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.
soccer

Washington Spirit preseason roster

Posted on by Beau Dure
No, it's not Hat Day at the Spirit camp. It's about 30 degrees and blustery.
No, it’s not Hat Day at the Spirit camp. It’s about 30 degrees and blustery.

At last, everyone who has been selected at some point by the Washington Spirit has been at a session at the Maryland Soccerplex this month. (Well, except for Natasha Kai, Jordan Angeli, Alina Garciamendez and Teresa Worbis, all of whom are in various states of injury rehab, school or maybe both.)

At today’s media day, we were handed an actual preseason roster with numbers and everything. The list:

#1 Ashlyn Harris – USWNT goalkeeper arrived in training today but will soon head back over to Germany, where she had been playing pro ball, for national team games.

#2 Colleen Williams – Strong U.S. U23 forward. Many teams will regret letting her slip to the fourth round of the college draft.

#3 Kika Toulouse – Free agent signing from Virginia via Sweden. Grew up in the area and played for Northern Virginia clubs.

#4 Domenica Hodak – Rookie defender from Maryland wasn’t drafted.

#5 Candace Chapman – Why a defensive anchor of the last two WPS champions wasn’t a Canadian allocation is beyond me.

#6 Lori Lindsey – Made a radio appearance with Caroline Miller last week but wasn’t able to report to camp until Wednesday, missing out on her birthday cake. U.S. national team allocation but not getting call-ups right now. She played her way onto the national team with good performances at the Soccerplex once before.

#7 Megan Mischler – Supplemental draft pick from West Virginia via Sweden.

#8 Diana Matheson – Small but impactful Canadian midfielder trained for the first time today.

#9 Ingrid Wells – Free agent from Georgetown – also via Sweden, also small but skilled. Pitchside Report blogger.

#10 Caroline Miller – Second-round draft pick from Virginia. Hat trick in first training session.

#11 Ali Krieger – Came into practice on Wednesday, then immediately left for appearance coinciding with men’s national team game in Denver. Soon after that, she’ll be back with the nationals.

#12 Olivia Wagner – Maryland rookie punched in lone goal in scrimmage against Penn State.

#13 Julia Roberts – Virginia rookie went undrafted. That was what we in the business call a “mistake.” Strong on the ball.

#14 Tiffany McCarty – U.S. U23 forward and first-round draft pick has knocked in a few goals in training. Good mix of athleticism and skill.

#15 Robyn Gayle – Canadian defender arrived at training today.

#16 Danielle Hubka – Yet another Maryland rookie. It’s as if they’re trying to counterbalance the Virginia contingent.

#17 Hayley Siegel – Santa Clara alum has local ties — played for D.C. United Women last year and is an assistant coach at Georgetown.

#18 Chantel Jones – Goalkeeper from Virginia via Iceland looked sharp in Penn State scrimmage.

#19 Skyy Anderson – Also from Maryland, but she’s a year out of school. Defender.

#22 Stephanie Ochs – Athletic U23 forward was the third pick in 2012 WPS draft and the third pick in the 2013 NWSL supplemental draft.

#23 Tori Huster – Second-round supplemental pick from Florida State via Western New York, where she played with Ochs, is the easiest player to spot from a distance. (Look for the reddish hair.)

#24 Diana Weigel – You’d never guess from her unassuming personality, but the William & Mary defender who played with D.C. United Women last season is also a DJ. And a skilled outside back.

They list a blank space by #25. They skipped #20 and #21. Anyone else?

http://twitter.com/hollyking10/status/314907713811402752

Ah. King was here for the tryout, so she has at least attended one session with the coaching staff this month.

That’s still only 23. Kai, Angeli, Garciamendez, and Worbis might make it to the Soccerplex this spring, but they’re not expected in preseason.

Three players from the Penn State scrimmage — Heather Cooke, Ari Calderon and Alex Brandt — are no longer in camp. Calderon and Brandt have schoolwork to finish. With the Spirit entering a reserve team in the W-League, a couple of those players and maybe others who appeared at the tryout could resurface in a few weeks.

