Month: December 2012

basketball, sports culture

No, you didn’t have to win by 105 points

Posted on by Beau Dure

It’s astounding that whenever one of these high school basketball blowouts like this week’s 107-2 thriller in Indiana pops up, some dudes always pop up to say, “Oh yeah, well, you wouldn’t want the other team to just stop playing. My Southwest Birdpatch County team beat a team 198-1 one time, and that was after the coach put in the fourth-grade JV players and told them to pass the ball five times before shooting.”

Let’s do some basic math, shall we?

High school basketball games are typically 32 minutes — 8 minutes per quarter.

Let’s say you slow down a bit and shoot every 30 seconds — maybe your opponent takes 10 seconds (still relatively fast) per possession and you take 20. Then let’s say you shoot mostly 2-pointers and hit a staggering 75 percent of your shots. So every 2 minutes, you put up 4 shots and hit 3 — 6 points. That’s 3 per minute. If you score 3 points per minute, that’s 96 points.

And again, that’s if you’re hitting 75 percent of your shots in a half-court offense. That’s not going to happen, no matter how weak the other defense might be.

The losing team was apparently in “an aggressive 2-3 zone.” Great! What better time to practice passing the ball against an aggressive defense?

 

1
mma

Believing in Bellator and Bjorn, reality TV edition

Posted on by Beau Dure

I was wrong about Bellator.

I realize I don’t have to say that. No one asked me if I thought Bellator would survive and thrive. Even though USA TODAY is going for more of a hipster/snarkster audience these days than it was in my full-time decade there, they still would leave headlines like “Another Conversation With Another MMA Promotion Doomed to Fail” to Deadspin.

So I hope I hid my skepticism at the time, when I was thinking, “What? Another MMA promotion? And another boxing guy is running it? Yeah, yeah — I’ll take the call, whatever.”

I’m still not a fan of first-person sports analysis (though I realize two of my recent posts start with confessions of various biases), but I think this is the best way to illustrate the point …

In the two years I spent as USA TODAY’s MMA beat writer, I spoke with all of the promoters with big-time ambitions — Elite XC, Affliction, Strikeforce, WEC, IFL, etc. All of those promotions had decent TV deals at one point, while Bellator was starting out on ESPN Deportes and pushing out highlights on YouTube.

Some promoters believed in MMA. Some believed in their vision of MMA. Hindsight is easy, but only a few promoters grasped the sport and their place within it. Reed Harris and the rest of the WEC crew got it, and they were already comfortably in the Zuffa umbrella. Strikeforce’s Scott Coker got it. And now it’s clear — Bellator’s Bjorn Rebney got it as well.

And still, in today’s Bellator conference call, I had to play skeptic. I’ve just finished a draft of a book on The Ultimate Fighter (and if you’d like to publish it, I’ll put you in touch with my agent), so I’ve been as aware as anyone that TUF isn’t drawing the ratings it once did. Is the reality MMA market played out? And while MMA fans fret that TUF isn’t producing UFC-caliber talent, can Bellator turn up any half-decent fighters?

We won’t know until we see it. But Rebney’s answers showed that he’s not full of the foolhardy bravado that has dragged down other promotions. He’s aware of the challenge, and bringing in Amazing Race producing veteran Bertrand van Munster is a sign of how seriously he’s taking it. They’ll focus on fighters “earlier in that maturation process,” but Rebney wouldn’t rule out the occasional veteran.

Maybe Spike deserves a bit of skepticism here. While Rebney, like Coker before him, isn’t one to poke the UFC bear, Spike still seems to think it’s the network for MMA. Granted, I’m out of the demographic that gets excited about the pro rasslin’ lead-in. In fact, the 10 p.m. Thursday air time for regular Bellator shows will be past my bedtime. (If it’s any consolation, that’s also why I don’t watch much Duke basketball.)

But to put down the first-person perspective for a minute, they don’t have to convince me to stay up late. They need to stand out in a saturated MMA marketplace. And Bellator shows all the signs of being the one group (besides the UFC) that can do it.

0
soccer

Should MLS fans rise up and oppose Queens stadium?

Posted on by Beau Dure

Like Eddie Murphy in Coming to America, Major League Soccer is dead set on coming to Queens, and it seems nothing can stop them from doing so.

That hasn’t stopped local opposition in Queens. They’re not necessarily opposed to MLS itself, but they have issues with the site selection.

