Thats On Point: The Web Site

Who are you?

2009-12-11T10:03:00.005-05:00

"Who am I? ... Where am I going." -- Tony Soprano/Kevin Finnerty, Season Six coma-fever dream. (Look, on closer inspection the final season of the show isn't as bad as you remember when it first aired.)As Father Time creeps ever closer to 2010, to me, the biggest issue a soccer club can have is an identity crisis. In a perfect, Don Garber-endorsed, world every team in every league would have the

First is Given

2009-12-07T10:00:00.005-05:00

If you're not a "Mad Men" watcher, skip the next paragraph or two. Remember the episode this year when Paul Kinsey stayed late to work on the Western Union telegraph campaign? Remember, how with the aid of the helpful janitor, he cooked up the perfect idea? Remember how he woke up the next morning dismayed since he hadn't written said genius idea down?That happened to me last night, to a much

Sepp Blatter Loves America

2009-12-04T15:30:00.002-05:00

Quick trip down memory lane.It was December 2005. The World Cup Draw? Did anyone in America really even care?Me? I was pissed. Pissed that the U.S. had drawn about as tough a group as possible. Pissed that there wasn't too much, outside creepy message boards, to air my frustrations.So, what did I do? I blogged.And my friend Nick send that post to Will Leitch over at Deadspin, and well, the rest

Title with a pun on the word draw

2009-12-04T12:03:00.028-05:00

Hey gang. Trying a different approach, since ESPN is on air for three hours. During the duration of the draw, I'll just throw up some bullet points, meandering thoughts, etc. Consider it a modified live blog. Or I'm just too lazy to set up a Twitter account. After that, and I post some other stuff elsewhere, I'll chew on some U.S. analysis. FAs always feel free to chime in. * Love the inclusion

Pre-draw picks

2009-12-03T17:40:00.000-05:00

Due to a little development in Cape Town Friday morning. (International vintage sailing convention.) I'm rattling off the usual Premier League preview/picks a little earlier so it doesn't get buried. Here are a couple nuggets to hold you over. * Currently slogging through "Soccernomics." Some of it is fascinating, the rest is skippable. The writers like to cite Michael Lewis' "Moneyball"

Badly drawn boy

2009-12-01T16:08:00.002-05:00

For whatever the reason, soccer tends to lend itself to conspiracies more than any other sport. Yes, for years we've heard that NBA commish David Stern rigged the 1985 draft lottery so the Knicks would land Patrick Ewing or how writers like Bill Simmons trumpet alleged "fixes" with spotty referring to set up more television palpable matchups. But while the NBA certainly has its shadier moments,

I turn my camera on

2009-11-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

Let's start today in a semi-strange place -- the corner flag at The Emirates. That's where, as it turned out, a camera was hurled in the direction of Frank Lampard, which is weird because a) why would you throw a digital camera away and b) why was the match official so concerned that he had to run over, pick it up and ferry it over to the fourth official?Allow this to be my roundabout way of

Gobbles

2009-11-27T10:00:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving. As a somewhat patriotic American I feel fairly bad for everyone across Europe that doesn't get to experience the ultimate holiday on the calendar. That said, it's probably a good thing England doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving even if the participants at the first Thanksgiving had trekked from Merry Old to Plymouth Rock, well, not counting Squanto. (Classic historical

Dreams of nine

2009-11-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

If you live on the West Coast of the U.S., is it even possible to tune in for those early a.m. Premier League kickoffs? Do people actually set their alarms for times like 4:30 in the morning (yes, it exists) to watch 22 men in some far off land kick the ball around?It's hard enough for yours truly to simply rise for games that kick off prior to 10 a.m., yet every weekend I try to do it. This, as

Back in the USSR

2009-11-20T10:00:00.004-05:00

Holy Zombie Jesus, did a lot go down since the last time the Premier League kicked off a fortnight ago. First and foremost, my assumed title chase between Chelsea and Arsenal got thrown a wicked Barry Zito circa-2002 curveball. (Ok, for Brits, a wicked Googly.) Chelsea is going to have to play at least a couple matches -- and almost certainly the Nov. 29 match with the Gooners -- without midfield

I don't usually agree with Tommy Smyth ...

2009-11-18T17:33:00.004-05:00

... But Ireland got absolutely robbed in that game against France today. Thierry Henry with the "main d'un dieu" to set up William Gallas's winning goal. Oh, and both players were offside to start the play, too.In all honesty, not to pull a Sir Alex Ferguson, but that was arguably the worst non-call I've ever seen. Even the French broadcast dug into the Angophile dictionary to use the word, "

Danish doozer

2009-11-18T16:30:00.001-05:00

No ramblings. No preamble. No time. Have to run out for work, so not too much time to marinate on the USMNT/Denmark game. You're getting bullet points. Enjoy. * Danish Tex Mex? Who would have figured? I'm sure salted cod and salsa make an excellent burrito combo. * Missed the first 15-odd minutes watching the ends of the Algeria/Egypt hate-cast and the Ukraine/Greece snooze-fest.* Thank you