And I’ll bury the lead for those who don’t already know: One of my projects this year is an ebook on the Spirit. I’ll publish it right after the season ends. Haven’t decided yet how to incorporate the video and photos I’m shooting, except as documentary evidence that some of their players were aiming at me during one of the drills. They know who they are.

It’s a great team to follow — young, athletic, freewheeling, and fun. The constant drives up 270 will be worth it.

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mma

The Ultimate Fighter 17, Episode 9: Pores of a champion

Posted on by Beau Dure

The recap: Bubba wanted to fight Kevin, but Kevin fought Collin instead. And he stunk. But he’s happy to get another chance. The stitches in his forehead are frowning.

Bubba has a tearful confessional about wanting to see his daughter more. Then Team Jones’s coaches pump him up, saying he’s one of the best fighters in the house. The bad news: Bubba looks nervous. To drill that home, we get another confessional with an EXTREME CLOSEUP! SEE INSIDE BUBBA’S PORES! HE HAS THE PORES OF A CHAMPION!

The housemates recalled that Bubba’s callout of Kevin was the only callout of the season. Josh Samman can’t cede the spotlight that easily, so he calls out Jimmy Quinlan, mostly on the grounds that he’s … in the room.

But in practice, Uriah wants to fight Josh. And Jimmy, who tends to grapple people rather than knock them unconscious, says he wants to see Uriah beat the piss out of him.

Chael Sonnen then continues his transformation from trash-talking court-maneuvering bad boy to the Guru of Positive Coaching. “If his opponent is better, we can live with that. But we’ve got to see the real Kevin Casey.”

Casey has been practicing with a mask on to protect his cut. It looks like he’s auditioning for an MMA-themed remake of Silence of the Lambs.

Now it’s Thanksgiving dinner, and Sonnen proves himself the toastmaster. “Jon, it is a sheer disappointment, finding out what a nice gentleman you are.”

Some people are griping about not getting enough food. Bubba is cutting weight. Bubba angry. Bubba smash. Someone’s saving some food for after the fight, right?

But after another wholly unnecessary EXTREME CLOSEUP of Josh, Bubba steps up and makes weight. Kevin, on the other hand, needs to drop his drawers and step behind the Towel of Shame. He has trouble putting his pants back on. “I just don’t know what to do right now,” Sonnen says. He thinks maybe he should help, but …

Is it too late to have Chael replace Charlie Sheen on Anger Management? I’d watch that.

Dylan Andrews is afraid that Bubba might go crazy if he loses. Me too. Especially after the third “I should be able to smash this guy” confessional from Bubba in this episode.

Bubba and Kevin talk more. And more. And some ads. And Dana tells us it’s the wild-card fight. Finally, Steve Mazzagatti gets us started.

Kevin immediately gives up a takedown. I’d say he pulled guard, but he didn’t seem happy there, and he wall-walks his way up and out. Then he gets a takedown of his own, bending Bubba in all sorts of uncomfortable ways. Through 2:30 of the fight, it’s hard to recall a single strike.

Bubba eventually stands. Kevin holds him against the fence, but Bubba still manages to land some knees. Unfortunately, Kevin trips him down in the last 30 seconds, and Bubba just looks irritated for the rest of the round.

The second round finds Bubba again unable to remain at optimum kickboxing distance. He’s effective at dirty boxing, though, and he takes down Kevin in side control. Then he remembers the “pound” part of “ground and pound,” which Kevin doesn’t seem to enjoy.

An elbow sends Kevin’s mouthpiece flying, leading to some unusual corner advice: “You want that mouthpiece! Go get it!” Kevin works his way closer to it, but Bubba is effectively beating him up with good fists and elbows. The Sonnen staff is reduced to the Rampage-style corner advice of “Get up!”

So did the judges give a 10-8 in the second round? Of course not. We’re going to a third round. Kevin has to be helped to his corner.

We were promised a big finish, and we don’t have much time for much else. In fact, we have NO time, because Kevin can’t get up off his stool.

Bubba yells to Dana White, “Does that count as a finish?” Dana, smiling: “Good question! Yeah, we’ll give it to you.”

