[aldo_14]

what we need is some marque name to come play here in the MLS, Red Bull NY tried to get Ronaldo not to long ago but was  shot down pretty quick. You could go around and most peopl dont know a member of most of the teams in the MLS

without bigtime name recognition weve got nothing, Freddy Adu aint cuttin it

Odds are Adu will be shuffling off to Chelski within a year or so anyways.

what strikes me, though, is how many derbies in the MLS are there?  Other than the Chivas offshoot, there appear to be bugger all; and i don't think you can have a proper league without the blood and sweat of derbies.  Of course, I remember having the misfortune to be in Florida during the 1998 world cup finals (just after Argentina-Holland, which i missed from flying - bah), and reading a newspaper article which essentially said footie was unpopular in the US because it wasn't (literally) violent enough.

So maybe best just send Duncan Ferguson over.

Well, struggle is part of learning. European football wouldn't be where it is today, I think, if not for all the tournaments pitting top teams from different countries against eachother. And once american crowds started to see the spectacle that a match against, say, a top brazilian team can be, that will increase interest even in case of a (probable) loss. And it would give the american teams something more to fight for.

That it's never gonna happen is a different story. Or hell, try broker a deal to get a team into the champions league. Even less likely to happen (it's UEFA only), but it would rock to see it.

They still have plans to re-start that abortive World Club Cup, I think (I think it was Vasco that beat Palmeiras in a penalty shootout to win it the only time it was played...or was it the other way).  Of course, the Brazilian league IIRC has a bit of a reputation for being somewhat dull (midfield attrition rules) and  dirty, although it's been so long since I've seen one of their games I'd have to leave it to a native to elaborate/contradict.

[Shade]

Not violent enough? I think there's just not enough commerc... err... pee breaks for the networks to like it

[Night Hammer]

I heard Real Madrid was coming over to blast one of our MLS teams later this year, I want tickets for that


i duno about not viloent enough, but after talkin to some of my friends who havent had the pleasure of living in europe they dont like to watch it because a)not enough scoring(same with hockey) B) the horrible acting and wussyness after some players take a tackle

[aldo_14]

I heard Real Madrid was coming over to blast one of our MLS teams later this year, I want tickets for that


i duno about not viloent enough, but after talkin to some of my friends who havent had the pleasure of living in europe they dont like to watch it because a)not enough scoring(same with hockey) B) the horrible acting and wussyness after some players take a tackle

Well, I agree with b) wholeheartedly (I'm all for retrospective red cards for diving), but I think a) would actually cheapen the game if it wasn't hard to score.  In most US sports, to the outsider, it seems as if scoring is pretty worthless (especially basketball); plus the defensive side of the game is equally attractive to me.

[Night Hammer]

its not neccesarrily worthless but it doesnt mean as much as scoring a goal in a game.

say a team is up by 2 goals, that probably equates out to like 25-30 point lead in basketball

[Kazan]

A) Armored wankball doesn't have more scoring, it's just 7 points or 3 points per score depending on nature
B) basketball scoring = oh look, i tossed the ball over my opponants head into a ring, w00t I can do a dog trick


you need a soccer culture - it's grown here in the united states - my local PDL (4th division) team ran adds on ABC during some of the matches aired on ABC - and in our exhibition match at home, in unseasonably cold (50s F) temperatures we had our best crowd all season because of those comercials (i talked to several people who came out just because of the comercials)

the FO was brilliant and sent someone to run out and get stuff to make hot chocolate (Which they normally don't have in the concessions) and the concessions was busiest i've ever seen it - they turned a profit that day

funny thing was is the Reserves were playing instead of the main team because it was just an exhibition and they played terribly but still won (We dominated our league, soon as we can get a city to sign on and help build our stadium will be moving to USL1 [2nd division])


tommorow we have a Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match vs a US ASA team.. hopefully we'll get excellent turn out again

(a team up 2 goals is the equivilent of 14 points in armored wankball)

[Colonol Dekker]

Rugby i prefer every time, but round about WC or Euro tiime i always get psyched for England,
I can see Kazans devotion to yooessay, and nothing wrong with that.


Armored wankball???  LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111122222222222233333333333333

[Shade]

I vote for that to become the new official name of the sport

[Kazan]

I knew the humor of Armored Wankball wouldn't be lost you guys across the pond - unfortuantely most of my countrymen don't get it

[Night Hammer]

A) Armored wankball doesn't have more scoring, it's just 7 points or 3 points per score depending on nature
B) basketball scoring = oh look, i tossed the ball over my opponants head into a ring, w00t I can do a dog trick

ok whens the last time youve watched some good college or pro football, scoring is damn near always in the 20-30 range



and being a college basketball player im gonna say **** you, you try to make in the hoop from 15 feet away with someone covering you. Until then shut the **** up if you dont know what youre talking about.

[Colonol Dekker]

Armoured wankball = YooEssAy footie- NFL etc?

Ahah Now the laughter has tripled Muahahaha!

Its just rugby with pads and cheerleaders.

[Shade]

Truth is Football is probably more violent than AW. But for now, time to see if the french can get their old legs into high gear against the swiss.

[Kazan]

i've played basketball

omg boring 2ez n00b next

rugby with pads? nad that would be more respectible - it's wankball

[Colonol Dekker]

Official Wnkball thread 2006 coming soon.......

I'm gonna use that phrase until i die now. I will only call NFL armoured wankball, even if i'm stared down by a USMC Gunny.

[Night Hammer]

ok Kaz, id like to see you play some real competition and then see how easy it is, playing with 10 year olds doesnt count

[karajorma]

lol k theres a character named General Dekker in there some of us know, thought youd gotten a promotion or somthin

Seems more likely that he named himself after the character from the A-Team

[Night Hammer]

nono i meant like an actual person named General Dekker(its an mmorpg) not an actual character from a story

but youre right though

[Night Hammer]

Is France that bad or are the Swiss this decent?

[Shade]

France was definitely that bad. By far the worst game of the cup so far, entertainment wise. No speed, no inspiration, just 93 minutes of mindnumbing boredom accentuated by moments of sheer slightly-less-boredness. Neither of those teams deserve to advance, that's for sure.

[aldo_14]

Well, that was ****ing turgid.