In the meantime, other cities are lining up for expansion opportunities. And a couple seem worth exploring:

Tampa: Land of the the surprise stadium plans.

Atlanta: A finalist a few years ago, and now they’re looking at a possible Seattle-style NFL-MLS combo.

St. Louis: Another finalist from a few years ago. Sullied by the NASL/WPS debacle, but a different ownership group has taken the first step toward a stadium.

Fort Lauderdale: Miami has been in the league before and was a recent finalist before a partnership with Barcelona fell through. But now the NASL Strikers are pursuing stadium plans. (To wrap up the finalists from a few years ago: The seven were Atlanta, Miami, Montreal, Ottawa,  Portland, St. Louis, Vancouver. Three are in the league, three are on this list, and Ottawa went in a different direction.)

Elsewhere from NASL and USL: Four of the last five “expansion” teams were essentially economic promotions from the lower divisions. San Antonio is thinking about the leap in the long term but knows it might take time. From the SB Nation roundup, we can see a few teams pursuing stadium construction or expansion: Orlando, Carolina (Triangle), Pittsburgh, Minnesota, etc.

And whatever happened to Las Vegas? Baltimore? Detroit?

Longtime MLS fans know it’s pointless to start rooting for specific expansion sites. They need owners and stadiums, not Twitter campaigns.

But how many of these partially developed stadium plans would be fully developed if MLS threw open bidding for the 20th team?

And so MLS fans have a right to ask, along with a few folks in Queens: Why here? Why now? Why not consider other options?

 

0
Uncategorized

Monday Myriad: MMA, boxing and U.S. skiers shine

Posted on by Beau Dure

//storify.com/duresport/monday-myriad-dec-10.js?border=false&header=false&more=false

0
mma

Strange things about the Unified Rules of MMA

Posted on by Beau Dure

The legend says that Ken Shamrock has long had a beef about UFC 1, griping that he wasn’t allowed to bring his wrestling shoes into the cage because they were deemed a “weapon,” while Royce Gracie was allowed to wear the gi he used to choke Shamrock into submission.

In the years that followed, mixed martial arts developed the Unified Rules. No eye-gouging, no slippery substances, etc.

And yet, in the course of specifying how many feet of tape can be used to tape a fighter’s hands (10), no one thought to say anything about bringing objects into the cage.

Yes, this came up over the weekend. Ben Henderson allegedly had a toothpick in his mouth during his fight with Nate Diaz. Let Luke Thomas point out all the reasons why this is a really stupid thing to do.

And yet apparently not illegal. Technically, it doesn’t appear to be illegal to bring a chair into the cage and whack someone with it.

The only argument I could see would be that the rules describe “unarmed combat.” If a fighter has a toothpick, is he armed?

Another point from the rules that applies to the Henderson-Diaz fight: “using abusive language” is illegal. Middle fingers seem to be OK. Congratulations, Nate.

0
mma

The Ultimate Fighter 16: The final recap

Posted on by Beau Dure

The final episode of TUF Smashes, the UK-vs.-Australia season, also concluded a few days ago. The last episode featured good-natured toasts between two teams who have come to respect each other, then a stellar submission by Colin Fletcher. Maybe Fletcher’s fight against the far smaller Richie Vaculik looked like a giraffe fighting a gnat, but give actor/surfer Vaculik some credit for taking the fight to him.

We also saw Valentino Petrescu showcasing his juggling skills from his circus days. And a lot of laughter. If you saw any of these guys on a fight card, you’d be likely to root for them.

Back to the USA. Yes, we have to.

Team Nelson seems unhappy. Joey Rivera says he feels “jaded” by Roy’s practices.

The word “jaded” can mean “worn out or worried, as by overwork or overuse,” but the team has griped all season over a lack of practice time, so that can’t be it. Another meaning: “dulled or satiated by overindulgence.” Is that some sort of crack about Roy’s belly?

Rivera also complains that there was no synergy. OK, now we’re in a Dilbert cartoon. Maybe Roy should’ve proactively enabled his team to feel empowered to streamline operations into a client-based operation. Bingo!

Of course, we don’t get much of a discussion of Nelson’s assistant coaches, one of whom is fighting for the UFC lightweight championship Saturday night. Well, maybe a passing reference to the Skrap Pack.

