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Two hundred free beers, in fact! You just have to purchase one of the beer-related posters or shirts to be entered to win a bottle/can of every beer on their work, the "Very Many Varieties of Beer".
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Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
"2-4-1 links". Get it? Like a 2-4-1 drink deal only it's links to websites... ugh.. nevermind.
It's Friday. You're staring at the clock. Working on something, but not really working. Probably looking for a distraction. Most definitely thinking about that post-work Happy Hour.
The FBM Happy Hour is your savior. A few of the week's best stories to whet your whistle and waste some time before the REAL happy hour begins.
In 1944, with the German Army on its heels, the domestica league played out the last final under Adolf Hilter's reign. Read the incredible story as a part of SB Nation's new "longform" project.
With Chivas rumored to be in the hunt for USMNT and Santos Laguna forward Gomez does the California-born of Mexican parents break with the club's historical "Mexicans-only" tradition? Or is it evolution of identity in this globalized world?
Giant corporations trying to fool consumers into thinking a product they manufacture (note, not "craft") has creativity and authenticity? Stop us if you've heard this one before.
The backwards beer laws of Texas, FBM HQ's home state; where brew pubs can't sell to stores and breweries can't sell to consumers on-site. And that's just the tip of the stupidity iceberg.
InBev (Budweiser's parent company) buys successful Chicago craft brewery 20 months ago, increases distribution, but "streamlines" them. Will install InBev guy as new head. Is this the beginning of the end for the Goose?
So the American script under Jurgen Klinsmann survives to live another day and make the long winter before the qualifier against Honduras in February a little more palatable.
This game was the United States, as it stands currently in a nutshell.
Sloppy play in your own half to give up a goal? Check.
Minimal creativity from the midfield? Check.
Tim Howard standing on his head to make a bunch of athletic saves? Check.
Listless, nothing performance for most of the night? Check.
Finding a way to pull out a completely improbable result? Check.
The U.S. truly is infuriating.
Why the team, continually, finds a way to play its best with it's back against the wall doesn't make sense. Maybe this is being too harsh after -- twice -- coming back from down a goal to get a draw at Russia, yet this type of performance happens time and time again.
It is the best and worst quality of this team rolled into one.
They're never out of a match until the full time whistle ... but they seem to always make it too damn hard for themselves. Repeatedly.
I don't get it. Doubt anyone does.
Full credit to Michael Bradley for spearheading the comeback with an absolute beauty of a goal to make it 1-1. On the volley, off the post. Just brilliant stuff. If there's one thing almost all U.S. fans can agree on -- which is harder than it sounds -- build the squad around the Roma midfielder, then fill in the rest of the pieces.
Bradley, too, set up the eventual tying goal in stoppage time after Russia had gone ahead in the 85th thanks to a careless penalty given up by Clarence Goodson. Bradley fired the ball in, Terrance Boyd knocked it down and Mix Diskerud was in the right place to deflect his shot into the net.
Not pretty and the result flatters the overall performance, but hey, it's never good to lose to Russia if only for dated 1980s Cold War-era cinema references.
(RIP Patrick Swayze.)
Other Stuff:
* Guess we have to talk about Jozy Altidore, right? Do we have to? Can we all simply agree scoring goals in Holland and international soccer are two different Vehn diagrams? It's one thing not to score, it's another to be unable to complete a pass. Any wonder both U.S. goals were set up on knockdowns by subs Juan Agudelo and Boyd?
* The less said about Jermaine Jones, the better. Again, this is nothing personal but he must have a Svengali-like mind meld with Klinsmann for the German coach to keep playing him. And why the U.S. players all defer to him is mind boggling. And yes, he played much of the second half as a left wing.
* As bad as the giveaway was by Danny Williams to set up Russia's first goal, there's still more promise in him than Jones.
* Suffice to say, Klinsmann's love of the three-man defensive minder midfield could come back to haunt the U.S. in games that matter in 2013.
* Josh Gatt? Promising, but let's not go overboard. He's an option out wide at this point, beyond that? Solid debut for the Molde man overall.
* Howard better sleep in an oxygen tent between now and 2014 because the Americans are sunk without him. Does any other keeper make such an impact internationally, game-in, game-out as he does? Or is that a little bit of Ian Darke-level hyperbole?
* Taylor Twellman actually said, before the Diskerud goal that a 2-1 loss would be better than a 1-1 draw for the U.S. on the ESPN broadcast. Well then.
* If this all sounds overtly negative, let's end on praising Michael Bradley once again. He's really really good.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
This is, seriously, like the only decent photo we found from this game. Thanks "Soccer By Ives"! (Photo Credit: ISIPhotos.com)
They certainly don't ever want to make it easy on us. The United States national team left it late, again, as Mix Diskerud, in his third full international cap, grabbed a stoppage time goal to secure a 2-2 draw away in Russia.
True to form, the Nats gave up a early goal, the ninth minute, but Michael Bradley hit a stunning volley in the 76th minute to bring things level. The even score line wouldn't last past the 84th minute when Clarence Goodson gave away a penalty kick and the resulting spot kick gave Russia a deserved lead.
