I've Pissed Off My First Reader

Someone didn't take kindly to my dissing of Salt Lake evidently. Evidently, this little blog lacks the breadth and scope of a New York Times or The Sporting News.

Well, no shit.

However they do send me to a Real Salt Lake fan site where I read the following.

Major League Soccer has agreed to let Checketts explore St. Louis "as an option" for relocating his team, according to league sources. In the St. Louis option, Checketts - who owns a National Hockey League team in the Midwestern city - likely would sell the team to a group led by attorney Jeff Cooper.
...
League spokesman Dan Courtemanche declined to comment Tuesday on RSL, but acknowledged MLS has "had discussions with potential owners in St. Louis for the better part of two years." Noting that the group had some 20 representatives in a luxury suite at the 2006 MLS All-Star Game in suburban Chicago, he added, "They're serious."

Gee, Real Salt Lake possibly moving to St. Louis. I wish *I* had said that.

Oh yeah, that's right, I did.

UPDATE

Oh and then there was this from Steve Goff at the Washington Post:

So all hell has broken loose in Salt Lake City and this little kickball experience might be heading toward a salt-watery grave. RSL wants the city to help with stadium infrastructure costs. City isn't interested. Suburban types don't seem to care either. Dave Checketts is very mad. Seems he might pull out of Utah and take his toys elsewhere, perhaps St. Louis. Don't worry, the Commish has got Checketts' back, saying, "As we have said many times, Real Salt Lake cannot be successful long-term without a new stadium. In that regard, Real Salt Lake is no different than any other professional sports team in America. I will meet with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts to review the options in light of this decision."

Someone should tell Goff that, according to some guy in Salt Lake, he doesn't know what the hell he is talking about.

Notts County 1 - 1 Barnet

Missed penalties will kill you everytime. From the BBC:

Lawrie Dudfield went from hero to villain as he scored one penalty and missed another as Notts County were held by Barnet.
Dudfield converted a 17th-minute penalty at the second attempt after Adam Gross felled Andy Parkinson.

But when Gross fouled Parkinson again inside the area after 36 minutes, this time Dudfield fired his spot-kick against the crossbar.

And Barnet equalised when Nicky Bailey forced home Richard Graham's corner.

Notts is still in 8th, but only 5 points ahead of 17th place Bury. You just can't drop points like this.

Blues 2 Wild 5

Well, I got to watch this one on television locally up here in the Twin Cities area. The Blues were probably the better team for 40 minutes of hockey, but they are back to not being able to score again. So it is a big four point loss, with not enough time to make up for it. I'll grant you they still have games against the Wild remaining, but you need to be within 6 points with 10-12 games remaining to have a shot. I don't see this team scoring consistently enough to get there. It's too bad. This team has enough talent to scare people if they could just get into the playoffs.

In case you missed it, here is a nice article on the Blues from ESPN (really): Murray's fresh approach gives credibility back to Blues

Entertaining actual playoff aspirations might seem a bit whimsical under the circumstances. Despite this renaissance, the Blues still find themselves a full eight points back of the eighth and final playoff slot in the West. Murray reckons they might have to win 24 of their last 33 to give themselves a legitimate shot, but this last month has, if nothing else, brought credibility back to town.

It's far too early in the process to imply that the St. Louis Blues are alive and kicking, but at least a pulse has been detected.

"Well, we had nowhere to go but up," Murray said. "The last time I looked, there was no such thing as a 31st-place team in this league."

Real St. Louis?

News from that soccer hotbed Salt Lake City:

Calling it an "unsafe investment," the Salt Lake County major said Monday that he won't support $30 million in taxes for a soccer stadium, a major blow to Real Salt Lake's plan to move to the suburbs.

Mayor Peter Corroon's announcement came three days after the county's Debt Review Committee recommended against spending $30 million in hotel taxes on the $110 million project. The committee said Real Salt Lake's revenue projections were too optimistic.

Lord, only knows how Salt Lake City can afford to be uppity. I never really understood why the powers that be in MLS would have signed off on a franchise there in the first place. Hell, the league would have been better off with a third team in LA rather than one in Utah.

And make no mistake, this means the end of this franchise in Salt Lake.

Real has proposed a 20,000-seat stadium in Sandy, just south of Salt Lake City. The team has been around for two seasons and plays home games at the University of Utah, but its lease runs out after this season.

"I don't have a place to play after that. Talk about being up a creek. ... This really leaves us in a bad situation," Checketts said.

MLS commissioner Don Garber issued a statement following the mayor's decision.

"Real Salt Lake cannot be successful long-term without a new stadium," Garber said. "In that regard, Real Salt Lake is no different than any other professional sports team in America. I will meet with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts to review the options in light of this decision."

What do you want to bet Option #1 reads: "Get The Hell Out Of Here ASAP"??

As some of you may know, Dave Checketts is also the new owner of the St. Louis Blues. Things on that front are moving forward quite nicely. Last years worst team in hockey has made steady improvements (I'll ignore tonights drubbing at the hand of a pretty poor Wild team), and is generating a little buzz amongst the hockey faithful. As I have noted, there are already suburban communities in St. Louis that have expressed the desire to host a soccer stadium housing an MLS franchise. This sounds like a pretty conjunction for St. Louis soccer fans.

I'd be shocked if Checketts isn't already considering it. He could probably work a deal out with St. Louis University to use their Hermann Stadium until a new stadium is built. Hermann has a capacity of around 6000, but there is plenty of room to add semi-permanent stands.



If Checketts would like to be the "sports baron of St. Louis" I would say now is his chance.

Version 2.0:

I'm not alone in thinking this. Here is the take from An American's View:

If Checketts retains ownership, expect him to move the club to either St. Louis or to Seattle. St. Louis is the more logical location, as he owns the St. Louis Blues NHL team and there is a stadium plan already in the works outside of the city, one that has local government support. Seattle is another option, but one that is less likely as there is no stadium truly available and none in the works.

If there is contraction, which will lead to another surplus of available, seasoned players for the rest of the league. As MLS is planning to add their 14th club in the 2008 season, I can see Garber doing almost everything possible to retain the RSL club, which wills most likely lead to them moving and getting rebranded. I think that Garber & Co. will be less likely to allow for contraction as they were when the two Florida clubs ended up folding. This makes me feel that we will see RSL move to St. Louis next season, have Kansas City (who is currently homeless and could be facing a relocation/rebranding as well) or Chicago get moved back to the West.

I doubt seriously that the league will allow the team currently holding the rights to Freddy Adu to be contracted. That would be a PR disaster of the first magnitude. That leaves moving the team and, as of right now, St. Louis makes the best sense. (Which probably will rule it out immediately.)

Preston Wilson Reprise

The Cards have brought back Preston Wilson on a one year 1 million dollar contract. This should be fine. There didn't seem to be that many useful outfielders floating around out there. If he gets 500 ABs he should hit .265, with 17-21 knocks, and drive in 70-80 runs. That would be more than acceptable in the "bang for buck" criteria. It would be nice to see him revert to his 2000 form where he still hit in the .260's, but hit 35 homers and drove in 130 plus. It isn't anything anyone can count on. (His numbers in Colorado just aren't plausible, so there is no use going into them.)

I get the feeling that the team we see on the 40 man roster now (pending what move they have to make to fit Wilson on it) will give us the opening day lineup. It looks like a solid group, but I'm not sure it puts the fear of God into anyone. The only real difference in the everyday lineup is that we should have a little more stability at second base with Kennedy.

Everything will depend on the pitching, and while there is a lot to be hopeful about, after Carpenter, nothing is a given.

Latest Billiken Loss...

...is to Houston, RPI of 96.

I don't want to talk about it.

Hereford United 3 2 Notts County

Notts County couldn't continue their winning ways on the road as they fall at Hereford. It certainly seems that Notts loses their concentration after the score. Lee nets one in the 7th minute and Hereford responds in the 9th minutes. Lee scores again in the 64th minutes and Hereford comes right back in the 68th!

Notts remain in 8th. Next match Tuesday against Barnet, currently sitting in 15th, only 4 points back of the Magpies.

Blues 3 Predators 6

Now this was a frustrating game. You play terrible, and then in the last 4 minutes net one to get within a goal...and proceed to give up yet another goal 40 seconds later. The Blues hadn't played horrible defense like this in over a month, but we just cannot play well against Nashville. We seem to refuse to play well against them. As Bernie Miklasz said, " The Blues made so many mistakes on defense, and let so many Predators get free, I thought I was at a Rams game. "

Ouch.

It didn't help that Sanford was a little leaky as well.

The only bright point was that Columbus was able to knock off Minnesota last night, which keeps the Blues 8 points back. The Wild come into St. Louis, so hopefully the Blues can bounce back with a big game when they really need it. This is an old fashioned 4 point game. It is enough to make one long for the old Norris division.

Blues 2 Red Wings 1 (OT)

Ho hum. Another game, another win.

Wait a sec! This is the Blues we are talking about! My God! If anyone still followed the NHL this would be big news!

Even bigger news is that it actually pays to do a little scoreboard watching. Last night was a pretty good night for the Blues in other North American cities. Both the Avalanche and the Oilers, both just above the Blues in the standings, lost last night leaving the Blues 4 points out of ninth. It would have been a perfect night but the Wild beat Calgary in OT as well, keeping the Blues 8 points out of the last playoff spot.

All that stuff is nice, but it don't mean a thing if the Blues don't continue to pick up points. Tonight Nashville come into town again. They have had the Blues number this season, so this might say more about the Blues resurgence than any other game to date. Hopefully, the offense will get going tonight. They might have won their last two games, but the Blues only scored 3 goals doing it.

