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August 31, 2007

Santa Clara's emphasis on soccer could pay off with title, writes Killion

Though it's deserved, we at the blog get tired of criticizing the soccer coverage offered by the local paper. It just gets boring after a while: "No, the sky is blue. Mm-hmm, yes, blue. No, not yellow—we've been over this before. Say it with me: blue. See? Is that so hard?"

So, it's nice that today we have nothing but compliments for Ann Killion's column in today's Mercury News, which focuses on Santa Clara University's stellar men's side.

Of all the great Broncos teams, this one - picked to win the West Coast Conference and ranked fifth by College Soccer News to start the season - has the potential to be the very best.

"There are a lot of strengths," said Coach Cameron Rast, who has a good basis of comparison, having played on the 1989 co-national championship team and the 1991 runner-up. "It is very talented, very experienced."

The Broncos, who open their season tonight at home against Alabama A&M, are returning 19 players from the squad that made it to the NCAA quarterfinals last year, losing to Wake Forest. Two seniors graduated and one freshman, Amaechi Igwe, left early to enter the MLS draft - the latter development a clear sign of the new opportunities and challenges in men's collegiate soccer.

Igwe, we'll note here, was the number 12 pick in the first round of the 2007 MLS Superdraft, taken by New England. He's only played with their reserves so far, but he saw limited playing time with the USA at this summer's U-20 World Cup.

Killion explains that part of Santa Clara's advantage in soccer is due to the fact that the sport gets top billing at the school.

The lack of a football team might not benefit the soccer team in terms of scholarship numbers. But it does enhance the appeal of Santa Clara for many soccer players. They know that they - and their female counterparts on Jerry Smith's team - are the top dogs of autumn.

"That absolutely plays a big role," Lowry said. "At a school like UCLA, you're sixth or seventh down the totem pole. Here they highlight soccer. We get treated great. It's definitely a draw."

Rast, whose team won a title when the school competed in football, knows that the absence of football is still a sensitive subject around Santa Clara, 14 years after the sport was dropped. But he concedes it doesn't hurt his team.

"They feel like they're a priority," he said. "They get a lot of attention for what they do."

It was part of the attraction for Anibaba, who also wanted to stay close to home.

"Soccer is one of the primary sports, so it made me want to come here even more," he said.

We think this is an interesting point. Santa Clara seems to have discovered that soccer is an appropriate vehicle for school pride. Simply by promoting soccer to a position of prominence, they've learned that people will grow to appreciate the sport. Yup, that's a very interesting idea indeed.

Santa Clara University's soccer season starts tonight at Buck Shaw Stadium with a doubleheader. The eighth-ranked women's side kicks off against San Jose State at 5:30, followed by the men's opener against Alabama A&M at 8:00. The men's team will also play on Sunday, taking on the Vermont Catamounts at 2:00. Ticket information is here.

Posted by Jay at 07:06 AM | Comments (0)

August 30, 2007

Controversy over Merc's soccer coverage heats up

A quick scan of the last six months of the blog will indicate that we've had issues with the Mercury News over their coverage of soccer, both in terms of quality and quantity. Well, we're not the only ones.

Over on BigSoccer, someone started a thread entitled, "Mercury News: Love It or Leave It?," which includes a poll asking subscribers if they're happy with the soccer coverage.

There are now over 100 responses to the poll, and despite the fact that it's not a scientific sample, the powers that be at the Merc can't be too pleased with the turnout. Of the 102 respondents, 61 report being current or former Mercury News subscribers. Of those 61, only four — that's seven percent — report that they're happy with the paper's soccer coverage. Of the 93 percent who report displeasure with the Merc's treatment of the beautiful game, 53 percent of that group has already cancelled their subscriptions because they finally couldn't take its "anti-soccer" attitude any more.

We think this should serve as a wake-up call for the paper, but if it doesn't, maybe a little ridicule from their peers in the San Jose media will help. We are referring to the Metro's latest "Silicon Alleys" column, in which writer Gary Singh serves a double espresso of pro-soccer sensibility to the sleepwalkers at the daily.

Here's how he begins:

Since there still exist sports writers in this town who can't function unless they're continuously bashing the sport of soccer from every possible manufactured angle while basking in their own irrelevance, I feel it necessary to hurl ridicule in their general direction. They know who they are, and it's not unique to San Jose, really. Pretty much every rube from the backwaters of every wasteland everywhere in America who doesn't understand the sport develops an irrational fear of it. For whatever reason, they feel threatened and they honestly want Major League Soccer to fail.

So, now that the San Jose Earthquakes—the oldest pro sports franchise in the history of the city—will finally emerge again next year, and despite the undeniable growth of the sport in the United States, there still exist farmers town armchair commandos masquerading as sports journalists who continue to bash soccer because they just don't get it. Simply put, there is no other country on planet Earth where people are so hysterically against one particular sport.

Actually, that may be a triple espresso. Drink up now, Mercury News.

* * *

The Superliga final was played last night and, wow, what a match. We won't go into the details here in case anyone hasn't watched their TIVO yet, but let us say that MLS and the MFL get high marks for the inaugural version of what has been a thrilling tournament. Yesterday's game had everything a soccer fan could want — incredible drama and tragedy, nail-biting suspense, and finally, a winner taking home a million dollar purse. Not to mention some weird foreshadowing courtesy of a scoreline advertisement, as Steven Rubio notes in his match report.

Posted by Jay at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2007

One less ex-Quake on the Galaxy

The Galaxy have been pretty abysmal this year, and the only thing that's hampered our enjoyment of their troubles has been the fact that so many ex-Quakes are there now: Frank Yallop, Joe Cannon, Kelly Gray, even that Donovan guy.

So, it is with mixed emotions that we pass along the report from The Daily Breeze that long-time Quakes goalkeeper coach Tim Hanley "was dismissed from the team for 'personal reasons.'" We're happy Hanley has left L.A., of course, but it's a bummer he's unemployed. We hope he catches on somewhere more suited to his talents soon — which, come to think of it, would be anywhere besides the Galaxy.