Fight recap: Chael is pleased that Kevin turned it into a grappling match rather than a fight in the first round. Then one of Chael’s team yelled into the cage that Bubba was breaking. Bubba angry. Bubba smash — for real this time. Afterwards, Bubba yelled not to tell him he’s breaking. Point taken.

Kevin’s departure puzzles Chael. “This was new to me,” the coach/philosopher says. Kevin says he once had kidney failure in a fight. He leaves in an ambulance. So we’re supposed to infer that he had kidney failure again?

Quarterfinal time. Dana says he usually brings in the fighters to get their preferences. This time … he also will do that. OK then.

One person (Collin?) actually calls out Uriah. But Uriah calls out Josh. They ask Josh about that, and he says Uriah is ducking Collin. Right.

As with Lesnar and dos Santos, the coaches surprisingly agree on everything. Dylan and Luke called each other out, so that’s easy.

But Dana has final say:

– Collin vs. Kelvin
– Dylan vs. Luke (New Zealand vs. UK)
– Josh vs. Jimmy
– Uriah vs. Bubba

Aw, come on. That’s not fair. Uriah: We all had this Scooby-Doo look on our faces. He does a good sound effect to illustrate — ah, the limitations of print render it impossible for me to replicate it.

So Josh and Jimmy get the fight that one of them really wanted and one sort of wanted. Dylan and Luke get their Battle of the Accents. The other four are going back to the house wondering what they did to piss off Dana.

On the next episode, we get an overhead shot of Brittney Palmer’s cleavage. Then two fights. And Ronda Rousey visits. Never say the producers don’t understand their demographic.

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soccer

Single-Digit Soccer: “Messi would never have made it in the USA”

Posted on by Beau Dure

The U.S. youth soccer system is often criticized as too Anglo. Too athletic. Too focused on big brawny suburbanites, too resistant to Hispanic players and their magical ball skills.

And so the argument goes that if Lionel Messi had been raised in the USA, he wouldn’t have made it.

To which I say: B&*$%@!

As evidence, allow to present a quick peek at the most hyped U.S. player in history:

If you saw Freddy Adu play over the years, you know he was never a dominant physical specimen. He could be explosive with the ball, but he’s not the fastest guy in the world. And he’s not a big guy.

If anything, Messi is more physically imposing than Adu. Messi can score goals with defenders draped on him. Adu is more likely to be muscled off the ball.

Maybe the Ghanaian pickup games in which Adu learned his trade were better for development than American U8 games. Fine. But it’s a fallacy to think a 10-year-old Messi would be overlooked by U.S. teams.

Then we would ruin his career.

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sports culture

Sharpest Title IX comment in a while

Posted on by Beau Dure

I’m a little uneasy with Sally Jenkins’ comments since her co-author Lance Armstrong’s downfall, and I do think Title IX enforcement is getting counterproductive in spots.

But Jenkins has a lively wit, and when she’s right, she’s a joy to read. Like so:

Ooooh! Title IX baiting! Yeah, Title IX is still necessary because the instant it wasn’t there any more, Geno Auriemma would be be back coaching out of a unheated attic in an auxillary gym, and women would be sewing on their own numerals, in order to cut the budget so more ivory could be inlaid in the coffee table in Nick Saban’s office.

via One Of Our Favorite Sports Columnists, Sally Jenkins, Is Here To Take Your Questions.

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mma

The Ultimate Fighter 17, Episode 8: Much more Mr. Nice Guy

Posted on by Beau Dure

Previously on The Ultimate Fighter: Nothing of interest. Not in the mini-recap, anyway. We’re quickly on to what passes for the theme music this season, a couple of French horn notes while Dana White squints.

Adam Cella thinks no one deserves a contract more than Bubba, based on his sacrifices and work ethic. I think he deserves because he stumbles over his cliches and ends up with something like “ducks in a basket with eggs in a hat.”

Jon Jones touts his last pick, Dylan Andrews, in advance of his fight against Zak Cummings. Of Cummings, Jones says he thinks he’s right-handed. Great scouting.

Andrews grew up with his brothers’ marijuana plants surrounding his bed. While many MMA fans seem to think that’s a cool thing, those brothers have apparently wasted their talents, while he was lucky enough to wander into a gym.