St. Louis University 76 UNC Charlotte 63

Nice game by Lisch coming back from injury (9-13 from the field, 5-8 from 3, 28 points). But there are still more trouble spots. Even in a near blowout game, the Bills still only used seven players for most of the game. Soderberg was able to clear the bench late....real late. The kids got 1 minute to run around.

I shouldn't be so hard on this team...after all I've already acknowleged they aren't very good. But they have at least some of the pieces to be good. It simply hasn't come together, and it seems unlikely that it will come together, especially with so little help coming off the bench. (Although I should mention that Johnson played a few good minutes, and scored a little bit. That helped offset a bad game from Meyer. Luke managed just 2 points in 26 minutes. Ouch!)

Remember Where You Were...

...When you first heard the name Wladimir Mendoza. Over at Get Up Baby! they have the following take on the prize prospect on the Card's Venezuelan team (evidently we do have one of those):

But one pitcher stands out enough to not only make the Not-Top Twenties on an exception, but to be the official Get Up, Baby! Longshot Prospect of 2007. Our patron saint, if you will, since I’ve heard exactly one sentence about his abilities from someone who’s seen him play. And that player is Wladimir Mendoza. His numbers–which admittedly need to be taken with a huge grain of salt–speak volumes:

IP H BB K HR K/9 BB/9 K:BB ERA
75.2 50 47 89 2 10.59 5.59 1.89 2.26

That appears to be the work of a live arm. But ten of his runs allowed came in two miserable outings. Let’s take those out, and see what we have left.

IP H BB K HR K/9 BB/9 K:BB ERA
66.0 38 36 82 2 11.18 4.91 2.28 1.23

So he was old for his league–20–and his control was still pretty bad, but when his command wasn’t totally off he was off-the-charts dominant. According to an interview of Jeff Luhnow, VP of player development, that Scout.com conducted a while back, he’s got a fastball that sits in the low-90s and “the makings of a good breaking pitch.” In the Liga Paralela, a Venezuelan winter league, he allowed one earned run and struck out nineteen in fifteen innings pitched. We probably won’t hear from him again until short season leagues open up in June, but when that happens he’ll get the first sidebar spot since I tracked Rick Ankiel’s first season as an outfielder. Let’s hope this goes a little better.

It is the season to get worked up about kids you will probably never see in a big league uniform. What else is there to do until pitchers and catchers report?

Speaking of propects, if you haven't checked out Future Redbirds yet, do so. It is one stop shopping for the Cards farm system. Can't live without weekly Rick Ankiel updates? Future Redbirds is the place for you.

Aussie Tinkering

In case you were wondering, there are indeed rules to Aussie Rules Football. And just as in American Football folks do like to change the rules up a bit.

THE AFL will trial a 20m kick rule during the 2007 pre-season competition in a bid to encourage longer kicking and more contested play.

Players will now have to kick a ball at least 20m for it to be marked, instead of 15, under a law to be introduced during the NAB Cup, which starts on February 23.

In a further modification to be used during the pre-season competition, players will only be prohibited from kicking backwards in their defensive half of the ground.

Players will now be able to kick backwards to a teammate in the forward half of the ground without fear of umpires calling play-on.

Previously players were only allowed to pass backwards in their team's forward 50-metre arc.

...

The AFL hopes extending the distance a kick has to travel before it can be marked will encourage players to boot it longer instead of chipping it short to teammates.

Continued short kicking and possession football has been a blight on the game in recent years, with many fans bemoaning the lack of contested marks in games.

"Player skills in finding targets for a mark under the current 15-metre rule have got better and better in recent years and the trial rule may encourage longer kicking and contested possession," said AFL football operations general manager Adrian Anderson.

"We will examine the impact of the trial rule and whether it increases contested marks, long kicking and contested possession."

I think they may well increase the numbers of contested marks, but I wonder if the quality of play will suffer. Possession play may not be everyone's first impression of Aussie rules (an ill defined melee maybe hits nearer the mark), but it doesn't necessarily follow that the game is less interesting for it. In any event it will be interesting to see the results.

The AFL modified the kicking-backwards rule after several coaches told the league outlawing backwards kicks in the forward half of the ground encouraged teams to flood an opposing side's attack.

This seems like a very sensible rule change. This allows the team in the offensive end to switch the point of attack quickly. Before the defenders could just swarm the player with the ball, who wasn't going to get the ball very far with a hand pass. Too often the best offensive play was to give the ball a boot and pray for a lucky bounce. With this rule in place, over commitment to one side of the pitch would leave room for an easy six on the other. It is about time defenders had to stay on their toes.

In The Dead Zone

Well, I'm waiting for a lot of things these days:

1) Waiting for Weaver to pick a team...any team.
2) Waiting for the NHL All Star break to end...already.
3) Waiting for DC United to sign someone interesting...for the love of God.
4) Waiting for the Billikens season to come to an ignominious end...inevitably
5) Waiting for pitchers and catchers to report.

Reyna

I see that the AP is reporting that Manchester City has terminated the contract of Claudio Reyna, which could/should be the prelude to his signing with MLS and playing for the Red Bulls.

There are plenty of folks skeptical about how much Claudio has in the tank after his years in the EPL. My take is that it will be a decent enough move for New York, as long as Reyna doesn't use up too much cap room. He has been too prone to injury to risk a huge amount. Yes, MLS gives you some leeway in signing replacements if a top gun goes down, but those players never seem to add much, mostly because you are just trying to plug holes whether the new player is a good fit for the team or not.

In terms of his on-field play, MLS might just give him that extra second he needs to spray passes around the field. Folks like Marco Etcheverry and Preki had good MLS careers doing just that.

Ah, in my minds eye I can see Brian Carroll fouling Claudio already.

I've Been Spiked

I see that Sp!ked has seen fit to print my little letter to them re: Beckham (comma) David. However, it its truncated form it lacks the punch of the original.

You can complain that Becks is over rated and not worth millions of dollars, but why take shots at the US in general? Back in the 1970s it had been over 20 years since the US had been in a World Cup final field, now they get in routinely (more often than England in fact). In the 1970s all the teams played in stadiums built for baseball or American football on awful astroturf and often they didn't make a dime from things like concessions and parking. Today, team after team are building soccer specific parks and building decent financial foundations.

I really don't get the snaring at the US game in general. Fine, I'll admit it isn't the quality of the top tier in England, Italy, France, Germany or Spain but I don't see UK writers going out of their way to remind folks that comparatively speaking the Greek or Polish leagues are just shite.

Maybe my colloquial Ameri-speak was a little much for them. I did try to Brit-ify it a little, such as using the word "shite," which I usually feel sounds a little pretentious coming from an American. But I guess the word "snark" hasn't jumped the pond....that is probably a good thing, but I'm sure it makes more sense to leave it in than replace it with "snaring." They should deduct a pound from the intern whose job it was to tidy up my prose.

In any event I noticed this letter on the same subject, which deserves an out and out fisking:

On behalf of American fans everywhere, thank you. We get it. We understand. We are getting a near-superstar in decline. This is not Cristiano or Rooney, or even Ronoldo. This is David Beckham, part footballer, part celebrity.

This bit is fine.

On this side of the pond, soccer gets no respect, no attention and no revenues. Our children opt for baseball, basketball, and football, because those games and athletes and stars are on our televisions and advertisements.

I'm not sure what is meant by this. It is not the children who "opt out" of soccer. It is still the number one youth participation sport in the United States, and has been since the mid-90's. The opting out happens among adults. And too be fair this is where the "opting back in" has to happen for MLS to flourish.

Here, soccer is mostly about youth games, recreation and some semi-pro leagues. ESPN has thousands of channels, but not one carries MLS except for the playoffs and championships.

This is simply false. "Soccer Saturday" may be a bit of a hit & miss affair but it was broadcasted on ESPN. And this season they are doing a dedicated Thursday Night Game Of The Week. Additionally, it is incorrect to say ESPN has shown the championship game as that has been broadcasted on ABC. Hard to see how anyone who follows MLS could get all of that wrong. (Conversely, it is easy to see how someone with little knowledge could screw it up.)

Games results do not even make the paper, for any league, and not a single newscast on any station mentions soccer. Us dedicated few pay extra to get Fox Soccer Network – and then watch the EPL.

Will someone please inform Steve Goff that he doesn't really work for the Washington Post like he thinks he does. Belay that. Obviously someone named "Steve Goff" must not exist. It must be all in my mind. But I sure do have a vivid imagination, because I also invented coverage for teams like the Kansas City Wizards and the New England Revolution. I even thought there was coverage of MLS in a rag like the USA Today. I must need a little electro-shock therapy.

Blues Prospects In-Offensive?

The PD had a small round-up on the top forward prospects in the Blues organization.

1. T.J. Oshie

Team: University of North Dakota

Position: Center

Acquired: 1st round pick, 2005

Height: 5-feet-11 1/2

Weight: 185

Comment: Top offensive threat in college who has been slowed this season because of thumb injury.

2. Carl Soderberg

Team: Malmo (Swedish Elite League)

Position: Center

Acquired: 2nd round pick, 2004

Height: 6-3

Weight: 210

Comment: Decision to return to Sweden, after being sent to Peoria last September, could slow his progress.

3. David Backes

Team: Peoria Rivermen (AHL)

Position: Right wing

Acquired: 2nd round pick, 2003

Height: 6-3

Weight: 210

Comment: He was shuttled back to Peoria on Sunday, but not before showing that he has NHL potential.