Then we go straight to the fights. Colton Smith fights in the second-tightest shorts ever seen in the Octagon without losing a bet (tightest: Mike Easton) and wears down Jon Manley in the 12th fight out of 13 this season to go the distance. And just as the Knockout of the Season bonus is about to go unclaimed, Mike Ricci knocks Neil Magny cold with an elbow. Magny awakes and starts grappling with referee Steve Mazzagatti, thinking he’s still in a fight.

Ricci says he choked up a bit afterward because he hurt a friend of his. Somewhere in Canada, Michael Hill is throwing a shoe at a TV screen, remembering the days when HE was Ricci’s BFF.

So the final features the ultrasmug Ricci, who threw fellow Canadian Hill under the bus, against Smith, who won his prelim after he faked the traditional touch of gloves at the beginning. In fairness, Smith seemed to be a good guy in the house, but the “liberal tree-huggers” among my neighbors would like a word with him.

The top talent of the season is clearly Danny Downes. No, he wasn’t on the show, but the fighter is a terrific episode recapper.

Someone might surprise us. Smith and Ricci could mature. Magny is one to watch, even if Dana White has followed through on his threat to keep all these guys off the finale. Manley and Sam Alvey have a bit of potential.

But this fall’s TUF experience raises a big question: If the UFC is running a good solid version of The Ultimate Fighter somewhere else on the planet, why do an inferior version at “home”?

0
olympic sports

How not to play youth sports, Russian hockey version

Posted on by Beau Dure

Fighting in the NHL and Canadian junior hockey is governed by a strict code. The parts leading up to the fight are nonsensical — it all has to do with calling people to account for dirty plays, except that it somehow ends up in the hands of two enforcers fighting each other over stuff involving their teammates. But the fight itself is arranged fairly.

You don’t pummel people when they’re down — it’s one thing to do that on a mat in MMA, quite another to do it on ice. And the fight is supposed to be the safety valve that stops you from doing anything dirtier — a shot to someone’s knee, a vicious cross-check — in retaliation.

These Russian kids have seen a few fights, but they haven’t learned the code. And it doesn’t look like anyone’s trying to teach them. And it’s ugly.

1
olympic sports, winter sports

Myriad Questions for … Holly Brooks, cross-country skier

Posted on by Beau Dure
By Sarah Brunson / U.S. Ski Team

The long-awaited second installment of Myriad Questions features cross-country skier Holly Brooks, who has the typical Olympic story: College athlete who never attracted much attention, then found work coaching in Alaska after graduation. Then after a couple of years, she suddenly realizes she’s starting to get pretty good and ends up in the Olympics, then finishing in the top five in a World Cup and third in a relay a couple of seasons later.

Wait … maybe that’s not so typical. That’s the winter-sports equivalent of The Rookie.

She keeps up a lively blog of the World Cup travel grind, and she answered a few questions for us from somewhere along the road.

(This weekend, though, the World Cup circuit comes back to North America for sprints in Quebec City — USSA will broadcast online at 2 p.m. ET Friday and 1:15 p.m. ET Saturday. The Friday race is a team sprint; Brooks will be paired with Ida Sargent. Next week, the World Cup moved to Canmore, Alberta, which will feature some of the distance races — Brooks’ strength.)

1. Top five in an individual World Cup! And third in a relay! Could you have imagined that three years ago?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. Three years ago I was coaching junior skiers…. I had no real race aspirations of my own and I certainly wasn’t a member of the USST, attending World Cups, etc. Three years ago I was just starting to compete nationally. I was a regular in the Anchorage Cup Town Series. The opening weekend in Gallivare blew my mind. If I can be fifth in a World Cup then I’m pretty sure it can happen to anyone!

2. Can you describe the “reindeer chair” in which you were sitting while you had the lead?

It’s basically a chair, covered in blankets and furs….. it’s stationed right at the finish line so you can have a view of all the current splits, see different shots from around the race course and get an idea of whether your time will hold up or not. I’ve never sat in that chair before and the night before the race when I heard I was bib #6 I made it a priority to land there! I thought I would be there for five minutes… not 25 minutes so I didn’t change out of my wet race clothes or anything. It was one of the more exhilarating moments of my career as a skier!

3. Who came up with the mismatched striped socks for the relay?

Our team picked them up at a convenience store in Germany in the middle of the Tour de Ski last year. Our team was actually stopped in a small town in order for me to get a removable cast (I broke my wrist on Christmas four days before Tour de Ski – then finished 9 races with broken bone!) ….. We wore them for the first time in the Czech Republic relay when we had our “best ever” 5th place….. after that, they became a staple. We like to spruce up the relays with face paint, face glitter & socks. There is certainly a correlation between having fun and skiing fast – both of which are priorities for our team.