Just like in Mexico City, the USMNT was down, but not out. Diskerud got his chance in he 94th minute and made sure it counted.
This was the U.S.'s last match in 2012 and, as of right now, will play next in Mexico on February 6th to begin the final round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
Highlights:
Analysis from some of American soccer's top writers;
2012 was supposed to be an "off" year for the United States national team, wasn't it? That was the impression most of us were working under, right?
It wasn't a World Cup year or even a Gold Cup year. The U23s failed to qualify for the London Olympics, so we couldn't even circle that on the calendar.
On top of that, as the calendar turned to January, we still had about 13 months to wait for relevant 2014 World Cup qualifiers, too.
Funny, as we sit on the eve of the final U.S. game of the year Wednesday morning in Russia -- the 14th overall -- it's certainly been a lot more hectic and busy than anyone with a passing interest in the team could have anticipated.
Most, if not all of the unexpected busyness can be chalked up to a rocky time by Jurgen Klinsmann & Co. in the penultimate round of CONCACAF qualifying. It only lasted a couple days but the five-alarm panic between the Sept. 7 1-0 loss to Jamaica in Kingston and the 2-1 win over the Reggae Boyz four days later in Columbus was very real -- and opened up a potentially disastrous "what if" scenario for the entire men's United States soccer set up should the national team failed to even make the final round of CONCACAF qualification.
Didn't happen.
The U.S. did what it seems to do best since the turn of the century: get the job done with its back against the wall (assuming Ghana isn't involved in any capacity.)
The other side to the 2012 coin was the friendlies.
Lots and lots of friendlies.
Granted international friendlies -- soccer's cocktease --serve as primarily a money-maker and people like myself found a very difficult time looking at the scheduling this year as nothing more than a money-grab by the U.S. Soccer Federation. That said, the USSF deserves a little bit of credit for friendlies at Italy, Mexico and Russia and a high-profile game in May vs. Brazil in New Jersey is about the best you can do given the circumstances. The wins at Italy and, historically, at Mexico don't amount to a hill of beans, but it's not like they're a bad thing, either.
At this point we all realize nothing much will be discovered Wednesday in Krasnodar. It's the true definition of a one-off, with the squad given barely a day to train together. Maybe we can all dust off some tired Cold War era Soviet jokes on Twitter during the match. That's about it. Perhaps lament the "Red Dawn" remake while we're at it.
When it's over, Klinsmann will talk in the usual coachspeak about "the process" and "evaluating" players. As fans we'll latch on and cling to whomever plays well as "the future" or bemoan the fact 2012 will end and Jermaine Jones will have logged the most minutes of any player in the Stars and Stripes. If anything encapsulates the U.S. in 2012 better than that fact, let's hear it.
That's the nature of friendlies. They are what they are.
All it means is 2012 was supposed to be the calm before the storm of what should be a vital and important 2013. The events of the last 12 months set up next year as one of the more anticipated in recent memory for the U.S. Realistically the last two World Cup qualification processes felt like a fait accompli. Not even the most fatalist fan out there worried that the U.S. wouldn't punch their tickets to Germany or South Africa.
Hell, as soon as Asamoah Gyan did his best to send the U.S. packing from Rustenberg two and a half years ago, the many U.S. fans probably already started looking into booking hotels and flights to Brazil. The U.S. seemed to be at a stage where qualifying for the World Cup was expected; a lock.
Perhaps this is reading too much into the inconsistent play of the U.S. offense or the habitual lapses in the back four against inferior opposition. Maybe it's putting way too much stock in the improvements in CONCACAF. It could even be a lingering lack of faith that Klinsmann -- with the money on the line -- is going to get all his tactical and personnel decisions right.
Whatever plays out over 90 minutes Wednesday against Russia isn't changing that fact.
And however you draw it up the events of 2012 make 2013 as intriguing -- and anticipated -- a year in U.S. soccer as we've seen in a long time.
Giddy up.
Miscellany:
* Let us all rejoice: Jozy Altidore's two-game "demotion" is over. Is Altidore, probably the best U.S. option at forward? Yes, probably. Should he have his place in the starting XI guaranteed? Absolutely not. While his league goals for AZ against the likes of ADO Den Haag might make for nice YouTube clips, the bulk of U.S. fans aren't going to continue to tolerate listless games where the 23-year-old makes zero impact. Altidore has proven he can be a useful, effective player on the international stage, but you don't automatically get places in the starting lineup -- unless you happen to play for England.
It's surprising Altidore being excluded last month was such a big deal in the U.S. soccer-sphere. Players get dropped for internationals all the time, and Klinsmann turned out to be right via using Eddie Johnson and Alan Gordon.
* The other big "news" from this friendly is German-born Timmy Chandler is back in the fold after deciding he basically didn't want to play for the U.S. anymore. Until Chandler plays in an official FIFA game and is tied to the U.S. don't read too much into anything he says.