Here's the bit from the Breeze:

The club on Monday let go of Hanley, though it wasn't revealed until Tuesday when reporters noticed that a new coach, Ian Feuer, was working with the keepers. It wasn't clear whether the move was related to the Galaxy allowing 11 goals in the last three games, many the fault of a leaky defense rather than goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

Yallop would say only Hanley leaving was for "personal reasons."

Among Quakes fans, he'll always be remembered for his stellar work that led to four MLS Goalkeeper of the Year awards for Joe Cannon and Pat Onstad. He will also be remembered for this post on BigSoccer the day the announcement that the team would move.

Posted by Jay at 12:28 PM | Comments (1)

Wolff's NY Times interview reveals new information about Quakes

Back in August, 2004, Jack Bell of the New York Times was one of the first national soccer writers to take an interest in SSV's efforts to keep the Quakes in San Jose. Three years later, almost to the day, he's breaking a new story regarding the future of soccer in San Jose, while simultaneously shedding new light on its past.

One thing is certain about the latest incarnation of the Earthquakes: The team will not be playing in Spartan Stadium, which opened in 1933, on the campus of San Jose State University. Wolff’s offer to finance a new stadium there was rejected. “I may never know the real reason why,” Wolff said. “And I don’t really care.”

Instead it is very likely that the new, new Earthquakes will split their games for the next two seasons among Santa Clara University, Oakland and Sacramento. Wolff is pursuing a parcel of land near the San Jose airport and would like to be in the new building for the 2010 season. It is also very likely that the owners of the Sharks, the N.H.L. franchise, will purchase a part interest in the soccer team.

So, there you have it: Lew Wolff says the real reasons for the breakdown of the San Jose State deal have not been made public; the Quakes are "very likely" to be playing at Santa Clara University, Oakland (the Coliseum?), and Sacramento for the next two seasons; and the Sharks are also "very likely" to become part of the Earthquakes' ownership group.

There's more in the story about Wolff and his plans for the Quakes, so give 'em a click — they deserve a visit.

Just for fun, here is an excerpt from Bell's article on the Quakes and SSV from 2004. It was written just after SSV's first rally, which drew over 1,500 fans to Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose. (The entire article is available as well, but you'll have to fork over some cash to see it.)

Earthquakes' Future Remains in Doubt
By Jack Bell

Published: August 24, 2004

On Saturday night, the San Jose Earthquakes went retro, wearing the red uniforms of their predecessor in the North American Soccer League, looking back because there may be nothing to look forward to. The Anschutz Entertainment Group, which operates the Earthquakes in Northern California (and four other M.L.S. teams, including the MetroStars), is prepared to move the team to San Antonio or to sell it to Club América of Mexico, which would move the team to Houston, if local investors are not found by Sept. 17.

"It's obvious to us they don't want the team," Colin McCarthy said in a telephone interview, referring to A.E.G. McCarthy is a lawyer, an Earthquakes fan and the president of the grass-roots group Soccer Silicon Valley. At a meeting last week, members of the group extracted a pledge from A.E.G. officials that will give S.S.V. less than a month to find an investor to keep the team in San Jose.

(Boy, a lot has sure changed since then. With the sale of the Fire set to finalize soon, AEG will only own two teams in MLS, the Galaxy and Houston. The MetroStars are now the Red Bulls. And, despite the tumult of the last two years, the future of the Earthquakes is looking brighter than ever.)

Posted by Jay at 05:25 AM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2007

Killion column reflects heart of soccer

Here at the blog, we aren't stingy in handing out criticism when we think it's warranted, so it's only fair that we be equally generous with praise. So, with that in mind, we turn to Ann Killion's Sunday column in the Mercury News, "Reminded of the good nature of sports." In it, Killion tells of her experience in accompanying her 12-year-old daughter and her Class I soccer team to the Gothia Cup in Sweden.

It's the world's largest youth soccer tournament, Killion reports:

This July, 1,585 teams - girls and boys ranging in age from 11 to 19 - from around the world landed in Gothenburg. Sixty-six nations were represented: Italy, Mexico, India, Togo, Cameroon, Ghana, Brazil. You name the country, there were soccer players in Sweden from there.

Over 10 days, 4,400 games were played on 91 fields, including in Ullevi Stadium (where the U.S. men played a friendly against Sweden last week). The tournament brings $38 million into Gothenburg every year.

The opening ceremonies in Ullevi rivaled what I've seen in the World Cup or the Olympics - a true international celebration. The sight of 50,000 kids, coaches and parents doing the wave and dancing (to ABBA, of course) and cheering every new flag that appeared, was a joy to behold. My daughter said she'll always remember that night.

"None of the political stuff going on in the world mattered that night," Kaitlin said. "Everything was just about having fun and playing soccer."

Our girls were housed in a school along with 23 other teams from around the world. Each team bunked in a separate classroom, but they all ate meals together. When the parents walked up the hill from our hotel, we found our girls playing pickup soccer games on the schoolyard with a Swedish boys team. Or trying out their Spanish on the boys from Guadalajara. Or talking to teenage girls from Norway.

"The more memorable moments were interacting with other kids," said Jamie Kerester. "One of my favorite parts was practicing our Spanish on kids from Mexico who didn't speak any English at all."

"It was really amazing to become friends with players from around the world," said Darcy McFarlane.

It sounds like a wonderful event. (Well, except for listening to Abba. We much prefer The Hives when it comes to Swedish bands. But we digress.) It also brings home that even at the youth level, soccer is the most international team sport, an idea which Killion really brings to life in her column.

The other thing that caught our eye, though, was the idea that the tournament brings $38 million into Gothenburg, Sweden every year, and that they played some of the games in the 43,000-seat Ullevi Stadium. Isn't there a new soccer stadium planned for San Jose? And a couple hundred thousand youth players in Northern California alone? Hmmm...

Posted by Jay at 09:05 AM | Comments (1)

August 25, 2007

Beane to Quakes? Not so fast, there...

Earthquakes Planet was all aflutter there after the Toronto Star ran their big story on Billy Beane's interest in soccer. It was, after all, a piece that hinted at a lot: Beane loves soccer, he's a Spurs fan (that's Tottenham, not San Antonio), he's informally involved with the Quakes, and he's certain that A's assistant GM David Forst could run the team without him.