4. You had a lot of banners supporting you at the Olympics. Have you had some support on the World Cup circuit this season?

The Olympics were awesome because Vancouver was half way between where I live – Alaska – and where I grew up – Seattle. I had friends, family & people that I coached… I must have had 40 people specifically cheering for me in the 30k. The World Cup isn’t quite the same because it’s so far from home. I’m really looking forward to the World Cups coming up here in Canada because we’ll have a bunch of people specifically cheering for us. “Home Course” advantage!

5. Aside from fans and family with banners, do you have a lot more support for your career now that you’ve been in the Olympics and have World Cup experience?

I have some really supportive sponsors who have joined up to help fund me. At this point I am an entirely self-funded athlete. This winter on the World Cup is forecasted to cost me $25,000 and I couldn’t do it without help from Carlile Transport, The Rhyneer Clinic, Northern Fruit Company & Conoco Phillips. All of our European competitors are horrified when they find out that a handful of us are self funded – and that we’re away from our homes for five months, November – March.

6. What’s the dirtiest tactic a fellow skier has used in competition?

For the most part cross country skiers have great sportsmanship. Perhaps my favorite part of the sitting in the Reindeer Chair in Gallivare was the fact that most competitors came up to shake my hand and congratulate me on my good race. It was an incredible experience and I was really impressed! As far as dirty tactics, cutting you off, blocking, shoving….. it can get aggressive out there!

7. Which cross-country skier would be best in roller derby?

I would put my money on Ida Ingemarsdotter of Sweden. She’s really big and really, really aggressive.

8. Brussel sprouts? Really? You like Brussel sprouts?

Yes – NO JOKE. I LOVE brussel sprouts to the extent that I actually bought some at the grocery in Sweden and hauled them to Finland where we had a cabin and I could cook them up. Having a “little taste of home” can do wonders for making you feel more comfortable on the road. Plus, brussel sprouts are an amazing source of iron which is important for energy levels.

9. What’s the worst food you’ve had on your travels?

The food was horrendous last year in Rybinsk, Russia. I like to call the buffet on the world cup the “food trough.” It’s kind of like pigs coming to feed…. sometimes you just entirely lose your appetite. I’m not a big fan of raw beef… that was rough.

10. You actually update your website, unlike a lot of athletes I could mention. Do you get a lot of feedback on it?

Yeah, I do. It’s my way of keeping in touch with friends and family back home. I don’t have a phone or anything that works in Europe so things like Facebook and my blog are really important for not dropping off the face of the earth. I try really hard to update my site but internet can be scare. I’m hoping that someday a big sponsor will drop out of the sky and fund an international, world wide cell phone. I’m married and five months away from my husband is a bit rough at times.

11. Are the ads on European television funnier than the ads on American television?

I absolutely LOVE seeing my fellow World Cup competitors on TV in ads. Sometimes they’re funnier or maybe even cooler, partially because you can’t understand what they’re saying. I really wish that I spoke German or Swedish because we really miss out on a lot of the “media stuff” not being able to understand.

12. What was the most inconvenient timing you’ve ever experienced on a drug test?

Two minutes after you’re peed in the morning is pretty darn inconvenient. I’ve shared entire pots of coffee with testers trying to drum up a sample… This fall in Park City USADA came for urine and blood for at least 10 athletes on the team. That equated to a wasted morning of training delays.

13. Who’s the best athlete in Alaska history?

That’s a really difficult question. I suppose it depends on what sports you value and what accomplishments you think are most notable. We have incredible dog mushers in Alaska…. but I’d be tempted to say that my teammate Kikkan is high on the list. I admire people who set big goals and attain them – especially when they do things that have never been done before.

Follow Holly Brooks on Twitter at @brooksha1

0
olympic sports, track and field

Sorry we’re late, Adam — here’s your gold medal

Posted on by Beau Dure

Those of you who complain about drug-testing authorities going back and stripping away most of Lance Armstrong’s career accomplishments should enjoy seeing the other side of the process: U.S. shot putter Adam Nelson is now the gold medalist in the Athens (2004) Olympics, thanks to a re-test of Yuriy Bilonog’s thawed urine. That sequence of events sounds more archaeological than medical, but the IOC has acted to reassign the medals.

One irony here: In 2004, Adam Nelson had one of the funniest stories about USADA out-of-competition testing. Who knew my hometown of Athens (Georgia, not Greece) was such a party town?