Look at it this way. Philip Lahm, the German national team captain and starting right back is 29. When he hasn't played there, Joachim Loew has played a center back, Jerome Boateng at right back. For the Germans most recent match, uncapped 22-year-old Sebastian Jung has been called in. Remember, Chandler is still only 22.
This one won't be decided until next year with Chandler putting on a U.S. shirt and seeing the field in a qualifier. Ultimately, if Chandler doesn't want to play for the U.S., so be it. It's his choice.
* There's been a lot of talk (via interviews and articles) recently about Landon Donovan's existential "crisis," where he's wondered aloud how much more soccer he has inside him. Donovan is now 30. He's been going nonstop for almost 14 years. He's not going to play forever.
Is he simply worn out from a long season? Will a couple months off allow him to rediscover his spark?
However it pans out, Klinsmann needs to start finding Plan B and accept a world without Donovan.
It's hard not to hear Donovan addressing his future and think of Lars Ulrich from the "Some Kind of Monster" documentary, when he wondered aloud (4:40 mark of video below) if, "Jason is the future and Metallic is the past."
Is Donovan the past? As crazy as it sounds, he could be -- and that's not on his talent level, but his mentality. Ball is in his court.
* Excited that Klinsmann called in some genuine pacy wingers in the forms of Joe Gyau (20) and Josh Gatt (21). Chances are they don't play, but if we learned something in 2012, the U.S. needs to develop some different ways to unlock defenses than playing through the middle.
* Without Donovan or Clint Dempsey, figure for Michael Bradley assert his influence over this game even more. It would be nice to see him playing in a slightly advanced, more offensive role and leave the dirty work to somebody else. Either way, the more time Bradley and Danny Williams can play at the same time to develop chemistry is a good thing.
* Believe it or not, Juan Agudelo has already amassed 15 caps.
* Numbers fun: The U.S. has 20 players on its roster from 12 different leagues. Russia called in 26, with all but Denis Cheryshev (Real Madrid B) playing domestically.
* In a perfect world, Bradley and Russia manager Fabio Capello enjoy a post-match expresso with each other. Maybe talk about their favorite scarf designer.
* Remember how great Russia, in particular Andrey Arshavin were at Euro 2008? Yeah, me neither.
Lost to the sands of history, Stalin also invented "Movember."
Lineup Guess:
Call is a 4-3-1-2, at least to start. Figure all six subs are used by the second half, thus changing the set-up.
GK -- Howard
DEF -- Chandler -- Bocanegra -- Cameron -- Johnson
MID -- Williams -- Bradley -- Jones
ATT MID -- Kljestan
FOR -- Altidore -- Boyd
Closing Thought:
If the U.S. ties, it ties.
About Mike
Mike Cardillo writes a blog. Follow him on Twitter @thatsonpoint.
Tomorrow the USMNT faces Russia, where calling soccer a "commie pinko sport" is a compliment. Here are ten possible scenarios for how this game could play out.
1. The “I Can Change, You Can Change, Everybody Can Change” Scenario
Despite suffering a severe emotional blow when noted Russian giant Andrey Arshavin murders Claudio Reyna shortly before the match kicks off, the U.S. refuses to give up despite surrendering two early goals and emerges victorious on a diving Michael Bradley header with seconds left on the clock. The Russian fans are so moved by the courage of the performance, that Putin agrees to let the U.S. host the 2018 World Cup.
2. The “Never Get Involved In A Land War in Asia” Scenario
The U.S. takes an extremely proactive approach, pinning the Russians back with their possession and ball circulation. But the backline sits deep to nullify the Russians’ pace, supply lines get thinned, and moves break down as they crash against the Russian defense, leaving the overextended Grand Armée vulnerable to counters.
3. The “Gentlemen, You Can’t Fight in Here, This Is the War Room” Scenario
With the game tied 1-1 at the half, Vladimir Putin marches into the U.S. locker room and tells the team that the stadium has been rigged with its own Doomsday Device, a series of explosives set to detonate and kill everyone inside if the U.S. wins the game. Unfortunately, Herculez Gomez was in the bathroom during this discussion, and it’s he who gets the winner minutes from time, ensuring the team’s destruction.
4. The “Kitchen Debate” Scenario
Klinsmann and Fabio Capello spend the entire game arguing on the sidelines about the merits of their particular systems, oddly enough in a model American kitchen that’s been set up on the sideline. Capello wins the argument when he catches Jurgen trying to phone Jogi Low during halftime. Capello then bangs his shoe on the podium, and no one is really sure why.
5. The “How About a Nice Game of Chess?” Scenario
Realizing the futility and pointlessness of playing a mid-November friendly, even against a historic geopolitical rival, Jurgen Klinsmann decides that the only winning move is not to play and refuses to allow his team to take the field.
6. The “Space Race” Scenario
Capello has been waiting for this moment, a meaningless friendly in the middle of November, to unveil his newest and most brilliant tactical scheme. It blows the Americans away, propelling the Russians to a 4-0 win that wasn’t even that close. America, terrified that every one of their opponents will soon begin playing the same way, pumps billions of dollars into U.S. Soccer’s budget so the USMNT can catch up with the rest of the world.
