I'll give you one guess who tops the charts (I know, the picture ruins the mystery)...

Number One: Seattle & the Sounders, a Love Story
The fact that the Sounders have somehow reached the number one spot in my completely subjective and made-up countdown should come as no surprise to those of you who have read me babble on about what's going on in the Pacific Northwest; still, no matter my unflattering behavior, the fact remains that Seattle's sudden success is the story of the year in MLS. The play on the pitch will come first, of course, and the likelihood remains that the Sounders won't be very good. But, as long as the fans continue to show up, and as long as they make us forget that Qwest isn't exactly cozy (even with 30,000), then the Sounders will stay in the MLS spotlight. A good team would make the story even better, and the league can only hope the Sounders do something magical.

For the Sounders and their fans' sake, let's hope that Kasey Keller still has something left in the tank. It would be a pity to see him go out on a bad note.

Alright, so my crappy day job effectively killed my attempts to include these things earlier, and I'm back to finish the job.

Sources Say Portland's In-As I correctly surmised (without so much as a contact in PDX), that little $15 million shortfall wasn't enough to kill the Portland bid. The boys from Oregon are in, and I'm very happy for it. I think the trifecta rivalry that Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland will bring to MLS is a huge plus for the league. It's very possible that the league's thinking followed the same lines, though the strength of the bids and the stadium setups were obviously the first concerns.

The Oregonian: Sources: MLS bringing soccer team to Portland

Puerto Rico Islanders in MLS?-In an effort to stay on the expansion tip before I wander into stadium territory, a thought occured to me last night after the Puerto Rico Islanders beat Cruz Azul 2-0 in San Juan; how soon until we hear that Puerto Rico is an expansion candidate? Garber intimated today at the Vancouver expansion announcement that the league will award two new franchises for 2012 (another year of expansion talk, yea!); although the usual suspects of St. Louis, Montreal, Miami, etc. will certainly be in the mix, why wouldn't Puerto Rico also be a player?

DC United Supporters Rally for PG Stadium-After abandoning the idea of ever building a soccer stadium in DC, United have moved on to Prince George's County, and have enlisted their supporters to aid in the cause. Hoping to give lawmakers in the Maryland county a sense of the support United has, Kevin Payne and company laid it out for their rabid fans; show up in Annapolis and help us get things moving. Below is a video of the rally, which included (in the reports I saw) about sixty supporters.



Chester Stadium Gets Pilings-On the surface, pilings being driven for the new Philadelphia franchise's (give us something to call them already!) Chester, PA stadium is pretty boring stuff. For Philly MLS fans and those of us excited to see another team in then I-95 corridor, though, it's pretty exciting. The Sons of Ben, still prominent and still getting in the local papers, must be doing somersaults. In fact, they are, and here's the proof:

Delco Times: Stadium Springs to Life on Chester Waterfront

And because stadium renderings are always fun to look at, here's one of the Chester Stadium (I have no idea if it will actually look this way, but this pops up in Google Image Search for "Chester stadium")

I'm wasting time until I hook up with the guys from Winning Ugly Radio to do their show, so I thought I would share with you a few thoughts on expansion.

In a phrase, I believe expansion is good.

I have a few friends among soccer bloggers who don't necessarily share my enthusiasm; chief among them, Mr. O'Connell over there at House of Soccer.

Now, I don't mention Brian to pick on him; quite the contrary. I think Brian has solid, well thought out reasons for being against rapid expansion. He believes that the league should consolidate their base and work on marketing teams that are having trouble doing it themselves. I agree with that to a point, though I think that expansion helps that effort: essentially, by increasing the national footprint and exposing more of the country to MLS, the league is raising awareness in cities where teams already exist.

Americans, though often locally focused (home, work, quality of life, cost of living, etc.), are generally interested in the bigger picture. Despite the fact that someone in Kansas City and someone New York may have little in common on the face of things, their are both thoroughly American. We choose to pay attention to those things that have a broad appeal. The NFL would be much less popular, and much less appealing, if it was a regional brand or if several major cities were without teams. The MLS approach is sound, if only because it ensures that the league is relevant in as much of the country as is possible.

MLS will need that national profile going forward, if it ever hopes to gain traction on TV or in the national sports media.

There's a ton of franchise related news today, so I thought I would throw some things at you in that vein all in one post:


Vancouver Announcement Today- Big day up in western Canada, as Vancouver's expansion bid has been approved, and the announcement is set for today. Everyone and their mother is reporting this, and I hope to have some kind of follow up after the event goes down.

Toronto Sun-MLS Day for Vancouver
Soccer by Ives-Vancouver to be announced as 17th MLS team
Live Feed of the Presser-http://web.mlsnet.com/sights/2009/vancouver/ (if I get this posted in time)

Adding a nice intro video from the Vancouver 2011 site:


Miami FC Lives On- It appears that Miami FC has been given a lifeline for the time being, as the club's Brazilian owners have decided to play the 2009 season. Good news for Miami soccer, good news the market's potential return to MLS, and good news for the health of USL. Let's hope that the community down there steps up and supports Miami FC, quieting some of the doubters that say soccer won't work in South Florida.