4. Patrik Berglund

Team: VIK Vasteras (Swedish-2 League)

Position: Center

Acquired: 1st round pick, 2006

Height: 6-4

Weight: 195

Comment: A steal in last year's draft, he is tearing up his Swedish league and could be in St. Louis sooner rather than later.

5. Tomas Kana

Team: HC Vitkovice (Czech Republic)

Position: Left wing

Acquired: 2nd round pick, 2006

Height: 6-0

Weight: 200

Comment: A recent draft pick who could be several years away from playing in the NHL.

The idea that there might be some home grown talent at forward is a bit of a novel experience for a Blues fan. For the better part of twenty years the Blues had acted as if the very idea of it was a fantasy foisted upon the feeble minded. "No. The way to build a franchise," they seemed to be telling us all, "is to trade a bunch of used plumbing fixtures for Brett Hull, or to (way) overpay in the retail free agent market, ala too many to mention by name."

The reality was there didn't seem to be ownership that was interested in investing the money needed to develop the organization that way. But it looks as if that is now changing. The mere idea that a scoring forward could develop down on the farm is exciting. It hasn't happened to the Blues since the days of Joe Mullen or Doug Gilmour (or if you prefer Joey and Dougie.)

Maybe we should forget about the whole thing and try to trade for Dale Hawerchuk.

Blues 1 Sharks 0

You would never know it from reading the PD article on the game, but the Blues were lucky to get out with the win last night. The Sharks had many, many more scoring opportunities, and the Blues needed a lucky bounce to net Guerin's 20th goal of the season.

That being said, I'll take it.

At this moment the Blues are 8 points behind 8th place Minnesota with a game in hand.

Not that I'm saying anything...

United States 3 - 1 Denmark (Fulltime)

A little bit better from the US in the second half. Not great, but better.

Full game ratings: Starters (Subs)

GK: Reis, 5, Steady.
RB: Albright, 3, There was some comment that Chris was suffering from a bit of the flu...it showed.
RB: (Pearce) 4, Some good work; looked comfortable out there but Denmark didn't press much.
CB: Boswell, 5, OK in second half, got a little overconfident and made some bad passes.
CB: Conrad, 5, pretty steady in second half; lost his man giving a free header away (that missed by a mile); good game in general; lost concentration once or twice.
LB: Bornstein, 5, Great run off the ball for his well taken goal; seemed to gain in confidence as the game wore on; moved into the midfield.
LB: (Namoff) 4, Did alright, not much chance to shine.
RW: Donovan, 5, moved to forward late in game.
CMF: Mastroeni, 4, Slightly better second half; picked up a yellow.
CMF: Clark, 4, Does soak up pressure; didn't hold onto possession well enough.
LW: Rolfe, 4, High work rate; not enough of a threat today.
MF: (Mapp) 5, GREAT run from the midfield line to the goal line to set up Bornstein's goal; nice pace at other times; very encouraging.
MF: Beckerman, NR; Only got a couple minutes of running in.
F: Jaqua, DNP, Mercifully removed at the half.
F: Johnson, 3, Ineffectual.
F: (Cooper) 5, Added a presence to the attack; very nicely taken goal on his breakaway (which I did not think was offside.)

Man of Match: Bobby Boswell

Denmark actually seemed like a pretty good side, even with a bunch of younger players on their squad. So this is a nice win, even if I don't think the uS played particularly well.

United States 1 - 1 Denmark (Halftime)

Well, I suppose it could be worse, but that was not an attractive half of soccer. US comes out in a 4-4-2 against Denmark's 4-5-1. Here is my take so far with ratings:

GK: Reis, 5, Not called upon much; had no chance on the Denmark goal.
RB: Albright, 3, One decent cross early; laying off too much defensively led to Danish goal; picked up a deserved yellow card for a late tackle; decent header off a corner kick; sloppy passing.
CB: Boswell, 6, Probably the best US performance in the half; hardly had his name called as he was all over his defensive responsibilities.
CB: Conrad, 4, Pretty good most of the half; worked well backing up Bornstein; beaten badly on the Danish goal.
LB: Bornstein, 4, Real shaky early; settled down and chipped in a little offensively, getting a good strike on goal; nutmeged pretty easily once.
RW: Donovan, 5, Tentative for much of the game so far; corners have been ok; free kicks have been erratic; has made a couple probing runs; got the goal on the PK, but it should have been stopped.
CMF: Mastroeni, 4, A bit of a non-factor so far; clogged up the midfield nicely; hasn't been a link getting the balls through to the forwards.
CMF: Clark, 4, Almost merited a 3 because of near total disappeance in first half; redeemed himself with a hustle play to earn a (fairly dubious) PK; too passive; not finding the forwards or making good runs himself.
LW: Rolfe, 4, Seems a little out of sorts on the wing; had a couple looks at goal, and gets bonus points for actually taking a couple of shot, one of which was almost misplayed by the Danish keeper into a goal); didn't get a single decent cross in.
F: Johnson, 4, Some good running, but is dropping too deep into midfield because of lack of service; some terrible passing and giveaways; made good defensive header.
F: Jaqua, 3, Worst performance of any in first half; total non-factor; one wonders if the speed of play is beyond his abilities.

Fordham 77 St. Louis University 68

Another bad loss, that is if we are supposed to believe the Bills are a "good" team. If you are a good team (say top 75 in the country) you cannot be losing to teams with RPI's in the 120's.

Sitting at 2-4 in the conference race I'm starting to worry about their ability to make it to the post-season conference tournament. So forget about the big dance OR the NIT.

I'm getting damn close to thinking Soderberg has to go.

Notts County 5 -2 Torquay

The Magpies layed a little wood to bottom dwellers Torquay today. It is exactly what this team has to keep doing if they want to capture a play-off spot this year. It is a little disappointing that Torquay was able to take a 2-1 lead in the game, but they only held the lead for a couple of minutes.

Scoring Summary: (Notts - Torquay)

Mendes (23) 1-0
Cooke (25) 1-1
Dickson (35) 1-2
Smith (39) 2-2
Parkinson (40) 3-2
Lee (83) 4-2
Lee (90) 5-2

With the win Notts moves up to 8th in the table, still tied on points with Stockport (who had a good road win at Peterborough.)

Blues 3 Kings 1

Dallas Drake, scoring machine. Another big win on the road. That means the Blues have picked up 5 of 6 points so far on this west coast trip with one game to go before the All-Star break. Very nice to see.

I actually feel a little sorry for the LA Kings. They are having woeful goaltending problems due to injuries, and we know the Blues have been there. Now the Kings are turning to Sean Burke. Good luck, you are gonna need it. I suppose they are lucky they didn't get stuck with Patrick La-lame...but I'd be suprised if Burke offers much of an upgrade over their Japanese rookie.

(See?!? No foolish optimism over the Blues playoff chances here!)

Not A Prima Donna After All?

I'll admit I was a little surprised by the following: Players back Beckham in Real row

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has held clear-the-air talks with his players in the wake of indiscreet comments he made about Davd Beckham.

Calderon called Beckham a "second-rate actor" after signing for LA Galaxy - and said the team was not civilised.

But skipper Raul has revealed: "We met the president to talk about everything that had happened. Calderon said sorry.

"It was a positive meeting in which certain rules were implemented so that this situation does not happen again."

Calderon made the comments in a speech to university students that was aired by Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.

He said the Real players "all think they are superstars" and the fans "don't support the team, like in Italy and England".

And he said of Beckham: "He will be an average cinema actor living in Hollywood."

But he later apologised, telling Real Madrid television: "I want to apologise a thousand times to anyone that might have been offended."

But Raul, 29, hinted that some players were not thoroughly satisfied after the meeting, which was held on Thursday.

"Everyone came out with a good feeling although some team-mates felt more upset than others." added Raul.

"We want the problems to be arranged internally, so that there are not different messages and everything that needs to be said to improve things is done so internally."

The meeting lasted 90 minutes and one player was quoted as saying: "Are you with us or against us? You'd have been better off saying what you said to our faces."

I grant you that Calderon sounds like an idiot. After he slams Beckham, the rest of the Real players AND all the Real fans who is gonna be left on his side? No one of course.

So that isn't the surprising part. What is surprising, to me at least, are the other Real players sticking up for Beckham. I sort of went along with the general British press reading of Beckham, that he was a talented, soft prima donna who was much more interested in the well being of David Beckham than in his team mates.

However, if that were true why then would they back him up now?

The NHL: Stupid S.O.B.'s

The dumb bastards at the NHL can't even accept a feel good story when it happens to them. From Slate: Rorygate, The NHL's All-Star voting disaster: a Slate investigation.

Finally, something seemed to be going right for the National Hockey League. Despite flagging attendance and abysmal television ratings, the league was headed into next week's midseason break on a wave of positive publicity. For the first time in, well, maybe forever, people seemed excited about the league's annual All-Star Game.

The big story of this year's contest began with a single fan—22-year-old Steve Schmid of upstate New York. Schmid decided that it would be neat to see a hard-working journeyman get voted into the All-Star Game. He chose the Vancouver Canucks' Rory Fitzpatrick, an unremarkable player without much talent or flashy stats—in hockey terms, a grinder. The "Vote for Rory" movement took off soon after All-Star voting began in late November. Media outlets picked up the story a few weeks later, when the Vancouver players took their morning skate in "Vote for Rory" T-shirts. Rory supporters started posting clever campaign ads on YouTube, and by early December he'd been written about in USA Today, the New York Times, and Sports Illustrated.

