Big Gay Soccer Thread
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I raise the glass of Laphroaig I'm drinking right now to them. Cheers!
I raise the glass of Laphroaig I'm drinking right now to them. Cheers!
Where's mine?
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I have loads of whisky/ey. You're ever in Billericay you're invited to partake mate! I'm currently drinking a Scotch Malt Whisky Society Ardmore. Had a glass of quality bourbon before that.
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I have loads of whisky/ey. You're ever in Billericay you're invited to partake mate! I'm currently drinking a Scotch Malt Whisky Society Ardmore. Had a glass of quality bourbon before that.
I have loads of whisky/ey. You're ever in Billericay you're invited to partake mate! I'm currently drinking a Scotch Malt Whisky Society Ardmore. Had a glass of quality bourbon before that.
Not sure just where that is. Is that East Anglia?
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It's in Essex mate, 35 minutes from Liverpool Street station, not far off the A12 by car.
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OK, a few of things about the MLS Championship game that happened yesterday:
A. Notice that this is the first time anywhere that anyone here has mentioned it. Columbus played Portland. Portland won. Should we here in Northeast Ohio....Browns fans, have been behind an MLS team from Columbus?
B. The NBC guys stated: "This is Portland's first Championship in a major sport since the Trailblazers won the 1977 NBA title:
SHUT THE FUCK UP, assholes. Soccer is NOT a major sport yet. NBC just wanted to claim it is because they showed the broadcast.
(on that note....should we here in NEOhio be behind a real major league team: the hockey team from Columbus)
C. That said, the Portland team was coached by Caleb Porter. He is the former HC...manager...wtfever they call them.....that coached the Akron U Soccer team to a National championship a few years back. His wife and mine used to work together.
D. Also....Akron U is back in the National Championship race. They are now in the Soccer Final Four. Friday they will play Stanford for the right to play the Syracuse/Clemson winner.
(Interesting...Clemson is in the Final Four in Football and in Futbol.)
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Having been a fan of the English Premier League (Liverpool) for many years, the MLS is like watching AA baseball compared to MLB.
It is the same game but nowhere near the talent level.
I also don't root for the Blue Jackets as I am a New York Rangers fan.
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Lol, MLS.
So, WTF is up with that?
Most reasoning for not recognizing the MLS as a "major league" is that it is:
A. the sport itself is still not taken as seriously here as the other sports...
B. Tradition.....the MLS still doesn't have it much.
C. Size. Until it reaches the kinds of numbers of teams approaching the other major leagues....and is located in most of the major markets, it won't get major league status.
D. Age. The league is just too young as yet. It has only been a league since 1996.
E. Continuity. Other than mergers of other leagues that have occurred (e.g. the ABA and the WHL) no team in the other 4 major sports have gone defunct outright since the 1950s. Having that continuity and stability is a Hallmark of a major league sport. The MLS has a team go belly up just last year: Chivas FC. In this regard, perhaps this could have been overlooked had the NASL formed in the 60s still been operating....the league of the NY Cosmos and Pele.
But, even though it is not a major league sport here yet......it is still THE top league in America......and that means something. And what it means is that it is not something to laugh at. No, I am not a soccer defender......but this MLS, as I said, is a very young league....only 20 years. Compare its progress to the English football leagues. Most of those teams have been around since the 1800s, fair to say? Though the league has gone through permutations, the teams have all been around in one form or another for 100+ years. All MLS teams only around since 1996.
So...I wouldn't be laughing too hard......for before you know it, the MLS may in fact be THE premier league....if not the Premier League of that sport.
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On the question of "Should Clevelanders, people from Northeast Ohio support the teams from Columbus in which Cleveland does not have a sport? I guess you could ask: Why?
In the negative: In terms of geographic distance, I suspect that the hockey teams in Detroit and Pittsburgh are a close a the BJs.
In the positive: That team does wear an emblem embodying the state flag of Ohio. and We support Ohio State thoroughly here...and that is in Columbus.
Overall though, I see ennui towards those Columbus teams from Cleveland/Akron/Canton people. While they are not supported like the Browns/Cavs/Indians, neither are they hated like the Steelers/Tigers/Pistons
(and here is a note Pittspuke fan.....Detroit is actually more of a rival to Cleveland than Pittsburgh.....we have more teams there to be rivals of......both Tigers/Pistons play in same divisions in those sports as Cleveland teams)
No. It is just sort of a "whatever' attitude here toward the Columbus teams.
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It will never rival the EPL or the top teams from Spain,Italy, Mexico, Brazil
The teams over there can spend 100 times more for players.
The top European and South American players only come to the USA for their final contract. When they are passed their prime.
No way any MLS team will pull a 20 year old top player from outside the USA
"And they don't really know even what they're talkin' about And I can't imagine what empty heads can achieve." -
I would NEVER EVER root for anything from pittspuke.
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Soccer. Sock her
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MLS suffers from the problem of not being in Europe or South America. Most big time players from around the world want to play in Europe, and most from South America want to play in either Europe or South America.
MLS cannot compete financially because of america's insistence on sporting parity, and even if it could, players would not want to go their in their prime. They're more obsessed with winning the European champion's league, or one of the domestic titles from england, spain or maybe italy.
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It will never rival the EPL or the top teams from Spain,Italy, Mexico, Brazil
The teams over there can spend 100 times more for players.
The top European and South American players only come to the USA for their final contract. When they are passed their prime.
No way any MLS team will pull a 20 year old top player from outside the USA
It will never rival the EPL or the top teams from Spain,Italy, Mexico, Brazil
The teams over there can spend 100 times more for players.
