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.
Uncategorized

Time for a women’s sports and fitness channel?

Posted on by Beau Dure

At espnW, former WNBA president Val Ackerman explores women’s sports on TV with consultant Neil Pilson, who mixes some blunt assessments of the broadcasting landscape with a couple of interesting ideas, such as this:

One possibility would be to have [the channel] show more than just women’s sports. See if you could link with women’s health. See if you could link to some form of children’s programming that would link daughters and mothers together.

So would a women’s sports and fitness channel make sense? Particularly if it’s part of a larger sports/entertainment company that offers cross-promotion? (In other words, the dedicated channel would show a lot of women’s sports, while the “main” channel would pick up big events and highlights.)

And if ESPN doesn’t do it, would Fox (now launching a full-fledged ESPN rival) or NBC (building on soccer and Olympic sports) consider it?

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soccer

The semiannual restatement of facts on promotion/relegation

Posted on by Beau Dure

Amid other lunacy on Twitter today, someone alerted me that the man whose Twitter ID rhymes with “locker deform” brought me into a conversation about the topic that has consumed most of his 70,000-plus tweets: the prospect of promotion/relegation and “open systems” in U.S. soccer.

We don’t have good discussions about such things in this country for a couple of reasons:

1. Soccer fans who have been on the Internet since the mid-90s have been discussing it since the mid-90s.

2. “locker deform” and a handful of others have dominated the conversation for the past five years, doing so with a conspiratorial bent that would make Alex Jones say, “Whoa, wait a minute, let’s be reasonable here.” The cycle goes as follows: Someone attempts to have a rational conversation with him and point out the logistical and financial hurdles facing a pro/rel plan, and he labels that person as a lapdog (or perhaps surreptitiously paid agent) of a USSF/MLS plan to undermine what would otherwise be a thriving multi-division ladder in the United States. As another journalist once put it — if anyone took him seriously, we’d have to sue him.

That’s a pity, because I think we’re getting closer to the point at which we could actually discuss such things.

MLS now has 19 teams. Orlando has made substantial progress toward being the 20th, even as the league is focused on a 20th team in New York. In a country of this size, a 24-team league with two geographical divisions is reasonable — each team plays its division-mates twice (22 games) and plays each other team once (12, for a total of 34). But once you get beyond 24, it’s time to talk about the options.

And so for those who have not been kicking this topic around for nearly 20 years and 70,000 tweets, here’s a quick guide to the issues as described in past posts:

December 2011: For all the talk of MLS as a “closed system” that imposes “limits” on its teams, MLS owners have no shortage of ways they can invest money. They can invest in youth academies (and some are doing so with eight-figure outlays). They can use their Designated Player slots to sign three of the world’s best players. The salary cap has about as many loopholes as the NBA’s.

Also, as you’ll see in other posts, no one with money or the hopes of raising money has backed a promotion/relegation league in the USA.

May 2011: A commenter on this post reminds us of something: This is a huge country. Geographic divisions make more sense here than they do in England. (Yes, Russia is also huge and manages the Moscow-Vladivostock trip, but do we really want to start following Russia’s lead on anything?)

October 2011: Plenty of teams are moving up the pyramid without official promotion/relegation in place.

February 2012: Along those same lines, I think this is the most succinct way I’ve summed it up to date:

– You can move up the ladder in American soccer if you have the capital and facilities to do so.

– Most clubs choose not to do so.

And that’s the issue. From a practical (and legal), you are not going to see U.S. Soccer force the Carolina Railhawks to move up to MLS if they win the NASL title. Nor can it force the Columbus Crew into what certainly would be a death spiral with a relegation.

Pro/rel fanatics never admit this side of the equation. They think pro/rel and open markets are great because they’ll encourage owners to build superclubs. That’s plausible. They also see second-division teams enthused by the possibility of promotion, which is less plausible — at least at the moment, when teams can compete in the NASL or USL Pro without risking a ton of money.

They don’t address this part of an “open market”: What happens to the crowds in Columbus if everyone knows that the Crew, like Stoke or QPR, will be doing little more than battling to stave off relegation? Or if they’re Fulham, which might not be relegated but isn’t likely to snare the prizes at the top of the table?

You can’t see a crowd of 78,000 for a couple of touring European giants and say, “See? The USA has deep soccer support!” It’s one thing to travel one hour or five to catch a one-time glimpse of a European team. And I have no doubt that the Sounders and Galaxy could keep up or even improve upon the crowds they get today if they were able to field eight Robbie Keane-level players.

The question is whether fans will turn out to see a team that is fighting relegation this year and doesn’t have the market size/ownership to to compete for the league title.

