Author: Beau Dure

The guy who wrote a bunch of soccer books and now runs a Gen X-themed podcast while substitute teaching and continuing to write freelance stuff.
sports culture

NCAAmageddon and the numbers

Posted on by Beau Dure

The NCAA has released updated numbers on how much money is being flushed down the pipes at your local athletic department, and Sports Law Blog relates it to the sure-to-be-landmark O’Bannon vs. NCAA case.

I think O’Bannon has a case that shouldn’t hinge on such things. The initial argument was whether O’Bannon was entitled to money from his likeness being used in a video game. You’d think a judge could simply say yes, giving athletes a small but substantial victory.

But no, as this SI piece says, a judge instead interpreted “profiting off likeness” to include televised games. I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that if they win, TV news broadcasts would suddenly be responsible for paying everyone who appears on camera. Welcome back to the age of radio.

Perhaps common sense will prevail, and everyone will make a deal allowing athletes to be paid if their images are being used to sell video games and T-shirts. Or not.

In the meantime, the NCAA numbers once again feed all sorts of arguments, particularly Title IX.

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soccer

MLS 2015-18: Future shock

Posted on by Beau Dure

A couple of related topics on Jason Davis’ new-ish American Soccer Morning podcast over the past two weeks:

– NBC has paid eleventy billion dollars to show 45,000 hours of Premier League coverage every week, starting this fall.

– MLS, while doing well on the box office and sponsorship fronts, is struggling to stand out amid the four zillion games on TV every week.

The Shin Guardian this week had a terrific analysis of MLS moneys, pointing out the tiny sliver of league revenue from broadcasting.

Now here’s the kicker:

– The league’s deal with ESPN runs out in 2014.

– The league’s deal with NBC runs out in 2014.

– The league’s deal with Univision runs out in … you guessed it … 2014.

The good news — the league’s deal with major sponsor adidas, which was due to run out the same year, has been extended to 2018.

So MLS, for all its upward momentum over the past eight years, has a couple of major dates upcoming. And surely a stronger TV deal or two would lead to stronger sponsorship down the road.

The big question: How does MLS improve the TV situation?

It’s a question that has nagged MLS throughout its history, and with the proliferation of European soccer on the airwaves, the question is more difficult to answer.

A few simple tweaks may help. Jason talked about the importance of a consistent time for national broadcasts such as the NFL’s four major windows (Sunday: 1, 4 and 8-ish ET, then Monday night). And Jason raised the point of gameday atmosphere (i.e., actual soccer supporters in full voice) contributing to the quality of a broadcast — a typical game in Portland is more fun to watch than a typical Chivas USA game.

Another would be the restoration of an MLS highlights and discussion show. ESPN and Fox each tried one. Now that the league has nine games on a typical weekend, far too many for most people to follow, it’s time to get back in gear. MLSSoccer.com’s “goal timeline” is nice, but some people still prefer their highlight shows to be on actual television, with fewer clicks required.

But does MLS need to take more drastic steps to improve what viewers see on an MLS broadcast? Is it time to break the bank and spend more on players?

Spending has perked up over the last few years. The accusation that MLS limits its clubs holds a lot less water than it used to — a club can spend whatever it wants on a couple of DPs and a youth academy. The salary cap has more loopholes than the corporate tax code.

The trend toward looser wallets may have to continue. The time to address that may be when the MLS collective bargaining agreement expires …

… in 2014.

Anyone else starting to think the expansion talk about a second New York team and Orlando may not be the biggest MLS news in the next 18 months?

 

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soccer

The cutthroat world of youth soccer, part 3,489

Posted on by Beau Dure

Two big local soccer stories may be of interest to people beyond Northern Virginia:

1. The VCCL is now the CCL. The idea behind such leagues is that clubs can schedule games in all age groups against other clubs so that a greater sense of club identity is forged. In reality, when one club’s U15 team isn’t up to par with the other clubs’ U15 teams, they recruit heavily from elsewhere to level the playing field. Or they take an entire team from elsewhere.

See the discussion at the generally vile Fairfax Underground (seriously, do NOT read the thread about the Muslim cabbie assault). I think “travel parent” speaks for me. (No, it’s not me.)

2. McLean Youth Soccer is out of the Development Academy. You can some discussion on that story as well as the Fairfax Underground thread, which perked back up with the McLean news.