Of course not all of the hockey establishment was happy about such things:

The press played up Rory-mania as a grass-roots movement to change the league. But a bunch of league stalwarts lashed out at the campaign. On the CBC's Hockey Night, Don Cherry called the whole thing a joke: "Rory, if you're watching, they're not laughing with you, they're laughing at you." On the Fox News-style Hockeycentral Panel, one commentator described Rory-voters as a bunch of "computer geeks." Wayne Gretzky suggested that the league intervene to save the All-Star Game. ESPN's Barry Melrose made an ominous warning about how the league would respond: "If this works, enjoy it," he said, "'cause I gotta think they'll have a trick up their sleeve so it'll never happen again."

For starters, Don Cherry has slowly been moving towards retarded for years. He's there now. Reserve the special little bus. And, gee, Gretzky has no respect for the players who do the dirty work in the corners and in front of the net...what a shocker. Yeah, he's got real class. (It also explains why his team is feather pillow soft.)

It also looks like the NHL wasn't happy about things either because they cooked the books to keep Rory out of the All Star game.

Despite all the news coverage—and all the efforts of the Vote-O-Matic—Fitzpatrick's vote totals had fallen off a cliff. After receiving 285,000 votes the two previous weeks, he got just 58,000 in the week ending on Dec. 26 and dropped to third place in the standings. Had the Vote for Rory campaign run out of steam? Or did the NHL brass decide it was time to take matters into their own hands?

I believe the evidence suggests the NHL cooked the books. Since the league counted only ballots that were entirely filled in, there should have been an equal number of votes cast for hockey's two conferences. But for the week after Christmas, players in the Eastern Conference received 6 percent more votes than those in Fitzpatrick's Western Conference. Among defensemen, the results were even more skewed: The guys in the West—Rory among them—got 16 percent fewer votes overall. (These discrepancies were about three times bigger than any that had come before.) As bloggers were quick to point out, the numbers were exactly what you'd expect to see if the league had manually dumped 100,000 Rory votes. Nothing has been proved, but I'm hard-pressed to come up with another reasonable explanation.

And the NHL's word on the matter?

Thanks for the interest...not sure what "totals" you're referring to that don't seem to add up...but we don't release every single vote for every single player, just the top vote-getters. However, rest assured that no voting for Rory was ever compromised.

The NHL has no soul.

I'll tell you what the real travesty is, not that Rory Fitzpatrick might have made the All Star team, but the fact that a piece of shit player (and cheap shot artist to boot) like Jonathan Cheechoo is.

Foreign Bitching About MLS

I think I've had enough of foreign press complaining about the Beckham deal. It was this piece from Sp!ked that drove me over the edge:

So, farewell then David Beckham. You took a mean free kick, you always looked good on camera and, er, that’s about it. Becks hasn’t actually croaked but the tone of reaction amongst British sports journalists has been decidedly obituarial. By opting to move to the land of Walt Disney and play in a Mickey Mouse league, Beckham’s football career is effectively over.

The size of Beckham’s pay deal with LA Galaxy, which is said to be worth £128million over 5 years, has raised eyebrows this side of the pond, largely because the Brits are still unused to the idea of top sportsmen getting movie star salaries. Beckham somewhat unconvincingly protests that he’s going for a new challenge. ‘I didn’t want to go there at 34-years-old and for people to say he’s only going for the money,’ insisted the Real Madrid bench warmer. Personally, I’ve got no problem with Becks chasing a fistful of dollars but, let’s be honest, this isn’t about football. As former England striker Gary Lineker said, ‘It’s tantamount to semi-retirement’

Beckham’s new employers would have us believe that his mission is all about selling soccer to the Yanks. ‘Vend it like Beckham,’ as the LA Times put it. ‘We want him to help us to be the top team in MLS and maybe, one day, become the top team in the world,’ claimed LA Galaxy general manager Alexei Lalas. (I always had Lalas down as a stoner and now my suspicions have been confirmed.) Can Beckham succeed where Pelé, Beckenbauer and Best failed in the 1970s? I very much doubt it. Despite several attempts to market the game Stateside, American sports fans still regard ‘soccer’ as a soft, girlie game. Beckham might help sell sports shoes to soccer moms but the notion that he will lead a cultural revolution and convert the Yanks to football seems rather fanciful.

I responded with the following missive sent to the writer of the above:

For all the bitching about Becks that you hear these days coming from the UK one is tempted to believe that his over-inflated mega-stardom wasn't in any way the fault of the british.

Of course that would mean we would have to believe that the media creation that is Beckham is the fault of Japanese schoolkids and the US sporting culture.

Puh-leeeeese.

You can complain that Becks is over rated and not worth anything like $250 million dollar (well, no duh), but why take shots at the US in general? I can think of plenty of ways in which things are different from the 1970's. For starters, back then it had been 20+ years since the US had been in a World Cup final field, now they get in rountinely (more routinely than England in fact.) In the 1970's all the teams played in stadia built for baseball or American football, played on God awful astroturf and often didn't make a dime from things like concessions and parking. Today, team after team are building soccer specific parks and building decent financial foundations.

Plus I really don't get the snarking at the US game in general. Fine, I'll admit, it isn't to the quality of the top tier in England, Italy, France, Germany or Spain... but I don't see UK writers going out of their way to remind folks that comparatively speaking the Greek or Polish leagues are just shite.

I think I was actually pretty restrained. I didn't even ask the guy if he had ever been to an MLS game, or for any other proof that he knows the American game in the slightest. My suspicion is he knows jack squat about it. God knows, I know more about the English game than he does of the US.

Reality Check (Part 2)

Facts are facts. This Billikens team cannot play good enough defense to win consistently.

St. Louis University has got the scoring half of its game figured out. It's the defense that continues to be the team's curse.

So the fact that the Billikens shot 51.7 percent from the field — 60 percent on 3-pointers — and scored 79 points, their most since the opening weeks of the season, was rendered incidental by the team's inability to stop Temple. SLU lost 85-79 on Wednesday night before a paltry crowd at Temple's Liacouras Center. (Only Arizona in 2002 scored more points against a Brad Soderberg-coached Billiken team.) The loss drops SLU to 12-6 overall, 2-3 in the Atlantic 10, and moved it that much closer to having its whole season come down to the conference tournament.

This Temple team is pretty woeful, so this loss is terrible. Right now the Bills RPI put them out of the Top 100. To think they would have any legitimate NCAA aspirations is a joke. They now own losses to teams with RPIs of 152, 251, and 317. Their one win against a Top 25 RPI team was probably aided by a clock malfunction. (Missouri State fans would remove the "probably.")

It all adds up to a failure of a season.

Reality Check (Part 1)

Facts are facts. As well as the Blues are playing, pulling themselves up from dead last in the conference into 12th place only 9 points out of a playoff spot, chances are they ain't gonna make it.

The Blues, with 42 points, are currently nine points out of a playoff spot in the West. Over the last four seasons, it has taken an average of 93 points in the conference to qualify for the eighth seed. Theoretically that means even though the Blues are 10-4-4 for 24 points under Murray, they would need to earn 51 of the remaining 70 points available to reach 93 points.

So lets say the Blues went 20-10-5 over their last 35 games (a pretty damn good record,) they would finish with 87 points. It just doesn't look like enough. If Calgary and Minnesota, currently in 7th and 8th in the conferences, play .500 hockey from here on out they would finish with 88 and 85 points respectively. Throw in the occasional point from an OT loss, and the Blues are done for.

But you know what? I'd take it. Let's make the run, give it our best shot and if we come up short we will say "We just ran out of season. Give us another full run next year and we will make it."

I'll See Your Bush And Raise You A Pair of Boobs

(By Southlandish)

My buddy, "CHIN-CHIN" (don't ask), was at the White House today covering the Cards' appearance with Bush. He filed the following report, which I found much more informative than the P-D story:

"There were two trophies on display in the White House East room today - the 2006 World Series trophy won by the Cardinals.....and Scott Spiezio's wife. What pisses me off the most is that John Fucking Ashcroft had a seat squared up right across from her."

No doubt thankful he wasn't on the hook for the fabric bill to cover her
breasts.





(A Thought from the Iconic Midwesterner)

Great...now, if I meet Scott Spezio I can say, "Man, I'm a real big fan...of your wife."

United Shocker! They Sign Someone You've Never Heard Of

In a deal that will make headlines in, um, Honduras, United has signed Brazilian foward Luciano Emilio from Olimpia in the afore mentioned Honduras.

You know how you know you've signed a less than stellar Brazilian? When he is known by both his names. Any Brazilian worth a damn has only one name, and certainly hasn't been toiling in the Honduran league.

I hope to God he proves me wrong and lights it up.

On a brighter note it looks like Ruy is no longer an option. One bullet dodged.

Another Nice Win For The Blues...

...Now there is a sentence I haven't had the good fortune to use for a while. But, tonight the Blues beat the crap out of the Ducks, 6 to 2. More powerplay goals, shorthanded goals, Sanford playing well in his return, Dvorak and Brewer each with three point games (AND both were a team best +3 on the night), Cajanek with a goal and an assist...

Damn. These guys are good.

The Blues also acquired Yan Stasny from Boston for a draft pick. I'm not quite sure why. He's got no goals and two assists this season. Hell, in 21 games he has managed a total of 7 shots on goal. Maybe someone has seen something in the kid (he's only 24,) but I don't see it in the stats sheet. (I also don't see much Eastern Conference hockey, so what do I know?)