So to those of you who want to see MLS move away from its “closed” system, all I can say is this: Be patient. And understanding. Since 1996, MLS has moved away from its gimmicky tiebreaker and substitution rules, brought in the Designated Player, and issued all sorts of exceptions for “home-grown” academy players. Who knows what will happen in the next 17 years?

But what do I know? I’m just too busy counting all the money I’ve received from my closed-system overlords.

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Uncategorized

Spring makeover on the site

Posted on by Beau Dure

I didn’t intend to spend so much time tweaking the site this week. Frankly, it’s all a rookie mistake, though I’m far too old to be a rookie. I updated my theme without backing up or making a child theme and all that.

So widgets that were once in their proper form were suddenly too wide or nonexistent. The fonts were all out of whack. I suddenly have a second menu bar that won’t go away.

I’ve more or less replaced all the widgets. I tweaked one font slightly. But I’ve given up replicating the old SportsMyriad look, at least for now.

But I figured I might as well make a few small changes while I was trying to restore some sort of order:

1. Most of the categories I use with some sort of regularity are in that second menu bar.

2. I also added a couple of tags in that second menu bar: NWSL and Single-Digit Soccer. Not coincidentally, these are my two book projects this year.

3. The UFC ladders project is on hold for now. No one’s reading it, and it’s a bear to update.

Feedback welcome.

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olympic sports

Monday Myriad, April 15: Life is a marathon

Posted on by Beau Dure

I admit: I tease marathoners from time to time. Just this morning, I told someone (not someone who involved with the Boston Marathon) that running a marathon really isn’t good for you. Our bodies aren’t meant to do that.

But all kidding aside, the marathoner’s perseverance is something to admire.

And that’s why some idiot terrorist picked one of most ridiculous targets possible today. And that’s why I have full faith that, without forgetting those whose lives were lost or forever changed, Boston and the marathon community will persevere.

I’ve never liked the cliche that “sports don’t matter” in the wake of tragedy. What matters is that we get to spend our lives in the pursuit of goals. That’s what sports are all about.

So with that in mind, l’m going to do a brief Monday Myriad, sans the snark:

Marathon: Shalane Flanagan and Jason Hartmann each finished fourth before today’s senseless attack, and U.S. Paralympian Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair division.

Figure skating: The USA won the World Team Trophy, which bodes well for the new team event in the Olympics. Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold finished 2-3 in the women’s competition, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates took first in ice dancing.

Fencing: Alexander Massialas won the world junior title in men’s foil.

Check out the rest of the week in Olympic sports.

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soccer

Washington Spirit at Boston Breakers: See, that wasn’t so bad

Posted on by Beau Dure

You all almost had me convinced. All the last-place predictions. All the caterwauling over the preseason results. Put the Washington Spirit in last place and use the Sharpie, everyone said.

That same Spirit team led most of the way Sunday in its NWSL debut on the trampolining turf of Dilboy Stadium, the Boston Breakers’ packed home ground. And Tiffany McCarty’s goal wasn’t even the Spirit’s best shot of the night — she didn’t make clean contact on her header off Ingrid Wells’ cross, but it found its way into the net. Diana Matheson rattled the crossbar on a shot that goalkeeper Ashley Phillips just managed to deflect. Phillips came up big on a Stephanie Ochs effort as well.

That’s not quite the same Spirit team that lost two preseason games. Matheson sparked the attack from various points on the field, shooting from long range and finding the sneaky Lori Lindsey in the box for a golden opportunity. Fellow Canadian Robin Gayle marshaled the defense and played a solid game at center back. Ali Krieger matched Boston’s speedsters stride for stride and made a couple of last-ditch saving tackles. Ashlyn Harris made a series of big saves as the Spirit protected its lead late, and she bravely came out to collect under heavy pressure from Sydney Leroux.

Harris was down for a bit, but Leroux has the gnarly reminder of what happened then and elsewhere in the game …

And then there’s the refrain we’ll hear quite often this season — The Kids Are Alright. Ochs and McCarty challenged the experienced Boston backs. Julia Roberts was composed alongside Lindsey at holding mid. Wells, who was quiet much of the preseason, was an offensive sparkplug who set up the game’s lone goal.

Boston’s Cat Whitehill said after the game it was unfair to write off the Spirit based on preseason results. She was expecting a tough game and she got it.

For the Breakers’ part, Boston’s fans should enjoy their trips to Dilboy, aside from the occasional cold and the blinding glare that makes visors and sunglasses mandatory first-half equipment. The Breakers have solid veterans in many positions on the field. Heather O’Reilly is always entertaining on the wing. Kyah Simon is an enthusiastic shooter.

