MLS & U.S. Pro Leagues
Mike Stone
Phoenix, Ariz.
Do you think Pete Marino should have been suspended for his purposeful handball (against Tampa Bay)? He was obviously cheating.
Ridge Mahoney: A suspension on the first offense is too harsh, since the league had issued no directives on what would be the punishment for this offense. However, a player committing such an offense a second time should be subject to suspension for one game. To be consistent, the league should also fine players for deliberate handballs in all situations, not just on scoring a goal.
I’d like to know how the referee and linesman missed that call. Maybe they should be fined, too!
Pablo Bejarano
Cincinnati
I think that the problem with the announcers during the soccer games shown on TV (including ESPN, ESPN2, Home Team Sports, Prime, and Sports Channel America) is that they are just mere describers of what is happening in a game. Anybody can do that. They need to be analysts of what is happening in a given game. For example, they do not have to repeat every 45 seconds that Kansas City is losing 2-0 — what they need to tell is why Kansas City is losing. At this point those announcers have seen enough soccer to have learned something. What do you think? Also, why is that you do not publish the schedule of MLS games to be shown in TV on HTS, Prime, SCA?
RM: I agree wholeheartedly. Most of the color commentators are very poor at analysis, and the ESPN announcers are particularly prone to hammering away at two or three preconceived themes (Valderrama is missing, Preki relies on his left foot, etc.) for the entire broadcast while ignoring the dynamics and run of play. And the shameless homerism of many announcers on local broadcasts is quite irritating, although you hear the same stuff on hockey, baseball, basketball and football calls as well. The MetroStars and Rapids broadcasters are the worst offenders.
We ran MLS TV schedules in our preview, but several teams had not yet set up their local broadcasts and many teams have added or deleted TV games during the season. As a national publication, we feel national telecasts are of greater interest to our readers than local ones. We often list upcoming TV games in the weekly conference roundups.
If you want satellite information, call MLS public relations at (310) 772-7505 for a listing of satellite coordinates for each week’s games. You’ll have to rely on the league office and the individual teams for playoff TV details, since the dates and details won’t be finalized in time for our press deadlines.
Paul S Hendren
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
With the ever increasing globalization of the great game of soccer, do you believe the expansion of MLS to Canada and Mexico would create more interest in domestic soccer competitions? With the success of such defunct Canadian club sides in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, the MLS powers to be should focus on expansion north of the forty ninth parallel.
RM: You’ve got it upside down — soccer conquered the globe decades ago, and the U.S. is only now catching up. Do you think the Mexican League would let MLS put a team in its country? No chance. And I don’t see how you can use the term “success” and “defunct” in the same sentence to bolster the argument of Canadian expansion.
I think it’s indicative of Canada’s own struggle with pro soccer that it doesn’t have its own pro league, and Major League Soccer is unlikely to bring teams along for the ride. MLS is not the NBA or Major League Baseball. Canadian expansion is a long, long, long way away.
The U.S. and Canada will meet in international competition, and I’d love to see the MLS champ play the Mexican League champ. But MLS expansion outside U.S. borders any time soon is unlikely; remember, there are only 10 teams! If the league goes well, plenty of U.S. cities will want to join.
Michael Frick
Erie, Pa.
With the recent news of MLS expansion in 1998, why weren’t cities such as Cleveland, which already has a great fan following with the Cleveland Crunch, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo considered? All three have a tremendous youth program and have a large amount of soccer fans. The only city that might be questioned would be Pittsburgh who let their Stingers get away, although indoor soccer during the summer seems a risky venture. We’re hurting here in Northwestern PA with the nearest MLS or USISL team a 4 hour or more drive away.
RM: All three cities, especially Buffalo, have scant outdoor tradition, have never hosted a national team game, and did not even bid to be a 1994 World Cup site. The 1993 World University Games soccer competition in Buffalo drew very small crowds.
Pro outdoor franchises in Cleveland and Pittsburgh (late 1960’s) were dismal failures, and most cities around the country can claim to have large youth programs. Cleveland lost one of NFL’s most famous franchises, the Pirates can’t draw flies in Pittsburgh, and the snow doesn’t thaw in Buffalo until late May. I doubt if MLS would want to compete with the Crunch without some sort of cooperative agreement.
There are numerous U.S. cities that offer brighter prospects in terms of weather, stadiums, and demographics than the three cities you mention.
Rob Connallon
Washington, D.C.