I Know A Guy His Name Is Bruce....

(By Southlandish)

From STL BBWAA dinner:

Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter drew laughter, and some cringing, when he quipped after seeing a highlight film of the 1982 World Series champs, said, "It definitely wasn't the steroid era."

For the record, I've always had my suspicions about Mike Ramsey. He was
an awfully "tight" 170 and wasn't known as the Lyle Alzado of the Cards
clubhouse for nothing.




(Now from the Iconic Midwesterner)

Based upon the second picture here, Mike could have made a good living leading a Dexy's Midnight Runners tribute band.

Blues 4 Coyotes 5 (SO)

Well, I supopose I should be happy with the point on the road, but we sure didn't play very well for most of the game. We do seem to be finding a way to cash in some goals, the powerplay continues to improve, and the kids keep chipping in (big goals by Wideman and Senja.) I'd just hate to lose momentum now, right before the All-Star break.

Speaking of Senja, Jeff Gordon had this to say on him today:

And there was Sejna Monday, back in the NHL on an emergency recall, actually scoring a goal for the Blues to help them earn a point in Phoenix.

You’ll recall that Sejna won the Hobey Baker Award in college. He has terrific hands and can play off of skilled linemates.

He got a big free-agent deal to sign with the Blues, but he hasn’t had enough jump in his legs and enough grit in his game to stick at the NHL.

If Sejna can be salvaged – a big IF – the rebuilding process will go much more smoothly. He has more upside than, say, Mike Glumac or Jon DiSalvatore.

He scored 36 points in 39 games at Peoria, but is capable of much more. The question: Can Andy Murray convince him to play hockey at NHL speed?

Sejna isn’t a kid any more. He has to decide whether he wants to pay the price to stick at the highest level. That is a challenge Petr Cajanek met after coming over from the Czech Republic.

I'm not sure how many kids we have in the organization that are close to making the jump to the NHL. The fact that Backes has done so this quickly is a big surprise, but I don't think we can expect the same from, say, T.J. Oshie anytime soon. That puts a premium on getting something from the likes of Senja. He doesn't need to be Sidney Crosby. I'd settle for the second coming of Tony Hrkac.

Blues Notes

-It is good to see Jeff Gordon show Eric Brewer a little love. "But we need to point out that Brewer has been playing MUCH better since Andy Murray took over as head coach."

-Congrats to Bill Guerin on his All-Star selection.

-Congrats to Lee Stempniak for his selection to the Young Stars game.

-Speaking of Stempniak, Larry Wigge has a nice piece on him at NHL.com.

-I see that Peter Sejna has just got called up from Peoria. Here, finally, is his chance to impress at the NHL. Mike Kitchen HATED Sejna, so he was never gonna get another shot at sticking while Mike was still around. Hopefully, he can show Murray he has the skills to add to the attack. The question will remian, does Sejna have the work ethic drilled into him yet? It would be a lot better for the Blues if the answer to that question is yes. There doesn't seem to be a lot of other talent at forward in the organization...at least ready to make the jump to the NHL.

What Am I Supposed To Do Now?

I think Brad Soderberg has as his mission to torture Bills fans this year. Just as I had these guys pegged as intriguing second-raters, they have to go and beat down Xavier. (From the PD)

In a game that made its losses to St. Bonaventure and Duquesne that much more inexplicable, St. Louis University dominated Atlantic 10 Conference favorite Xavier from start to finish in a 76-65 win on Saturday night at Scottrade Center.

The season that has gone from promising to doomed swung back to promising in front of 10,861 fans on an icy night. The Billikens re-established themselves as a team to watch in the Atlantic 10, though if they had beaten St. Bonaventure and Duquesne as expected, they would be sitting atop the league standing. Instead, they are in the middle of the A-10 pack with a 12-5 record, 2-2 in league play. But after an 0-2 start, 2-2 looks pretty darn good. Xavier fell to 12-5, 2-1, leaving Massachusetts as the only unbeaten team in the league.

It is even more impressive in that they got little offensive production from Ian Vouyoukas.

I refuse to get excited about this team. If they go one a five or six game win streak in the conference, then and only then, will I be impressed.

Blues 6 Kings 5

No, the score is not a typo. The Blues actually scored 6 goals AND won a game giving up more than 3 goals. The defense sure didn't play very well, but, yet again, the Blues win the type of game they have to win to keep playoff dreams alive. The playoffs may still be on life-support, but we still have a pulse.

Dennis Wideman had one of those up and down games that I'm sure is driving Murray nuts. Wideman gets caught running around in the defensive end too much, but the kid is a big plus on the powerplay. And you need the Wideman's to take full advantage of the truly dreaful LA penalty kill.

On a better note, Weight might have had his best game of the year...and scored with a slap shot no less.

Let's keep it rolling....

Accrington Stanley 1 - 2 Notts County

Well, Notts may not be able to win at home, but they sure do take care of things on the road. Goals from Dudfield (9th min) and Lee (20th min), with AS getting their one from Brown (14th min.)

There were also a couple of red cards handed out including Notts' manager Thompson. (From Notts County Mad)

But it was Pipe who tested Rogers soon after, taking the former Forest man on easily, forcing Rogers to retaliate with a thunderous, yet illegal challenge as he jumped in. Had he connected he may have broken Pipe's leg. The Welshman reacted, with a melee ensuing between the majority of the players. Referee Andy Woolmer immediately banished Rogers to the stands, a red card for him on his Stanley debut.

After much debate, Woolmer also sent Pipe the same way, rather harshly considering his reaction was little more than petty.

Officially Rogers was dismissed for dangerous foul play, and Pipe violent conduct, you could suggest unfairly considering his career could have been seriously hampered by the man Forest fans affectionately called 'Tank'. The fact that Notts earnt the free-kick from the incident, which was well dramatised by the opposing dugouts, highlighted who the greater sinner was.

It had been Pipe's first sending off of his Notts career, though manager Thompson got his second dismissal soon after, Mr Woolmer placing him in the stands for the alleged use of the word "cheat".

A "no no" in just about any league.

With the win Notts is up to 9th. If they could just start winning at home...

Remember You Heard It Here First

I'm glad someone over at the PD has noticed the improved play of Eric Brewer (from Dan O'Niell's Hit & Run)

The transformation of the Blues from an aimless, ineffective bunch to an entertaining, competitive team — in the midst of the same season — has been one of the more remarkable stories on the St. Louis sports scene in a while.

Come to think of it, almost as remarkable as the transformation of the Cardinals from an aimless, ineffective bunch to World Series champions at the end of the same season was one of the most remarkable stories in recent years.

Based on this trend, you can expect TWA to bounce back any day now.

Credit for the Blues' turnaround may be spread throughout the roster. Almost to a man, the Blues are playing with more energy and more purpose. And perhaps no one exemplifies this change more than Eric Brewer, who looks like a completely different player.

Against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Brewmeister, as they call him over on Pestalozzi, even demonstrated a puck-carrying move you rarely see during the flow of play in a National Hockey League game — a double axle with a 1 1/2 lutz.

Last Draft Thought

Well, that is that. DC did alright I suppose. MLS drafts are always such crap shoots that it takes a year at least to really grade it. There does seem to be some upside to their picks, and DC does have a track record of doing well with late round selections and undrafted players. It will be interesting to see who gets invites to camp.

Among the undrafted was John DiRaimondo. That's too bad, but I think he will get a look from someone, and I think he has as good shot as any of the undrafted to stick.

In general there were no SLU players and (more ominously) no St. Louis area kids drafted. Has it slipped that much in the old home town?

QDT #8

Jeff Goff got it right. With their last pick DC takes a GK. But they go with Robles out of Portland. Buzz Carrick has him ranked as the #2 keeper, but says he's a little under-sized. What?? DC can't go a season without an undersized keeper?

QDT #7

First prediction foiled. We are into Round 4 and John DiR is still on the board. I'll have to send the crystal ball in for repairs.

QDT #6

DC, as they often do, take a local kid, Ricky Schramm, Forward, Georgetown, at #37. (Not so bold prediction to follow.) He won't make the team.

QDT #5

If DC wants to draft a keeper they might go for Providence's Chris Konopka next. (But they might just try to sign a keep as an undrafted free agent.)

QDT #4

DC uses 32nd pick for Jay Needham, Defender, SMU. Probably a good pick. Seems unlikely for John DiR to go to DC.

One day they WILL pick a Bill.

QDT #3

Hmm...DC has two picks in the third round, and I think DiRaimondo could go at this level. I also think John could be a back in MLS...DC could use that.

A thought....

I'm not alone on John (From Buzz Carrick)

Nice two way player though and I liked him much better wide in midfield and better still at right back where I think he could be tremendous. Not real big but he knows how to play tactical defense.

QDT #2

DC uses the 24th pick on Forward Brad North out of Northwestern. I'm wondering if this is way off the board. The MLS DraftTracker doesn't even have a bio for Brad. Although I got this one from Northwestern. Looks like he is a big enough kid (6-1, 185), and he scores Game winners...a plus. In four years at NW netted 27 goals with 8 assists.

Good luck to him, but the pick feels like a flyer.

More on Arguez

From ESPN's mock draft (by Jeff Carlisle):

9. FC Dallas -- Bryan Arguez, D/M, U.S. U-20 national team

While the selection of Arguez fails to address the Hoops' needs on the right side of the field, the Miami native is too good for head coach Steve Morrow to pass up. Arguez is described as a player with great tools who is incredibly comfortable on the ball. And with the likes of Richard Mulrooney to learn from, Arguez's transition into the pro ranks should be made all the easier.

