Moving Shop (Update your bookmarks)

Well, it finally happened. Someone extended an invite to be a contributor to a multi-pundit blog, which gives me a chance to get out of the sole proprietor gig I’ve been doing for the past year or so. Call this a dream come true, my shot at getting out of the “feed-the-beast” grind that is hosting a one-man blog. (What can I say? I dream small - y’know, aim for the ceiling, slip on the way up and fall on that plate smeared with ketchup and so on.)

In all seriousness, I’m looking forward to moving to a new space, one where I’ll feel more comfortable posting less often and, hopefully, better. Can’t say for sure I’ll even stick to the less often, but it feels like the opportunity is there. And I’ll leave it to all y’all to pass judgment on the “better.”

As happens every time I shut down a space I’ve operated for a while - even the several ruthlessly destroyed - I feel a bit conflicted about moving on. I’ve done some decent work here, flirted with some nifty editorial concepts, and so on. I mean, do you remember that one time? Yeah, me too. That was so great! Ah, memories...getting a little choked up....a minute....please...

It’s time to mosey. Unless something changes, or some weird kind of inspiration strikes, this will be the final post on It’s a Simple Game. The site will hang around as a testament to its own existence, but this should be it.

Look for my future jottings at Center Holds It - and do check out the “about” page on that site and marvel at The Simpsons' ability to make you smile even as it mocks the game you love...those were the days, right? (By the way, some guy rated the top five all-time Simpsons episodes; for what it’s worth, I think he did a hell of a job. I think the show went stale a couple years back, but, damn, was that a brilliantly funny show.)

Well, good night Sweet Blog. We’ll always have the day I discovered video.

Hope to see you soon and please update your bookmarks.

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New England Muggles Overturn Wizards

Ah, my first Harry Potter headline...(cough..cough...nerd!...cough).

Last night’s MLS Primetime match-up suggested at least one thing about the Eastern Conference race: the New England Revolution holds the better hand. Add a win on Saturday/Sunday (forgive the vagueness; I’m forcing myself to go on memory) against DC United and the Revs look a lot like the early favorite for the Eastern title.

Good Lord...do we have to endure another Houston Dynamo/New England MLS Cup. Ugh...chasing that chilling vision of the future from my head...gimme a minute...

Like it or not, the Revs looked good and solid last night (and I’m OK with that). Even if one believes (as I do) that the visiting Kansas City Wizards had the better of the first half, the Revs’ back-three-plus-Matt-Reis limited them to long-range shots on goal; a corner or four or five got the ball in the area, but there wasn’t a lot of penetration. More impressive, though, was the reappearance of New England’s oft-forgotten “passing game”: for the first time in a while, the Revs managed the ball well and with some measure of patience.


But it was the inability of the Wizards to defend as high as they normally do, particularly as the game went on, that defined this game; Shalrie Joseph picking up the ball, turning unimpeded, and abruptly keying the Revs from defense to offense serves as the relevant image. ESPN’s on-air crew noted another piece: the frequency with which either Steve Ralston or Khano Smith enjoyed wide-open spaces on either flank. By the end of the game, “Here come the Revolution” sounded every minute or so, speaking to the siege of KC’s defensive third.

The Wizards, however, retained the aspect of a valid challenger: the Revs held only a one-goal lead for most the game and, in spite of their general attacking advantage, they didn’t put produce that many clear-cut chances. In the earlier part of the game, KC bunkered New England in their end; that’s something, even if they couldn’t break them down. By the second half, the Revs - led by Michael Parkhurst and Jeff Larentowicz - either disrupted the majority of chances before the second pass, or forced defenders to charge far upfield in search of new openings, but the Wizards had enough chances - not to mention one near-miss I mistook for a goal - to pick up a result. They’re good enough for the post-season, no question - unless they don’t keep their heads.

And so it goes: the Revs continue as a contender thanks to the combination of being hard to beat while possessing the personnel to capitalize on a few openings. A great example of this comes in the person of Ralston: at the tail end of one of his worst games I can recall, he plays a perfect ball to Adam Christman, Revs score, game over. At their best, the Revs are just lethal like that.

