Wash Post chat w/ Goff Monday 11/8 11am be there: http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/04/sports_goff110804.htm
Salary cap space? I was also surprised to hear the University of Maryland is not interested in hosting DC United. I'd think they'd really want to fill their stadium during the Spring and Summer when the have no football.
"I don't know if fans will switch sports, but the NHL's disappearance (hopefully forever in Washington) has certainly opened up some space in the paper and on television for soccer." With all the good info he always gives, I'm sorry to see that SG decided to have a Marc Fisher moment. No need for that.
Maryland's annual Spring football game is April 30th and Byrd Stadium is the home of Maryland's Lacrosse team from March until May. Terps football practice starts in August and regular season kicks off in September through November. As much as I would like it being a Terp football season ticket holder, I don't see how they could fit United in from April-November.
Yeah, I saw that. I wonder if he was actually meaning to sign off when he did, or if the last question about the final being at RFK Sunday drove him away.
Fantastic. Re: hockey -- hate to say it kids, but if you really want to see soccer succeed, seeing some of the 2nd-tier sports fail is great news. It's a competitive market and fairly close to a zero-sum game at this point. What's bad for them is good for us.
I thought it was pretty good chat. And, while I have nothing against the NHL or its' fans, I thought the hockey comment was pretty funny. SerieZed is right, though;, andI think that Goff was referring to soccer's place (and coverage) in a competitive market, and maybe having a little fun at hockey's expense while doing so. I also hope that MLS's offer to Nelsen is enough to keep him around.
I have a question about the comment about Eskandarian not being a candidate for play in Europe until he earns more US Nat. appearances. I know for work permit issues that a player has to appear in x-percentage of national team games over, I believe, a two-year period. However, not understanding the political history of Iran (Persia), could he theoretically claim a French passport? I'm not sure if Iran ever came fully under French authority, but I do know there is a connection. I've had Persian friends that were as fluent in French as they were Farsi.... Just an academic question for the more knowledgeable out there.
In the beginning of the 20th century both Britain and Russia had spheres of influence over parts of Persia but not France. Persia along with Afghanistan and Turkey were the only nations in that area not formally colonized.
Since when is Alecko persian, Kevin Ara is Iranian, but Alecko is Armanian. Geese people you should know these things, being supporters and all.
Arlington, Va.: Is the game being played at RFK and can I still get tix for sunday? Steven Goff: Huh?? LA on Sunday. I guess some people celebrated after the game longer than others.....
I've heard otherwise many times but I hope you're right because if you're not you come off as a huge ass.
someone needs to tell those posters over at irankicks.com to stop wasting their time trying to get esky capped then
Well, I think it is "Geez, people". I really haven't seen any geese people lately. And, I think we refer to it as Armenian and not Armanian, unless of course you are stating Alecko's family owns a line of fine Italian suits Look, I know his father played for the Iranian national team. However, I also thought that his father may have been Armenian (or some ethnicity) and just playing for Iran. It is kind of the same situation as people trying to give an intelligent answer about Kovalenko's heritage. Unfortunately, if you perform an internet search for Andranik Eskandarian you either get the Iranian national team information or his photo from the NY Cosmos...not much help. Oh, and why I may have been confused with the Franco-Persia information. If this link is to be trusted, apparently a number of treaties were being looked over in Napolean's time. http://users.sedona.net/~sepa/napiran.html Anyway, thanks to those that provided the history lesson. It is definitely something I've been trying to understand a little better.
http://www.dcpersian.com/ModForum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3087 http://www.parstimes.com/soccer/players.html http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb292/is_200211/ai_hibm1G193630334 definitively (what I was guessing) http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=54265 so some people in Iran are of Aremenian heritage. so everyone's right?