Uriah Hall bonds with Andrews over their fears of fighting. We only know that from Hall’s confessional. In their actual conversation, Hall looks like he’s staring daggers at Andrews. But we have to remind ourselves:

Next we hear that Cummings thinks Andrews is a really nice guy.

Coaches’ challenge time! Each guy is supposed to use heavy equipment to fill a dumpster, move tires and other stuff.

Dana White says this is the first time they’ve had a challenge that wasn’t some sort of sports challenge. Apparently, the Faber-Cruz “take large weapons and blow stuff up” challenge was sports-related.

“My father-in-law owns an excavation company,” Sonnen says. If he had known this would be the challenge, he would have called him.

But we get a thrilling back-and-forth battle. Jones gets the first scoop of dirt, then loses the hang of it. Sonnen races out to a big lead but has trouble with the third tire. Jones reclaims the lead and comes within one bad bounce of winning, leaving the door open for Sonnen.

Everything is going Sonnen’s way this season. Everything. The best we can say for Jones is that he’s taking it well.

Weigh-in goes smoothly. Dylan talks about his family. Sonnen generously says this looks like an even matchup because Dylan may not have stood out in the prelims, but Zak’s KO was a bit of a fluke. Let’s go back and check the draft — Zak Cummings was Sonnen’s third pick.

Herb Dean is the ref. He starts the fight. My closed-captioning tells me Sonnen says, “Need water.” We get 30 seconds of the anticipated strike duel before Zak presses for a takedown. Dylan defends that, but then Zak drops him. Dylan covers up. Zak gets in Dylan’s half-guard and lands elbows. Zak moves to mount but, to the shock of everyone, Dylan sweeps. Dylan gets in Zak’s guard and drips blood on him, but he also gets space for a good ground-and-pound assault.

Zak looks uncomfortable, but he does make things a little tricky by snaking his legs up. Dylan shrugs that off and advances to half-guard, raining elbows while Zak’s face shows the wear and tear of a tough first round. The horn sounds too soon for Dylan.

Round 2: Zak goes for an acrobatic spinning back kick, bringing a smile to Dylan’s face. Zak smiles back, and they touch gloves. A few seconds later, Zak touches his left glove to Zak’s face in a little less friendly manner. He chases a reeling Dylan across the cage, but Dylan recovers to dump him down. Dylan once again has a great position in Zak’s half-guard, with his corner yelling at him not to pass. Zak is trapped against the cage and can do little but defend and try to get Herb Dean to stand them up. Dean issues a couple of warnings, which encourages Zak to tie up Dylan tightly. But Dylan improves his position just a bit and gets some punches in there.

While this is going on, I have a great idea for a workout app. Call it “Herb Dean: Personal Trainer.” It’s a heart monitor. When your heart rate drops below a certain point, Herb says, “Work. Need some work.” When someone designs this, please send me a little portion of the royalties.

Anyway, Zak never figures out a way to get away from the cage. The horn sounds, Zak and Dylan hug, and Dylan raises his arms … in victory? We’ll have to see. Round 2 is definitely his. But Round 1?

Ad break builds the suspense, and …

We come back to see both fighters prepping for a third round. But no! Keith Kizer says that’s it.

Dylan admits he was close to tapping in Round 1 but somehow found another gear. “I went to another place, I don’t know what it is.”

It’s officially a majority decision. Cummings, like everyone else, hopes for a wild-card slot.

Ah, the ever-contentious wild-card discussion. Dana decides to leave it up to the coaches. He says two guys from each side are eligible: Team Sonnen’s Kevin Casey and Zak Cummings, Team Jones’s Clint Hester and Bubba McDaniel.

Sonnen says he’s an easier spot because Kevin clearly deserves it. And he empathizes with Jones having a tough call.

Remember when we all thought Sonnen and Jones were going to have nasty trash-talking sessions? Didn’t happen.

It’s all laughter in Jones’s dressing room as he jokes about being Bubba’s teammate but having a cool dude in Hester. “And he’s black!”

Ultimately, Jones decides to go with the guy who has put in more years. That’s not a bad criterion. Bubba gets the spot, and Hester immediately hugs him.