All of which makes me glad I’ve so far avoided the big-time travel scene. And it makes me feel badly for people whose kids are soccer prodigies.

I recently had a fun conversation about this topic:

ME: Suppose my kid turned out to be the best 12-year-old player in Vienna in a few years.

NOT ME: You’d probably want him to go to one of the big clubs.

Why?

To get the best competition and best coaches.

Why?

So he’d develop.

Into what?

I know — I’m being intentionally obtuse. But I think the race to get to the “best” clubs and the “best” competitions is getting rather silly. Kids who play American football get to play for their high schools against other teams. Kids who play soccer have to shop around to find the right fit, preferably one that won’t cost their parents a ton of money or commuting time.

I get the notion of promotion/relegation to make sure club games aren’t useless, joyless blowouts. In an area with as many good clubs as Northern Virginia, you could certainly have good competition up and down the divisional ladders.

If they’d all play in the same danged league.

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olympic sports

Monday Myriad: April 29

Posted on by Beau Dure

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soccer

MLS draftee watch: A few games in

Posted on by Beau Dure

Honestly, I’m just doing this so I can have links to all the MLS draftees in one place. But I figured I’d share. I haven’t looked up every loan deal or injury or reserve game – feel free to add info in the comments.

ROUND 1

1. New England: Andrew Farrell (D, Louisville) – Starter

2. Chivas USA: Carlos Alvarez (M, Connecticut) – Starter; one goal through six games

3. Toronto: Kyle Bekker (M, Boston College) – One start, a few sub appearances

4. Vancouver: Kekuta Manneh (F, Gambia) – Nice goal over the weekend

5. Vancouver: Erik Hurtado (F, Santa Clara) – Six games, three starts

6. Colorado: Deshorn Brown (F, Central Florida/Jamaica) – Starter and scorer

7. Dallas: Walker Zimmerman (D, Furman) – Yet to play

8. Montreal: Blake Smith (M, New Mexico) – One cameo

9. Columbus: Ryan Finley (F, Notre Dame) – 15 minutes so far

10. Seattle: Eriq Zavaleta (F, Indiana) – One cameo

11. Colorado: Dillon Powers (M, Notre Dame) – Starter

12. Salt Lake: John Stertzer (M, Maryland) – Two appearances

13. Houston: Jason Johnson (F, VCU/Jamaica) – Yet to play

14. Kansas City: Mikey Lopez (M, North Carolina) – Yet to play

15. San Jose: Tommy Muller (D, Georgetown) – Yet to play

16. Toronto: Emery Welshman (F, Oregon State) – One cameo

17. D.C. United: Taylor Kemp (D, Maryland) – Yet to play

18. Montreal: Fernando Monge (M, UCLA) – Didn’t make team; turned up as guest player with New England

19. Los Angeles: Charlie Rugg (F, Boston College) – He starts, he scores!

ROUND 2

20. Dallas: Ryan Hollingshead (M, UCLA) – A little busy right now

21. New England: Donnie Smith (F, Charlotte) – One start

22. New York: Ian Christianson (M, Georgetown) – Yet to play

23. New England: Luke Spencer (F, Xavier) – Didn’t make team

24. Los Angeles: Kofi Opare (D, Michigan) – Yet to play

25. Colorado: Kory Kindle (D, CSU Bakersfield) – Yet to play

26. Philadelphia: Don Anding (F, Northeastern) – Yet to play

27. Montreal: Paolo DelPiccolo (M, Louisville) – Went to Eintracht Frankfurt instead

28. Columbus: Drew Beckie (D, Denver) – Yet to play

29. Salt Lake: Devon Sandoval (F, New Mexico) – Six games, two starts

30. Chicago: Yazid Atouba (M, Cameroon) – 55 minutes so far

31. Philadelphia: Stephen Okai (M, Mobile) – Now with Charlotte Eagles

32. Montreal: Brad Stuver (GK, Cleveland State) – Signed but not on roster; loan?

33. San Jose: Dan Delgado (M, San Diego) – Not yet signed

34. Portland: Dylan Tucker-Gangnes (D, Washington) – Yet to play

35. Seattle: Dylan Remick (D, Brown) – Yet to play

36. New England: Luis Soffner (GK, Indiana) – Yet to play

37. Houston: Jimmy Nealis (D, Georgetown) – Waived

38. Los Angeles: Greg Cochrane (D, Louisville) – Two starts

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Sky Blue: Welcome back, Gabarra