Then there’s Leroux, who always seemed to be the most likely scorer for Boston and finally tied it near the end with a classy finish from a difficult angle. The sellout crowd got its reward, and 1-1 was a fair result.

I may follow up with some quotes when I don’t have a dawn wake-up call to get back home. But the moral of tonight’s story is this:

Forget preseason. It’s on now.

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mma

The Ultimate Fighter 17, Episode 12: Award time!

Posted on by Beau Dure

Wow, this is a long Harley-Davidson ad. Oh, wait, the show started. Yeah, one of the fighters gets a motorcycle. Whee.

Chael Sonnen jokes with Kelvin Gastelum that the semifinalist fighter has upgraded his diet from Krispy Kreme to brownies. Man, I miss my 20something metabolism.

Anyway, Gastelum and Josh Sannan both want to win. That’s a relief. Looks like nothing at all happened in the house after the first week or two.

Herb Dean is our ref. We start, we trade, we clinch, and Kelvin gets him down. Josh shows off his active guard, legs fluttering around Kelvin’s torso like wounded butterflies.

Kelvin’s second takedown finds him in better position, and he’s able to land some strikes. Josh scrambles but gives up his back. Kelvin grabs his neck with stunning ease. And so Josh, for all his bluster about being better than just about everyone here, taps out to a rear naked choke in the first round.

Josh is stunned. Kelvin is incoherent.

Next up: Dylan Andrews vs. Uriah Hall. Will Dylan and set up a battle of the last two draft picks? Or Uriah win and make it an all-Sonnen final?

Before the fight, we get more Sonnen hype of Uriah Hall. Uriah Hall can beat anyone in the weight class. Kids will grow up wanting to be Uriah Hall. Dana White will rewrite his will to leave his share of the UFC to Uriah Hall. North Korea will disarm just so Kim Jong-un can get floor seats to see Uriah Hall fight.

Dylan Andrews, meanwhile, is an underdog. He works hard. He wants to win.

Jon Jones builds up Andrews: “This is the finals match. We both know it.” Yeah, let’s keep overlooking Kelvin. That’s worked so well so far.

Fight time, and it’s clear Uriah isn’t overlooking Dylan. The overwhelming favorite is showing the soft-spoken Australian a lot of respect. He tries a couple of spinning kicks but seems a little tentative. Dylan lands a couple of half-decent shots. Neither guy seems the least bit interested in going to the mat, and they both seem intent on matching Rashad Evans’s unofficial record for most feints in one round. Dylan gets through Round 1, though the judges would likely give it to Uriah.

Jones isn’t happy with Dylan. “You threw like five punches that whole round. I don’t know why.”

Round 2: Hall slowly pecks away at Dylan, bloodying his face. Dylan finally decides to get aggressive, swinging with a wild combo and then taking Hall down. Hall passes the ground-game test, grabbing an armlock that looks dangerous. But it doesn’t fluster Dylan too much, and he keeps pounding away at Hall’s ribs. Sonnen keeps yelling, “You got it!” He don’t got it.

But Hall changes position and sets up guard. And he … somehow hits Dylan hard enough that Dylan gives up position and turtles. Hall pounces on Dylan’s back and pounds his ears a bit, but even Steve Mazzagatti is stopping this one.

“From the bottom? From the bottom!” yells Dana White, who says he hasn’t seen that in 13 years.

Hall is emotional. Dylan says his heart hurts more than his face. His face might beg to differ. That, or he needs to see a cardiologist tout suite.

Jones and Sonnen cap off a season of surprising sportsmanship and lead some handshakes between the teams.

Then Sonnen says the most improbable thing in show history. He says Gastelum and Hall were even in practice. OK.

The finalists face off and basically smile at each other. Dana White has to egg them into a true staredown, but they still clown around a bit.

Dana’s very happy and looks forward to seeing most of these guys in the UFC.

So that’s it, and let’s give some awards for a season that has already seen two guys fight in the UFC and will see 11 more in the finale, with Zak Cummings apparently just waiting for an injury to heal:

The Cristiano Marcello Invisibility Cloak Award: Tor Troeng. Seemed to be one of the most intriguing guys coming into the show. Can’t recall seeing him on camera any time other than his fight.

The Tom Lawlor Award for Post-Knockout Humor: Adam Cella, knocked out with such force that the rest of the house that the rest of the house treated Uriah Hall like Ron Decline from that point forward. (Yes, that’s Sen. Al Franken in that clip.) Yet Cella came back to have the funniest conversation ever recorded in a TUF bathroom, and he was a frequent confessional subject the rest of the way.