Some other more specific, yet random observations:

- Michael Parkhurst really does kick ass. So smart, so unflappable, so capable...more on this later.

- I’m finally getting Jeff Larentowicz: even if he’s a little limited going the other way, he’s a fairly capable destroyer.

- That KC was limited to outside shots wouldn’t have mattered so much if more of them looked like Jack Jewsbury’s slicing shot, the one time I thought the Wizards had actually scored. Unfortunately, most the Wizards’ shots went stratospheric.

- What has happened to Carlos Marinelli? He’s like a magician whose deck of cards spilled out of his sleeve. Here I thought he was going to be huge for the Wizards. He may yet, of course, but the Revs sure as hell had him figured.

- Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson...what the hell to think, right? Early in the game, he pops the ball to an opening and lashes a quality shot past Avery John; the rest of the game, he gets stood up and....that’s it. He either dropped the ball miles back to a KC defender, or got the ball picked off in making the attempt. Makes one think it’s too easy to get into his head and frustrate him. Johnson needs to correct that.

- Speaking of forwards, Pat Noonan: dang, I like that cat. I like the subtle difference to his game, that little thing that sets him apart from other strikers. Now that he's fit again, I'd really like to see him in the National Team pool to see whether his schtick works in the Bigs.

- When Khano Smith is on, he’s pretty damned fun to watch. I’m tempted to call that 70-yard breakout run, which ended with a great shot on goal and a solid save by KC ‘keep Kevin Hartman as the game’s turning point.

- Speaking of Hartman, LA was friggin’ dumb to let him go. He played a great one last night. Near as I can tell, he gifts the opposition about two goals per season, but is otherwise remains one of the league’s best.

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What Is Beckham?

"David Beckham's not here just to play soccer," said David Flores, who wore an England jersey and made a five-hour drive from San Antonio with two friends. "He's here to sell the league. He should have come with the team just to wave to the crowd and everybody would have understood."

"I understand why he's not playing," Jessica [Anderson] said. "But he's making $250 million to be an ambassador. Why can't he sit on the bench?"
- LA Daily News, 7.31.07 (LINK)

Not to get all existentialist on you, but what is David Beckham? A player? A commodity? Or, as Jessica Anderson put it, an ambassador? Just to throw out two answers to those questions, along with another question: not yet; yes; and, well, should he be?

To begin, there’s a kind of genius to Jessica’s point. With the fallout continuing (even Perez Hilton is getting in on this one) after the Galaxy’s (wise) decision to let Beckham stay at home for the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Superliga tie against FC Dallas, she asks a fair question. How many people went to see FC Dallas in the same spirit as they would cruise Rodeo Drive - e.g. rubber-necking after stars? If just seeing the man is enough, what’s the harm in sitting him on the bench and letting him wave, sign autographs, etc. - even if he’s not playing?

Dammit...more questions...time to move to answers.

I think we can judge Beckham as a brand - e.g. a commodity - at this point: he has been a success, even allowing for the short-term disappointment in Dallas. And with outlets as weird as Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight helping to build the brand with a series of fluffy-happy pieces (caught another one last night; don’t ask...OK, we hadn’t switched to Jeopardy yet), that success looks set to continue. But that dives headlong into a familiar question: does that kind of press have Anna-Nicole-style stamina, or is this more of a Paula-Abdul-on-pills flash-in-the-pan?

Given how the size, and, more significantly, the nature of the hype, I’m even beginning to wonder if Beckham even have to play all that well; I mean, will people fascinated by his connection to TomKat even grok when he’s phoning it in? But, I do believe that, at some point, Beckham has to do what he’s here to do - e.g. play the game. At some point, even total ignorance of the sport among the relevant slice of the population won’t cover the fact he’s just standing and waving at the crowd. I mean, even Paris Hilton feels compelled to record a single, right? In some ways, then, I think the ambassador thing is a road traveled for only the shortest distance...and I think, with this weekend’s game in Toronto, we’re as far down there as we want to go.