7. The “Red Dawn” Scenario
The U.S. team has just begun its first training session when a plane passes low overhead, dropping twelve men on parachutes. The Russian XI and Capello land and immediately start playing the Americans, who without proper warm-ups being dropping like flies. In the end, Nick Rimando and a ragtag team of Gatt's and Gyau's hold off the Soviet…err…Russian advances, snatching a late winner on a rifled shot from Juan Agudelo.
8. The “What a Country!” Scenario
Russian defensive midfielder Igor Denisov rakes his studs across the back of Jermaine Jones’ calf, picking up a foolish yellow card minutes into the second half. As he jogs by, he tells a struggling-to-get-up Jones that “In Soviet Russia, opponent recklessly fouls you!”
9. The “Proxy War” Scenario
Instead of taking the field themselves, the U.S. and Russia send out teams from South Korea and Vietnam, respectively, to play the game in their stead.
10. The “Shaken, Not Stirred” Scenario
While the bus to the stadium is delayed in traffic, double agent Timmy Chandler sneaks into the seat behind Tim Howard and attempts to garrote him. After a knock-down, drag out brawl, Howard and Carlos Bocanegra successfully throw Chandler through one of the bus windows and onto a passing Zaporozhet. Klinsmann, seeing no hope of getting the bus to the stadium on time, commandeers a tank and drives it through the streets, clearing a path for the bus.
What is this new site we're exposing you too? We'll let them explain:
"The Other 87 seeks to provide something that’s not instant analysis or eve of matchday previews. Think of us as the good bits of your favorite soccer coverage: the profiles that examine what makes a certain player tick, the historical background that sheds some light on how the sport has evolved to the present day, the silly features that are more than just tacking names on a list, but considering and explaining why each one deserves to be there.
O87 wants to be a home for soccer writing that makes you think, but that also treats the game as just that, a game. The greatest game, the one we obsess over and fixate on, to the point where we can’t read that gas costs 3.43 a gallon without thinking of Ajax’s 1995 Champions League winning team. But a game nonetheless.
“When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball three minutes on average. The best players – the Zidanes, Ronaldinhos, Gerrards – will have the ball maybe four minutes. Lesser players – defenders – probably two minutes. So, the most important thing is: what do you do those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball…. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.” –Johann Cruff
This week's Tuesday XI recognizes that there are far more important things to discuss than today's U.S. presidential election: This Friday's impending stateside release of Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond movie. Bond films are big deals here at our site, mostly because we're always looking for an excuse to wear our tuxedos to the movie theater. In honor of the movie, we've put together a squad made up of some of Bond's most memorable villains.
GK - Auric Goldfinger - Goldfinger knows the value of a clean sheet: his master plan, the irradiation of Fort Knox's gold supply with a nuclear bomb, is all about denying others their wealth to increase the value of his own.
Libero - Ernst Stavro Blofield - Prefers to scheme in the back of the action, but is nonetheless capable of launching overwhelming attacks when the occasion calls for it.
LB - Red Grant - This SPECTRE agent with a poor grasp of wine pairings has plenty of experience battling in tight quarters along the sidelines.
CB - Jaws - Despite his size, smaller opponents are still occasionally able to get the better of him in aerial battles:
CB - Oddjob - Communication can be a bit of an issue in the back since neither of our center backs ever speak, but they make up for it with their imposing statures and fearsome physicality.
RB - Max Zorin - Has molded himself into a fearsome competitor by virtue of his Nazi steroids and inexorable Christopher Walken-ness.
LCM - Xenia Onatopp - Always strong in the tackle, more than one opposing playmaker has met at an end at her powerful legs.
CM - Dr. No - His teammates never could understand his habit of wearing his shirt with collar popped and starched.
RCM - Le Chiffre - A cool and calculating player who's nonetheless capable of some real Vinnie Jones-level brutality when it comes down to it.
CF - Francisco (There's a trivia answer for you) Scaramanga - The Man with the Golden Boot never misses, needing just one chance to put his opponents down for good.
CF - Emilio Largo - Depth perception can be a bit of a problem for him, but he's used to being the Number Two option on a team such as this.
What is this new site we're exposing you too? We'll let them explain:
"The Other 87 seeks to provide something that’s not instant analysis or eve of matchday previews. Think of us as the good bits of your favorite soccer coverage: the profiles that examine what makes a certain player tick, the historical background that sheds some light on how the sport has evolved to the present day, the silly features that are more than just tacking names on a list, but considering and explaining why each one deserves to be there.
O87 wants to be a home for soccer writing that makes you think, but that also treats the game as just that, a game. The greatest game, the one we obsess over and fixate on, to the point where we can’t read that gas costs 3.43 a gallon without thinking of Ajax’s 1995 Champions League winning team. But a game nonetheless.