Whatever became of Jim Paglia and his League 1 America, which sought to compete with MLS by offering pro soccer in a soccer/amusement center setting? Also will MLS teams be going on pre/post season tours? It seems to me this a good way to minimize early season rustiness?
RM: Jim Paglia has given up on his pipe dream for now, but we’ve heard nothing about him for more than a year.
I hear Los Angeles and San Jose may train and play in Mexico next year, the MetroStars would like to go to Italy, and Tampa Bay may go to Europe. But due to the heavy international schedule in late 1996 and early 1997 with World Cup qualifying and U.S. Cup, MLS clubs won’t have a lot of their stars, so their drawing power in foreign countries will be reduced. And, unlike foreign teams that can sell TV rights for their matches played on tour for big bucks, MLS teams have little but appearance fees as revenue sources. Teams often go on tour as part of their preparation, too, but they also like to make money when they do it.
Denis Boudreau
Newport News, Va.
Why did the USISL’s Hampton Roads Mariners and the Carolina Dynamo only play two games instead of three in their Select League division series? It was exciting but odd to watch them tie one game to one and then after a 15 minute break come back out to play a 30 minute ‘mini’ game to see who the division champions would be.
Paul Kennedy: The mini-game has been used for several years in both the A-League and the USISL, and it was also used by the NASL. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the USISL simply doesn’t have the time or the money to do a full third game.
Bill Maurer
Torrance, Calif.
I was drafted by the California Sunshine of the now defunct American Soccer League in 1980. Do you have a record of the draft or know how I can get in touch with someone who might?
RM: Believe it or not, our painstaking research (digging through piles of old issues stuffed into storage boxes) by our crack archival staff (which consists of me, and I have the ink-stained fingers to prove it!) has unearthed the 1980 ASL draft. I’d be glad to send you a copy by mail or fax; just post the address or fax number to me at ridge@socceramer.com, and I’ll send it off.
International
David Arnold
Greenville, S.C.
I wanted to know if you were aware of ESPN purchasing the rights to the great English show Premiership Highlights? Last year this was shown on PRIME and we never missed a show. I understand that ESPN2 now has the TV rights and intends to show it only on its International channel which cannot be viewed in the USA. This amounts to basically shelving the show as far as USA viewers are concerned.
Pete Bailey: Starting September 16, ESPN2 will show a Premier League match of the week on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. eastern time. The match will be a tape of that day’s clash (this Monday’s game features Arsenal against league leader Sheffield Wednesday). ESPN also has the rights to the Premier League highlights show, but has not yet decided whether or when to air it. When a decision is reached, we’ll post it on the site. By the way, we’ve posted the ESPN and ESPN2 soccer telecast schedule for the remainder of 1996 — it’s in the news briefs section of SA Online.
Christopher Cox
Palo Alto, Calif.
As a huge fan of English football, I enjoy collecting various club jerseys from both Premier and Second division clubs. Unfortunately, I have found it almost impossible to locate a store (or catalog for that matter) which sells such items. Neither the local soccer shop nor the numerous catalogs I already receive in the mail have what I’m interested in. Are you aware of any addresses either in the States or abroad where I could write to obtain a catalog?
In addition, what are your thoughts on the 15 million pound transfer of English striker Alan Shearer to Newcastle United. I figured that after the rumors of a deal with Manchester United were finally quelled, he would in fact remain with Blackburn for the upcoming season. This move has left me completely shocked!
Duncan Irving: In answer to your first question, most English clubs have hitched on to the merchandising bandwagon rather later than their American counterparts, but merchandise is now the third biggest revenue for teams (after TV and gate money). Manchester United, for example, generated $20 million from merchandise sales alone last season, and Newcastle was forced to order three extra truckloads of jerseys after the Shearer signing. So your best bet is to contact the club shop of your favorite team.
Team strips change every year, but the club shop will normally stock the current ones — general sporting goods stores may not be as up-to-the-minute.
But they don’t come cheap — I normally have to pick something up for the odd SA staffer when I visit England. Last Christmas, on a trip to Highbury I snagged an Arsenal jersey with the No.10 and Bergkamp ironed on the back for about $120. This summer a Newcastle training top cost around $65. Clubs normally have mail-order divisions, so you’ll have to pay a handling fee as well.