One wonders if Chicago going off the board for its two picks allowed Arguez to drop to DC at 11.

Quick Draft Thought #1

My first impression is that ESPN is doing a better job with this draft coverage than MLS has ever enjoyed. That being said, I think the time has come to expand the TV coverage to two hours instead of just one. I feel sorry for any Houston fans who tuned in hoping to see their first round selection, or really ANY discussion of teh MLS Cup champs. They got basically zip.

As was noted on TV the first six picks were from ACC schools. Pretty impressive really, especially when you consider the next player taken after the ACC run was a kid from a NCAA Division II school (Fort Collins anyone?)

DC's first round pick was a young defensive midfielder, Bryan Arguez. I'm not sure if this says anything about what they think will happen with Carroll, unless you want to say they aren't worried about getting immediate help. We shall see.

Over at DCenters the take on Arguez is:

What do people say? Buzz Carrick rated him as the #3 Midfielder in the draft, noting he's a good linking and posession midfielder with "upside". Jeff Carlisle had him projected as the #9 pick: "Arguez is described as a player with great tools who is incredibly comfortable on the ball." In short, the more I look at this, the more it makes sense as a "Best available talent" selection. Which is fine with me. The fact that he's a Generation Adidas player doesn't hurt either.

This may not have been the pick I would have made, but it's not a bad pick. It doesn't address a need, but it's tough to do that in the draft. Working with Simms, Olsen, and perhaps even the Carroll brothers... you have a player that can contribute in a few years.

On the Billiken front, we are still waiting for the first SLU player to be taken. (I'm predicting John DiRaimondo will go in round 3.)

Draft Day

In about 15 minutes the MLS draft coverage will begin on ESPN2. I'll watch it, but I'm not expecting much. Few people are evidently. From the WaPo:

Today, United's decision-makers will have their work cut out for them during a four-round draft that, to many observers, does not have nearly as many potential impact players as in previous years.

"The talent has gotten a little more diluted; we've taken some young kids out of it [by signing them in previous years] and it shows," United Coach Tom Soehn said. "Having said that, there is always someone you feel you can develop."

So the chance for impact players seems non-existent. However, United has roster holes...lots of them. Steve Goff also speculates that DC may have to spend a pick on a goalkeeper as Nolly (who they got back in the Freddy Adu deal) has been trying to peddle his wares across Europe like a $50 whore.

And of course, twenty years from now, we will all get misty as we think back on the glorious Matias Donnet era, which has evidently come to an end.

There is also still no word on Brian Carroll. His not returning would be a big blow. I was a bit slow to appreciate his contribution to the team, but I get it now. I'm not sure there is anyone else on the roster who could be comfortably slotted in for him.

Looking at the roster right now is a little scary.

Unf Player Pos Birthdate MLS Status MLS Exp.
32 Bobby Boswell D 1983-03-15 1
24 Jeff Carroll M-D 1984-01-08 0
21 Stephen deRoux M 1983-12-13 0
5 Facundo Erpen D 1983-05-19 1
10 Christian Gomez M 1974-11-07 2
17 Joshua Gros M 1982-06-25 2
30 Ryan McIntosh GK 1983-03-19 0
22 Devon McTavish M 1984-08-08 0
6 Domenic Mediate M-F 1982-06-01 0
8 Justin Moose M 1983-11-23 0
99 Jaime Moreno F 1974-01-19 10
26 Bryan Namoff M 1979-05-28 5
14 Ben Olsen M 1977-05-03 7
1 Troy Perkins GK 1981-07-29 2
19 Clyde Simms M 1982-08-21 0
2 David Stokes D 1982-05-28 2
23 Jamil Walker M-F 1981-04-21 2
12 John Wilson D 1977-10-26 3

Hmm...time to call the calvary?

More On Beckham

Here is some thoughts from Ian Plenderleith:

When Major League Soccer adjusted its restrictive salary-cap regulations at the end of last year so that teams could sign big-name 'marquee' players, the move became instantly known as 'The Beckham Rule'.

The reason was obvious - whenever fans talked about raising the league's profile in the US and beyond, they said it would need a name such as Ronaldo or David Beckham to make an impact. With the latter's LA-based soccer school, his oft-professed desire to one day play in the US, and his association with Hollywood by proxy (celebrity wife, the film Bend It Like Beckham), Beckham's signing with the league and the LA Galaxy began to seem inevitable the longer he spent languishing on the Real Madrid bench.

This is a huge marketing and publicity coup for MLS, despite the moans of detractors that the league is in danger of becoming like the star-studded, but doomed, North American Soccer League of the 1970s. Such a comparison is facile. This time there is a solid structure in place after 10 years of mostly sensible planning. MLS has gone down a careful path to the point where it's comfortable with taking on a player of Beckham's stature, and is not just blindly signing a cheque as the quick-fix NASL owners so often did before they went bankrupt.

But what about the standard of football? Due to his limitations as a player, Beckham may actually fit in very well in US soccer. While his name reaps sponsorship money, merchandise sales and enhanced media attention, we all know that on the field he's brilliant at what he does - but that that includes little beyond crosses, free-kicks and probing long passes. This will be ideal: he won't dominate games, but he'll produce the kind of highlight moments that can be easily packaged to a sporting audience that loves short, sharp thrills.

I think this is a pretty balanced take on what the Beckham "era" of MLS will be like. Plenderleith's subheadline for this piece is: It's easy to be cynical, but David Beckham's move to the MLS could work out perfectly for all parties.

And boy, was he right about the cynicism. Just go look at the comments on his original post. According to folks over there *I* could do a better job then Becks and I'm slow, fat, closer to forty than thirty, and haven't played a competitive game of soccer since the 5th grade.

(Thanks to Southlandish for the link.)

Another View On Mulder

I was sent the following by a friend, who might start posting here regularly if we can come up with a suitable nom de guerre:

I was pleasantly surprised by the signing. I held my breath when I heard it because I was fearful that the $$ would be stupid. I really like having the third year option contingent on incentives being met.

When I occasionally go over to Viva El Birdos I usually find myself nodding in general agreement with lboros. Tonight I think he's off the reservation with his opportunity cost criticism. I really don't know WTF he is talking about:

bad idea imho, for reasons explained here. the $13m guarantee is not the issue; in this market, that's not such a terrible bet to place. the big problem with this signing is the opportunity cost. mulder, when he returns, will take starts/innings away from other pitchers who might well be better than he is. he also further muddies an already murky rotation picture. we won't know for 6 to 7 months whether he is capable of helping the team this year --- but until that question is answered, the team will probably scale down its pursuit of other rotation help. if they do in fact wait for mulder to come around, the delay could be very costly in the win column.

This is nonsensical. Our rotation is Carpenter, Reyes, Wainright, Wells and Looper/Thompson/Franklin. What are the odds that this lot of losers, reatreads and unprovens are going to simultaneously become the 1971 Orioles staff?!?!? That all of these guys are going to be pitching so well that inserting Mulder into the rotation is going to hurt us? I for one hope La Russa has that tough call to make. Am I the only one who does NOT see it as a problem for the Cards if Mulder is ready to pitch in June and our rotation is so crowded with Cy Young candidates that someone is going to lose innings. In fact, if they are all pitching so well, I'm happy to have
Mulder's salary sitting on the fucking bench and throwing batting practice. Pitching is like pussy. There is no such thing as too much of it operating at peak performance levels. I don't ever want lboros as my wingman in a bar.

lboros: Hey, what are you up to later tonight?

Me: I'm heading home to unwrap my Christmas gift. The wife arranged for me to have a four-way with Penelope Cruz, Halle Berry and Salma Hayek and they just arrived.

lboros: I wouldn't do that. You only have one dick. What if they still want to fuck and you can't get it up anymore after the seventh time? Lemme buy you another beer.

An abundance of good pitching addresses his final question of trades. If we have arms that are throwing well, they're valuable. It's the perfect chance for a three-way deal where we send a guy like Wells and a strong bullpen arm or a good minor league prospect to a team that has something the White Sox want and they send up Beurhle for the pennant stretch. As lboros points out, the dollars are not big and I can't see them as prohibitive for the Cards signing someone else.

And besides, if the arms are firing that well and we're not running away with the division, I have a feeling it means our outfield is a lot like my starlet-laden bed of my fantasies, there are a lot of gaps that desperately need filling. It's always easier to get a bat than a good arm so we'd be in a strong trading position in that direction as well.

And finally, his comment about this further muddying an already murky rotation is like arguing that one more Molotov cocktail in Baghdad is going to make the place more violent. Our rotation isn't murky. It's a wing and a prayer....

Needs A Little Tweaking

There is an automated news aggregator for all things St. Louis called the St. Louis Star. But I think the folks over there need to do a little fine tuning. Today the headline is:

Celtic sell midfielder Pearson to the Rams

Celtic have sold midfielder Stephen Pearson English Championship promotion hopefuls Derby County for 750,000 it has been confirmed.

Which begs the question, what position would you make a Celtic midfielder in the NFL? (Besides place kicker, that is.) I say free safety. That way he could come in late and kick the shit out of people.

Saint Louis University 62 Rhode Island 58

Well, lets hear it for the Billikens...I guess. It is hard for me to get up for a 4 point win at home against a .500 team. It is nice to rebound from humiliating loses to the like of St. Bonaventure and Duquesne,and it is nice to see the Bills can play defense, when they feel like it...but this wasn't how this was supposed to be.