“When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball three minutes on average. The best players – the Zidanes, Ronaldinhos, Gerrards – will have the ball maybe four minutes. Lesser players – defenders – probably two minutes. So, the most important thing is: what do you do those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball…. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.” –Johann Cruff
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
The Major League Soccer playoffs begin tonight. The race for the MLS Cup starts tonight with the Houston Dynamo facing the Chicago Fire at 8pm CT on ESPN. The two Eastern Conference foes will play to earn the right to battle Sporting KC in the semi-finals as apart of the new American playoff system unveiled last year.
With playoff fever reaching fever pitch why not get a little office pool going to heighten the stakes? Your workplace is full of potential soccer newbies and there's nothing like a little water-cooler-match-day banter to peak up interest.
Just think of it like March Madness where even the non-basketball fans get swept up in the spirit of competition (even if there's not a lot of mascots to choose from) with a healty wager.
Practice what you preach all-season by continuing to use the FBM Philosophy. At the FBM's place of work we're offering a six-pack to the bracket winner.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Growing support for "football" in the UK?
By Jay Nightly / The Daily Mirror
This past weekend, the pitch at Wembley Stadium, home of the England national football team, was striped, non-metrically, numbered and played host to a more pointed football, the Untied States' National Football League. The Seven Nation Army, made popular during the Euro 2012 tournament this summer returned, not sung by a chorus of supporters, but artificially blasted through the stadium's speakers. Barely-covered cheer-leaders waved their poms and kicked to attempt to pump up the largely anemic crowd for the match between the New England Patriots and Saint Louis Rams.
To most spectators it served as a novelty. But amongst the crowd of "football" scarves one man stood out. With his face and belly painted blue, silver and white and his right hand tucked away in a giant “We’re #1” foam finger, Stan Huddersfield watched like a true fan.
While his mates spent their childhood cheering and chanting for Manchester United and Arsenal, “I was glued to me granddad's ham radio hoping for a conversion on 3rd down,” Stan shares in a broken cockneyed accent. “It just made sense to me. I can hold a pint in my hands. Why not a ball? “ His family saw it as the foolery of a thirteen year old boy.
Older now and though trodden by the droning work week the dream never died.
“How can we make the United Kingdom fall in love with American Football? Offer friends a discounted pint and watch as a lifelong love affair with the beautiful game begins.” And so the DPM – Discounted Pint Movement was born.
Back at Wembely, as the Patriots pummel the Rams to defeat, Stan’s lone companion, Rory, stated, "With the Euro jacking up the price of everything, I’ll sit through pretty much anything to save a bit on a pint.”
“This game wasn’t a mere exhibition,” Stan enthusiastically defends, “This one affects their standings. It is only fitting that New England emerged the victors."
For American football, perhaps there is another “New England” on the horizon?
Today's Tuesday Ten offers you ten quick-hitting predictions for the MLS Cup playoffs.
Eastern Conference
1. Sporting KC - Kei Kamara and C.J. Sapong will celebrate the MLS Cup-winning goal by recreating the entire six-minute Evolution of Dance, then immediately announce their retirement.
2. DC United - In the second leg in New York, Dwayne de Rosario will limp onto the field, score with his first two touches, and inspire his team to victory, Willis Reed-style.
In here, Kenny goes just where I tell him to.
3. New York Red Bulls - The D.C. leg of the Red Bulls-United tie will be called off when La Barra Brava supporters bombard Thierry Henry with Playstation controllers as he prepares to take a corner kick. Henry, undeterred, tries to plug one into Kenny Cooper to see if it will work.
4. Chicago Fire - Sherjill McDonald will score three straight goals for the Fire, then have his next shot burn Tally Hall’s hands off before setting the net ablaze.
5. Houston Dynamo - Houston may score from a set piece.
Western Conference
6. San Jose Earthquakes - San Jose won’t bother traveling to L.A. or Vancouver for the first leg of their semifinal, figuring they were just going to leave it til late anyway.
7. Real Salt Lake - Desperate for a full-strength back line in the face of Seattle’s potent strikeforce, Jason Kreis will have the RSL medical staff scrap the injured Jamison Olave and Chris Schuler and reuse the parts to build a single healthy central defender to pair with Nat Borchers.
You are getting sleepy...you are not about to take the field in the playoffs where you always underachieve..
8. Seattle Sounders - Sigi Schmid will hire a hypnotist to covince Eddie Johnson and Fredy Montero that they’re playing in the Open Cup semi-final, not the playoffs.
9. L.A. Galaxy - The remaining parts from the Olave-Schuler infusion will be traded for allocation money to L.A., where they’re reassembled into broken-footed, hamstring-tweaked defender who can play alongside Omar Gonzalez while A.J. De La Garza recovers.
10. Vancouver Whitecaps - Much to the disappointment of Jay DeMerit’s mullet, Vancouver probably won’t win the Cup.
What is this new site we're exposing you too? We'll let them explain:
"The Other 87 seeks to provide something that’s not instant analysis or eve of matchday previews. Think of us as the good bits of your favorite soccer coverage: the profiles that examine what makes a certain player tick, the historical background that sheds some light on how the sport has evolved to the present day, the silly features that are more than just tacking names on a list, but considering and explaining why each one deserves to be there.