One more thing, shirts that you buy are not the same as the ones the players actually wear. Over-the-counter jerseys are (a) Nylon and (b) Short sleeve. Cotton, long-sleeve shirts are usually only available from the manufacturer (i.e. Umbro, Nike, adidas), cost a fortune and are only sold to you, the punter, if they feel like it.
As for the Shearer sale, I can’t say I was surprised. After his performance at Euro `96, it was simply a question of player, club and agent working to maximize his earning potential and dollar value on the transfer market.
Additionally, I was never completely sold on the Blackburn Rovers phenomenon. Yes, it was good that they won the English title, but they always struck me as fundamentally a long-ball team with a couple of good strikers (Shearer and Mike Newell, who’s also left). I think after a season, other teams got wise to them.
You also have to question their record in Europe: losing to Swedish part-timers Trelleborg in the UEFA Cup was embarrassing enough, but their performance in last year’s Champions League was little short of embarrassing — remember the on-field punchup between two Blackburn players in their game against Spartak Moscow?
Blackburn is situated in an area with a limited drawing power, that pales beside its Manchester neighbor, Liverpool or Newcastle, so I don’t think they were ever going to be able to mount a sustained campaign for supremacy on the traditional “big” clubs.
And you have to wonder about the coaching set-up: Kenny Dalglish was moved upstairs after the title win and then got canned (ignore the parting by “mutual consent” stuff, Dalglish was “surprised”) two games into the season.
The refusal to sell Shearer to Manchester United gave a few of us here a good chuckle — particularly Blackburn’s counter-offer for Eric Cantona — but Newcastle was able to meet the asking price, pay the wages (basic $1.5 million a year) and offer him the chance to return home. A good move all round if, you’re a Geordie.
Critics would argue that Keegan would have been better off shelling out for a couple of good defenders as well — and Newcastle’s early form has certainly borne this out.
Michael Carlston
Santa Rosa, Calif.
I need to make some plans for the summer of 1998 ridiculously early. Can you tell me the dates of the 1998 World Cup?
PB: France ’98 will run from June 10 through July 12. The FIFA homepage (www.fifa.com or use the link in our links section) has the complete schedule, including the stadia at which each match is slated to be played.
Prabawa Bima
San Francisco
Whatever happened to Igor Belanov, the 1986 European player of the Year? And where is Alexander Zavarov, Sergei Aleinikov, Gennadi Litovchenko and the rest of the Soviet Union’s outstanding Euro ’88 team and its coach, Valery Lobanovsky?
PK: Most of these players are basically washed-up, with the exception of Aleinikov, who now represents Belarus and has been playing in the J-League. The last we heard, Lubanovsky was coaching somewhere in the middle east.
1996 Atlanta Olympics
Charles Dolan
Ludlow, Mass.
Has NBC responded to the comments and complaints regarding the total lack of soccer coverage. I blinked and missed the Argentina-Portugal highlights.
Mike Woitalla: NBC laughed all the way to the bank, because its ratings were the highest ever, and I assume that’s all it cares about.
Bill Sprecher
Cincinnati
I just read your recent edition about the Olympic finals. You did your usual excellent job in reporting the news. I was also at the Women’s Gold Medal match, and it was thrilling. My question is this: As you speak with journalists from Europe and South America, how are they truly viewing and reporting soccer in the U.S.? Do they see a change in our players and our fans? Do they offer these comments in off the record discussions with you? How do they report our soccer events to their newspapers and audiences back in their countries — not the play of the match but how the US’s players and fans react to either poor or superb soccer?
MW: I’ve found that foreign journalists enjoy covering big soccer events in the United States. The stadiums used for the Olympics were all excellent facilities. The atmosphere was exceptional. Games not involving the home team at the Barcelona games in 1992, for example, were poorly attended.
The days in which foreign journalists mock U.S. soccer are pretty much over. I remember an Argentine journalist reluctantly admitting how good Claudio Reyna is.
Foreign journalists find it intriguing, and make mention in their reports, that teams playing in the U.S. draw large support from U.S. residents with ties to those countries. An English reporter said he liked how friendly the crowds were, and how the supporters from different teams were interspersed, instead of segregated, as often the case is in Europe.
College
Richard Strang
Naperville, Ill.
Concerning your 1996 NCAA Div 1 men’s ratings: Did you people forget about Bowling Green State? They finished rated 19th last year and lose one starter. I thought you people did your homework, or do you not like to rate too many teams from one region? Wisconsin No. 18? Nice tribute but who are you kidding?
MW: Bowling Green has a whole season to prove itself.