Mmmm Danish

2009-11-17T16:24:00.001-05:00

How about those Danish Van Houtens?What, you're telling me you didn't stick with 'The Simpsons' through season 19?Guess I'd have to call that a cromulent decision. If you read those last three seconds and your brain didn't turn into a puddle of chocolate pudding, you were probably able to deduce that I don't have a whole lot to offer for Wednesday's USMNT friendly against Denmark in Aarhus. (

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

2009-11-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Well, turns out Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey & Co. have about as much drawing power in Eastern Europe as Anvil. For whatever the reason Friday night I decided to stay up through multiple power outages for the MLS Western Conference Final between the Galaxy and Dynamo. During the match the thought drifted into my head about Saturday's USMNT/Slovakia friendly -- why wouldn't Bob Bradley simply roll

From Slovakia with Love

2009-11-13T10:04:00.005-05:00

For whatever the reason, the term "friendly" can be lumped together with diving (i.e. David Ngog) and the quantum physics intricacies of the offside rule as primary reasons why mainstream media types prefer to mock soccer, as opposed to caring about it. What exactly is a "friendly" anyway? Why not call it an exhibition? Does it matter? Are we just splitting hairs? By the same token, can we put

The Good, the Brad and the Ugly

2009-11-09T14:30:00.000-05:00

This morning when I woke up and checked my email, my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets (think the 1:06 mark of this classic clip) when I read the U.S. Soccer Federation missive about the roster for the upcoming USMNT friendly against Slovakia. (Saturday, 10 a.m., FSC)As the old saying goes, don't blog angry, so I took a little time to collect myself and my shock that Edgar Castillo, et al,

Captain Terry-bull Sing Along Post

2009-11-09T10:00:00.001-05:00

It's weird, isn't it, that the same player could be hailed as both "Lionheart" and the "Bionic Woman" in the same breath? Maybe it's not so strange if that player is John Terry. On the one hand, if you're English -- particularly in the media -- you have to love Terry's grit and even if you hate Chelsea, he is sorta the captain of the National Team, after all. At the same time, you'd probably get

Mod squads

2009-11-06T10:03:00.004-05:00

We could probably spend a day listing all the difference between our traditional North American sports leagues (MLB, NFL and NBA) with the way European soccer clubs are run, or in fact almost all leagues around the world are run, aside from MLS. For me, one of the key differences is roster construction. Let's not get into the issue of salary caps for the time being. As it stands, a MLB active

Another Liverpool post

2009-11-04T18:30:00.001-05:00

Sorry Merseysiders, the Red side at least. As you know I'm not usually Senor Champions League, but today I was actually home for a change and watched the 1-1 drawn between Liverpool and Lyon in central France, a result that went down as a simultaneous stomach punch and kick to the groin region, for fans of Liverpool anyway. Ouch. Liverpool had the match all but won thanks to Ryan Babel, yes Ryan

The men who look like goats

2009-11-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

Not exactly the best weekend in the Premier League to be a coach with a goatee. In fact, the noose is all but hanging around the neck of Phil Brown and all that we're waiting for is the Hull City directors to pull the lever and drop the floor out from under him. Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez remains on death row, but due to some savvy law papers (or his past glory at the club), the Spaniard has a stay

Odds, ends, picks

2009-10-30T09:46:00.001-04:00

Before delving into a couple odds-and-ends, let me first issue a major apology. If anyone out there in Inter-nets Land actually takes my Premier League picks to heart and bets them, well, last weekend I'm massively sorry. Going 2-and-8 is frankly, unacceptable. If this were a reality television program, I'd have been asked to take my laptop and go. Everyone is due a clunker, but batting .200 for

FIFA 10 Thoughts

2009-10-27T12:30:00.004-04:00

For better or worse, I am a gamer.There I said it. In fact, video games will probably outgrow me -- maybe a cerebral implant -- before I outgrow them.The following is going to be my thoughts on the latest EA soccer release, "FIFA 10." Maybe you don't game, but I'll go out on a limb and say that "FIFA" has been as important as spreading soccer and ingraining it into Americans sports fans brains as

Everybody Hates Rafa

2009-10-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

Rafa Benitez. Even if you follow the Premier League with the most passing of interests, chances are you have an opinion on the goatee-d Spanish coach of Liverpool, who has seemingly been at the hot seat at Anfield since before the world knew who Hannah Montana was. Just the other night I was chatting with a friend over XBox Live during a game of "FIFA 10" (shameless plug, review/thoughts coming

Rank, file, juice

2009-10-23T10:00:00.007-04:00

Believe it or not, after this weekend we'll be past the quarter post in the 2009-10 Premier League season. With that in mind, I figured it would be time to assess where the 20 clubs stand. While at first glance it might look like a giant glob, there are some mild strains of separation. Again, I'm knowingly cribbing a Bill Simmons popularized trope, so deal with it.Enjoy. * * *As a little preamble

Best news of the year

2009-10-19T14:38:00.004-04:00

Nothing better than when someone, or in this case, a monolith hell-bent on global sports supremacy, learns from it's mistakes. Monday Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch is reporting ESPN has hired Martin Tyler to announce next summer's World Cup for the network. Well, nothing more to say than halle-freaking-llujah. I'd even go as far as to say, it makes tolerating Tommy Symth seem more