Turning to the player theme, there’s something about the pressure for Beckham to play that rides the ridge of off-putting and tilts a bit to the alarming side. The day he played in the friendly against Chelsea, a shift in the kind of commodity he was occurred: he went from “brand” to slab of meat. My “mind’s ear” heard echoes of “Dance, Monkey!” That’s kind of the scary side of all this. There are times when I see how Beckham is constantly surrounded by unfamiliar humans doing interviews and photo shoots or being generally pawed, ogled and photographed by the hoi polloi, when I think he’s heard the voice telling him to dance so many times that the response is automatic. He’ll never live up to expectations, so it’s probably lucky that he won’t have to - though that assumes I’m correct on that.

Turning from Beckham “The Whatever the Hell He Is” to what he means to Major League Soccer after he’s gone, one effect already seems in place - though it’s fair to question the extent to which Beckham served as cause. Does anyone remember a year with as many new, mid- (think Juan Pablo Angel) to high- (think Blanco) interest players coming into the league? In a sense, those signings are the red blood cells of professional athletics: it’s the low of a mediocre season trumped by the high of seeing the next New Hope for changing things embodied in this forward or that midfielder. That’s what keeps people coming back: the little changes in personnel, tactics, etc. that promises, if not better things to come, something different at least. Maybe Beckham signing opened the door for all those signings. Maybe Beckham’s less of a player, a commodity, or an ambassador, than he is a lure - though not in the sense I had once believed.

Then again, maybe it was the designated player rule that did all this. I mean, look at all the friggin’ green cards in this league. Maybe all it took was a means of avoiding a massive pay-cut for the apparent appeal of living in the States to pay off.

Any thoughts on this?

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Superliga: Semis and Non-Aggression Pacts

We now know the semifinal pairings for the inaugural edition of the Superliga - the LA Galaxy will host DC United, while the Houston Dynamo picked up a tasty rematch against CF Pachuca - but, for whatever reason, I'm still sitting here pondering alternate realities.

Did the possibility of Club America and Monarcas Morelia playing to the required result to see Morelia through to the Superliga semifinals occur to anyone else? Y’know, a bit of Mexican solidarity in a tournament against Los Gringos? As a few noted, this was entirely possible, especially with DC United’s loss to Houston.

Things didn’t turn out that way, of course. But if you’ve ever played Risk and decided to sacrifice yourself in order to gang up on the player a) for whom you and another player share a deep hatred, or b) against whom you are excessively competitive, I’m confident you understand the impulse.

Ah, the way this would have recalled the “squalid non-aggression pact” between Austria and West Germany in the 1982 World Cup (you'll find a brief, unsatisfying discussion in the "first round" section here; I think I picked up "squalid non-aggression pact" from the World Cup 1982 video).

Would it have been sleazy? Yes. Would I have quietly applauded? Yeah...but that’s probably because I can’t think of a game of Risk, Monopoly, Hearts, etc. in which I didn’t play in this same spirit.

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NE Stadium Talk: Pull the Trigger, Bob

A lot of people have flagged talk of the New England Revolution getting a new, soccer-specifc home, but I've got a thing or two to add. The location, the “bedroom community” of Somerville, strikes me as a great one, especially given that they’re talking of placing it on the Charlestown-side of Somerville 'cause, if I'm not mistaken, that makes it more central still to Boston-proper. Not only that, but, unless it’s quite a ways north of the T's Red Line, it shouldn’t be bad for mass transit (I can’t speak to driving because, in all my years in Boston, I never once owned a car).

There’s also a kicker to consider: I can’t think of shittier stadium experiences than my several trips to Foxboro. There is no worse soccer venue, or sporting venue in general, that sucks worse, harder, or to less pleasurable effect. Depressing as driving past the last restaurant several miles before the stadium proved to be, it didn’t hold a candle to stepping out of the car in a gigantic parking lot in the middle of the fallow fields of bum-fuck New England. People bashing the proposed stadium in Hillsboro, Oregon have no friggin’ clue how much worse it could be. (For you Portland-metro people out there, I’d put Foxboro on par with building a Portland team’s stadium dead-center between Gaston and Carlton.)