Sounds like he's ready for a career change? Eh, not so fast, says the Official Major League Baseball web site.

Last week in Oakland, Beane conceded that he's long wondered how -- or if -- his baseball and business philosophies might translate to soccer, and he didn't deny that he'd be interested in exploring a more formal soccer-related career at some point in the future. But he laughed at the notion that his interest in soccer comes at the expense of the A's.

"Can you imagine?" Beane said, pretending to be on the phone with Yankees GM Brian Cashman. "'Yeah, I want to do the deal, Cash, but can it wait? I've gotta catch up on the [English Premier League]. I'll call you back.'"

Posted by Jay at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2007

Our soccer news honor roll

We're tired of harping on the local rag, so we thought today we would turn things around and look at the question of MLS news from a different angle. Specifically, we wanted to pass along links to some of the outlets we recommend for MLS and USA soccer news.

For Earthquakes news, the best sources lately have been the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Salinas Californian, HDnet television, San Jose's Metro, and even the L.A. Times, all of which have published stories on the Quakes in the last month or so, unlike some other papers. (Oh, did we say we weren't going to harp on the local rag today? Oops.)

So, what else is worth your attention? Here are a few recommendations, in alphabetical order:

* * *

In other news, FC Dallas signed Brazilian World Cup winner Denilson yesterday, using the team's Designated Player slot, providing more evidence that big names are willing to consider MLS in wake of the Beckham signing. And, despite the criticism by some that MLS is "a sort of senior league of fading stars," we'll note that Denilson is celebrating his 30th birthday today, which hardly makes him over the hill. (Oh, did we just snipe at the local paper again? Oops.)

Posted by Jay at 05:58 AM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2007

Killion continues Merc's losing streak

It seems like we spend half our time here either openly criticizing the Merury News or trying to cajole them into improving their coverage. So, we were hopeful when we saw that ace columnist Ann Killion, who did such a great job in providing a voice for frustrated fans as AEG prepared to move Dominic Kinnear and company to Houston, had written a column about MLS.

Unfortunately, there's not much insight in Killion's latest foray into our sport, just an overriding pessimism. Killion points to the 66,237 who went to see David Beckham's LA Galaxy play New York last weekend and states that Beckham is changing nothing about MLS. (We can only imagine her reaction if Beckham's presence hadn't dramatically increased attendance.)

Killion tries to establish her bona fides as a soccer fan ("I am a true believer. A true believer in soccer"), but it's clear that she's only giving lip service to the idea.

I happily confess that I was wrong in speculating that Beckham was finished as an international presence. When he signed with MLS in January, he was on the outs with both his club team Real Madrid and the English national team. He worked his way back into being a force with Madrid before leaving for the Los Angeles Galaxy and Wednesday he started for England in its friendly against Germany - his first cap since the 2006 World Cup.

Yup, she's really paying a lot of attention to soccer — except for the fact that Beckham had played twice for England before last night's loss to Germany. In fact, the ankle injury that kept him out of so many MLS matches was first sustained while playing for England in June. Whatever — that's a minor quibble.

The crux of her argument is that one big event does not make for sustainable growth. We've already covered this topic on the blog (ironically, it was in a response to another one of Killion's columns) and our response is largely the same now, but we have a new case study to discuss. As Killion points out, "Saturday's attendance in New York was 55,000 higher than the average for the team. In non-Beckham games, the league is still wallowing around the 12,000 mark."

First off, while New York's attendance averages around 12,000, overall non-Beckham MLS attendance is close to 15,000, which is an increase over last season. As for the spike in attendance which she inexplicably sees as a problem, here's why it's not: No one expects 66,000 fans at New York's next home game. People in MLS recognize the Beckham phenomenon for what it is, an event that's drawing soccer fans of all stripes to games, along with celebrity watchers. But if even 10 percent of those newcomers start coming back, New York doubles its average attendance to around 18,000 — which will be just about perfect for when they open their new, 25,000-seat stadium which is currently under construction.

The thing that most annoys us about this latest salvo is that Killion is familiar enough with some of the issues involved in MLS that she probably sounds credible to many readers. We find her attitude telling, however. It seems like she has it in for the league no matter what they do, no matter what sort of growth is occurring.

What would she have MLS do? If they didn't sign players like Beckham, the league would be criticized for being unambitious. So they signed Beckham. If attendance didn't increase, it would be pointed out that nobody cares about soccer. Since attendance did increase, we get her claims that it's not important, anyway.

If this is the kind of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" attitude that the MLS media relations department has to contend with, I've earned a new sympathy for them. We bang our heads against that wall voluntarily, but I can't imagine having to do it for a living.

Killion wraps up her column with this:

But Beckham isn't making Major League Soccer any better (his team is still one of the league's worst), just more noticed. It seems destined to be a sort of senior league of fading stars and unambitious younger players who choose not to pursue the big leagues overseas. The soccer level is still average at best. And the most talented young Americans - as even many MLS coaches agree - need to grab whatever opportunity they can to play in Europe if they truly want to improve.

Beckham isn't making the Galaxy any better? He's started one freaking game for them! Is it possible that it's too early to judge his impact on his squad? (Besides which, if a "true believer in soccer" is going to make an assessment after watching the LA/NY game, it's going to be that Beckham improves the Galaxy. No manager anywhere is going to complain about a guy who assists on two goals in the first eight minutes of a match.)

The thing that is really telling about Killion's attitude is her bit about MLS being "destined to be a sort of senior league of fading stars and unambitious younger players who choose not to pursue the big leagues overseas." Yes, there are some aging pros here, but the majority of the US roster that won the Gold Cup this summer consisted of MLS players. MLS rosters are also filled with exciting up-and-comers like Jozy Altidore who just starred for the US at the U20 World Cup.

Besides, the league is only 12 years old. It's a bit early to start talking about destiny. It's a bit like a fourth grader bringing home a report card that says he doesn't play well with others and telling him that he is destined to become a recluse, living out his days in a cabin on the side of a mountain in Idaho.

