The fate of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, an institution that marks its thirtieth anniversary this month, is just a bit up in the air. Located in Oneonta, NY, the Hall recently inducted players Jeff Agoos and Joy Fawcett; unfortunately, the museum itself has been closed to the public in light of budgetary concerns. Perhaps those same budgetary concerns are why so many of the links on the Hall's website are dead ends (*UPDATE* The links that were dead this morning are working now; thanks to Jack in the comments for the heads up).
An unfortunate set of circumstances, and one that may lead to the Hall of Fame being relocated. Most American soccer fans probably wouldn't be averse to a move for the Hall, but that doesn't hold true for one Oneonta city historian. He takes us down memory lane with a piece on how the Hall of Fame came to be back in 1979.
- College soccer certainly has its detractors, especially among the pro-focused majority of American fans. The rule quirks, unlimited substitutions, and physical style turn off many who would prefer the game in the US rely more on club-run academies than scholastically-based competition. College soccer also has defenders though, and one West Virginia Mountaineer wants you to ignore the soccer snobs and enjoy the game for what it is at the university level. It seems the Mountaineers are, with 3,000 fans showing up for the soccer team's home opener.
- I suppose that it's nice that someone in northern Idaho felt the need to defend soccer against the American version of football, though I think the comparison is unnecessary. There's enough room for both sports here, and there's really no need to get into which is "tougher". One of these days, Americans en masse will wake up to just how great the beautiful game really is, and these type of pieces will thankfully disappear. I wish they would, especially with the rampant homophobia present in this one. Ugh.