Add the omnipresent stadium security - whose attentions somewhat amazingly detected a guy pouring an airport bottle of booze into his gigantic, over-priced Coke - and you have a completely oppressive atmosphere under a mid-summer sun with 90% humidity. The entire experience featured a long car ride to what amounts to a fucking awful theme park with one ride - and on the days the Revs didn’t play well, the ride fucking sucked. Nothing else to see, nothing else to do - just go there, tail-gate if you’re lucky, catch the game and go home. And the mascots for the damn park are anal-retentive security guards. Rah, rah.

All in all, barring something totally squirrelly about access - and we’re talking totally - a stadium in Somerville would not only vastly improve on Gillette, it could very well be one of the more successful facilities in Major League Soccer.

Pull the trigger, Bob.

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"Blanchopolfe"

Sometimes, good things should simply be shared and appreciated.

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The Night Superliga Became Super (Video +)

The only bad thing to say about last night’s eleven goal barn-burner between FC Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy in Frisco, Texas was that it would have been better had this been a Major League Soccer (MLS) team facing a Mexican club. After that, it’s all pretty happy....well, unless you tally up the injuries large and small picked up by FC Dallas players. Or if you’re a fan of competent defending.

Speaking of, if you haven’t seen the highlights, they’re well worth the gander. Though people made anxious by loose marking and nearly-free headers would be wise to skip ‘em.



Naturally, any game that cranked out goals in patches produces a slew of talking points, not least because, as Dan Loney wrote, this one had "everything but defense." But nothing is getting attention like Landon Donovan’s “throat-slashing” celebration after scoring the Los Angeles Galaxy’s fifth goal. One doesn’t have to travel too widely to find a range of opinion, from Buzz Carrick’s shocked and appalled, through Sideline Views’ toleration, to MLS Underground’s salute to controversy (and there’s more chatter still in the comments field).

As for me, put me in the "half-Carrick" camp: shocked, but not appalled. My wife can attest to the fact I was shocked; my jaw, literally, dropped when I saw it, not least because I remember the hub-bub this, um, practice created in the NFL. I suspect Donovan will get fined and I’m OK with that too; the league ought to support correct behavior, at least to a point (one that shouldn’t, as I see it, extend to calling the refs idiots when warranted). In the end, though, I’m also not all that bothered; I don’t care about the little publicity it generates, questions of class, etc. Fine him and any other player who does the throat-slash thing (and, while you’re at it, ditch the fine for taking off the shirt) and move on.

Turning to the game, though, several points of interest abound, not a few of them dealing with the long-term implications of either team surrendering five or six goals. Potent as Dallas’ offense may be - especially with Carlos Ruiz looking like he’s getting warm over the past few games - but an LA revival won’t take place with a back four playing that loose. To use Arturo Alvarez’ two goals as examples: the first, a free and clear header, speaks for itself, but the second, which went past a defensive bunker with no less than three baffled defenders as a forward guard, well, that was just pathetic. Seeing as the other three were only marginally better, and seeing as LA allowed 25 shots on goal on the night, let's just say the Road to Success runs in the opposite direction.

Going the other way, last night seemed like Dallas’ answer to the vote of confidence in their defense offered in yesterday’s post on which teams will make the playoffs. Clearly, Dallas is where faith goes to be utterly destroyed, if not defiled.

On a more positive, and LA-centric, note, one has to wonder if this win won’t be the kind of catalyst for LA that the Columbus Crew’s dramatic 3-3 tie versus the New England Revolution turned out to be for the Ohio team (I mean, look at what followed). That’s a big question at this point and, unlike early this season, we should have our answer shortly. Turning to Dallas, this only looks like the same script amplified; this team can score and win, but can they stop being their own worst enemies? That’s no small question either. In fact, there could be an MLS Cup riding on it.

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US @ Azteca: The Right Kind of Friendly

Hallelujah. We're finally playing Mexico in Mexico.

As much as I appreciate all the money we (or rather Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and the anointed venue) pick up by playing them States-side, I think we all know by now what happens when the U.S. plays Mexico on U.S. soil (let's just say two goals seem to get scored by one team).