Miami Herald-Miami FC will announce the future of the franchise on Wednesday

I intended to have more, but posting from work is a super slow process, so that's it for now. I hope to be back later with more.

The American soccer community has recently been up in arms over an anti-soccer rant that appeared on the site First Things (and subsequently in the editorial section of the Wall Street Journal), entitled "How Soccer is Ruining America: A Jeremiad"

The article spawned immediate response from across the soccer world. Here is a brief selection of those:

American Soccer News: In defense of soccer in the U.S., Part II of many
Unprofessional Foul: Evil Soccer is Ruining Our Children, But Holy War is A OK
Ginge Talks the Footy: What Did We Do To This Guy? (Ginge subsequently posted follow ups)
Big Soccer thread on the matter

The author, Stephen Webb, is a professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. In an effort to clarify Mr. Webb's intent (a question that has been hotly debated in soccer blogs), I contacted First Things via email. I was almost immediately put in touch with Mr. Webb, who has graciously responded to Match Fit USA's request for comment.

I have reproduced Mr. Webb's response verbatim.

MFUSA: Since your piece was first posted, there's been much discussion over your intent; for many who read it, it remains unclear whether it should be viewed as a satirical take, or should be taken at face value as your true opinions regarding soccer. Can you settle the issue?

Stephen Webb: The piece is satire, but I hope it was good satire, because in good satire, there is, of course, some grains of truth. I meant the piece to be a satire of the kinds of rants one finds on the far right these days. I thought that was obvious when I connected soccer to the flouridization of the water supply, which in the fifties was an object of anti-communist conspiracies from the likes of the John Birch Society. But satire only works well if it hits a nerve. That is, good satire hides the author's intent somewhat, mixing sincerity with absurdity, and I hope I was successful in that.

I do find children's soccer boring, and I do think the changing popularity of sports reflects deeper cultural changes, but I also realize that soccer is an interesting game and requires incredible fitness and skill. Part of my satire, which I hoped was obvious, was to point out in a backhanded way that I found my own youthful sports interest in baseball, with countless boring hours spent in the outfield and various humiliations at the plate, to be a very mixed blessing indeed. I am glad that neither of my sons likes baseball much and that both would rather play soccer. They get more exercise and less humiliation from soccer. Yet like people who have been through a hazing ritual, I have a certain nostalgia for the many hours I spend staring at hard balls thrown in the vicinity of my head!

I would like to add that I thought the piece had many very funny lines in it. How could people not read it and laugh! And I would like to add that the hundreds (yes hundreds) of responses I've received, most in the form of near-hate mail telling me how dumb I am, kind of prove my point that soccer players and fans are a little hyper-sensitive about their sport. You know the old saying, "I think you protest too much...." People who are overly defensive often betray the fact that they have something in deed of defending.

Having said all of that, I would say that my daughter loved the piece because she is really intelligent and has a great sense of humor, but what she loved even more were the hate emails. I have saved them all, and a couple of evenings ago we went through them one by one together, and we were both on the floor laughing so hard it took us over an hour to read them. Our favorite was one that called me a pirate (I have no idea where that came from) and another that said with theologians like me, no wonder Americans are going to church in declining numbers. I thought that was clever: the writer reversed my argument by saying that I was ruining religion in America!

Having said all of this, I teach at an all male school and am very interested in the decline of all-male bonding in America, and I do think that soccer is popular today because it is less violent, less aggressive than baseball, basketball or football, and that many American parents are attracted to it for the reasons I expressed in my article. But obviously the popularity of soccer is a symptom of these cultural changes, not a cause. I made it a cause to be provocative and funny.

I think my next blog will be about the declining reading intelligence of the average blog reader. And the real tragedy that so many Americans have lost their sense of humor in the last several decades of the culture wars.

Just as with his original piece, I suspect Mr. Webb's comments here will generate reaction from the soccer community. I do think he is accurate in saying that American soccer fans have thin skins; it's a condition I attribute to the general disdain the sport receives from most segments of American culture. It's interesting to note that Mr. Webb's satire, a piece which can easily be taken at face value, is exactly the type of abuse that causes American soccer fans to have that aforementioned thin skin.

As for his final salvo, I'll let you make of that what you will.

Feel free to share your thoughts, but be warned that any foul language, hate speech or the like will be subject to removal.

The countdown continues, and "Nordecke" just sounds tough, doesn't it?

Number Three: Can Columbus Repeat?

