Washington Spirit 1-0 Portland Thorns: Rivalry?
The driving distance from Providence Park to the Maryland SoccerPlex is 2,785 miles. Google Maps says I can do it in 41 hours. But is the relationship between the Portland Thorns and […]
The definitive word on participation trophies …
From a Cracked piece responding to a rant about Millennials: Simon, let me tell you about my participation trophies. I got them for playing soccer, and they were handed out from a […]
How far would you travel for travel soccer?
Alternative youth soccer leagues are almost as popular these days as alternative facts. I’ve spent the last month doing interviews and compiling data for an upcoming story to see how we stand […]
Washington Spirit 0-1 FC Kansas City: History and repeating
Something new: Mallory Pugh became the first U.S. teenager in the NWSL and, as far as I know, the first U.S. teenager in a pro women’s soccer league. Something old: The Spirit […]
Survey: How many (too many) youth soccer leagues in your area?
Development Academy! ECNL, for girls AND boys! A different U.S. Club Soccer league! A traditional U.S. Youth Soccer league! Something else your local clubs set up and convinced you that you need […]
Washington Spirit 0-1 Houston Dash: Random thoughts
Houston is not that bad. Yes, the Dash lost 5-1 to Seattle, which lost 3-0 to Boston. It’s an unpredictable league. If you want predictability, watch the Celtic men or Lyon’s women […]
2018 medal projections: 31 today
NBC’s Nick Zaccardi has taken care of something I had planned to do, rounding up this winter’s World Championship results into a medal projection. His numbers: 34 Germany 28 USA 27 Norway 26 […]
Why the Washington Spirit should make a deal with Portland
Let’s get a few things out of the way first. The Washington Spirit have problems — some of their own making, some not. (Some of this was covered earlier in my Guardian […]
NWSL players now make more than AAA baseball players?
Apparently so, at least if we compare minimum salaries. But there’s considerable action underway to give minor-league baseball players a living wage. In their case, the money to boost their pay into the […]
Collecting the dripping info of U.S. women’s soccer’s CBA
First, read my piece at The Guardian. If you haven’t been following the saga of the Great Equal Pay Standoff of 2016-17, that’ll help you catch up. You may notice there’s a […]
