September 10, 2009
I'm back after a mini-vacation due to the Labor Day holiday and taking a couple of days off because my younger son had his first day of kindergarten yesterday.
Since I've been slacking, here is what has gone down over the last 5 days:
We'll be on 107.3 FM now
In case you missed it, 107.3 FM has switched formats from MyCountry to the FM signal for WHTK. I wonder if the cache of being on FM will help me get guests?
Probably not.....
US wins twice in World Cup Qualifying
Grant Wahl has his thoughts after last night's 1-0 win in T&T. I love the the caption at The Offside Rules for Landon Donovan's post game interview. I'm a tad bit surprised at the ho hum attitude following two wins.
I'm sure Argentina would love to switch spots with the US.
Grant did have a great conversation with USMNT head coach Bob Bradley.
The USL Drama
We had some great stuff with Montreal owner and TOA member Joey Saputo and Rhinos owner and non-TOA member Rob Clark on last Saturday's Kick This!
Then you have Miami FC President Aaron Davidson sounding far more radical than Joey Saputo did in these comments to a South Florida sports writer.
It's going to be really interesting to see where things go from here. The TOA seems to be giving out mixed messages with each member that goes "on the record".
News & Notes:
- Errol McFarlane was named the USL Player of the Week for his brace in Portland and Steve Kindel joined him on the Team of the Week.
- Former Rhino Dusty Hudock is done for the year with a torn ACL. That very well could be how his soccer playing career ends as he was hinting in an interview earlier in the season that he would retire following the 2009 campaign.
- If David Beckham and Joey Saputo join forces to take the Impact to MLS, it will be way too easy for me to hate that team. Maybe I'm not alone.....
- Peter Wilt is back at Pitch Invasion and this time he's interviewing Portland Timber assistant coach Amos Magee. I could have done without the rehash of the 1999 A-League Final.
- After reading about The Everton Way in ESPN the Magazine, perhaps it's not a good idea that they are speading their youth development methods in the US.
- This is a very interesting post from Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban. I wonder how many teams in minor league sports use unpaid interns?
- In another not so good sign, sponsorship in soccer is down for the non-elite clubs of the world.
- I wonder what the ROI would be on an expanded salary cap in MLS?
- The KC Wizards plan for a stadium have shifted focus from a site in Missouri to a site in Kansas.
- This is a pretty cool time lapse look at the progress at Red Bull Arena.
- Don't look now, but Daniel Hernandez is back in MLS. This time with FC Dallas.
- Toronto FC have added a DP (Julian DeGuzman) and lost a fan favorite (Danny Dichio).
- Here is an interesting look at how to "brand" a pro athlete. Is this something that USL clubs need to work on?
- I guess Maurice Edu has arrived since he's getting death threats in Scotland.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
