To the delight of a few (thank you) and the dismay of many, the American Soccer Show train rolls on. It even managed to make the usual stops on time this week, leading to a new show with several topics somewhat adequately covered therein. Yahtzee.
After wishing all the moms a happy Mother's Day and diverging into something about baby mamas, Jared and I begin with MLS and the pall that hung over most of the action on Saturday. It was mostly about ugly play and ugly results, but the story of the day was another star going down with another break under another vicious tackle. MLS couldn't have imagined it could happen again so soon. Brian Mullan got an additional nine game suspension, so the natural question is: does Modani get the same?
Act II begins with the palate cleanser that was LA and New York. We had to address ESPN's choice to show a montage of leg breaks; sensationalism as Jared suggests, or important as a way to increase awareness of the problem?
Onto the game itself. Galaxy v. Red Bulls was all about big money, some big talent, and a relatively big stage. The stage wasn't all that big on the East Coast, of course, because it required burning the midnight oil for those of us on the right side of the country to watch the match. Nevertheless, the first 45 might have been the some of the best soccer MLS has ever produced, and the second half wasn't all that bad either. Unfortunately, it's probably a one-off for now. Naturally, Jared and I wonder when we'll see something like that again.
We then take a few minutes to review the new Fox Soccer presentation of "Soccer Night in America." Graphics probably don't make much of a difference on the rating front, but a new coat of paint isn't a bad thing either. Some grousing about Fox Soccer's MLS broadcasts ensues, and we consider that question of who is footing the bill for the changes.
We finish out the segment with a very quick and dirty run down of Gold Cup roster thoughts. Charlie and Juan are top of mind.
The show closes with us looking forward to Portland visiting Seattle next weekend, the usual pleading, and one more shoutout for all of the moms out there.
Thanks for listening. Make sure you like and comment at the Facebook page and hit us up on Twitter via the AmSoc account and the much improved CSRN account.
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