Finally, we have one question: Is it really that difficult to recognize a growth curve? We'd all love to see MLS usurp the European soccer hierarchy and bring all the world's best players here, and we think it might even happen in 20 years. Right now, though, if Lew Wolff or Phil Anschutz or any other MLS owner decides they want to pull a Chelsea and spend half a billion dollars on players, they'd lose their shirts because there's no infrastructure to support that investment. MLS has a $150 million TV contract (their biggest ever, by the way, and that was signed before Beckham) that continues for a few years. Some MLS teams have their own stadiums, but not all of them, and spending that kind of money doesn't make sense unless you control enough of the ancillary revenue streams to recoup your investment.

MLS is growing and it's growing wisely. Killion's column would have been timely if it had appeared 30 years ago, when the NASL was about to succumb to its own orgiastic spending. As it is, all she has are cynical, baseless criticisms of a sport she claims to love.

Posted by Jay at 07:04 AM | Comments (4)

August 21, 2007

Toronto Star reports on "Mr. Beane's love affair with soccer"

Is it just us, or does it seem like the best sources for San Jose soccer news are the local newspapers of Toronto, Canada? Last week, there was an interview with Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff in the Toronto Globe and Mail, and today we have a story in the Toronto Star about Billy Beane's love affair with soccer.

Just how much is Beane into soccer? Well, the story notes that it's causing problems with his wife. "She wants to watch the baseball highlights on (ESPN's) SportsCenter. I want to watch Fox Soccer Channel," Beane says.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in the story in the insight that's provided into Beane's thinking regarding the evaluation of athletes, whether they're playing baseball or soccer.

"Everybody in sport is using some sort of objective analysis," Beane said. "The biggest key is collecting and utilizing data that is linear to winning games."

The most obvious hurdle is the dearth of statistical data in soccer as compared to baseball.

"I'm too respectful of the sport to say I have the formula for success," Beane said. "But it's something we'd like to explore."

Essentially, Beane's thinking is this: there are practically an unlimited number of ways to measure an athlete's performance (peak heart rate, respiration rate, and speed in the 40 yard dash, just to name a few, or baseball-specific stats such as on base percentage, runs scored, total bases, etc.). While all these statistics tell us something, some are more important than others. The measurable traits that will have a direct correlation to the desired outcome on the field are what Beane refers to as "data that is linear to winning games."

We are reminded of the 49ers 1980's experiment with Renaldo Nehemiah, then the world record holder in the 110 meter hurdles. Nehemiah was a well-rounded athlete—he is the only four-time winner of ABC-TV's "Superstars" competition—but never put up big numbers on the football field. What trait did he lack? What was it about Jerry Rice that made his talents "linear to winning games" in a way that Nehemiah's were not?

We don't know, but if there's a way to measure what makes a striker world-class, it sounds like Beane is interested in finding it.

* * *

In other news, former San Jose star Eddie Lewis is finally going to get his chance to play in the Premiership. He was just sold by financially troubled Leeds United to Derby County, where he'll join up-and-coming American midfielder Benny Feilhaber. Congrats to Eddie.

Posted by Jay at 08:36 AM | Comments (2)

August 20, 2007

Three years ago today...


Today is the third anniversary of SSV's first "Save the Quakes" rally, which was held in Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park in downtown San Jose. Coincidentally, that location is now less than a block from the offices of Earthquakes Soccer, LLC, in the Fairmont Hotel.

The photo above shows emcee John Shrader at the mic, with then SSV president Colin McCarthy on the right next to the trophies.

We wrote this about the event then:

Thanks to everyone who turned out for the rally. We took photos of the crowd at its peak and have counted a grand total of 1,527 people! As Soccer Silicon Valley president Colin McCarthy said to the crowd, "We're only as loud as you make us," and everyone who attended gave Soccer Silicon Valley a very loud voice for keeping the Quakes in the Bay Area. The rally was covered extensively on local TV and radio and even on the BBC! The rally and SSV's investor search was also one of the lead stories on Saturday night's broadcast of MLS Wrap on Fox Sports World. Thanks to everyone involved for making things happen.

"We're only as loud as you make us," is still true, by the way. Thank you all for your continued support.

You can find more photos from the event here.

Posted by Jay at 09:19 AM | Comments (2)

August 19, 2007

Wolff, Alioto featured in HDnet halftime feature

We were pleasantly surprised by a halftime feature on the Quakes during HDnet's broadcast last night of the DC/Columbus match. The first minute is highlights from the 2003 Western Conference final between San Jose and Kansas City; the rest, an interview with Lew Wolff and David Alioto about the return of the team and the plans for a new stadium. Enjoy! (Thanks to Guamster for the upload.)

Posted by Jay at 06:06 AM | Comments (2)

August 18, 2007

Boston Globe reprint offers cliched criticism of soccer

There's a proverb that says, "It is best to keep your mouth shut and be presumed ignorant than to open it and remove all doubt." It's been attributed to a number of people, including Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Albert Einstein, so it seems as though the wisdom of the statement is widely acknowledged.

It's surprising, then, that people like Alex Beam, a Boston Globe columnist who is reprinted in today's Mercury News, refuses to heed those words and instead chooses flaunt his ignorance by weighing in on David Beckham's prospects in America.

Beam, who writes for the Globe's Living/Arts section, makes his living as a wry provocateur, as evidenced by his monthly podcasts of the "hate mail" (his words, not ours) directed at him. A survey of his recent columns includes topics including the rebranding of Boston University, what not to discuss with him over lunch, European exhibitions of contemporary art, The New Yorker's profile of real estate and media tycoon Mort Zuckerman, and his affection for Stephen Sondheim, Michael Dukakis, and travel writer Jan Morris.

While ours was a cursory review of his work, it does not appear that Beam possesses an expertise in sports, and it's evident from the content of his column that he's not particularly knowledgeable about soccer or MLS. In fact, his biggest complaint about Beckhamania is directed towards the hype surrounding Victoria — he devotes nearly half of his column to her. Pop culture seems much more up his alley, and it shows. This portion of his column is actually pretty astute and amusing:

Last month, NBC broadcast "Victoria Beckham Comes to America," which was meant to be a reality TV series but instead ended up as a one-hour television special. It's astonishing to think that Mrs. Beckham failed in a medium where Anna Nicole Smith and Paula Abdul have succeeded. I wonder how that bodes for the jeans, sunglasses, and the inevitable perfume she will be promoting.