O87 wants to be a home for soccer writing that makes you think, but that also treats the game as just that, a game. The greatest game, the one we obsess over and fixate on, to the point where we can’t read that gas costs 3.43 a gallon without thinking of Ajax’s 1995 Champions League winning team. But a game nonetheless.
“When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball three minutes on average. The best players – the Zidanes, Ronaldinhos, Gerrards – will have the ball maybe four minutes. Lesser players – defenders – probably two minutes. So, the most important thing is: what do you do those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball…. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.” –Johann Cruff
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
"Come on. Do it!"
Photo Credit: Associated Press
By Eric Betts
For the majority of MLS fans, last weekend’s final whistle marking the end of the regular season didn’t mean it’s time to start thinking about kick-off in 2013. That majority doesn’t include me.
Ohh sure, I’ll watch and enjoy the playoffs, but I’m already thinking about next year. Actually, I’m thinking about December, when the Portland Timbers hand the reins over to soon-to-be former University of Akron head coach/definitely-former U.S. U-23’s coach Caleb Porter and instantly become one of the most fascinating teams in the league. I’m not a Timbers fan; I really, objectively believe that. In fact, I think they’ll be so fascinating that I’m desperately hoping someone will write a book about their 2013 season.
Much of the press on the Porter hire focuses on how he’s going to remake the team in his image, from the comments from Portland that they’ve been making player moves for months according to his wishes to the joking(?) suggestions that he’s going to sign and trade for all Akron guys and rebuild his college juggernaut. Rebuilding years are the most interesting from a storytelling perspective, a season-long wave of advances and setbacks. Championship seasons either have a sense of inevitability or come out of nowhere, with little hint that suddenly a team will gel and make a late run. Contenders' seasons often come down to one or two performances that everyone has been anticipating since the beginning of the season; how they do in those games makes for a good movie but often leaves the feeling in a long project that the rest of the year is less important.
But a team trying to make the leap from being bad to good: that could go either way. The process of retooling a team in MLS is even more fascinating than any other league; there are so many avenues to acquire talent domestically and abroad, but just as many restrictions and work-arounds to take advantage of them.
In Porter, we have a coach whose background and narrative arc sets him apart from his peers. There's a reason "meteoric rise" and "sudden fall from grace" sound like cliches: they're used so often because they work well in an account like this. Porter is a smart coach with an attacking style and getting a glimpse of how he communicates that style to a new team and compromises it when faced with MLS defenses will be fascinating reading.
In Portland, we have an ideal setting for this: a rabid and forthcoming fan base in a sporting locale undiluted with teams in two of the three major sports (sorry hockey, you don't count). Plus, there's the appropriateness of setting something like this in Portland, a city whose Trail Blazers were the subject for the best book of this kind anywhere: David Halberstam's "The Breaks of the Game". (Seriously, I don’t care if you think that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are actors from 'The Wire', if you have any interest in any game played with a spherical or oblong object of any size, then you should read "The Breaks of the Game", because it is absolutely fantastic.)
That has to be the model here, no matter how high of a bar it sets. The project I’m describing is a work that, like Halberstam's book, will need to zoom in to provide profiles of individual players around the league and pull back to get an overview of the entire MLS organization. (The three-page description of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 'Breaks' is such a perfect summation of his career to that point that it feels like it was fifty pages in hindsight.) This league is filled with characters and interesting personalities, and for a project like this that roster isn't limited to the Kei Kamara's and the Alan Gordon's out there.
At the same time, the league itself is building momentum. Every year they can point to new progress being made – stadiums that are newer and fuller, a level of play that’s constantly improving, the ceaseless march toward team number 20, and the big “Now what?” that will accompany it. Part of what makes “Breaks” great is the timing of it. It covers the 1979-1980 season, the year Magic and Larry entered the league, and so sits perfectly on the precipice between what the NBA was and what it would become. We’re at that time now in MLS. Every year brings developments that would have seemed a pipe dream only the year before.
For this project to be successful, these layers will have to stack as seamlessly as an set of architectural renderings. It's a book that would follow the Portland Timbers, but one that would be about the entire league.
So please, someone with some cachet, some writing ability, and around twelve months to kill, please write this. I’d do it myself, but I only have one of the three, and a year with nothing better to do is hardly a compelling argument.
Instead, you do it, and I’ll be first in line.
About Eric
Eric Betts is a freelancer writer who lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and his dog Lando (yup). He is a contributing writer for "The Other 87 Minutes", their brilliance featured every Tuesday on the Free Beer Movement in the form of "the Tuesday 10" or the "Tuesday XI".
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
It's the closing of the Major League Soccer season. Get your American soccer fix this weekend! All the satellite, online, local, and national TV listings so you can spread the free beer love.
