What Does The Truth Cost? $5000 Apparently

D.C. United president fined for critical comments:

D.C. United president Kevin Payne was fined $5,000 by Major League Soccer, then apologized on Thursday for criticizing the league and three teams.

The MLS said Payne was punished for "public comments deemed detrimental to the public image of the league" and pointed to an item posted on The Washington Post's Web site this week. Payne was critical of the conservative playing style of Colorado, New England and Real Salt Lake in quotes posted on the site.

Payne said the tactics create "a lot of games in our league that I can't watch."

Payne is right. Colorado and Real Salt Lake almost always play the most negative game imaginable, and have for years. New England, once upon a time, could play attractive attacking soccer. This season they have been damn near unwatchable.

For example, look at last night's nil-nil draw between Houston and Seattle. Sure there were no goals, but there was plenty of action. Action is exactly what you are not going to see when Real and the Revs play their playoff games.

Comments

A Note of Optimism About the Note

If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...

Matt Damon: "James Bond Should Be A Wuss, Like Me."

Alright, maybe Damon didn't say that exactly, but he might as well have : Hollywood star Matt Damon has dismissed James Bond as being stuck in the past. The actor, who appears in the Bourne thrillers, said: "The Bond character will always be anchored in the 1960s and in the values of the 1960s." The suave spy was "so anachronistic when you put it in the world we live in today", he said, but added that Bourne was no better or worse than Bond. Damon was speaking in London, where The Bourne Ultimatum, the third film in the franchise, is having its UK premiere. "Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it, and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes," he told reporters. "Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her." Bourne mooning over his dead girlfriend is something we should be excited to see? Give me a break. At least Bond lives in a world where it is killed or be ki...

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous. German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

(Get) A Sporting Life

Search This Blog