("Inevitable" — wouldn't that be a great brand name for Posh's perfume? We can hear the husky voice with the vaguely foreign accent on the TV ads now: "Inevitable... the new scent from Victoria Beckham.")

Sadly, Beam couldn't stop at snarky comments about dear Posh and had to go after Becks himself, thereby revealing his shortcomings as a sports writer. Apparently, his original column that ran in the Globe alleged that Beckham had not scored a goal in over a year, a characterization that can best be described as "completely wrong." (A disclaimer on the Globe's web site blames "a reporting error" for the mistake, then compounds the error by stating that "Beckham did score a goal for his former soccer club, Real Madrid, earlier this year." Actually, there were several.)

Unfortunately, that's not the only error Beam makes. He instructs his readers to "Forget for a moment that soccer will never crack the top five most popular American sports," a surprisingly easy command to follow since soccer is already challenging hockey in popularity. (Beam probably doesn't know that MLS has a game of the week on ESPN2, as well as games shown nationally every week on three other networks.)

Beam's reasoning gets murkier from there:

There are some subtleties about David Beckham that will always elude the U.S. sports fan. Bankable, American sports mega-heroes make the big plays: Tiger Woods sinks the putt; Tom Brady runs the two-minute offense; Alex Rodriguez hits the long ball. Beckham does make big plays, when he decides to play.

Huh? American sports stars make big plays, and David Beckham... makes big plays? What's the criticism here, exactly — that Beckham doesn't play when he's injured? That's something he has in common with every other major league athlete. Color us confused.

Beam continues:

"Bend It Like Beckham" notwithstanding, Beckham is not a striker, as soccer scorers are called. He is a midfield player and a server. He can score, but his genius is distributing the ball. He is Scottie Pippen, not Michael Jordan. You want him on your team so your forwards can score goals. And they do. But 99 out of 100 American sports fans will never get why Beckham is great.

Here, Beam acknowledges that Beckham is great, but says that he's the assist guy and not the primary goal scorer, which is too subtle a distinction for 99 percent of Americans to appreciate. That must be why fame and fortune never came the way of basketball players like John Stockton, Mark Jackson, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Rod Strickland, Maurice Cheeks, and Lenny WIlkins, nine of the top ten all-time NBA assist leaders, none of whom is in the top ten in scoring. Gosh, what horrible fates they all must have suffered in this uncaring nation where only a single percent of our population appreciated their talents.

Finally, Beam makes a mistake in trying to fit international club soccer into the same hierarchy that is used by Major League Baseball, where there's one league on top and everything else is neatly categorized in minor leagues of lesser importance: AAA, AA, etc. We've said it before and we'll say it again: Soccer doesn't work that way.

Let's look at last year's World Cup. When the US played Italy, five of the Americans who took to the field for the Stars and Stripes were MLS players. The 1-1 draw was the best result anyone had against the Azzuri, the eventual champions. That's pretty good for "players not good enough to play in the real major leagues," as Beam describes them. We don't think it's fair to criticize American players for wanting to play in America, but maybe that's just us.

We at the blog are not fans of hype, and we're certainly not fans of the Galaxy, and we agree that some comic criticism of Beckhamania is in order. The best comedy has an element of truth to it, though, and on that count Beam misses the mark.

Posted by Jay at 09:03 AM | Comments (3)

August 17, 2007

"Potential wrench" unlikely to hurt stadium project, despite Mercury News story

It's been two days since the Mercury News published the latest anti-soccer story from Barry Witt, and we've withheld comment on it so that we could research the topic he addresses more thoroughly. The fact that we are referring to it as an "anti-soccer" story will give you a clue as to the conclusions that we've drawn, but read on if you want all the details.

Witt's piece, headlined "San Jose sued over zoning decision," covers developer Carl Berg's recently filed lawsuit against the City of San Jose for denying a rezoning bid of 320 acres of industrial land in the Evergreen district of the city. SSV has obtained a copy of the suit which you can download here (PDF, 1.1 MB).

Witt's story begins, "Throwing a potential wrench into San Jose's pursuit of a professional soccer stadium, developer Carl Berg charged in a lawsuit this week that the city council is illegally picking favorites when deciding when to approve lucrative rezonings."

There's only one problem with that: Berg's lawsuit against the City has almost no bearing on the proposed soccer stadium.

In fact, the stadium is never mentioned in the complaint, and the iStar re-zoning that would finance the stadium is mentioned only peripherally, as one of a list of seven other approved (or likely-to-be-approved) rezonings (in paragraph 70(f), if you downloaded the complaint).

Any fair reading of the complaint renders the soccer stadium proposal a tangential footnote, yet Witt has chosen to put it front-and-center in his story, in a negative light.

In all, Berg's lawsuit lists eight claims of wrongdoing by the City of San Jose (referred to as "Causes of Action" in the document). Seven of them refer to specific actions taken by the City regarding the Evergreen project and, in essence, accuse the City of contractual wrongdoing. These claims are all focused solely on the City's past actions regarding the Evergreen project and have no bearing on any other projects. The eighth claim, which contains the reference to the iStar rezoning, asserts that the City's actions have denied Berg his constitutional right to equal protection under the law, which SSV's resident legal expert, attorney Don Gagliardi, contends is "extremely weak."

Here's more from Gagliardi:

First, the chances of Berg winning his "civil rights" constitutional equal protection claim (as opposed to his contract-based claims) are vanishingly slim. Real estate developers are not a "suspect class" such as an ethnic minority group and Berg will not be entitled to judicial "strict scrutiny" of his claim of alleged governmental discrimination between him and other developers, virtually dooming his claim... and the current judicial climate is not likely to be hospitable to in effect making new law by broadening constitutional equal protection claims. Further, there are many differences between Berg's Evergreen rezoning and the iStar rezoning, the latter of which will provide the city an extraordinary economic benefit in the form of a cost-free new stadium along with a billion-dollar redevelopment of the FMC site, and the former of which will not. These are hardly "aribitrary" distinctions for a municipality to draw...