Additionally, the second-leg of the North American Soccer League "Soccer Bowl" is tonight from Tampa Bay as the Rowdies host Minnesota Stars FC at 7:30pm CT. The Stars hold a 2-0 aggregate lead from the first leg and could win their second NASL Championship tonight. Watch online for free.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
By Blake Winchell
In full openness, I am not a local to Kansas City. I live in Baton Rouge, LA. However, Kansas City was the closest that the USMNT was playing to my hometown and so my father and I decided to take a trip to the Heartland. When I travel I really try to not hit up Chili’s for food or drink Bud Light, so I think my trip will work for a "Local Beer Local Soccer" write up.
We left Baton Rouge early on Tuesday morning arriving in Kansas City around 10:15 and got into our rental car. For the one lunch we had in KC we were going to one place, Oklahoma Joe’s for BBQ. Both of us opted for brisket sandwiches (the Z Man Sandwich) which lived up to the hype, but what was exciting for me is that in this gas station BBQ joint there was the first taste of local beer on tap: Boulevard Wheat. While an amber or IPA may go better with BBQ, it was unusually warm in KC and still before noon so the unfiltered wheat beer was a nice start to our trip. Boulevard boasts that their Wheat is the bestselling craft beer in the Midwest and it is not hard to taste why. An easy drinking ale but still packs the flavor that will entice craft beer drinkers.
From there we took a trip to Lukas Liquors so that I could make a beer haul so that we could bring some local beer back to Baton Rouge. I picked up bombers from Doodle Brewing, Boulevard Brewing, and Weston Brewing (all Kansas City breweries) along with beers from other regional breweries that I cannot find in Louisiana. (Editor's Note: Also make sure to check out Tallgrass Brewing if you're in the KC-area) If you live in Kansas City you probably have been to Lukas Liquors before, but if you are a traveler like me looking for a nice one stop shop for beer this is the place for you.
"Soccer Pong."
Now it was time for soccer. After checking in to our hotel which was a stone’s throw away from Livestrong Sporting Park, we took a short walk over to the American Outlaw’s tailgate. Since we were travelers we did not bring an ice chest, so I was excited to see that there were kegs at the tailgate. I was slightly less excited when I was told that it was 5 dollars all you can drink. In my experience 5 dollars for all you can drink beer tends to be all you can drink terrible beer. However, the Kansas City boys brought more Boulevard Brewing, which was great. Four varieties of Boulevard were available which made tailgating so much better. Drinking a Boulevard Oktoberfest (FBM's "Beer of the Game" recommendation over at Stars and Stripes FC) is always better than Natty Lite.
Tailgating for any sport is relatively the same: drinking, cooking, music, etc. I had never tailgated for a soccer game like this before. Soccer pong (that’s what I am calling it) was a new lawn game that we had to try. Think beer pong with soccer balls and trash cans, looks easy but it is much more difficult than expected especially when you are taking full advantage of AYCD Boulevard. There was also a dunk tank that revelers were shooting a soccer ball at; needless to say the pour guy in the dunk tank was not getting wet very often.
We had tickets in the American Outlaw section, which was general admission, so we waited for the group to march to the stadium. If you get to do this before a game, it is a great experience. Marching a fourth of a mile or so chanting and singing was a nice warm up before getting into the stands. Many of the Sporting KC supporters were in our section which was nice, because everyone was on the same page with the singing and chanting. I have only been to one USMNT game before this one so I am a little green when it comes to many of the chants. So I am unsure if the chants and songs the supporters were singing were US specific or Sporting KC specific but they all worked, especially cheering “You’re not going to Brazil” when Guatemala was warming up (and throughout most of the game). I was too amped up during the game to leave the stands to purchase more beer, however my neighbor was polite enough to buy a beer for me.
I don’t think he was entirely too pleased with the beer options, as it was a mass produced lite lager, but for me it was free. Upon leaving the stadium after the win I saw the beer stand and there were no other options other than the typical BudMillerCoors options (Editor's Note: During Sporting KC matches the stadium features local craft beers Boulevard and Weston. We're not sure if these beers were available for this particular match since U.S. Soccer ran the show) Now the rest of the stadium may have had other options for better beer but I didn’t make it to the rest of the stadium. As an aside, speaking of the stadium: Livestrong Sporting Park is a fabulous place to experience a football match.
The author on the right, with pops.
After the game we needed food and a cold one to end the evening. Not really wanting to drive anywhere and since we were close to a huge shopping complex we had a few nice options. While the Yard House was my first choice, Granite City Food and Brewing was considerably closer to the stadium and subsequently our hotel so we chose that option. I was thinking that this was a local brewpub but was slightly disappointed to find out that it is more of a regional company rather than a local one. However, that shouldn’t change the quality of the food and beer. It is not the cheapest option but it is not terribly overpriced. The beer is of a pretty impressive quality and the food was good so overall I wasn’t disappointed with our choice by proximity.
