Monday, July 20, 2009
Fantasy Prem League anyone?
So the EPL kicks off in mid August and wanted to know if anyone would be down to do the fantasy league this year. Prime said he would do it and I'm sure Term will but didn't know what Pex's and Boon's status is.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Labor Day Weekend
Hello friends,
I will be returning to Va Beach for Labor day weekend, starting Friday (I'll likely arrive late Thursday night) and staying through Monday evening. Just wanted to give you all a heads up in case the non-locals might be in town as well.
Nate- this also means I won't be traveling to Atlanta for the Alabama game. Obviously, I'm sure we will be watching it at mi casa and it should be a lot of fun with the 95-99% chance of drinking all day and Bagger calling for blocked punts left and right. My friend still is interested in your tickets...so whenever you think about pricing, etc let me know.
one love
I will be returning to Va Beach for Labor day weekend, starting Friday (I'll likely arrive late Thursday night) and staying through Monday evening. Just wanted to give you all a heads up in case the non-locals might be in town as well.
Nate- this also means I won't be traveling to Atlanta for the Alabama game. Obviously, I'm sure we will be watching it at mi casa and it should be a lot of fun with the 95-99% chance of drinking all day and Bagger calling for blocked punts left and right. My friend still is interested in your tickets...so whenever you think about pricing, etc let me know.
one love
Thursday, July 2, 2009
USA National.....Club Team?
So on my 2 and a half hour drive to work today (HRBT flooded), I heard an interesting thought on one of the sports radio stations I was listening too. This was not a soccer show, so the dude was pretty much throwing out a random idea but it got me to thinking. He said soccer may be able to become popular for Americans if a rich millionaire owner got the US National Team together and paid them as a traveling team, and go around and play the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, etc. This idea probably isn't logical, but it got me thinking to another idea. Before I go into this, I know NOTHING about the details of how this would work logistically, money-wise, or with whatever league rules may be in place. But what if some owner did put together a team to play in the English Premier League (or Italian or one of the other Elite Leagues) and pay whoever we select to be Team USA as the players? Like I said, I don't know the details of how you start a team or how you are allowed to select your players, but if you could do this I would think it would be an awesome idea. Our players for one, would play together consistently against great competition (not Trinidad & Tobagao and co.), and also would finally be actually playing for something. I know personally I would definetly follow a "US" Team playing in the Premier League, Champions League, etc. pretty religiously. Two, I think paying Team USA players in almost a necessity if we want to be a powerhouse team, and this is a way to do it. Bottom Line, our country is motivated by $$, and if were paying our guys for performance I guarantee our team will improve.
Anyway, just curious what you guys thought about that. Another funny note was that the guy, who like I said really doesn't follow soccer, goes "And first order of business, fire that pathetic coach Bradley". Gave me a chuckle.
Oh, and a completely off my earlier topic but another interesting thing I heard on the radio.....some report was released with a study on the NBA and what colleges players were coming from. #1 college with NBA players = Duke. Very surprising considering the everyone says they do not produce any good pros (which still may be partially true). And to squash the people that say well they are all bench players, Duke has the highest salaries NBA players as well (average anyway, not the actual highest paid players).
Anyway, just curious what you guys thought about that. Another funny note was that the guy, who like I said really doesn't follow soccer, goes "And first order of business, fire that pathetic coach Bradley". Gave me a chuckle.
Oh, and a completely off my earlier topic but another interesting thing I heard on the radio.....some report was released with a study on the NBA and what colleges players were coming from. #1 college with NBA players = Duke. Very surprising considering the everyone says they do not produce any good pros (which still may be partially true). And to squash the people that say well they are all bench players, Duke has the highest salaries NBA players as well (average anyway, not the actual highest paid players).
Donovan rips on Becks
I read this on soccernet this morning...shit is pretty funny.
David Beckham has come under attack from L.A. Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan just as he prepares to return for action with the MLS team.
In a new book due out later this month, Donovan claims Beckham has demonstrated little commitment to the Galaxy cause and has been a negative influence on the team since the ousting of former coach Ruud Gullit.
"All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us," Donovan says in 'The Beckham Experiment', authored by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl.
"As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways - on the field, off the field.