Further, even if by some miracle Berg were to prevail on his constitutional claim and thereby put the City of San Jose out of the rezoning business altogether, it almost certainly won't happen before the potential rezoning on the iStar property in March 2008... in this particular case, the initial case management conference is not even scheduled until April 2008, with the trial (if it gets that far) in the unscheduled thereafter.

Clearly, there is practically no way for Berg's lawsuit to have any impact on the iStar rezoning or on the soccer stadium. It's a fair question for the Mercury News, then, why they chose to make the soccer stadium the very first topic mentioned in their story.

Posted by Jay at 12:51 PM | Comments (4)

August 16, 2007

Toronto paper interviews Wolff on soccer

While we've yet to hear much from the Mercury News about the return of the Quakes, other papers are taking up the slack. First, it was the Salinas Californian that provided a timetable for the announcement of next year's venues, hiring of a technical director and head coach, and the expansion draft. Today, the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper interviews Lew Wolff, and we get his thoughts on what kind of a stadium he hopes to build in San Jose.

Wolff, who is in Toronto for a Major League Baseball owners meeting, toured Toronto FC's BMO Field, and likes what he saw:

"I think the stadium is as perfect as you can get," Wolff said. "It may not look like a spaceship like some of them do but the fans are as close to the action as I've ever seen. It's not too high up."

He even likes the metal structure because of the noise factor. "We're looking for more noise instead of less," he said.

His plans for a soccer stadium in San Jose are for 15,000 to 18,000 seats and his plans for a new baseball park for the Athletics in Fremont, Calif., are for 32,000 seats.

"We're convinced that that's better," he said. "If you make a mistake you're not going to kill yourself. Our whole goal in baseball and soccer is to get the fan as close to the play as possible."

So, let's see — we've got "more noise instead of less" and "Our whole goal in baseball and soccer is to get the fan as close to the play as possible." Sounds great so far. Let's just hope that when he said, "I think the (Toronto) stadium is as perfect as you can get," he was ignoring the fake grass there.

* * *

Last month, we spoke of the misconception held by some that MLS is "minor league." Today, England manager Steve McClaren confirms our opinion that MLS, while not on par with teams like Chelsea and Manchester United, compares favorably with many of the teams in the English Premier League.

Having watched Galaxy's game against DC United recently, McClaren dismissed concerns that the midfielder's standard would drop in Major League Soccer. "It was a good standard. It was possibly Championship top half, lower Premier,'' McClaren observed.

Considering the low salary cap in MLS, the quality of the league is, if anything, underrated.

* * *

Finally, we have to mention this:

(By the way, did anyone else watch this game and wonder what's happening on Joe Cannon's face? Our only guess is that he lost a bet with Abel Xavier, but I suppose we should wait until it grows in more.)

Posted by Jay at 07:29 AM | Comments (3)

August 15, 2007

Washington Post profiles DC United's supporters' groups; plus, a Jimmy Conrad item


Page one of the Style section, above the fold.

Despite having a unique place in American sports, very few journalists have taken the time to report on the many supporters' groups in MLS. (Does anyone remember any media coverage of the Casbah? I sure don't.) Today, the Washington Post takes a look at the Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles, two groups of DC United fans that each boast hundreds of members. In addition to the five pages of text, the Post offers up video and a slideshow with audio on the Barra Brava.

We're not even going to try to sum up the Post's material here. Just read it, especially if you're interested in one of the most important and fun ways in which MLS differs from other major league sports.

Kudos to both DC United's supporters' groups and to the team's front office, which has done a great job in working with the groups to help make them as successful as they are today.

* * *

Another good read today is the Kansas City Star's piece on former Quake Jimmy Conrad and his collection of jerseys, all obtained from opponents of Conrad's. It's an impressive list: a David Beckham shirt from an MLS exhibition match against Real Madrid; Andrea Pirlo's Italy jersey from the 2006 World Cup; and a number of friends and former San Jose teammates, including Ronald Cerritos, Richard Mulrooney, and Chris Brown.

Here's our favorite bit from the Star article, in which writer Pete Grathoff one-ups Jimmy's self-deprecating humor:

“If somebody wants my jersey, I consider that a sign of respect and they value my game and think I’m a player worth having,” Conrad said. “Of course, I switched with Beckham. He’s probably washing his car with my jersey.”

That’s unlikely — Beckham is one of the richest soccer players on the planet, so someone else probably washes his car.

Oh, snap! Good one, Pete.

Posted by Jay at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

One more from the open house

How cute can you get? Caroline, the youngest visitor to the Earthquakes' offices on August 9, is only just a little taller than an MLS Cup trophy. (That's 2001 up front and '03 in the background.)

Posted by Jay at 07:58 AM | Comments (3)

August 13, 2007

Seattle, St. Louis bid for MLS expansion teams

While the Quakes return to MLS next season is a done deal, there are still many cities that are trying to accomplish the same thing for the next round of expansion in 2009 or 2010.

As we noted recently, a Seattle team is currently being pursued by four different investors, one of whom had only been known anonymously. He has been revealed, and it turns out that he's Joe Roth, a Hollywood honcho who formerly headed Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox Film. (Here's his IMDB credit list. Maybe he can bring in some "Young Guns" to soccer's "Major League" in the hopes of creating what Seattle fans will remember as "Our Winning Season." If he fails, it may be "A Low Down Dirty Shame.")

St. Louis investors are also looking to bring a team to the suburbs of their fair city—specifically, Collinsville, Ill., a town about 10 minutes across the Mississippi from downtown. There's an overview of their bid on MLSnet.com, but if you want to go straight to the pretty pictures of their proposed development, you can find a slideshow of conceptual renderings for the development here.

Posted by Jay at 07:50 AM | Comments (2)

August 10, 2007

They're ba-ack...

Thanks to the opportunity to see the two beauties pictured above, a steady stream of people stopped by the Earthquakes Soccer offices last night. (Although, come to think of it, maybe people were looking in to watch the Galaxy lose on national TV in David Beckham's MLS debut. Nah — as much as we enjoy watching LA lose, and you can't spell "Los Angeles" without "L-O-S-E," it was the trophies.)

One more photo here.