So it’s Bubba vs. the King. They wanted this fight all along. They’ve got it. The staredown is intense.

Next week: It’s a Thanksgiving dinner. And “one of the most shocking finishes in TUF history.” So the cage is electrified now?

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olympic sports, winter sports

World Cup spring, USA vs. Maze: “I want that globe”

Posted on by Beau Dure

Slovenia’s Tina Maze has the overall World Cup Alpine title in hand, more than doubling her closest pursuer (2,254 points to 1,065 for Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch. The only suspense remaining in the women’s standings: Can Maze complete an unheard-of sweep of the globes handed out in each discipline?

Not if the U.S. Ski Team can help it.

After her slalom win Sunday, Maze leads in every discipline except downhill, where she’s only one point behind the injured Lindsey Vonn.  If Maze remains upright in the World Cup final, she’ll take that one. She already has the giant slalom in hand. If FIS still gave a trophy for combined, she’d have that one, too.

Giant slalom is almost in Maze’s hands. She leads Julia Mancuso by 55 points. Mancuso has to make the podium to have a mathematical chance. If Mancuso wins the final, Maze needs a top-five. If she’s second, Maze needs a top-10.

Mikaela Shiffrin is impressed. (Photo by Mitchell Gunn/ESPA via USSA)
Mikaela Shiffrin is impressed. (Photo by Mitchell Gunn/ESPA via USSA)

Then we have the showdown. Tina Maze vs. Mikaela Shiffrin, the teen phenom who gave up her slalom lead on Sunday. Maze now leads by seven points. It’s not officially winner-take-all — if both skiers miss the top places, Shiffrin will need a gap of two or three places to claim the title — but it’s close.

The word from this morning:

Meanwhile, in men’s Alpine, the USA officially won’t be walking away without any crystal globes. Ted Ligety has clinched the giant slalom trophy. That’ll happen when your season results are five wins and two third-place finishes in seven races. He also won the world title, of course, and he’s third in the overall World Cup standings with a career-high 922 points (620 in giant slalom).

First place will come down to a final week showdown between defending champion Marcel Hirscher (Austria) and 2007/2009 champion Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway).

In cross-country skiing, Kikkan Randall clinched the sprint season title with a split-second win over dominant Norwegian Maret Bjorgen. Margin of victory: 0.07 seconds. Can’t wait to see the video on that one. Randall also picked up some distance points this season and stands third overall.

Andy Newell is second in the men’s sprint standings, too far back to win but in good shape to stay in the top three.

In ski jumping, the U.S. men aren’t in the mix, but Sarah Hendrickson is on her way to finished second in women’s.

Nordic combined finds the USA still in transition after the big run up to Vancouver. No Americans have been in the World Cup top 10 since.

Freestyle skiing‘s overall trophy hardly matters. Everyone’s specialized, with FIVE events per gender in the Games now with the 2010 addition of skicross and the 2014 additions of halfpipe and slopestyle. Top Americans:

  • Hannah Kearney, first, women’s moguls
  • Torin Yater-Wallace, first, men’s halfpipe
  • David Wise, first, men’s halfpipe
  • Keri Herman, first, women’s slopestyle
  • Emily Cook, second, women’s aerials
  • Maddie Bowman, second, women’s halfpipe
  • Patrick Deneen, third, men’s moguls
  • Heather McPhie, third, women’s moguls
  • Bradley Wilson, fourth, men’s aerials
  • Dylan Ferguson, fourth, men’s aerials
  • Eliza Outtrim, fourth, women’s moguls

And the World Championships just wrapped up in Oslo. U.S. notes:

  • Women’s halfpipe: Bowman didn’t start.
  • Men’s halfpipe: Wise and Yater-Wallace 1-2.
  • Women’s moguls: Need you ask? Hannah Kearney. She was also third in dual moguls.
  • Men’s moguls: No medals in the traditional event, but Deneen was third in duals.
  • Women’s slopestyle: Herman wasn’t there; Grete Eliassen took third.
  • Men’s slopestyle: Thomas Wallisch first; Nicholas Goepper third.
  • Men’s skicross: John Teller third

Still two more weekends on the World Cup circuit, though, so we’ll hold off on the medal projections for now. Safe to say the USA will be expecting some hardware in Sochi.