Columbus completed a dream double last year, winning the MLS Cup after finishing the regular season with a Supporters' Shield to their name. Guillermo Barros Schelotto did everything but stand on his head for the men from Ohio, and was justly rewarded with an MVP trophy. Head Coach Sigi Schmid led his team to a championship, then promptly departed for expansion side Seattle Sounders FC. Long time MLSer Robert Warzycha take over the reigns from the departed Schmid, and hopes to lead Columbus back to the top of the mountain. All the parts remain in place for another successful season for the Crew, and the usual excellence will be expected out of those players who carried them last year. If Warzycha is effective with his message, and there isn't too much of a fall off for some of the Crew's older players (GBS and Frankie Hejduk chief among them), then we can expect another deep Cup run from Columbus, something their rabid Nordecke fans will surely savor.

Apparently the Crew organization has gone and trademarked the name "Nordecke", denying their fans the opportunity to disseminate paraphernalia emblazoned with that name (which was a fan creation in the first place). Doesn't really seem the best approach to fostering a good relationship with their supporters, now does it?

Quick scheduling note:

Despite the effort it takes to do so (anyone got a line on cheap, but decent quality laptop?), I intend to live blog the Sounders-Red Bulls match on Thursday night.

Be there or be...well, somewhere else.

Oh, and I forgot to mention...

With the "Cover It Live" thingy I'm using now (which I first saw at The 24th Minute), the live blogging here should be a much more interactive situation. I'd love to have some of you guys come by and do a back-and-forth on the game (and the crowd, and the atmosphere).

Just a few thoughts, that I'm going to phrase as questions, rattling around the old noggin on a Monday:

Where are the tickets sales numbers for MLS? We know about Seattle and Toronto, and we know that FC Dallas draws worse that a steer carcass rotting in the desert, but what about everyone else? How's that "Defend the Fort" thing going up in New England for example?

Is there something fundamentally wrong with young American players who go to Europe? For every Michael Bradley, it seems there's another player who can't even make the bench at a mid-level (or worse) club to dampen the enthusiasm. I know we're never going to bat 1.000 (baseball metaphor in a soccer blog, sorry), but we shouldn't be waiting for our most impressive youngsters to come back to the U.S. before they get regular time.

It's three days until MLS First Kick on ESPN2, Sounders v. Red Bulls, in a city that has gone nuts for soccer (seemingly anyway-I'm not there, but that's the sense I get); why is there still nothing from ESPN? No profiles of the team, no focus on the supporters, not even a mention of what has turned into one of the greatest sports marketing triumphs of the last who-knows-how-many-years....Zip. Zilch. Nada. Why? Hell, we might expect a story by one of the news agencies across the pond before ESPN gets their act together. Do I need to mention again that the league is ON THEIR NETWORK!?!

Also,

Where are the pictures I was supposed to see?
Why is it every time I turn on the radio, I hear the same five songs every fifteen minutes?
Why ask why?
Where's the beef?
How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?

And finally,

How long until MLS starts?

Wow. Wacky mood after a Monday. I feel dirty.

Barcelona could be moving their MLS investment dollars to Philadelphia. The Spanish club sent an envoy to the City of Brotherly Love at the end of February, and while both the Philly group and Barca are declining to comment on any discussions that might have taken place, it seems that the death of the Miami expansion bid wasn't the last we'll hear about Barcelona and MLS.

It's just such an odd pairing. I can't think of two major cities that have less in common than Philadelphia and Barcelona.

I'm fine with Barca looking for another way into the league as long as it doesn't mean we'll have a Barca-branded team. I was against "Barca-Miami" from the start, and I would certainly vomit repeatedly if Phildelphia ends up as "Barca Philadelphia" or some such nonsense. It's no secret that the Philly ownership group needs an infusion of cash, and I certainly can't fault them is Barca come calling with checkbook in hand.

SF at The Offside Rules brings up the disconcerting possibility that FCB's involvment could be the reason we haven't heard a name and colors announcement our of Philly. I sure as hell hope that's not the case.

Thoughts?

Coming in at number four, New York in name only...

Number Four: Does the Red Bull run carry over to 2009?

New York shocked almost every observer last year, squeaking their way into the playoffs thanks to a few magnificent saves by Columbus woodwork, and then parlaying that lifeline into a improbable run through two-time defending MLS Cup-winner Houston Dynamo and Western Conference Cinderella Real Salt Lake. As magnificent a run as that was, it ultimately ended in disappointment at the HDC. 2008's magic means that 2009's expectations are all the more inflated; it's up to Juan Carlos Osorio to make the Cup run mean something. Juan Pablo Angel returns, and is certainly capable of another MVP-type scoring season. Juan Rojas, Dane Richards, Dominic Oduro and company will be charged with providing JPA enough service to keep the goals coming, while Osorio juggles defensive pieces on the other end of the pitch. New York fans are fired up, and with good reason; now it's time to see what type of shadow 2008 casts on the Red Bulls in 2009.

In addition to the pressure and expectations brought on by 2008 is the lead-in to the opening of Red Bull Arena next year; the organization will certainly want to open their new stadium with success on the pitch behind them.