To take this one step further, I want Mexico to host next year's Superliga. Hell, alternate the thing. I'm sure SUM can arrange the situation to see they keep getting their slice. Ditto with the CONCACAF Gold Cup: rotate that thing around the region to any country that can so much as sorta support the event. It gives the host country something to go nuts about and, judging by the stadium in a place like Puntarenas, it'll be pretty damned exotic in the right climes.

Here's the thing: it may be true that there are "no home games" for the U.S. Men's team (Yanquis) - and, it's possible that even Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs aren't the focus of adulation during the Superliga (can't say; haven't seen a friggin' game yet) - but the permanent home-field thing the Yanquis and MLS clubs have enjoyed in recent years won't make our players any tougher or better. Consider the, um, "challenging locales" in which we'll wind up playing as "quality multipliers" for our CONCACAF opposition; the sterner competition now won't hurt us later in any case.

And there's nothing wrong with sharing the wealth either...

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EJ Love

If you're an American soccer fan, odds are you've voiced some level of frustration with Kansas City Wizards' forward Eddie Johnson's occasional struggles to be all he can be.

But if you can read this story without pulling for the guy, well, you have no heart. Or you might be Satan. After reading this, I'm to the point where I'd keep fielding him for the U.S. Nats till something better comes along....and I'm not seeing that happening any time soon (dammit).

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Superliga: WTF!?

Has the "watch it live on MLSnet.com" thing worked out for anyone when it comes to Superliga? I have looked for every friggin' game to this point and cannot, for the life of me, figure out where the hell to go.

To given an example, there's this impressive banner on one side of this web-page that reads, "Watch every Superliga match LIVE [ed. - and it's glowing] exclusively on Telefutura and MLSnet.com." So, I click the little yellow "Watch Now!" button and - poof! - there I am on the extremely subpar Superliga site, which is dotted with old highlight reels and nothing I'm seeing that would allow for live viewing.

So...um....help? How and where do I go to make the live feed work? I'm not having much luck, any in fact. I'd go so far as to say I'm feeling like an FC Dallas "acquaintance," who bought higher-priced tickets to tonight's Superliga game just for the privilege of seeing the empty space on the LA Galaxy bench where David Beckham would have placed those golden cheeks in a kinder world.

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MLS: Week 17 to the Playoffs!

Help! I’ve tripped and fallen off the MLS info-treadmill! I'm working on getting back on, but it turns out one little weekend away may as well be a month. Maybe that’s what has me feeling all Big-Picture-y right now - e.g. thinking about future prospects more than past results, hence the semi-predictive post. I’ll get to that below, but would feel like a total hack if I didn’t acknowledge the power rankings of the pundits who didn’t take off Week 17.

ESPN
My Soccer Blog
MLS Underground (reporting from new digs)
WVHooligan

So, there’s some substance for you. Now for the Crystal Ball Fluff: what follows is my sense of which MLS teams are headed up or down in the standings and which will hold their current position, good or bad.

For the record, I tried to copy/paste the standings from MLSnet.com and, good Lord, can that be dubbed a failed experiment. Still, I’ll take the teams in the order in which they appear, with East going before West.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1) New England - HOLDING HIGH: The win over Real Salt Lake was borderline unwatchable, but with each returning starter, or each starter returning to health, the Revs will improve just that little bit.

2) Kansas City - A WOBBLING HOLD: I think the Wizards will improve their defense. If it doesn’t - and I say this as an admirer for what he’s trying to do - it’s on Kurt Onalfo for failing to adjust. Could really go either way.

3) Red Bull - DOWN: Unless talk of reinforcements come true, I think these cats’ best days are behind them. Blame this walk through the Valley of Mediocrity on a slow, old midfield. With how tight things are in the East, missing the playoffs could happen.

4) Columbus Crew - HOLD/INCH UP: I think Columbus will not only make the playoffs, but they’ll do so before the final weekend of the season.

5) DC United - UP: Starting to sputter again after that May/June resurrection; a good, solid team, but not a complete one. Still a smart bet for the playoffs, but I can’t see them going deep when things get serious.

