Morning Kickaround

Shouldn't he be whining about not being on PTI some more?

he should be proofreading his work.

"Quick, who was the leading soccer in MLS this year?"

Donovan -- and don't call me "Quick".

No offense, Goff, but I hope nobody bothers clicking the link to Chad's column. If nobody reads it, it goes away.

First, Chad is a columnist and a humorist. Second, I enjoy his columns too and he gave us fair warning that this would offend us. To be objective, let's look at his "facts."

Incidentally, MLS is in the midst of its playoffs right now, featuring the "two-leg aggregate score series," which has all the appeal of a root canal without anesthesia.

True. Many of us think that the playoff format is stupid.

Beckham's on-the-field effect has been negligible

If you look at total points, this is true.

People were hoping for a bit of Pele, and instead they got a lot of Stephon Marbury.

I don't know what this means.

Beckham is a global icon. Alas, sometimes America is out of step with our global neighbors

True

[On the growth of soccer in the US] But until that happens, I'm pleading with the soccerati to just play the game and stop predicting its surge.

This is the only "fact" that is debatable I haven't heard any credible source predict a soccer surge. If anything, this is an unattributed strawman argument that anti-soccerites use to start their diatribes.

I wonder if Eric Wynalda will "club his ***."

Please don't mention "chad" the day before the election. It makes my head hurt.

People were hoping for a bit of Pele, and instead they got a lot of Stephon Marbury.

I don't know what this means.

------------------------------------------

I think it means an aging prima donna point guard. Not even a goal-scoring star.

Regarding the Norman Chad column. What I270Exit-1 says is true, Norman Chad is making valid points.

However, do you think Chad would ever even take the time to mention the positives? Such as an abundance of bids for expansion teams and seatle already selling 17K season tickets?

Chad doesn't like soccer played in the US, which is fine. But his attempts to constantly validate his opinion by pointing out the negatives of MLS is just, as Mr. Goff mentioned, tiresome.

@Greenbelt United: good to see you Sunday. Your team played well. Good stuff.

The Bad: Norman PieceOfPaperHangingOffaVoterBallot. I found his stuff tiresome 10 years ago. Haven't read anything by him since.

Another weekend of Americans seeing time on the pine overseas. While the salary and the opportunity are surely good reasons for these lads to be abroad - good grief it's frustrating to see our national team be second fiddle to anyone else.

Goff,

What's the story with Adu seeing a negligible amount of time at AS Monaco? Even Eddie Johnson is getting some minutes with his new club, Cardiff City.

Thanks!

Norman Chad is an idiot who doesn't even know the sport because he elects NOT to follow it. Anything he writes needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Forget him!

@stwasm, Chad may be snide and his humor lame, but re: MLS he has most of his facts right, unfortunately.

Geez now I'm cranky because I was hoping to read some biting humor about MLS.

Those werent even good slams. Becks is not the savior of American soccer? At least now I know.

From Grant Wahl via Aaron Fighting Talker:

http://fightingtalker.com/2008/11/03/si-beckham-can-bolt-on-contract-after-09-season/

"SI.com has learned from from multiple sources that Beckham’s contract allows him to walk away from the Galaxy after the ‘09 season, two years earlier than any previous reports had stated.

Beckham does indeed have a five-year, $32.5 million contract with Major League Soccer (plus incentives and a percentage of jersey sales, among other things) that runs through the end of 2011. That’s not news.

But Beckham can opt out of the last two years if he so desires, according to a previously undisclosed clause in his contract."

This is the only "fact" that is debatable I haven't heard any credible source predict a soccer surge. If anything, this is an unattributed strawman argument that anti-soccerites use to start their diatribes.--
Posted by: I-270Exit1 | November 3, 2008 10:45 AM

Which is by itself reason not to credit Chad for any of the others, because this point renders all the others irrelevant.

But the really INTERESTING thing was here:
"Then again, maybe soccer's U.S. growth is like continental drift: imperceptible to the naked eye, then -- bang! -- 10 or 12 million years later, you notice a real shift. But until that happens, I'm pleading with the soccerati to just play the game and stop predicting its surge."

Because underneath the sneering, you look closely and he's CONCEDING the main point.

I suppose the "soccer surge" predictions are like when Gazidis says MLS could one day be amongst the big sports. Whether that's true or not, any time you tell old-fashioned types that a sport they aren't familiar with may overtake one they do know, they lash out.

Did anyone notice how hockey's fall from member of the "big four" sports to its current status was met in the national sports media with snide remarks and general levity? Hockey wasn't football, baseball, or basketball, so something must be fundamentally wrong with it, from their perspective. Contrast that to when baseball was falling off in the 90s (during and after the strike). The reaction there was all hand-wringing and soul-searching. During the drug scandals in baseball, ESPN talking heads didn't make the 'roid rage jokes that were there for the taking, either.

Norman Chad, in general, just doesn't do anything for me. He's corny, and he makes me feel like he should have Ed McMahon saying "Hi-yo!" after his punchlines. He's like Tony Kornheiser, another guy who, to me, is way past his prime (if there ever was one).

He's so clever. I mean, I've never seen this article before...ever. EVER.

I'm a bit surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the Pete Townshend lyrics that this item brings to mind:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Won't_Get_Fooled_Again

Clarification: The item to which I was referring was Goff's reference to the Guatemalan coaching situation.