The top European and South American players only come to the USA for their final contract. When they are passed their prime.
No way any MLS team will pull a 20 year old top player from outside the USA
No....not now...but in 10-15 years.......Never say never.
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MLS suffers from the problem of not being in Europe or South America. Most big time players from around the world want to play in Europe, and most from South America want to play in either Europe or South America.
MLS cannot compete financially because of america's insistence on sporting parity, and even if it could, players would not want to go their in their prime. They're more obsessed with winning the European champion's league, or one of the domestic titles from england, spain or maybe italy.
MLS suffers from the problem of not being in Europe or South America. Most big time players from around the world want to play in Europe, and most from South America want to play in either Europe or South America.
Again, now sure. But like I said, in 10-15 years?
MLS cannot compete financially because of america's insistence on sporting parity,
OK educate me about this as I am not sure exactly what you mean.
I know that US leagues do not do the "relegation" thing. Are you also saying that because teams in American sports leagues largely share a lot of revenue.....and that there is an attempt by the American sports league (NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL) to have all their teams be profitable, that that is not the case in Europe and SA?
Is every team on its own financially in say the Premier League or the Bundesliga etc.
Do the rich get richer and all that?
(And what is the problem with parity...do the players control the league or do the owners? Lets say the EPL wanted to start a salary cap....like 3 of the 4 US leagues have....What would stop them?)
and even if it could, players would not want to go their in their prime. They're more obsessed with winning the European champion's league, or one of the domestic titles from england, spain or maybe italy.
If America started to produce top quality players (as our colleges do in every other sport) that could change. Americans would want to play in America (as long as their is not a vast gap in the $$ they could make)
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The "big" clubs in England have much bigger venues to play in.
Man United play is a stadium (Old Trafford) that holds around 76,000 fans
Arsenal play in a stadium (Emirates Stadium) that holds over 60,000
Some of the lower teams play in very small stadiums
Stoke City play in a stadium (Britannia Stadium) that holds only 28,000
Watford play in a stadium (Vicarage Road) that only holds 21,000
I don't think the big clubs want to share that much of a difference in revenue
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The "big" clubs in England have much bigger venues to play in.
Man United play is a stadium (Old Trafford) that holds around 76,000 fans
Arsenal play in a stadium (Emirates Stadium) that holds over 60,000
Some of the lower teams play in very small stadiums
Stoke City play in a stadium (Britannia Stadium) that holds only 28,000
Watford play in a stadium (Vicarage Road) that only holds 21,000
I don't think the big clubs want to share that much of a difference in revenue
The "big" clubs in England have much bigger venues to play in.
Man United play is a stadium (Old Trafford) that holds around 76,000 fans
Arsenal play in a stadium (Emirates Stadium) that holds over 60,000
Some of the lower teams play in very small stadiums
Stoke City play in a stadium (Britannia Stadium) that holds only 28,000
Watford play in a stadium (Vicarage Road) that only holds 21,000
I don't think the big clubs want to share that much of a difference in revenue
Well, it sounds to me like that the English Premier League isn't "premier" at all. It sounds like you have "minor league" like teams playing in the same league as "major league" teams.
Could you imagine the NFL(or MLB) having some stadiums seating @80 K...and some seating only 20-25K?
Yes, that sounds absurd to us.
Here, the largest NFL stadium is like 82K (Met Life....though AT&T could go to 100 K)
...and the smallest is the 52,525 the Vikings play in ....but that is a temporary stadium....to be replaced next year with a new stadium.
The Smallest is O.com stadium in Oakland: 56,057. Yes, there is some disparity....about 25K......but nothing like the over 50K disparity you note.
The disparity in MLB stadiums is: Dodger Stadium, largest at 56,000. TB Rays stadium at 31,000.
For the MLS here, stadium size is flexible.......several teams play in football stadia, but reduce the size for soccer: e.g, they take Gillette Stadium from 68K for the Patriots down to 20K for the New England Revolution.
The actual largest capacity MLS stadium is the 40,000 that the Seattle team plays in (reduced from 67,000 for the Seahawks)
Three MLS teams play in stadiums with about 18,000 capacity.
Hell, Akron U plays in a soccer only stadium that seats 5800.....but they could move over to Infocision Stad. with a 30K capacity.
I guess my point/question is: why do they allow for such a large disparity in stadium capacity in the EPL.....far larger than any US sport.
Hockey arenas in the NHL are all between about 16K at smallest and 22K at largest.
The NBA is even more uniform.....largest is 21,165 at the Palace at Auburn Hills for the Pistons. Smallest is 16,867 for the Pelicans...New Orleans.
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The team in first place in the EPL is Leicster City.
They play in a stadium (King Power Stadium) that holds 32,000
That is about the average for the 20 teams that compete in the EPL every year
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Whatever happens in MLS I hope it doesn't get dominated by a few teams, which is what has happened in football elsewhere.
Leicester, Watford are teams that will be relegated in a year or two. Man City will win the EPL. Teams like Tottenham, Liverpool and possibly West Ham will put pressure on top 4 places over the next few years as they build (or are given ?) big stadiums and have big fan bases. The same teams will otherwise compete for the glory. As much as it's refreshing to see Leicester do well it won't last and neither will Chelscum 's disaster start continue unfortunately.
I hope the MLS is great, so good luck with this and I hope you produce teams that can compete on the world scale.
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Oh god, this is turning in to an 'educate gipper on why he's wrong' thread again. I'm out.
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