6) Chicago Fire - UP: I’m sold on the “attacking triangle” of Blanco, Wanchope, and the Return of Chris Rolfe (in the link, see the second blurb after the main article). Speaking of Blanco, I haven’t heard or seen a bad thing; in fact, I’m reading superlatives.

7) Toronto FC - HOLD: And that’s bad. TFC has enjoyed a proud start to franchise history and I hope like hell they keep it up. But, the playoffs? Not this season.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1) Houston Dynamo - HOLDING HIGH: I’m really hoping against a repeat of last year’s MLS Cup...and I’m a New England fan. But Houston just looks rock-friggin’-solid, so I won't mind if they make it.

2) FC Dallas - HOLDING HIGH: I’m sold. Damn them. I’m sold. In spite of showing continued vulnerability at the back, FCD is better than your average MLS team. And I think they’re going to keep improving at the back - to the extent they become a title threat.

3) Chivas USA - DOWN: Even as they are the fifth best team in the league, something about these guys feels thin. At the same time, I view this as the call I’m most likely to get wrong.

4) Colorado Rapids - DROP: Even with hints of the “thug act” returning - even Mehdi Ballouchy is trying to fit in with the new guys, however badly - this team looks like crap. Retaining head coach Fernando Clavijo is insulting at this point, so much that I’m going with calling them the Colorado Stupids, a name I love for its juvenile tone.

5) Los Angeles Galaxy - UP: Ignore the 14-point gap separating them from Chivas USA and focus on the 12-point gap between them and Columbus. Between their 4-6 games-in-hand camouflage and the gridlock in the East, count LA the team most likely to force an even split between the conferences come playoff time. An implosion is definitely possible, but I wouldn’t count on it....even as I pray for it and Alexi Lalas’ resultant unemployment...

6) Real Salt Lake - HOLDING IN HELL: Climbing the Ladder put it brilliantly in a post about all-time streaks of various kinds: “RSL + futility = BFF.” I read their on the verge of signing a lot of players, but I also think they’re good candidates for worst in league history.

So...when the playoffs roll around, who do I think will make it and where?

Eastern Top Two: New England Revolution, Kansas City Wizards
Western Top Two: Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas

The Rest: Columbus Crew, Chivas USA, DC United...and, to go miles out on a limb, let's say the Los Angeles Galaxy dukes it out with the Chicago Fire for the last spot. And, with Steve Davis' caveat about LA's schedule acknowledged (something about 14 of the remaining 18 on the road, with lots of Thursday/weekend turn-arounds; but is that correct? not based on the schedule on MLSnet.com, where I'm counting 11), LA gets more games against the West's, um, "lesser lights." Given that, and with an eye on Chicago's East-heavy schedule, it says here, from way, way out here on the thinnest tip of the loneliest limb, LA makes the playoffs. And they do it by beating the Fire on the final day of the season. Nice.

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First, Live Beckham Shirt Sighting

I know I'm supposed to be on hiatus, but something unique prompted a quick check-in.

Last night, while attending the Hillsboro, Oregon Tuesday Farmer's Market, I spotted my first David Beckham LA Galaxy jersey. Not that interesting, one might say, but the context is significant. To begin, when one sees a soccer shirt in Hillsboro, it will be a Mexican club teams 80 times out of 100; 19 times out of 100, it will be a Mexican National team jersey; I once saw someone wearing a generic Chicago Fire jersey, which resulted in a day-long meditation on how the hell such things happen. The crucial thing is, Mexican clubs rule Hillsboro; you may get Euro clubs' jerseys in Portland, but not in Hillsboro.

The second point of interest was the person wearing it and where she chose to wear it. The girl in question was a high school student, a white, "chunky-athletic" brunette whose general appearance suggested neither nerd nor princess; more accurately, she looked determinedly normal, as in she didn't have the appearance of one looking to set high-risk trends. And that brings us to the occasion: the Tuesday market is kind of Hillsboro's "big night out." The place is crawling with packs of teenagers, out on the town to see and be seen.

Here's how I put it all together: a young girl gets dressed up to go hang out with her friends in a decidedly high-traffic area, and one crawling with her peers; given that, she must, on some level, think a Beckham jersey is cool. Whether her statement was love of the game (doubtful), love of the player (more likely), or love of the shirt as an accessory, someone out my way thinks this whole Beckham-thing is pretty hip.