The Junie Browning House Lunatic Award: No award this season. These guys didn’t fight in the house about much of anything except occasional misunderstandings with Hall.

The Mac Danzig “What Am I Doing Here With Such Lesser Talents?” Award: Josh Samman. But unlike Danzig, he didn’t win.

The Colin Fletcher Quipmaster Award: Gilbert Smith, who got Kevin Casey to throw down in a rap battle.

The Michael Bisping Award for International Arrogance: Luke Barnatt apparently had an opinion on everything.

The Chael Sonnen Positive Coaching Award: Debut award given to its namesake, Chael Sonnen. Who would’ve guessed he’d be the John Wooden of TUF coaches, only with funnier quotes? Can he just retire from fighting and be a permanent coach?

The Danny Downes Recap Award: Also given to its namesake, @dannyboydownes.

See you Saturday for the finale. I have a bad feeling that Miesha Tate might be looking past Cat Zingano, who would be easily be the least experienced coach in TUF history if she should win. (OK, OK — Brock Lesnar, but at least he had won a UFC belt.)

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Uncategorized

Monday Myriad: April 8

Posted on by Beau Dure

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soccer

NWSL preseason wrap: Keep calm and carry on

Posted on by Beau Dure
The Maryland Soccerplex's Field of Dreams. My cell phone camera can't do justice to this beautiful field.
The Maryland Soccerplex’s Field of Dreams. My cell phone camera can’t do justice to this beautiful field.

In May 1996, one team had established itself as the doormat of a new league. Its big-name allocations turned out to be out of shape and disinterested. Its defense was horrible. The team started 1-6.

The league itself had a front office that kept a lot of central control, with a lot of personnel decisions falling into the hands of its deputy commissioner, Sunil Gulati. National team players were the stars, but they missed much of that first preseason, and teams were barely acquainted with each other.

Major League Soccer turned out to be OK. Gulati lost his job but is now president of U.S. Soccer, which has taken a direct role in launching the National Women’s Soccer League.

That team? Well, they won the U.S. Open Cup. And MLS Cup. And the next MLS Cup. And the 1998 CONCACAF Champions Cup. And the 1999 MLS Cup. It’s D.C. United.

So that’s a roundabout way of saying it’s a little absurd to break out Seth Davis’s Sharpie and write down any team in last place in the NWSL’s debut season.

I’m sure I’m developing a rep as a Washington Spirit apologist, and it’s fine to apply all the standard disclaimers because I’m writing a book about the team. That said, a few facts bear repeating:

1. No team has played anything like the murderers’ row of preseason games the Spirit endured. Five games, all against top-class NCAA competition. Three of them in a week with a limited number of players available. By comparison, Portland, Sky Blue and Boston have been virtually invisible, with one or two preseason games. So we’ve had plenty of chances to dissect the diluted Spirit’s apparent weaknesses, while we know virtually nothing about the rest of the teams. (See the unofficial crowd-sourced tracking of preseason games at BigSoccer.)

2. Few teams have had a chance to play with their full rosters. The U.S. and Canadian national teams have been busy. Mexico has had some idiosyncrasies in clearing its players to play (something that deserves a more substantial investigation).

3. As we saw with many MLS teams in Year 1, we’re going to wait a while for some players to come back from Europe. And some teams may have midseason overhauls.

Add all of this together, and there’s no reason to assume the 2013 Washington Spirit will resemble the 2011 Atlanta Beat. (Which, incidentally, won all five preseason games — then one out of 18 in the regular season.)

And it’s only fair to apply such caution to the league as a whole. MLS had more than two years to prepare after winning its sanction in late 1993. The NWSL is throwing everything together as we go, and they’re doing so with low budgets.

History tells us to be patient. And history tells us things can be different when the federation(s) is(/are) working hand in hand with a new league from the outset.

So call me Pollyanna if you like, both about the Spirit and the league. I think cynicism is too easy, and it’s unfair to pile the dirt on teams and leagues that have yet to complete a regular-season game, much less a season. If you do so, may the ghost of Juan Berthy Suarez haunt you forever.

(Shameless sort-of plug: Google Books has posted parts of my MLS book, including a few bits about the disjointed opening game.)

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soccer

Washington Spirit vs. Virginia: Battle of field goals

Posted on by Beau Dure

Perhaps women’s soccer fans should focus on the positive from the Washington Spirit’s 6-3 loss Saturday night at the Maryland Soccerplex: The University of Virginia has a terrific offense with dynamic attackers who can bring Steve Swanson’s vision of possession soccer to life. They’re much more fun to watch than the typical college team.