We went into this season being told that finally Sodeberg had the guys he needed to play up tempo basketball. And they can indeed play that way...as long as the competition is limited to NCAA Division II schools. (You've been warned Missouri-St. Louis!) In reality, this team cannot play up tempo against most folks. So, yet again, we will be treated to half-court, take the air out of the ball, and limit the other team's possessions ball. And that's fine, but that wasn't what we were sold on.

How difficult is it to recruit some guys who can actually shoot the ball?

Want a scary stat?

Saint Louis was 11-for-28 from 3-point range, one off its season best. Liddell was 5-for-8 from long range.

And we still only scrap by with a four point win at home.

Ugh.

Not The Way I Thought I'd Start My Blogging Day

I really thought my first post would be on the SLU/Rhode Island game, but Lo! (and Behold!) I'm gonna talk about the LA Galaxy and the coming of one Posh Sp...I mean David Beckham.

The (rumoured so long we never thought it was really gonna happen) move of Becks from Real Madrid to MLS will take lace after Real's season ends. Beckham should suit it up come August. The deal is a reported $250 million over five years, so Dave and Vicky will find something to do during all his down time. Well, when it comes to sheer money MLS is no longer a minor league, particularly when you compare this deal to A-Rod's ($225 million over 10 years). Mark Mulder may have gotten his $13 million over two years, but Beckham will make $100 million during the same period. Good Lord.

From ESPN:

Former England captain David Beckham will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and sign a five-year deal for MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy, he told Reuters on Thursday.

"This week Real Madrid asked me to make a decision regarding my future and the offer to extend my contract for a further two seasons," Beckham said. "After discussing several options with my family and my advisers to either stay here in Madrid or join other major British and European teams, I have decided to join L.A. Galaxy and play in the MLS from August this year."

Beckham, 31, who joined Real Madrid from Manchester United in June 2003, is the most famous player to sign up for Major League Soccer since it began in 1996.

He is also the biggest name player to move to club soccer in the United States since the likes of Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff played in the now-defunct North American Soccer League in the 1970s and early '80s.

Beckham's deal is reported to be one of the biggest in global sport, worth more than $250 million over an undisclosed amount of time.

Beckham has soccer academies in London and Los Angeles. His wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl, was recently photographed househunting in Los Angeles.

"David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete has ever had on a sport globally," said Timothy Leiweke, president & CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Galaxy. "David is truly the only individual that can build the bridge between soccer in America and the rest of the world."

Now, I'm sure you are going to hear all the negative folks come out of the woodwork on this one. It will certainly piss off the more xenophobic soccer haters out there who will hate white boy Becks because he is still a "fur-a-ner." In reality you will get complaints from soccer people as well. "It a publicity stunt...he's too slow....he only did it because Victoria wants a Hollywood lifestyle...etc etc"

All of that is pure bullshit. This is only good for MLS and soccer in general in these here United States of America. And it will be good for anyone who wanted the level of play to increase in the top American league. This raises the bar really high on all the other clubs. Clubs like my beloved DC United will suddenly have a spotlight put upon their personnel moves like never before. Can they bring in a difference maker? Can they bring in someone that could create a rivalry with the likes of Beckham? (BTW I doubt if DC will. They seem intent on bringing in South American players no one has ever heard of. Ah well...)

How big a news story do I think this is? So big I'm going to cross post this at The Iconic Midwest.

Mulder

If you are getting this news here for the first time I'd be surprised, but they say over at the PD:

After a winter that included his marriage, and courtship by more teams than he ever expected, lefthanded starting pitcher Mark Mulder elected to re-sign with the Cardinals for two years with a team option for a third, the Post-Dispatch learned Wednesday.

The 29-year-old lefty, who will spend the first half of the season rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder, chose to return to the Cardinals over two aggressive suitors, the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers.

Mulder made the decision Wednesday, just a few days after general manager Walt Jocketty visited Arizona to meet in person with Mulder’s agent.

It was during these conversations that the Cardinals upped their initial offer to a contract that guarantees Mulder $13 million. The contract includes a team option for a third season, the salary of which will be determined by the incentives he reaches in 2008. The contract could pay him $11.5 million-$12 million for 2008, when he is a full season removed from surgery.

Well, the Cards have been saying they do not want to overspend for people, and I suppose you could argue that that is true with Mulder, and maybe the potential upside to Mulder worth the risk of the possible downside...but it is hardly a confidence inspiring move.

Over at EL Birdos:

bad idea imho, for reasons explained here. the $13m guarantee is not the issue; in this market, that's not such a terrible bet to place. the big problem with this signing is the opportunity cost. mulder, when he returns, will take starts/innings away from other pitchers who might well be better than he is. he also further muddies an already murky rotation picture. we won't know for 6 to 7 months whether he is capable of helping the team this year --- but until that question is answered, the team will probably scale down its pursuit of other rotation help. if they do in fact wait for mulder to come around, the delay could be very costly in the win column.

Well, this is certainly the worst case scenario...and Lord knows we've seen a few of those. (How much of my life was wasted waiting for Andy Benes or Joe Magrane to be healthy?) On the other hand, who is Mulder gonna take a spot from that is a lock sure big league starter? Probably no one. So I'd take the gamble.

There is a similar take (to mine) on Get Up Baby!

I like this move. The going price for average pitchers is $9-10 million. If you can take a gamble on a guy who might be well above average for about that price, annually, then you should definitely do it. It beats another Encarnacion signing–good, inasmuch as they’re paying the going rate for average, but bad because there’s no potential reward to be reaped. This is a team that needs upside wherever it can get it.

Couldn't agree more.

Blues 3 Devils 2

Hey, hey! We got something going on the road?!? A goal from Hinote?? A pretty highlight quality assist from Backes?? Dallas Drake the game winner?!?!? These are not the Blues I knew last year. Stopping a hot New Jersey team and beating Brodeur are special things.

The Blues have won 8 or their last 11.

8 wins in 11.

The Blues.

I'm not joking.

Hey boys! Go out tonight for a cold one. You deserve it.

Blues 4 Bluejackets 3 (SO)

Well, it has been a long time since the following could have been said about a Blues victory: (From the PD)

But perhaps for the first time this season, the Blues won a game they didn't necessarily deserve.

The truth of the matter is that good teams have ways of winning such games. The Blues were good enough consistently that I took it for granted there would be a certain number of these over the course of the season. Ever since the lockout ended, however, if the Blues were a step slow (like they were last week in the first game against the Blackhawks) they lost. So this is encouraging. I'll admit it is a baby step (Columbus has had their own difficulties) but I cannot complain about the direction.

Hey! Let's hear it for Lee Stempniak's seven game point streak!

Congrats To Ripken & Gwynn

It is good to see Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn make the Hall of Fame in style. (Although I'm not sure how anyone could vote against either of them.)

I was surprised to see Mark McGuire's name get on around 25% of the ballots. I had though he might pop up on 10% or so. I wonder if this presages him actually making it in a few years from now. There did seem to be a group of voters who think McGuire is a Hall of Famer...just not a FIRST BALLOT Hall of Famer. I think it is a silly distinction, but there it is.

Fantasy Soccer: Gillingham FC v. Swansea City

Good win on the road against a tough Gillingham side.

Gilingham FC 1 - 2 Swansea City

Minute Player Score
8" Nugent 0 - 1
10" Sancho 1 - 1
10" Nugent 1 - 2

Now that is what I call an interesting first 11 minutes.

Yellow Cards:

14" Di Michele, Gillingham FC


We remian in 8th this week. Lots of work yet to do.

Pos Name Played Points Won Drew Lost For Against Diff.
1 Brentford FC 29 66 20 6 3 38 6 32
2 Nottingham Forest 29 65 19 8 2 47 14 33
3 Port Vale 29 65 20 5 4 43 12 31
4 Huddersfield Town 29 63 18 9 2 49 11 38
5 Barnsley FC 29 61 19 4 6 46 18 28
6 Gillingham FC 29 55 16 7 6 43 16 27
7 Doncaster Rovers 29 48 15 3 11 39 28 11
8 Swansea City 29 46 14 4 11 37 30 7
9 AFC Bournemouth 29 46 15 1 13 36 36 0
10 Hartlepool United 29 44 13 5 11 38 22 16
11 Milton Keynes Dons 29 44 14 2 13 32 24 8
12 Scunthorpe United 29 42 13 3 13 32 30 2
13 Yeovil Town 29 41 11 8 10 22 26 -4
14 Chesterfield FC 29 39 12 3 14 30 37 -7
15 Blackpool FC 29 35 10 5 14 23 27 -4
16 Bristol City 29 35 8 11 10 24 34 -10
17 Walsall FC 29 34 8 10 11 27 26 1
18 Tranmere Rovers 29 32 9 5 15 22 32 -10
19 Oldham Athletic 29 30 8 6 15 14 35 -21
20 Colchester United 29 29 7 8 14 18 30 -12
21 Rotherham United 29 21 6 3 20 16 55 -39
22 Bradford City 29 17 3 8 18 9 42 -33
23 Southend United 29 10 2 4 23 3 51 -48
24 Swindon Town 29 8 0 8 21 4 50 -46

Fantasy Soccer: Watford v. Manchester City

As predicted, we had an easy time of it on the road at Watford.

Watford 0 - 3 Man City

Minute Player Score
58" Beasley 0 - 1
59" Carrière 0 - 2
87" Beasley 0 - 3

Yellow Cards:

16" Spring, Watford
32" Foster, Watford
64" DeMerit, Watford
66" Francis, Watford
83" Alexandersson, Watford

On a down note Tristan was injured and will be out a couple of weeks.