Posted on by Beau Dure
Lori Lindsey's long-range shots are getting closer and closer. Photo: WashingtonSpirt.com/Tony Quinn
Lori Lindsey’s long-range shots are getting closer and closer. Photo: WashingtonSpirt.com/Tony Quinn

“I was here really early so I didn’t go in the wrong locker room,” said Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra, the only head coach in the 10-year history of the Washington Freedom.

He chatted with Washington Spirit assistant Kris Ward, who coached in the Freedom’s once-sprawling club structure, as he strolled to the bench. He raved about the Maryland SoccerPlex facility that hosted the Freedom from 2004 onward and still bore a couple of its logos until a few weeks ago.

And he watched his Sky Blue team beat the Spirit 2-1, remaining unbeaten on the season.

Gabarra’s team had a good sense of where to attack the Spirit. They earned an early corner kick, conceded a bit too easily, and sent towering defender CoCo Goodson into the box to head it past Ashlyn Harris. Their speedy forwards harassed midfielder-turned-center back Tori Huster.

But the Spirit contained Kelley O’Hara, who started at forward rather than the backline and spent a lot of the game running at Kika Toulouse, not Ali Krieger. O’Hara managed to cut back and shoot a few times, but they were harmless shots that didn’t trouble Harris. And O’Hara’s frustration boiled over a couple of times — she earned yellow for a rash challenge that left Toulouse sprawled on the grass. The speedy Lisa DeVanna, a former Freedom forward, and the formidable Danesha Adams were a handful.

The shot count, particularly in the first half, was lopsided in Sky Blue’s favor. But Harris didn’t have to pull off anything as spectacular as the big stop on Abby Wambach’s header last week. Sky Blue was willing to shoot from anywhere, but aside from the two goals on which she had no chance, Harris easily had the angles covered.

The Spirit found forward Tiffany McCarty a few times, once on a beautiful bending ball from Stephanie Ochs that would’ve put McCarty one-on-one with goalkeeper Brittany Cameron if not for a dubious offside call.

But McCarty was unusually tentative when sprung free by peripatetic Spirit attacker Diana Matheson or when handed the ball by a Sky Blue error. Some fans yelled for McCarty to be subbed out, though we don’t know how many of those fans are Virginia supporters who wanted to see Caroline Miller.

In any case, those fans got their wish in the 71st minute, and Miller provided instant offense off the bench. She turned Christie Rampone — yes, longtime U.S. captain Christie Rampone — in knots before forcing Cameron into her best save of the night.

Another subplot of the night: The Canadians, who set the stage for the midfield rivalry on Twitter:

Matheson and Sophie Schmidt battled in midfield a few times and scored two of the game’s three goals. Matheson, as she was in the first two Spirit games, was the team’s sparkplug all night. We the media (sadly not including a newspaper or TV representative) chatted with captain Lori Lindsey about the team’s formation — it’s either a 4-4-2 with McCarty and Matheson up front, a 4-2-3-1 with Lindsey and Julia Roberts holding behind Matheson and two wingers, or a 4-4-1 + Matheson covering the entire field.

Lindsey’s influence on the field is perking up. She’s helping the Spirit win more midfield battles, and she had some threatening long-range shots, as you’ll see in the highlights:

Things you might not have seen on the broadcast or the highlights:

– Toulouse left the game briefly after tangling with O’Hara, then removed roughly 800 feet of gauze from her leg. She’s still dealing with a preseason knock.

– The ref (correctly) stopped play when Krieger took a throw-in while a stray ball was on the field. The stray was removed, Krieger got another ball, and a ballgirl raced out to grab the ball Krieger had thrown to the other half of the field. Then the ballgirl tossed another ball to Brittany Cameron. Thankfully, Cameron saw the ball with her peripheral vision and booted it back, avoiding further delay.

– I have no idea what to make of this, though I’m guessing they loved it in the crowded beer garden:

Next up for the Spirit: Portland visits. They’ve sold 3,500 or so tickets. Get there early and get your barbecue and funnel cakes.

