Something struck me this weekend while watching the MLS games: Why don't announcers call an own goal an “autogol” or refer to the “11-meter spot'? To my thinking, that would make as much sense as referring to the score as “1-nil;” or the speed of a player as “pace.” Here’s the thing: I don’t understand why our American announcers insist on using British terminology to describe what we’re trying to sell as an American game. I often wonder how many American fans are turned off by this affectation. I also wonder why American English isn't good enough for so many soccer talkers. I'm not saying we should not use terms like `byeline' for the end line. It happens to be called the byeline, just as the “end zone” describes the scoring box for American football. I will, however, suggest that Americans don't play on `pitches' even if the British do. And some terms are elegant: “cross” is one of them. “Direct ball” is not. What's wrong with saying that the score is ``nothing to nothing'' (or even “zero-zero”)? Isn’t a nice ball that creates a scoring chance really a pass, not “service”? We're all guilty of too trying too hard to pretend we understand the world game. Sometimes we forget that we need to be selling it to the general public, not convincing soccer nerds that we know how things sound somewhere else. -- So what was weekend two like? Pretty good, actually, especially the two games which bookended our MLS week. Chicago's romp past New England was aided by a questionable ejection in the first 10 minutes and that goal feast in Texas owed something to the injury to Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad, but both the Thursday night ESPN2 game from Toyota Park and the TeleFutura finale on Sunday were pretty good affairs. MLS got its money's worth from a couple of key performers Thursday, Cuauthemoc Blanco the architect of much that Chicago did well and David Beckham scoring and assisting for the Galaxy in the doubleheader nightcap. Beckham and Landon Donovan formed a partnership Thursday that partially obscured the fact that the Home Depot Center residents still didn't look very good. Truth is, had San Jose taken an early chance and put the Galaxy on their heels things might have been different. The jury is still very much out on Los Angeles. There were signs, too, that another big signing may pay dividends for both D.C. United and the league. Marcelo Gallardo only put in less than an hour for his new club, but what the Argentine contributed suggests that he could be a major addition. Like Marco Etcheverry before him, Gallardo has the vision to make guys like Fred, Jaime Moreno and Santino Quaranta work hard to get into open space. If they do, Gallardo will find them. Happily we saw 90 minutes 79 minutes (see comments; my bad!) from Claudio Reyna in Giants Stadium, too. Looking fit and active, Reyna helped the Red Bulls to start on the right note. Even though Columbus was far from a major test, the presence Reyna and the work from Juan Pablo Angel was worth paying attention to. A healthy Reyna -- if that's not an oyxmoron -- is vital for real Red Bulls' improvement.
Do you know if MLS players union released the wage summary like they did last year.
My thoughts on LA - they probably have half of their salary cap in Landon, Ruiz, & Beckham (since only 400,000 of their wages is from the league) - leaving the team to get by with very little other money. The thing that will kill LA is there defense. IT WAS HORRIBLE.
That LA columnist strikes me as the kind of journalistic jerk that Mr. Beckham would be better off staying away from--a really nasty character (ignoring his comments about Mr. Beckham and just looking at the other stuff he has written). There are some journalists who are worthwhile talking to and there are others who are just plain trouble.
Those of us who have heard Mr. Beckham speak know that he is no more lightweight upstairs than most athletes, and smarter than some. He seems to be smart enough to stay away from this particular columnist. Enough said about that. As a neutral observer, I feel that Mr. Beckham has done plenty for football in the USA already, and if he can raise the football IQ out there in LALA land he will do a lot more. Anyhow, despite the nasty tone, the article is mainly about Becks and Posh, and there really is no such thing as bad publicity.(Now, how's that for a cynical comment!)
I thought Mr. Reyna played better than I've seen him in over a year. It was like he was set free at last.
I agree that some of the terms (e.g. direct ball) used overseas should be retired on this side of the pond, but the term 'pace' has a nice ring to it. 'Service' does sound a bit silly over here, too.
I think that a few minute segment of 'Football 101' would be nice for any new viewers who pop in to see an MLS game--most of my friends who have a passing interest in soccer just don't get what 'offside' is, let alone what it really means in a game, and some of the direct vs indirect kicks on setpieces probably leave the casual fan behind, too. Ditto some of the refereeing rules, e.g. what constitutes cause for a yellow card or a straight red card. Just an idea....
Unfortunately, Beckham didn't decline the interview (which, I agree, he could have); he blew it off. There's a big difference. As for Mr. Simers: He is indeed a jerk as well as grossly unfair to the sport in general (Full disclosure: I've been called the same) but he is the LA Times' lead guy and it is part of Mr. Beckham's job to speak to jerks, whether they are named Simers or Trecker, or whatever.
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