Posted by Jay at 08:31 AM | Comments (3)

August 09, 2007

BBC reports intimate stadiums make for winning teams

We were just listening to a BBC World Service podcast entitled "Quiet Please" that focused on the various aspects of sound in sports, and it got us to thinking again about the new stadium we hope to see built for the Earthquakes. (If you'd like to listen to it yourself, we've made it available here for your downloading pleasure (MP3, 8.7 M).

One of the people interviewed was Dr. Sandy Wilson, a sports psychologist and Newcastle United fan. She made some comments that put the desire for an intimate stadium in a new light:

"I think the noise that comes from a crowd can have a major effect on the referee. It's not just the players who are affected but the referees are affected. That can also contribute to the home advantage. If you're a referee and you suddenly hear 40,000 people shout, 'hand ball!,' it might not be a question of your being intimidated by the crowd; it might be that that information can help you to make a decision on what's been happening.

"Actually, there was a very interesting analysis of football games in the German premier league and it was found that the home advantage was particularly high in stadiums that didn't have a running track that separated the pitch from the fans. There was another study done in England that looked at the home advantage and they showed people, both normal fans and referees, videos of incidents that had happened in games and asked them to make a ruling about whether a foul had been committed or not, and when these incidents were played with the sound on, they found a very strong home advantage bias. But when the sound was turned off, they found that the bias was eliminated."

So, intimate stadium = greater home field advantage. Of course, the stadium has to be loud, but that's a given since we're talking about Quakes fans.

Former Quake Jimmy Conrad was also interviewed for the show. He spoke about his experience in the 2006 World Cup against the Czech Republic and Italy.

"We went out there and over half the stadium was already full, and we got boos from the Czech fans and amazing cheers from the American fans. Once I actually got to play and I got out there, I'm not thinking about anything. I think the only time you pick up on the sound from the crowd is when a goal is scored. The only other time you notice a sound is when I can't hear somebody who's standing five yards from me because it's so loud. When we played Italy in Gelsenkirchen, it was so loud and Oguchi Onyewu was three yards from me, yelling for me to step up or close or to do something that he thought I needed to do, and I couldn't hear him."

(re: Italy) "I couldn't understand what they were saying but I think what's universal about language is you can pick up on tone, the harshness in what they're saying or how loud they're saying things. So you would hear when they were talking to each other, they were frustrated and as the opposing team, you get a lot of confidence from that. What's interesting in looking back on that now is how much the sound plays into my memories."

Posted by Jay at 10:24 AM | Comments (3)

August 08, 2007

"Offside" fundraiser a big hit


Matt Kamkar of the NoRouz Festival accepts a $500 donation from SSV's president, Don Gagliardi.

A good time was had by all and over $1,700 was raised in the effort to establish an Iranian Community Center in San Jose as SSV, the Earthquakes, the NoRouz Festival, Ben Absalom, and Rosie McCann's Irish Pub hosted a special screening of "Offside" at the Camera 12 Cinemas in downtown San Jose on Sunday night.

In addition to the funny and spirited film, much of which was filmed at the World Cup qualifying match in 2005 in which Iran won passage to the 2006 World Cup, the over 200 people in attendance were treated to a raffle and short presentations by Don Gagliardi and Ned Zuparko of SSV, Matt Kamkar of the NoRouz Festival, David Alioto of the Earthquakes, and San Jose City Councilmember Nancy Pyle. Other VIPs in attendance included two aides to Congressman Mike Honda; San Jose planning commissioner Lisa Jensen; Alida Bray, the History San Jose director; local entertainer and dance instructor Niosha Nafeii and her husband Jay Jamali; Bruce Bahmani, and Ebrahim Pakzad.

(Photos and more continue below...)

The screening even garnered a bit of unexpected publicity when the Merc's John Ryan ran an item about the event on his blog on Monday. (To answer his question about whether or not the MLS All-Star Game will be held in San Jose in 2010, well, we don't recall exactly what was said. Life is a contest where, in many cases, you must be present to win.)

And now, on with the rest of the photos:


SSV board member Ned Zuparko, who played an enormous role in coordinating the event.


SSV volunteer Merryl Zuparko checks in an attendee.


David Alioto of the Earthquakes spoke briefly to the crowd before the film.


San Jose City Councilmember Nancy Pyle expressed enthusiasm for the Earthquakes' 2008 return to MLS.

Posted by Jay at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)

August 06, 2007

Alioto interviewed in Salinas Californian

The elation that came with July's announcement that the Earthquakes would be taking the field again in 2008 has started to fade a bit under the weight of a host of unanswered questions. Where will the team be playing? Who will be the technical director? Who will be coaching?

Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian interviewed Earthquakes executive vice president David Alioto and today, his paper publishes the answers—or, more accurately, a timetable for when we can expect that these issues will be resolved.

In short, the schedule looks like this:

According to Alioto, the next 30 days will bring the announcement of the home venue for 2008.

In the next 45 days, the Earthquakes will hire their technical director and head coach.

In 60 days, season ticket sales begin in earnest. November will be the expansion draft, which the Earthquakes can pick the day because they are the only team participating. The expansion draft will allow the team to build the initial roster before the MLS draft proper happens in January.

In addition, the team plans on having tryouts for players throughout Northern California, including Salinas possibly... The tryouts would be for players aged 17 to 30 and are for a place in the Earthquakes' Academy, a key way for the team to discover and develop new talent.

...The last issue for resurrecting the team happens in October when the Earthquakes present their plan to the San Jose City Council to build a stadium near the San Jose Airport.

Alioto also spoke about the team's progress and goals in selling season ticket deposits.

San Jose has received 1,100 deposits so far. It is the first step in their timetable of recreating their own excitement for the 2008 season.

The deposit holders are the first step in establishing a season-ticket base for the reborn franchise. The aim is to surpass the 1,500 deposit goal set by Toronto's MLS franchise. Eventually, TFC had over 15,000 season ticket holders, essentially selling out every game for their first season.

So there you have it. Start your stopwatch now—we'll know where the Quakes will be making their temporary home after Labor Day weekend.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday's screening of "Offside." We'll have a report with photos from the event tomorrow.