With all the excitement that the day had given us we called it an earlier night than probably most of the American Outlaws in our section. The next day we left fairly early so after one of the biggest breakfasts that I have ever had we headed to the airport. Looking back the Kansas City supporters provided this KC transplant for the day an incredible experience that I will not soon forget. I didn’t get to see as much of the city as I would have hoped but our visit was just for the soccer game and then subsequently a nice beer run. I am hoping that KC is chosen as one of the Hex sites, since it was an easy trip for us and the local fans show up in full force. From the restaurants to the tailgating, local beer was everywhere…except potentially the stadium.
About Blake
Blake Winchell is a Southern craft beer, homebrewing, and soccer fanatic. He is a regional correspondent for AmericanCraftBeer.com and the President of Brasseurs a la Maison a Baton Rouge homebrew club. Since there is no soccer team in LA so he has to find a club across the country and pond to support so he arbitrarily picked Portland Timbers and Tottenham Hotspur.
Planting the Seed of Soccer Across America: Danny Beerseed - 0 comments
Abby Wambach moved within ten goals of tying Mia Hamm's all-time U.S. (and global) goal scoring record with her 148th goal (a hustle diving header) late in the first half. Tobin Heath added a second in the 67th minute after Alex Morgan made an incredible endline run and cut-back cross to get the ball in front of goal. Both tallies wouldn't be enough as Dzenifer Marozsan fueled Germany with a brace. The fifth match of the Lady Nats' "Fan Victory Tour" ended in a 2-2 draw in front of a soaked crowd of over 18,000 in Connecticut.
Being Americans, we've been hearing a lot recently, albeit tangentially, about some kinds of debates or something that have been going on around these parts. Here at The Other 87, we're not much for talking out our differences. It sounds kind of boring to be honest, and that's why we settle editorial disagreements via a complex system that combines tic-tac-toe and the Joust event from American Gladiators.
With that in mind (somewhere towards the back, tucked between the bits that are trying to work out the seeding possibilities in the Eastern Conference and those that are wondering what's for dinner tonight) we present to you ten hot topics in the world of soccer, along with the methods by which we'd like to see them settled.
1. Who's the better player, Neymar or Messi?
Pele and Maradona will debate this over the course of 15 rounds of three minutes each. Bare-knuckle.
2. Who should have hosted the 2022 World Cup, Qatar or the USA?
We'll settle this with a two-on-two match between celebrity sponsors of the bids: Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Spike Lee. Ohh well.
Sorry. You can choose only one.
3. Who will win the World Cup in 2014, Spain or the field?
Spain selects Xavi as its spiritual and philosophical champion. Unfortunately, the contest is arm-wrestling, and the field's contender is Brazil's Hulk.
4. Who is hotter is more famous, Alex Morgan or Hope Solo?
Whoever can devise a shorter chain linking them to Kevin Bacon wins.
5. Who is hotter was the bigger catch for their adopted league, David Beckham or Alessandro Del Piero?
Only one option here: A walk-off, judged by David Bowie.
6. The short-passing, possession style vs. a direct, long-ball game?
Johan Cruyff and the ghost of Charles Reep will have a staring contest. This one could take a while.
7. Who's the best US midfielder? Michael Bradley vs. the Field
They'll play king of the hill on the tallest, rustiest jungle gym we can find.
Error. Error.
8. Who's had a better career? Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard?
We were going to let the men themselves decide this with a good, old-fashioned game of FIFA, but we only brought one controller, so they couldn't play together.
9. Financial fair play laws vs. the status quo
We'll decide this by entering Karl Marx and Rich Uncle Pennybags into the World Beard and Mustache Championships.
10. Who's the better talking head: Eric Wynalda or Alexi Lalas?
Alright, maybe we will let them talk this one out. But in a small padded room, far from any cameras or microphones, until they come to an agreement for themselves.
What is this new site we're exposing you too? We'll let them explain:
"The Other 87 seeks to provide something that’s not instant analysis or eve of matchday previews. Think of us as the good bits of your favorite soccer coverage: the profiles that examine what makes a certain player tick, the historical background that sheds some light on how the sport has evolved to the present day, the silly features that are more than just tacking names on a list, but considering and explaining why each one deserves to be there.
O87 wants to be a home for soccer writing that makes you think, but that also treats the game as just that, a game. The greatest game, the one we obsess over and fixate on, to the point where we can’t read that gas costs 3.43 a gallon without thinking of Ajax’s 1995 Champions League winning team. But a game nonetheless.
“When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball three minutes on average. The best players – the Zidanes, Ronaldinhos, Gerrards – will have the ball maybe four minutes. Lesser players – defenders – probably two minutes. So, the most important thing is: what do you do those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball…. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.” –Johann Cruff
Additionally, the first-leg of the North American Soccer League "Soccer Bowl" is tonight from Minnesota as Stars FC host the Tampa Bay Rowdies at 7:30pm CT. Watch online for free.
1. The “I Can Change, You Can Change, Everybody Can Change” Scenario
5. The “How About a Nice Game of Chess?” Scenario
CF - Emilio Largo - Depth perception can be a bit of a problem for him, but he's used to being the Number Two option on a team such as this.