In snowboarding, the medal projections are already up. We’ll revisit after X Games Tignes in late March. But worth noting: Even though U.S. snowboarders erratically participate on the World Cup circuit, they lead the freestyle disciplines: Scotty Lago and Kelly Clark (halfpipe), Chas Guldemond and Jamie Anderson (slopestyle).

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soccer

MLS: New stadiums already? Slow down

Posted on by Beau Dure

A hypothetical City Council meeting in Expansionville, 2014.

MLS MAN: Greetings! I represent the local owner-investors who are ready to plunk down $80 million in expansion fees to bring Major League Soccer to Expansionville!

COUNCILPERSON 1: Sounds good. Should boost the economy. And I’d love to see Landon Donovan here — what a great comeback he made last year. But how much do you need for a stadium?

MLS MAN: Here’s more good news — we’re willing to spend $150 million to build it. All we need is $20 million for infrastructure improvements in the area.

COUNCILPERSON 2: That sounds like half the cost of Columbus Crew Stadium in its entirety.

MLS MAN: Ummm … yeah. You’ve done some research. But this will be an investment in the future.

COUNCILPERSON 2: And they’re already talking about replacing Columbus Crew Stadium.

MLS MAN: True. But Crew Stadium didn’t have luxury boxes.

COUNCILPERSON 3: I ain’t putting my tax money for some millionaire owner for his fancy kickball stadium!

COUNCILPERSON 2: Uh … right. Anyway, getting back to Crew Stadium — so now, the problem is that they don’t have luxury boxes.

MLS MAN: And they can’t sell naming rights.

COUNCILPERSON 2: So? Neither can FC Dallas. And a bunch of MLS jersey deals are expiring without replacements.

MLS MAN: Well … yeah. Anyway, we’ll have luxury boxes.

COUNCILPERSON 1: But in 15 years, will you want more?

MLS MAN: Perhaps. But we can talk about how to upgrade it.

(blank stares)

COUNCILPERSON 2: So this location …

MLS MAN: Oh yes — outskirts of town, vacant land, just needs the infrastructure upgrades.

COUNCILPERSON 4: Aren’t most recent MLS stadiums easily accessible by mass transit?

MLS MAN: Well, some, yeah.

COUNCILPERSON 5: Hey, why doesn’t Columbus just rip off the upper section and build boxes? It’s not like anyone ever sits up there, anyway.

COUNCILPERSON 2: Yeah, seriously. But back to our question: Are you going to come back in 15 years and ask us to help you build a new stadium on a train line?

PROTESTER IN CROWD: More like five years!

COUNCILPERSON 1: Excuse me, sir, we’ll have a public comment period on this project next week.

PROTESTER IN CROWD: Money for park! Not for Clark! Money for park! Not for Clark!

COUNCILPERSON 1: Clark?

PROTESTER IN CROWD: Ricardo Clark. Plays for the Houston Dynamos.

MLS MAN: Dynamo.

PROTESTER IN CROWD: Whatever?

COUNCILPERSON 1: Can we have him removed, please?

COUNCILPERSON 2: OK, back to the point … can you assure us that if we make this investment now, you’re not going to be asking us for more money for something new before we’ve all broken even on this deal?

MLS MAN: Uhhhhhh ….

And so Expansionville dropped out of consideration for MLS, leaving the league to consider a third New York team.

And no, I don’t want to imagine a D.C. council discussion along similar lines.

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soccer

FIFA boldly … asks for clarification on Nigeria’s lesbian ban

Posted on by Beau Dure

The Nigerian women’s soccer team went into the 2011 World Cup with the momentum of having ousted lesbians from the team.

The FIFA response at the time: “Huh? What? Oh. OK, we’ll talk to the coach.”

Now, with reports that Nigeria has banned lesbians from all levels of football, FIFA … wants clarification.

The issue has deep roots in Africa, where legal bans remain and men still use “corrective rape” to try to convince lesbians to change.

So, once FIFA gets its “clarification,” the question will be whether FIFA wants to make a statement — one that may force some attitudes to change.

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