Posted by Jay at 10:15 AM | Comments (3)

August 04, 2007

Seattle columnist strikes back against sport's haters

It's likely that every American soccer fan has a story or two about soccer bashing in the media. We know soccer is an easy target since there are so many well established cliches that writers and commentators can fall back on: it's boring, there aren't enough goals, Americans don't like sports that aren't invented here (er, uh, never mind about golf and hockey), etc.

Soccer keeps growing steadily in this country despite the opinions of these "experts," so we at the blog don't usually respond to those writers—and besides, our replies are usually not much different from what they were back in 1998, anyway.

But sometimes it's entertaining to see someone take up the defense of our sport, particularly if it's done in an amusing way. So today, we bring you the work of Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Ted Miller, headlined "Soccer's time has finally come, to dismay of sport's haters."

We particularly like this bit about the naysayers who don't even watch the sport before offering up their opinions:

When did being ill-informed about a subject become a laudable qualification, as in: Hey, look at me! I lack expertise! I don't understand what I'm writing about!

Imagine this scene: Welcome to Frontline. Today Ted Miller will talk about particle physics. Mr. Miller, what do you think about particle physics?

Me: It's boring. I don't understand it. Therefore, it will never work in the U.S. scientific community.

Worth a read.

Posted by Jay at 01:34 PM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2007

NY Times interviews Kinnear, Bloomberg rates MLS as an investment

There's not much news from the Earthquakes lately, but there's a former Quake in the headlines today. Former San Jose midfielder, assistant coach, and head coach Dominic Kinnear is interviewed in the New York Times, and gives his opinion on a number of subjects. It's a timely interview since Houston beat DC United in Superliga play last night, advancing to the semifinals as the only team to go undefeated in the group stage. They'll face Mexico powers Pachuca on Tuesday, August 14.

Kinnear has his own perspective on the value of the inaugural MLS/FMF competition:

What's important for us is exposing players to a different style of competition, a different style from what we play in M.L.S. In our league, other than Chivas, which plays a Latin-type of game, our style in M.L.S. does not vary too much. It's also important for American guys who want to play on the national team to get exposed to the game internationally early in careers. I think it's great.

We also get a glimpse of Kinnear's pride in being the underdog, which was so evident when he coached the Quakes:

For SuperLiga, take a look at the richest team in this tournament, Club América. But they're not even going to make it to the next round. It's funny how that works.

Somehow we think he had a big grin on his face when he said that.

* * *

The other interesting story in the media today focuses on the business side of MLS, in the Bloomberg.com story, "Beckham's Allure Puts U.S. Soccer League in Hunt for Investors." While the reporter doesn't have all his facts straight—"the 13-team league has tripled its franchise fee, the entry charge for new teams, to $30 million in the last year alone," for example—he provides the first number we've seen associated with the league's recent TV deals:

It also has negotiated television contracts with Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN, Los Angeles-based Univision Communications Inc. and Dallas-based HDNet that will pay the league a combined $200 million over the next eight years.
* * *

On the MLS expansion front, the Seattle Business Journal reports that yet another investor group has come forward with the intention of bringing MLS to the Pacific Northwest. The total is now four, with two groups focused exclusively on Seattle, one group eyeing Portland, and another group that is studying both cities.

Posted by Jay at 07:44 AM | Comments (1)

August 01, 2007

Superliga, Beckham's impact, and The Daily Show

There aren't many left on the Galaxy from a certain fateful night in 2003, but we're sure a few players had a bit of a flashback last night at Pizza Hut Park. Many of the ingredients of the Quakes' 5-4 aggregate win over LA from that year were in evidence. A 4-0 lead, with the loser to be eliminated? Yup. The opponent, in this case Dallas, scores 5 goals in response? Yes, that happened, too, except instead of losing the match 5-4, the Galaxy scored two more in the closing minutes to win 6-5. There was almost no defense played last night, and Dario Sala's outing in the Dallas goal must set a record for futility: seven shots on net, one save. Ouch. Here's the video.

* * *

Despite playing less than 15 minutes for the Galaxy so far, there's a lot more information available on how David Beckham's presence is affecting MLS, as indicated by this story in the July 31 edition of The Bridge (scroll down to "Beckham’s American Invasion" on page 2).

Here are some excerpts:

According to comScore data, traffic at the official website of the MLS has increased by 250 percent since Beckham announced that he would sign with the Galaxy this year. The research group said unique visitors to the site in January hit 808,000, up from 230,000 in December 2006. Half of the site’s traffic came from within the United States, with the number of unique domestic visitors jumping to 404,000 from 159,000 the previous month, the company said...

Beckham was officially introduced to America on July 13, and on that morning the team said more than 250,000 new jerseys had already been ordered within the first 48 hours of availability. A good thing too, because AEG just signed a five-year contract with Herbalife to sponsor the Galaxy’s jerseys. (Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the Sports Business Daily pegged the deal to be between $4 and $5 million.)

Sports apparel maker adidas, with which Beckham has a lifetime $658 million endorsement deal, said in the London Times that his Galaxy jersey “has become the biggest-selling sports jersey in the world.” And the Sports Business Journal reported the company added two new shoes to its Beckham portfolio, while the rest of the league’s jersey sales – not including his – are up 300 percent from last year...

According to Sports Business Daily, ESPN’s coverage of the Saturday night special registered the network a 1.2 overnight Nielsen rating (almost 950K households), marking the highest rated MLS match ever on ESPN or ESPN2. The roughly 1.5 million viewers who turned in to see David Beckham’s 13-minute debut beat out the league’s inaugural game in 1996 by nearly a half-million viewers.

Sure, the hype is suffocating and the huge numbers that Beckham is now generating are unlikely to be sustainable. But if just 10 percent of the new faces that tune into MLS find something they like and stick around, it will still be a huge step forward for the league — and we think that more than 10 percent will.

* * *

Last weekend's Asian Cup final gave Iraq its first-ever victory in the competition. Their 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia made headlines around the world, including this send-up on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (It should be noted that Stewart played soccer at William and Mary, which is also Wade Barrett's alma mater, and was presented an Honorary All-America Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in January 2006.)

Posted by Jay at 07:24 AM | Comments (0)