Blog Posts
MLS Never Good Enough
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- Created on Thursday, 21 March 2013 22:26
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Saw an interesting post on reddit.com/r/mls today regarding how the MLS will never win or be good enough to some people. Specifically a response to an article by the Daily Mail here.
yessler wrote this (source):
So when someone tries to disparage the league by asking "Is MLS a Retirement League?", I've come to the conclusion that there's no answer MLS or its supporters could give that would satisfy the questioner. Consider the three situations one could try to use to demonstrate to these folks that MLS is not a retirement league:
1) MLS gets a quality player when he is young and retains him throughout most of his career. Landon Donovan comes to mind here. Critics of the league will argue that these players don't have that much quality because they never played in a top notch league like the EPL. "Oh sure he might seem good, but he can't deal with the pressure, speed, physicality, skill, etc. of my favorite European League."
2) MLS gets a quality player when he is young and sells him off after a few years and he finds success in a top flight European league. Think Dempsey, Bradley, or Howard. Critics of the league will argue that these players had to leave because MLS wasn't a good league. "Yeah, he is quality! But he left because the level of play in MLS is terrible. Only my favorite European League could develop him."
3) MLS acquires a quality player who has played in a top flight league for a few years and succeeded. I'm thinking Beckham, Henry, Cahill, Keane (i.e. DPs who are clearly skilled and in late 20s or early early 30s when they moved). Martins falls into this camp assuming he is successful. Critics of the league will argue that these players came to MLS to retire, even if the player in question transitioned in his 20s. "Yeah he was good. But he wants to play in a pub league for a big payday."
The reality is, for a certain segment of the soccer watching population, there's just no convincing them that MLS isn't a retirement league. They're not looking for reasonable evidence, they're looking for their preconceptions to be confirmed any way they can.
This article's content actually was pretty even handed, I think, but they're clearly looking to pull in those who don't like MLS with that headline.
MLS Time
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- Created on Saturday, 16 March 2013 22:22
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So it is that time of season where it is time for MLS. I feel like after supporting Spurs that if I do not support my home league then no one else will and I can't talk about it to those that are so up tight about the euro leagues. So I got MLS Live this season and now I plan on following 3 teams. Dynamo because they're my home team, Sounders because they are the team that got my attention for the MLS, and the Earthquake because I like Wondolowski and saw them finish last season and seemed like a cool third team to watch.
We'll see how this goes! And hopefully, I'll be caught up enough to help promote my home league and talk a little trash too!
LA Trip Part 1
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- Created on Monday, 11 March 2013 22:11
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Just got back from LA and has one of the greatest time of my life. First day had brunch by the beach, went biking through the beaches, had a beer by a cool craft beer bar ON THE BEACH and then checked out a huge street full of food trucks. After some downtime later in the day, I ended up at a place called Spin and then had such a good time at Elevate, I ended up dislocating my knee. But that's no biggie, I popped it back in and decided to call it a night before carrying on.
After the urgent care the next day, I visited some family in Orange County and ended up going to the Bruery and got to check out some cool new brews and even got to give part of the tour since the tour guide didn't think some of the minor things I thought was cool was important (blow off tubes, and the likes). Ended up trying a bunch of stuff and then took everyone out for dinner.
The next day, at 7:00am I woke and got ready to see Spurs v Arsenal at the official LA Spurs supporters group and had a blast. When I walked in, someone saw I was a crippled yid and got in front of me and yelled 'Yiddo! Yiddo coming through! Make way!" to help me get to the front. As soon as I got to the front, I got flagged down by these two cool guys named Simon and the wife of one of them. English Simon said to me something along the lines of "I have to make room for a hurt Yid" and then shortly after the match began. Long story short, Spurs won and I ended up being this legend who came from Dallas to watch Spurs in LA! I felt like a rockstar in Hollywood. Who else can say that? ... But after all of that, me and Kinner grabbed some brunch and I headed back to LAX to end my journey. As we were leaving, Kinner tried to take off the jersey I had made him wear and gave it to me, but I smiled and said "keep it, we still haven't finished LA yet!" and made my way back to Dallas.
There is a lot more I want to write and some more pictures to post, so I'll clean this post up when I get a chance.
Super Bowl and Ale Reaction
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- Created on Sunday, 10 February 2013 20:43
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Superbowl is officially over and the Ravens won. Only drawback was that due to the power outage the momentum of the Baltimore Ravens was completely disrupted and Jacoby Jones' return for a touchdown and all of the feelings associated with it were immediately wiped out after about 30 minutes of no play. All said and done, the MVP should have been JJ12 as he was there the whole game and made big big plays at crucial moments, but unfortunately this is a QB driven league and so he got a bit shafted. Worst part is he wasn't even mentioned much for his contributions, it was all Ray, Ray, Joe, Ray.
The best part about the Superbowl was not that the Ravens won and that former Texans players played a huge role. It was that my Autumn Amber Ale was finally released to the family. Dad, brother, and a bunch of family friends tried it and it didn't take long for the bottles to run dry. I was not there for the reception but from what my dad and brother told me, it tasted just like BJ's Piranha so I'll take it.
Not bad for my first brew. Great reactions from family and friends a few mixed ones, but overall not bad. Look forward to my hef in the next few weeks!\
Spurs United Round 2
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- Created on Saturday, 26 January 2013 21:41
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This past Sunday I had the greatest soccer moment of my life. Not only did Spurs manage to steal a point from United, but I also got to interact, sing, dance, and cheer with a few other supporters who all happened to be sitting in a United Headquartered Pub in Austin.
For the whole match Spurs had plenty of opportunities. Regardless of what Red Devils supporters may have convinced themselves to believe, Tottenham was dominating or had an edge up for a good portion of the game. Defoe had plenty of chances and misses, there was no help from Bale as he had two or three men on him at all times, but this game belonged to Aaron Lennon. He kept United on their feet and after the first minute of stoppage time, he was the one reacted to De Gea's punch and sent a cross that Dempsey knocked in to put the score at 1-1!
But that was not the best part for me. Throughout the match, there were loud and obnoxious chanting and singing. This is to be expected, but no other Yids had the opportunity to respond. There were a few of us, sparsely located around the bar, but I knew for sure of one man watching on the screen behind me a few yards back. Upon the equalizing goal, I heard someone shout "TOTTENHAM...." to which I turned around and located this gentleman. Immediately, I stood up from the crowd of Reds and started singing "Oh when the Spurs, go marching in, oh when the Spurs go marching in...."At this point he turned around because he hadn't noticed someone else throughout the match and his face lit up like a kid in a candy shop and joined. "I want to be in that number, oh when the Spurs go marching in!" As this happened we got in each others faces like something was about to go on and starting singing louder almost screaming for our club with a ridiculous heavy footed march with our arms going back and forth making rounds around our friends, he his, and me mine, and having a hell of a good time. After two run, a few more Yids came through and clapped and danced and enjoyed our excessive celebration.
This was an awesome experience because Gooners and Reds have a ton of supporters but in Houston and Dallas I haven't seen many Yids out and about and the thrill and emotion of that late minute goal was just the cherry on top. It was epic. It was an experience that not many will understand, but that was the moment that I did not just identify myself with Tottenham Hotspur, I became a part of Tottenham Hotspur.
#COYS