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soccer

A few NWSL rules

Posted on by Beau Dure

The “peculiar case of Elizabeth Guess,” as All White Kit’s Chris Henderson so aptly put it, has raised a few questions about the new rules in this new league.

After asking around a bit, I can pass along the following:

– Injury replacements: One player on disabled list for at least 45 days? No replacement. Two players? League discretion. Third? Roster relief. But not necessarily salary cap relief.

Teams can do whatever they must (within salary cap) to dress out two goalkeepers for each game.

– Waivers: Teams have to submit a “waiver request” to release a player. Every day at 5 p.m. CT, the league will send a list of waived players to every team. Teams have 24 hours to make a claim, or else the players become free agents.

– Allocated Player trades: Must trade U.S. player for U.S. player, Canadian for Canadian, etc. “Future considerations” heading to Chicago in the Keelin Winters deal must be a pretty good player.

– Discovery Players: Allowed four through March 24. After March 24, teams can have a total of six.

– Call-up during national team absences: This one seems pretty well-known, but just to confirm — teams can call up amateur players to replace international players. They can’t be paid. (The rules don’t mention college eligibility, which is an NCAA issue rather than an NWSL issue.)

– Trade deadline and roster freeze: July 31, 5 p.m. ET

– One non-roster rule: The first tiebreaker is head-to-head. Second is goal difference, then goals scored.

Any questions?

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olympic sports

How modern pentathlon stayed in the Olympics (attn wrestling)

Posted on by Beau Dure

In elementary school, I used to wander into the Coliseum at the University of Georgia to watch wrestling. When UGA cut the varsity wrestling program, I drafted a complaint letter and had my classmates sign it. That letter was reprinted in a local weekly. (In retrospect, that may have been my first published work.)

In 2008, I covered a little bit of wrestling and a little bit of modern pentathlon. In 2012, I watched a bit of wrestling and a bit of modern pentathlon online.

Guess which I enjoyed more? No, not the wrestling.

College wrestling, when I get a chance to watch it, isn’t bad. International wrestling is one of the most befuddling sports to watch in the Olympics, and I say that as someone who has watched a live trampoline competition.

Modern pentathlon, on the other hand, has modernized. The shooting and running phases have been combined to resemble biathlon, a popular winter sport in Europe. The athletes are shooting laser pistols. In London, they ran through a cross-country course in Greenwich Park. If you didn’t see it, it’s your loss.

How did modern pentathlon realize all of these changes would be a good idea? They communicated with the IOC. Maybe cynics would say it takes more than communication to get the wheels moving, but the fact is simple: Modern pentathlon responded to IOC concerns, and wrestling didn’t. That’s the lesson of a USA TODAY story by my former Olympic press center office-mate Bryce Miller, who is leading a comprehensive look at wrestling’s Olympic fight at The Des Moines Register.

If anything, wrestling got worse over the years. It was already a sport that turned on arcania, particularly the Greco-Roman competition. Remember the highlight of Rulon Gardner’s monumental upset over Russian giant Alexander Karelin? The final score of that contest: 1-0. Gardner was awarded his point when Karelin’s hands broke apart on a clinch. That’s it.

Now we have “ball draws” and foam blocks. Defense still rules.

In a conference call earlier this year, I asked whether wrestling might consider drastic changes such as replacing Greco-Roman with grappling. I didn’t hear much enthusiasm for that idea.

The lobbying effort that quickly sprang to life, with the USA taking the lead but forging solid relationships with Iran and other countries, has made vague references to tinkering with the rules:

The objectives of this committee include these key points: 1) simple for spectators; 2) increases action 3) rewards risk-taking; 4) allows no bias into officiating; 5) allows the best athlete to win; 6) is exciting for television viewing.

An Iran Times piece* put it this way:

(A)nother goal is to try to make officiating more “scientific” and less subjective.  There have been many complaints from both within and without wrestling that a move will get a wrestler points from one official and punishment from another.

The IOC’s voters might be seeing the backlash from the recommendation to drop wrestling. But they’re too proud to save face and change their minds. A few changes might be enough to let them claim that they’re keeping wrestling in the Games because wrestling met their demands. For better or for worse, that’s how the Games game is played.

* The original link is here, but I can’t get it to load.