We stay in 3rd this week, with a big home fixture against Aresnal up next.

Pos Name Played Points Won Drew Lost For Against Diff.
1 Chelsea 33 83 26 5 2 71 13 58
2 Manchester United 33 73 22 7 4 67 16 51
3 Manchester City 33 67 21 4 8 57 18 39
4 Liverpool 33 66 21 3 9 55 29 26
5 Blackburn Rovers 33 58 18 4 11 46 25 21
6 Arsenal 33 57 17 6 10 53 32 21
7 Fulham 33 57 17 6 10 42 34 8
8 Aston Villa 33 56 16 8 9 41 30 11
9 Bolton Wanderers 33 53 15 8 10 37 22 15
10 Tottenham Hotspur 33 53 16 5 12 52 40 12
11 Newcastle United 33 53 14 11 8 40 30 10
12 Wigan Athletic 33 39 12 3 18 28 47 -19
13 Charlton Athletic 33 37 8 13 12 29 45 -16
14 Everton 33 34 9 7 17 32 42 -10
15 West Ham United 33 34 10 4 19 28 50 -22
16 Middlesbrough 33 30 8 6 19 19 48 -29
17 Portsmouth 33 26 7 5 21 12 56 -44
18 Reading 33 23 5 8 20 19 54 -35
19 Sheffield United 33 18 3 9 21 14 48 -34
20 Watford 33 10 2 4 27 7 70 -63

Here was my lineup with their match ratings:

Manchester City
Isaksson 8
Mills 8
Trabelsi 7
Distin 7
Andersson 7
Reyna 7
Hamann 6
Carrière 7
Tristán 8
Sinama-Pongolle 6
Miller 6

Gotta Love A Good One Liner

Head on over to BBTF for some computer projections for the 2007 season. (Curtain call for El Birdos.) I loved this comment by someone of BBTF:

Huh, those aren't bad projections from Rodriguez or Duncan at all--that would still probably make Duncan a pretty bad player, given that he plays the outfield like he's trying to solve a Rubik's Cube while being strafed by World War I biplanes

Thank God

Ever since MLS got going, while I was living in the DC area, I was always worried that my old hometown of St. Louis would be granted an expansion franchise. I was a DC United fan...but could I root against the team from back home?? I'm not sure. Then today I read this: Collinsville may develop stadium for MLS expansion team

Collinsville Mayor Stan Schaeffer acknowledged Saturday that Collinsville is the Metro East site that is under consideration as the potential home of a Major League Soccer franchise in the St. Louis area.

Schaeffer said he was encouraged by a meeting Friday.

"The city and the investment group, the economic development office and our corporate counsel have been crunching numbers,'' he said. "It hasn't looked good to this point, but it's looking better.

"I know it's going slowly, but we would like to have a handle on the ancillary economic development and see if that's adequate enough for us to make a move."

The proposed stadium site is on 200 acres at Horseshoe Lake Road and Interstate 255, just north of Interstates 55-70 and 64.

To my mind, the east side isn't St. Louis at all...its downstate Illinois. Sure we like it better than, say, Chicago, but it isn't like Soulard, or Dogtown, or Webster Groves (or even Chesterfield)...it isn't really St. Louis.

I can root against them.

Serves Me Right

I knew I shouldn't have gotten excited about the Billikens this season. I KNEW IT...and I did it anyway.

St. Louis University's season went from bad to worse on Saturday night.

In the wake of a bad loss to St. Bonaventure, one of the two worst teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Billikens lost 73-63 to the other one, Duquesne at Scottrade Center, leaving it unclear who in the conference they can beat the way things are going now. Some of the few fans who remained in the building booed at the final buzzer. For SLU, this was the week that stunk.

"To start with the obvious, I can't personally imagine a tougher start to our conference season than this,'' Billikens coach Brad Soderberg said. "When expectations are high and you start out this way it's very, very difficult to swallow."

After starting the season 9-2, the Billikens have lost three of four games and, even with a 10-5 record and half the season to play, have seen their NCAA hopes now most likely hinge on winning the conference tournament after two RPI-killing losses.

NIT here we come.

Damn it.

Blues Screwed Again

I swear to God, I'm not a paranoid by nature, but the officiating in the NHL is doing its best to make one out of me. From the PD:

The club lost its bid Saturday to set an NHL record for consecutive first periods without allowing a goal. Nashville's Vernon Fiddler appeared to kick in the puck 2:08 into the period. Though the net came of its moorings on the play, neither of those reasons stopped officials from calling it good after a lengthy review.

"I have to see the replay, but as far as I know, I made the first save ... it rolled down my leg and a stick never touched it," Legace said. "The puck was on the line and his toe went (forward). That's kicking in my book."

It should be kicking in everyone's book. Chances are this team will not be making the playoffs, but the NHL has to do everything in its power to keep them from having other accomplishments as well.

Typical.

Of course it is frustrating to lose to Nashville again, particularly since all of the games have been tight. (Of course I'd say the Blues DID beat Nashville back around Christmas...but Oh those pesky officials again.) But it is a shame that the NHL stills seems to be intent on keeping the Blues down.

(Don't pay any attention to me...us Blues fans are a bitter lot.)

Fantasy Soccer: Manchester City v. Sheffield United

Pretty easy time of it this week.

Man. City 3 - 0 Sheffield United

Minute Player Score
7" Beasley 1 - 0
74" Samaras 2 - 0
85" Beasley 3 - 0

Yellow Cards:

26" Gillespie, Sheffield United
27" Miller, Manchester City
52" Ifill, Sheffield United
55" Beasley, Manchester City
65" Isaksson, Manchester City

Red Cards:

85" Ünal, Sheffield United

This win put us into 3rd, just behind Manchester United and Chelsea. I don't think I can catch Chelsea but I have an outside shot at becoming the top dog in Manchester this season.

Pos Name Played Points Won Drew Lost For Against Diff.
1 Chelsea 32 82 26 4 2 71 13 58
2 Manchester United 32 70 21 7 4 62 16 46
3 Manchester City 32 64 20 4 8 54 18 36
4 Liverpool 32 63 20 3 9 54 29 25
5 Arsenal 32 57 17 6 9 53 31 22
6 Blackburn Rovers 32 57 18 3 11 46 25 21
7 Aston Villa 32 55 16 7 9 41 30 11
8 Fulham 32 54 16 6 10 41 34 7
9 Tottenham Hotspur 32 53 16 5 11 52 35 17
10 Newcastle United 32 52 14 10 8 40 30 10
11 Bolton Wanderers 32 50 14 8 10 36 22 14
12 Charlton Athletic 32 37 8 13 11 29 44 -15
13 Wigan Athletic 32 36 11 3 18 26 47 -21
14 West Ham United 32 34 10 4 18 28 49 -21
15 Everton 32 33 9 6 17 32 42 -10
16 Middlesbrough 32 30 8 6 18 19 46 -27
17 Portsmouth 32 26 7 5 20 12 54 -42
18 Reading 32 22 5 7 20 19 54 -35
19 Sheffield United 32 15 2 9 21 12 48 -36
20 Watford 32 10 2 4 26 7 67 -60

Next week we've got Watford. Chance to play the reserves.

Fantasy Soccer: Swansea City v. Doncaster Rovers

Tough home fixture this week..but we nipped it in the end!

Swansea City 1 - 0 Doncaster Rovers

Yellow Cards:

22" Coppinger, Doncaster Rovers
25" Cissé, Swansea City
55" Rigoglioso, Doncaster Rovers
56" Ricketts, Swansea City
90" Predic, Doncaster Rovers
93" Ahmed, Swansea City

With this win Swansea jumps all the way to 8th in the table! Next week we go on the road against a Gillingham club that is in 6th, but 12 points ahead of Swansea in the standings. Crunch time!

Pos Name Played Points Won Drew Lost For Against Diff.
1 Nottingham Forest 28 65 19 8 1 47 11 36
2 Brentford FC 28 63 19 6 3 35 6 29
3 Port Vale 28 62 19 5 4 40 12 28
4 Barnsley FC 28 61 19 4 5 46 15 31
5 Huddersfield Town 28 60 17 9 2 46 10 36
6 Gillingham FC 28 55 16 7 5 42 14 28
7 Doncaster Rovers 28 45 14 3 11 38 28 10
8 Swansea City 28 43 13 4 11 35 29 6
9 AFC Bournemouth 28 43 14 1 13 34 36 -2
10 Scunthorpe United 28 42 13 3 12 31 27 4
11 Hartlepool United 28 41 12 5 11 36 22 14
12 Milton Keynes Dons 28 41 13 2 13 29 24 5
13 Yeovil Town 28 38 10 8 10 21 26 -5
14 Chesterfield FC 28 36 11 3 14 29 37 -8
15 Bristol City 28 35 8 11 9 24 33 -9
16 Walsall FC 28 34 8 10 10 27 25 2
17 Blackpool FC 28 32 9 5 14 22 27 -5
18 Tranmere Rovers 28 32 9 5 14 22 31 -9
19 Oldham Athletic 28 30 8 6 14 14 33 -19
20 Colchester United 28 26 6 8 14 17 30 -13
21 Rotherham United 28 21 6 3 19 16 52 -36
22 Bradford City 28 17 3 8 17 9 41 -32
23 Southend United 28 10 2 4 22 3 49 -46
24 Swindon Town 28 8 0 8 20 4 49 -45