So Nelson gets the medal. But he can never re-create the medal ceremony from ancient Olympia, surely the most amazing atmosphere for a shot put competition in the last millennium or two.

But with a little creativity, sponsors can make up for the marketing opportunities he missed. Maybe Nelson can be at line at the DMV: “You think this is a long wait? I waited eight years to get my gold medal!” Or he could stand alone at Olympia humming the national anthem to himself. Or a shoddy delivery service can hand him a beat-up package with a medal inside, and Nelson can say the IOC should’ve used FedEx.

Maybe combine generations in an ad. It’s about time something impressed McKayla.

0
soccer

Bradenton residency, Class of 1999: Where are they now?

Posted on by Beau Dure

Is U.S. Soccer’s Bradenton program adequately preparing players for soccer careers? Or college? Or anything else?

Those questions popped into my head in thinking about several youth sports and college sports questions. Some of my Twitter buddies seem convinced that college sports (“big-time” college sports, at least) are nothing more than a holding pen for people trying to go pro, apparently not buying the NCAA ads in which a bunch of perky people with microscopes say they’re going pro in something other than sports.

As U.S. soccer “academy” programs drift downward in age groups, perhaps we need to be asking more questions. What happens to players who give up significant chunks of their childhoods for soccer?

We won’t be able to track every single player who passes through the Development Academy. But we can take a look at a few specific groups, particularly from the U-17 residency program in Bradenton, and see how they fared.

So what better place to start than the original Bradenton class?

A few of these players don’t require any detective work. We know where to find Oguchi Onyewu, Kyle Beckerman, DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey. There’s also another guy named Donovan who may have been in the news recently.

And then I’m not the first person to try this. Soccernet checked in on the Spring 1999 players in 2008. So all I’m doing here is updating and adding the players added in the fall. LinkedIn helps.

For other info, I’m open to crowd-sourcing. If you find anything about these players that I’ve missed, please mention them in the comments. I was going to list each player’s youth clubs, but their bios tend to start with Bradenton and mention a high school but not a club. Funny how things change.

Nelson Akwari: Went to UCLA, then through an assortment of MLS and USL teams — MetroStars, Columbus, Real Salt Lake, Charlotte, Charleston, Vancouver (pre-MLS), Los Angeles Blues. Didn’t play in 2012, but an RSL blog caught up with him and found him finishing school, starting a family and considering a return at some point.

DaMarcus Beasley: Funny how everyone frets about Donovan not playing in Europe, and then few people pay attention to Beasley, who did it in a big way. After a good run with Chicago, he went to PSV and started in a Champions League semifinal. He went on a yearlong loan to Manchester City, but injuries started to take a toll. He moved to Rangers instead and played less and less each year, eventually moving to Germany’s Hannover and all but disappearing. Now building his career back up with Mexico’s Puebla and looking for a national team return, having already played in three World Cups.

Kyle Beckerman: Brief stop with Miami, where he spent much of his time on loan to the Project-40 team for young reserves that played in the A-League (now USL, not Australia!). Then a long stay with Colorado before hopping over the Rockies to Real Salt Lake, where he has been a cornerstone of a successful team. Also gets occasional national team calls.

Danny Bolin: Spring 1999 only; didn’t play in U17 World Cup. Wikipedia sometimes puts things so well: Bolin is listed as a “former U.S. soccer midfielder and current helicopter pilot in the United States Air Force.” Sums it up pretty well. He started out at soccer power Wake Forest, then transferred to the Air Force Academy and moved into the military from there. Don’t say Bradenton didn’t recruit overachievers. The most recent substantive Wikipedia edit, which isn’t sourced, is from 2011. Any update?

Filippo Chillemi: Spring 1999 only; didn’t play in U17 World Cup. Went to Notre Dame and injured his ankle in practice, colliding with fellow residency grad Greg Martin, the Soccernet roundup reports. Still got a bit of pro experience in Italy before deciding on his fallback career — medicine. Again with the overachievers. Looks like he’s a resident at South Alabama now, unless there are two young orthopaedic surgeons in the USA named Filippo Chillemi.

Jordan Cila: Went to Duke and took some flak for not going pro right away. Finished up at school and went undrafted, then clawed his way onto MLS rosters at Colorado, Real Salt Lake and New York. Now he’s an analyst at Goldman Sachs. That “college degree” thing seems to be working for him.