I call that evidence that the whole master-plan continues to work as intended....so far at least....

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Hiatus

I was about to write up Week 16's action when it occurred to me - y'know, I have this little chunk of vacation coming up and suffered a full-body losing fight with allergies last night, so, what the hell? Why not take off this week? Why not enjoy soccer like normal people do?

And so I will.

See you next Tuesday.

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A Loose Definition of Evil

With a hat-tip to The Offside Rules, I give you...evil!

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MLS to PDX: Update...kinda

Just to follow up on yesterday's anguished post, I thought I'd chuck the latest word on Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion to the Portland area. It ran in this morning's edition of The Oregonian.

Some highlights and curiosities:

- Merritt Paulson, the current owner of the USL-1 Portland Timbers (who I'm going to go see tonight!), sounds like he's fairly separate from the relevant transactions. He says he "thinks about it (e.g. MLS expansion to Portland) a lot," but this one line tells me something else:

"The bottom line is that it's no shock MLS is interested in Portland," said Paulson, who planned to attend the MLS All-Star game in Colorado today. "And I'd certainly be very excited about being a part of it at PGE Park if that makes sense. And I think it would."

I'm just saying, note the passive voice.

- The chatter of the "players" involved isn't all that reassuring either. Here's the paragraph on the most high-profile "player":

"James Keston said this week that upgrading Hillsboro Stadium into a facility suited specifically for soccer "looks far more feasible." A makeover would more than double the 7,000-seat facility, add space for more concessions, restrooms and parking, and replace four softball fields that currently surround the stadium with amateur soccer fields."

Having recently visited the site, I think it's going to take quite a bit more than that, especially where parking and access is concerned. If, on the other hand, they try to do this on the cheap, getting in and out of that stadium will friggin' suck. I also have to admit that I'm far from an expert on stadium construction and infrastructure, so we're dealing with a laymen's view here.

Still...

That's where things are today, anyway. About where they were before, but with a rumor tickling our toes.

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Rumor Site Love (Veron, eh?)

For all the pain it has already caused me, I'm really developing a serious crush on MLS Rumors. While I'm usually a prude about reporting accurate information and supported opinion, there's something so damn lovable about a people reporting rumors. So long as they're totally upfront about it - and how much more upfront can one be, given the title - it's totally kosher in my book.

The latest rumor: Juan Sebastian Veron to Chivas USA. Maybe that's what has Luis Bueno dropping coy hints into his power rankings...

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Eight Team Enter, Three Teams Leave - WTF?!

In case you haven't heard, the USL collected a fifth scalp last night when the Seattle Sounders dumped Chivas USA out of the U.S. Open Cup - and by a lopsided score. For those interested in a closer look at this freeway pile-up, I recommend Luis Bueno's near-rant.

Well, thank god the third round is over. The embarrassment was becoming too much. Wait, hold the phone. The Sounders get the Colorado Rapids in the next round. Dang. Looks like Major League Soccer (MLS) - that's America's top-flight, by the way - better practice concealing the blushes.

I think I've already hammered my disappointment with MLS's run in this year's Open Cup into the ground, so I'll leave it to Dan Loney to look ahead and MLS's less-than-ideal chances in the coming rounds. For a discussion of a related subject, Bill Urban took a wider view at a subject I've already examined narrowly (should be the second link in this paragraph), by wondering whether the current reserve set-up will ever produce an MLS-bench side capable of beating a USL side.

Good question. And I'm afraid we have our answer.

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MLS Week 15: Collective Rankings/Commentary

The Semi-Detached Pundit Collective (SDPC) shrank a little in Week 15: Sports Illustrated’s Ryan Hunt’s rankings weren’t up at the time of calculation and, thus, are not included. On Soccer hasn’t posted Scariness ratings for Week 15 either, so I’ll have to axe those this week. This isn’t a crisis, of course: a fella has a life before a blog and the other probably has deadlines or was roped into reporting on the MLS Fiesta del Horseshit (All-Star Game...that’s my shorthand).