That said, the Washington Spirit can’t be too happy to concede six goals to a college team. A 5-2 halftime deficit isn’t something to dismiss with ease.

Coach Mike Jorden, how did you stay so calm in the first half? “Benadryl,” he quipped.

A formation change and some renewed commitment stemmed the damage, and the Spirit outplayed Virginia in the second half. Virginia was lucky not to concede a couple more as ex-Maryland attacker Jasmyne Spencer entered the game and buzzed around the Cavaliers’ box, scoring once and being unlucky not to get a PK call.

The Spirit offense didn’t play badly. Caroline Miller, facing her teammates of a few months ago, was effective as the sole front-runner when she actually saw the ball. She fed Tiffany McCarty for one of her two first-half goals. Stephanie Ochs set up the other.

The problems were on the rest of the field, where Virginia’s Makenzy Doniak simply shredded the Spirit’s center backs for two first-half goals.

Still short-handed through national team absences (Ashlyn Harris, Ali Krieger, Robyn Gayle) and injuries (Candace Chapman), the Spirit’s defense still bore little resemblance to the defense that will take the field for its NWSL opener in eight days. Midfielder Tori Huster was finally relieved of her preseason fill-in center back duty in the starting lineup, but she was pushed back to the back line as the Spirit tried to stop the bleeding.

“I’ve been changing positions a lot over the last couple of years,” Huster said. “It’s hard to transition right there mid-game. It still wasn’t good when I went into the back line, and that needs to be better.”

Virginia coach Steve Swanson understood the situation but was pleased with the Cavs’ opportunism.

“Obviously, they don’t have their full team,” Swanson said. “But credit to our team for creating the chances we did and finishing some really nice goals.”

At halftime, the Spirit finally put a stop to the defensive meltdown. Jorden switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a straight 4-4-2. Lori Lindsey, by far the veteran of the young Spirit team, took a more attacking role. She set up Miller for a good chance that Churchill O’Connell stopped, and she’ll be kicking herself after missing a solo opportunity.

“We tried to play a bit more direct in the second half,” Jorden said. “In the first few minutes it could’ve been 5-4.”

For Swanson, the changes provided an opportunity to learn more about his team.

“We hadn’t been tested too much defensively (in spring games) until tonight,” Swanson said.

Swanson isn’t reading too much into the fact that his team put up six goals against a team that shut out North Carolina.

“I learned a long time ago not to read too much into things like that,” Swanson said.

And Jorden knows what to work on.

“I think we are a dangerous team. It’s just putting a back line together and winning more 50-50 balls.”

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soccer

The men’s national team vs. the media

Posted on by Beau Dure

I’m late getting to this intriguing Jonah Freedman piece about the rise in scrutiny on the U.S. men’s national team, which Freedman posits as a sign that we’re finally getting serious about this soccer thing.

That sort of phenomenon is alien to U.S. Soccer circles. The coaches and players aren’t called out onto the carpet on a regular basis. And as a result, we don’t have enough of a critical soccer culture here in the US. …

The point is, when the press starts taking risks – questioning the status quo, and truly holding people’s feet to the fire – that’s when we truly start to change as a culture.

“This country needs that exposure,” continued (Herculez) Gomez. “This country needs football to matter.”

Michael Bradley may disagree, of course. The Bradleys may include a terrific journalist (Jeff) in their immediate family, but they’ve long been wary of the media. Bob Bradley was cautious to the point of saying virtually nothing. Michael can be downright snippy when asked perfectly reasonable questions.

(Quick aside: Bob Bradley’s reserved nature should NOT stop major news outlets from doing substantial pieces on what he’s doing with Egypt. An American coach keeping things together amid the chaos is a fascinating story that the U.S. non-soccer media should step up and recognize.)

On the men’s side in particular, U.S. Soccer has kept a steady ship. Older players set the tone. Newer players know their place. Reporters who deviate from the team’s internal narrative may get a polite but firm talking-to.

But the hiring of Jurgen Klinsmann rocked the boat. He is an international icon who will, on occasion, speak candidly. He has brought in new players and new methods. We can’t write about the team without recognizing the changes or at least asking what the heck is going on.

And that’s not such a bad thing.

Every national team coach has to remember one thing: The team belongs to all of us. It’s a national investment. The media have a watchdog responsibility.

I’ll disagree with Jonah on one point. We haven’t progressed that much as a soccer nation because the reaction to Brian Straus’s comprehensive story was based simply on the fact that the story was written.

When we start talking about the substance of such stories, we will have progressed.

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