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olympic sports

Monday Myriad, April 22: Tri this

Posted on by Beau Dure

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Western NY Flash: Dan Borislow was wrong

Posted on by Beau Dure

Those of you who recall WPS may remember that Dan Borislow was an immense supporter of U.S. national team players. Other players, not so much. The idea of fans cheering for anyone other than Abby Wambach almost struck him as repugnant.

I never asked Borislow how much WPS he watched before buying the team formerly known as the Washington Freedom. He would have seen ample evidence that fans can embrace players who aren’t the U.S. stars. Washington’s crowd favorites included those who had put down roots with the organization (Rebecca Moros) and those from overseas (Sonia Bompastor).

Tonight proved the point once again. The fans turned up and screamed for Abby. By the end, they were also screaming for the home team, which got a late penalty kick and another 1-1 draw.

Make no mistake — Abby Wambach gave a complete demonstration of why she’s a star, and I don’t just mean the time she intimidated the experienced international referee Kari Seitz into blowing a whistle on a questionable call. (No such luck when she sprinted 80 yards, the fastest Wambach sprint I’ve ever seen, to complain about the PK call in the Spirit’s favor. Strange thing to do when you’re not even the captain.)

Wambach won balls in the air, as you’d expect. Someone a couple of seats away from me marveled at her accuracy and precision. Put the ball near her head, and she’ll flick it to a teammate in a good spot. I’m not sure TV does any justice to this remarkable skill.

She had her chances, too. One clanged off the crossbar. Another produced a jaw-dropping save from national teammate Ashlyn Harris. (Note to self: We forgot to ask Harris about that play in postgame, so remember to ask her some other time how the hell she managed to keep that ball out.)

So let’s spare a thought for Washington’s Tori Huster, who has drawn the most difficult and thankless job in women’s soccer aside from explaining it to Sepp Blatter. The midfielder had never played center back before preseason. Tonight, she spent 90 minutes going up against Abby Wambach. And she deflected praise for keeping Wambach scoreless on the season: “I know that I have the girls around me that will cover me.”

Wambach did get an assist, as Ashlyn Harris confirmed. A long Flash free kick floated into the box, and Wambach ever so slightly nudged it with her head. Sam Kerr was equal parts lucky and good, knocking it in as Harris scrambled to cover the post.

That was in the 85th minute. Shortly thereafter, the Spirit got a call in their favor, as Jasmyne Spencer fell in the box. Some Twitsters say dive. The Flash folks in the postgame interview wondered if the ball was too far away from Spencer. Come on — she’s Jasmyne Spencer. If the ball’s on the playing surface, she can get to it.

Adrianna Franch, the terrific young Flash goalkeeper, guessed correctly. But Diana Matheson placed it perfectly.

And the crowd went wild.

That’s a crowd of 4,569, packed into the Soccerplex stands and grass. The beer garden was full. The hill under the beer garden was full. And maybe a few fans showed up knowing no one but Abby Wambach, then learned to love some of the home team’s players.

Matheson continues to be one of the best players on the field, looking dangerous whenever she gets the ball. Ali Krieger gets forward to join the attack, then returns for timely defensive interventions. Lori Lindsey was an effective midfield general tonight.

Both teams will be better by summer. Good plays alternated with miscommunications. The young Spirit attack had an off night, though Stephanie Ochs had an entertaining battle all evening with right back/team president Alex Sahlen. Harris spoke frankly about her need to keep yelling to keep her young teammates dialed in. (If Harris switched to MMA and fought Ronda Rousey, I think Rousey would get her in an armbar, only to relinquish it in fear of Harris’s wrath.)

But this was a great night. The fans came out in strong numbers and got a dramatic, entertaining game.

Just one thing marred the evening. Around the 90th minute, a hard-struck ball nailed Wambach in the head. She slowly got up and kept playing hard all through stoppage time, but at the final whistle, she needed help. Diagnosing head injuries from afar is a stupid and pointless thing to do, but we can only hope she heals fully and quickly.

The Flash were the first team to play the Spirit in the Soccerplex, and they’ll be the first team to play here twice, returning in June. Maybe Wambach will get some time to spend with the fans then. And maybe the fans will know more of their Spirit team, which is proving to be more resilient and dangerous than the preseason prognosticators imagined.

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