UPDATE: Ryan Hunt's ratings are up, along with some chatter and commentary from the MLS Commish Don Garber's State of League address, some midseason honors for players (Adam Cristman, best rookie (yay.); but the "biggest surprise" is my favorite: Ned Grabavoy). It's a good read.

On the plus side of the ledger, The DCenters posted their Freezer and Who Ate All the Cupcakes got back to the by-conference rankings this week. All these combine to make us smarter...or collectively dumber. But I’m not about to do the math on that. And, as always, I’ll wrap this up with the little wrinkles in the numbers that interest me.

Here are the sources for this week’s SPDC rankings. I always forget to say this, but I'd encourage people to read the commentary; it tells you a lot about the author:

It’s a Simple Game
Sideline Views (Luis Bueno)
Sideline Views (Andrea Canales)
WVHooligan
My Soccer Blog
MLS Underground
ESPN
Fox Soccer Channel

Now, on to the numbers:

1. Houston Dynamo, 1.0 (last week: 1st - 1.0)
2. FC Dallas, 2.6 (3rd - 3.3)
3. New England Revolution, 3.1 (4th - 4.0)
4. DC United, 4.0 (2nd - 2.8)
5. Kansas City Wizards, 5.4 (6th - 6.6)
6. Chivas USA, 5.9 (8th - 7.4)
7. Red Bull New York, 7.1 (5th - 4.7)
8. Columbus Crew, 7.4 (7th - 6.9)
9. Toronto FC, 8.5 (9th - 9.2)
10. Los Angeles Galaxy, 10.0 (10th - 10.0)
11. Colorado Rapids, 11.0 (11th - 10.8)
12. Chicago Fire, 12.1 (12th - 11.8)
13. Real Salt Lake, 12.9 (13th - 13.0)

- Top and bottom stay the same - the Dynamo is still the undisputed #1, while Real Salt Lake is a nearly unanimous #13. In spite of a little internal shuffling, it strikes me as fair to judge the Top 4 static. Put in other terms, how strongly will anyone argue that Dallas is better than New England, or New England better than DC? Seems pretty academic to me.

- Within that Top 4, however, DC got hit pretty hard for that psychological loss to FC Dallas; New England also got a nice little hiccup from their win over Red Bull.

- The most significant shifting - both in terms of ranking and average score - comes with #’s 5-7, with the biggest swing hitting Red Bull; and rightly so.

- In fact, it’s only the size of the drop and the fact that the collective seems to view Columbus as breathing down their necks that makes Red Bull’s ranking add up. All I’m saying is the Bulls look pretty bad right now and I’m not seeing how they’re going to improve.

- I don’t get KC’s rise in the standings. This week’s accomplishment: creating and spurning many, many chances, much like in past weeks, and edging what is almost universally judged the worst team in MLS. (Or, as Luis Bueno rather wonderfully phrased it, “Disturbingly awful side.”) That merits a bump? (Wait...did I inch them up as well?)

- Chivas' climb seems a bit weird to me, too.

- The bottom four looks to be solidifying - bad news for the teams down that-a-way.

- Oh, if you’re looking for the guy who “improved” Real Salt Lake, that’d be me. Between the Beckerman trade and the fact the Chicago Fire is statistically worse than RSL (more goals allowed, worse differential - and in fewer games), flipping those teams seemed justified.

- Let’s here it for the so-called “perfect teams,” those whose collective rankings speak to a kind of unanimity on where they stand: the Dynamo at 1st; DC United at 4th; the Galaxy at 10th; the Rapids at 11th. Congrats, guys. You’ve found your niche!

- Turning to the pundits’ performances, WVHooligan’s rankings perfectly matched the collective mind for the second week running. That’s getting creepy.

- With that stellar repeat performance acknowledged, let’s look at the various “outlier” calls from the rest of us:

It’s a Simple Game: After the bold RSL call, there’s also my Red Bull hate.
My Soccer Blog: Hates KC; loves Red Bull and TFC.
Luis Bueno: He rates Chivas over both the Revs and DC.
Andrea Canales: Shares Bueno’s thing about DC; must be a Cali thing.

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