"Does the fact that he earns that much more money come into it? Yeah. If someone's paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you are suspended or not. Show up and train hard, show up and play hard."
Donovan, who is the United States captain and wears the Galaxy armband in Beckham's absence, also questioned the former England skipper's leadership abilities, claiming he is too often silent in team meetings.
"Maybe he's not a leader, maybe he's not a captain," he said. "Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day. That hasn't happened. And I don't think that's too much for us to expect. Especially when he's brought all this on us."
Beckham's first season in MLS was a largely miserable experience. He struggled with injury as an unbalanced Galaxy team struggled all year and missed out on the play-offs, with Gullit quitting before the end of the campaign.
Gullit's departure, which came a little over a month after Beckham's Galaxy debut, is the moment Donovan believes the light went out for the club's marquee player.
"When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing," Donovan said. "He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well.
"Somewhere along the way - and in my mind it coincides with Ruud being let go - he just flipped a switch and said, 'Uh-huh, I'm not doing it anymore'."
Donovan even claimed Beckham is a bad team-mate, because of his lack of commitment.
"He's not shown (he's a good team-mate)," he said. "I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good team-mate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care. But with (Beckham), I'd say no, he wasn't committed."
Beckham pushed for a loan move to AC Milan in January, and then extended it to the point that he missed half of the 2009 MLS season. That served as evidence that he does not care for the league, according to Donovan, who gave up his chance to play in Europe early in his career in order to stay at home.
"My sense is that David's clearly frustrated, that he's unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it's a joke," he said. "I also kind of feel (he has taken the team) for granted. I don't see dedication or commitment to this team, and that's troubling."
Beckham is due to make his return for the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls on July 16, two days after Wahl's book is due to be published.
He will line up alongside Donovan in that game, but the striker does not want that to be the case for much longer.
"Let's say he does stay here for three more years," Donovan said. "I'm not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is f****** miserable. I don't want to have soccer be this way."
David Beckham has come under attack from L.A. Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan just as he prepares to return for action with the MLS team.
In a new book due out later this month, Donovan claims Beckham has demonstrated little commitment to the Galaxy cause and has been a negative influence on the team since the ousting of former coach Ruud Gullit.
"All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us," Donovan says in 'The Beckham Experiment', authored by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl.
"As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways - on the field, off the field.
"Does the fact that he earns that much more money come into it? Yeah. If someone's paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you are suspended or not. Show up and train hard, show up and play hard."
Donovan, who is the United States captain and wears the Galaxy armband in Beckham's absence, also questioned the former England skipper's leadership abilities, claiming he is too often silent in team meetings.
"Maybe he's not a leader, maybe he's not a captain," he said. "Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day. That hasn't happened. And I don't think that's too much for us to expect. Especially when he's brought all this on us."
Beckham's first season in MLS was a largely miserable experience. He struggled with injury as an unbalanced Galaxy team struggled all year and missed out on the play-offs, with Gullit quitting before the end of the campaign.
Gullit's departure, which came a little over a month after Beckham's Galaxy debut, is the moment Donovan believes the light went out for the club's marquee player.
"When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing," Donovan said. "He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well.
"Somewhere along the way - and in my mind it coincides with Ruud being let go - he just flipped a switch and said, 'Uh-huh, I'm not doing it anymore'."
Donovan even claimed Beckham is a bad team-mate, because of his lack of commitment.
"He's not shown (he's a good team-mate)," he said. "I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good team-mate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care. But with (Beckham), I'd say no, he wasn't committed."
Beckham pushed for a loan move to AC Milan in January, and then extended it to the point that he missed half of the 2009 MLS season. That served as evidence that he does not care for the league, according to Donovan, who gave up his chance to play in Europe early in his career in order to stay at home.
"My sense is that David's clearly frustrated, that he's unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it's a joke," he said. "I also kind of feel (he has taken the team) for granted. I don't see dedication or commitment to this team, and that's troubling."
Beckham is due to make his return for the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls on July 16, two days after Wahl's book is due to be published.
He will line up alongside Donovan in that game, but the striker does not want that to be the case for much longer.
"Let's say he does stay here for three more years," Donovan said. "I'm not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is f****** miserable. I don't want to have soccer be this way."
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