Hey folks! I know it's been a while since either one of us has written anything on our blog and you all probably considered it dead. But fear not! We are back, ready to bring you more on the beautiful game!
Tonight, I am reacting to a couple articles I have read on the ESPNSoccernet. The first is an article that broke the news that some "foreign owners" want to end relegation. I say foreign owners because I believe there are undoubtedly some English owners who want their investments safe (even if they won't openly admit it). The second was an article which talked about what we all thought, which is WTF?
Mike and I discussed that relegation is what brings so much appeal to some us Americans about English soccer. The thought that a team in a division 10 leagues below the Premier league could, someday, be playing on the Premier stage. That the teams we like to follow could be relegated if they have a poor season (Newcastle for example which was in the Championship 2 years ago). It brings some excitement because all teams have something to play for. Either it winning the regular season crown or avoiding being humiliated and dropped down a league. What do our losers have to look forward to here in America? The #1 draft pick? Oh boy. In which case, fans actually root for their team to lose.
Wouldn't it be cool to have our soccer system set up like the English system? Here is a breakdown of the American soccer pyramid. Of course as another blog points out, it's missing one key item about being a pyramid. There is no upward or downward movement. So all the teams are bookmarked into their divisions with no chance of moving up or down.
Imagine how much fun it would be to be a fan of, for example, the Harrisburg City Islanders if there were relegation and promotion. They are a team that plays in the USL Professional Division (formerly USL-1). They are quite competitive, having won their respective league (USL-2) in 2007, came in second this year in the new USL Pro, and have beat 3 different MLS teams when they have gotten the chance during the U.S. Gold Cup. Heck, even the former Milwaukee Rampage beat the Chicago Fire.
Point is, these teams can play with the big boys, given the chance. But it will never happen. American professional sports teams are franchises where investors don't want to have anything unpredictable happen and therefore, lose money. It's unfortunate but it shows what really drives American sports. Money.
That's it tonight. Stay tuned for a review of the game Mike and I had pre-ordered and are currently obsessing over currently, FIFA 12. Oh and check out the new poll!
Showing posts with label Owners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owners. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
News! News! News!
Hello folks! Wasn't that long before my first real post eh? Here's the lowdown:
Interesting article from NBCSports. LeBron James apparently bought a part of Liverpool recently. Hopefully he won't be moving them to a city he thinks can win quicker (ha! bad joke I know). That said, I do hope his ownership goes better than that of other American owners (Malcom Glazer and Man U come to mind). Granted he is only a minority ownership but when he does retire, you never know if he goes for majority ownership. Interestingly, he didn't wait for retirement to buy into a team like a lot of professional athletes do a la Michael Jordan.
Speaking of professional athletes and soccer. I've always found it interesting how many superstars in other sports are fans or players even of the sport. Kobe Bryant is a great example. Chad Ochocinco (or is it Johnson again?) is even playing with the Sporting Kansas reserve team. If only those guys had kept playing instead of moving on to other sports (on the other hand, they may have flamed out like Freddy Adu or not even made it that far).
While we're on the subject of American soccer, Andy Najar has chosen to play for Honduras instead of the United States. Apparently he was somewhat of a phenom and had some American fans' hopes up that he would play for us. But, turns out that's not the case. Another Giuseppe Rossi type miss, although I think the article by Jeff Carlisle on Najar hit it on the head basically saying he wasn't a sure bet to start with since he wasn't a U.S. Citizen as Rossi is. Still a miss is a miss and I hope we don't see him scoring a goal again us that knocks us out of qualifying for the World Cup in the future...
Hopefully Mike will do an article on up and comers in the U.S. program one of these days...
Oh and one more thing! My favorite EPL team, Newcastle United is coming to the States in July to play the Columbus Crew and I am so there! (And apparently Rossi was on loan to Newcastle back in the day. If only they coulda kept him...)
Interesting article from NBCSports. LeBron James apparently bought a part of Liverpool recently. Hopefully he won't be moving them to a city he thinks can win quicker (ha! bad joke I know). That said, I do hope his ownership goes better than that of other American owners (Malcom Glazer and Man U come to mind). Granted he is only a minority ownership but when he does retire, you never know if he goes for majority ownership. Interestingly, he didn't wait for retirement to buy into a team like a lot of professional athletes do a la Michael Jordan.
Speaking of professional athletes and soccer. I've always found it interesting how many superstars in other sports are fans or players even of the sport. Kobe Bryant is a great example. Chad Ochocinco (or is it Johnson again?) is even playing with the Sporting Kansas reserve team. If only those guys had kept playing instead of moving on to other sports (on the other hand, they may have flamed out like Freddy Adu or not even made it that far).
While we're on the subject of American soccer, Andy Najar has chosen to play for Honduras instead of the United States. Apparently he was somewhat of a phenom and had some American fans' hopes up that he would play for us. But, turns out that's not the case. Another Giuseppe Rossi type miss, although I think the article by Jeff Carlisle on Najar hit it on the head basically saying he wasn't a sure bet to start with since he wasn't a U.S. Citizen as Rossi is. Still a miss is a miss and I hope we don't see him scoring a goal again us that knocks us out of qualifying for the World Cup in the future...
Hopefully Mike will do an article on up and comers in the U.S. program one of these days...
Oh and one more thing! My favorite EPL team, Newcastle United is coming to the States in July to play the Columbus Crew and I am so there! (And apparently Rossi was on loan to Newcastle back in the day. If only they coulda kept him...)
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