Bobby Convey: The youngest MLS signee at the time, joining D.C. United at age 16. Went to England and helped Reading win promotion to the Premier League. Then came the knee problems. He returned to MLS with San Jose and then Kansas City.

D.J. Countess: Goalkeeper had a stellar youth career and a good year at UCLA before briefly to the MetroStars and then to Dallas, where he seemed to be the goalkeeper of the future. Then off to Chicago, where we wound up as a backup, then to expansion Salt Lake, where he was shelled. Stops in Sweden, Chile and Argentina followed, and a wrist injury ruined his career. The Offside Rules found his 2009 wedding video, calling it “100% baller” and “an advert for affluence.” I’m surprised it wasn’t on MTV. The production quality is unreal. I can find absolutely no record of him after that, including any confirmation of the anonymous rumor on The Offside Rules’ comments that they did not live happily ever after.

Steve Cronin: Goalkeeper went from Santa Clara to San Jose (briefly) and then to Los Angeles, where he was the backup on the MLS Cup-winning team of 2005. He started for the 2008 Galaxy, then moved into the USL with Portland. After bouncing back and forth between Portland and D.C. United, he went clubless in 2012. His Twitter feed has given a few updates — he’s a father, he’s retired and …

Kenny Cutler: Went to Clemson and had a few years with Real Salt Lake and then the USL’s Richmond Kickers. Then he disappeared and … oh, nope — like Cila, he’s at Goldman Sachs, except that he’s based in Salt Lake City.

Justin Detter: Fall 1999 only; didn’t play in U17 World Cup. Played at Notre Dame along with Chillemi and Martin. Made the Kansas City roster but didn’t get above developmental level. Now a facilities manager in Michigan.

Landon Donovan: Whereabouts unknown. For the moment, anyway.

Adolfo Gregorio: To UCLA, then England’s Darlington, then Real Salt Lake, for whom he played six games in 2005. Went back to run Pro Soccer shop in Modesto and was profiled in the local business press this year for taking advantage of lower property values. Sharp guys in this class.

Bryan Jackson: Made the rounds in Europe, getting a rough start to his career, before retiring to be a sports performance coach in New York. One woman from his class left a review calling him a “cutie who reeks of euro-cool.” But he’s also a tough trainer, apparently.

Kellen Kalso: Played at Michigan State and spent a few years managing restaurants. This fall, he moved to ESPN as a sports development manager. Twitter account says he’s going for an MBA and is an aspiring pro golfer.

Greg Martin: Notre Dame captain went into the energy field. This year, he founded a company called EdgePoint, which “represents the next generation of smart grid solutions.”

Oguchi Onyewu: Starting defender for Spain’s Malaga, which won Champions League Group C ahead of his former team, Milan. Take that! Also has a reputation for reducing Mexican forwards to tears and frustration. Just look at this picture. And he and Jay DeMerit will be forever famous for shutting down Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinals.

Raul Rivera: Spring 1999 only; didn’t play in U17 World Cup. NSCAA junior college All-American (a division below Dane Richards and Omar Cummings). Spent a lot of time with the PDL’s Fresno Fuego but took 2010 off to work on his degree. Showed up for Fuego preseason in 2011 but wasn’t on season roster. The Soccernet piece said he was also working with van customizer SportsMobile. Found nothing after that.

Matt Roberts: Spring 1999 only; didn’t play in U17 World Cup. Declined to be interviewed for Soccernet piece. Went to Maryland and made the ACC honor roll.

Abe Thompson: Fall 1999 only but DID play in U17 World Cup. Went to Maryland, played a few years in MLS with Dallas, Kansas City and Houston, played a bit for the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers and then retired this fall to move into the USL’s administrative ranks.

Seth Trembly: Might be best known for missing a Colorado Rapids game to go to his prom. Played a bit with Colorado and Salt Lake over the next few years and was RSL’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2006. Moved into youth coaching with Colorado Rush and now with Albion Soccer Club in San Diego.

Peter Withers: Fall 1999 only; didn’t play in U17 World Cup. Played for Ohio State and went on to work for adidas, where he’s now soccer sports marketing manager.

Alexander Yi: Went to UCLA, then Belgium’s Royal Antwerp, then FC Dallas. Hamstring problems ended his career, and he went back to school — first at Dayton, where he also started coaching, then back at UCLA, where he also works with the Galaxy’s academy program.

So leave any other updates and observations in the comments. Which class should we do next?

2