through this thread I'm thinking "Not so much."
Trecker: Short, pudgy, tattooed offspring of a noted soccer writer. Flannigan: Tall, lanky, world travelling xenophobe.
If it was meant to imply that, they just would have written "official competition," just like they did when they talked about youth play. To take it a step further, any friendly Freddy played with the U-17s had absolutely no impact, none at all, on his soccer nationality.
Why does it have to be EPL or MLS? We in the States have it good. We can get up early on a Saturday, have a cup of joe and some eggs and watch a couple of EPL matches, then watch or attend MLS in the afternoon and evening. Why can't someone be a fan of both?
Like the people who implied that no one could possibly focus on the World Cup games that were over by 5 and then go to/watch an MLS game that night and that was why MLS shouldn't play during the World Cup? I agree that's silly.
It doesn't HAVE to be, but sometimes it just is that way. I'm a fan of both leagues, and many more outside that, but there is always those moments watching MLS when you realize just how different the skill levels really are. For some people, they only want to see soccer played at the highest level, and for them the MLS just isn't "good enough". I get enjoyment out of watching the rec league games that are going on as I warm up to play in mine on Sunday afternoons. I just love the game. Others only get enjoyment if they see beautiful, one touch, flowing, attacking football. There's nothing wrong with either choice.
But didn't the attendance during the World Cup take a huge hit (like 1000+ per game)? It may be silly, but the facts bore it out, I think. I posted on it a while back. But since you are the attendance master, you probably have the data right at your fingertips. Thx, Jay! [post=8996623]Found it.[/post] More like 3000/game.
And unless MLS switches its calendar, we have year-round soccer. I tend to pick up my EPL interest as soon as the MLS season is over. The early MLS/late EPL combination in April and May is the busiest -- and most fun. No wonder MLS can boast a slight bit of overseas interest. It's either that, Scandinavia or the Intertoto. (Or all of them, if you're hard-core.)
Actually, that did happen to me. I would go into work on Monday and note that I had no clue about any of the weekend MLS scores, whereas normally I would watch and/or find out basically instantly.
That's because you chose not to pay attention, right? Not that you couldn't. For everyone like you, there was someone who thought they were in heaven with all the soccer (though it really points up the difference between the two when you go from watching a WC match to watching an MLS match). As for me, I was over there for two weeks and only heard scores a couple of times, because we were too busy exploring to worry about it. I checked up online, though, when I could. As for MLS attendance during the World Cup, June of 2006 had 32 games played and an average announced attendance of 12,509, about the same as June 2005 (12,793), and within the range of most Junes in MLS history.
Actually, it wasn't a conscious choice on my part, it just sort of happened. I'm not claiming my experience was in the majority or representative of anyone else, but it happened.
So what is MLS doing wrong in June that it did right in April, May and July of last year? Or were those months just up more than previous years? Thx, Jay!
Schools out -- kids soccer leagues shut down. I really don't know, but I would assume Kenn will have a 30 page powerpoint to respond.
I don't think it's doing anything wrong. MLB attendance spikes in July and always has. Does MLB do something different in July, or is it market/societal conditions?
Hilarious. Look, do you want to actually know the answers to questions people have, or would you rather just continue to guess?