I agree. However, if the MLS can parallel the development of the NBA then it will work it out within ten years for everybody. The quality of play and players will improve to a level which fanaticos like you can somewhat enjoy, and yet the culture of MLS in America to fill up stadiums, claim a portion of the TV viewer-share, and sell some merchandise. After all, MLB is in SIGNIFICANT decline. Some dare said baseball won't exist in ten years.

well, baseball will exist forever, just maybe not at the insane financial heights of today, but it's not going to suddenly vanish. i mean, kids will still play baseball in parks, schools will field teams-- just look at mexico.

if that's the case then MLS should "claim" the summer-- february through september (enough to cram a full season *if* people don't quit for international matches).

as for MLS growth: the tv, the merchandise, the american culture-- maybe it will pan out or maybe it will plateau and never take off and become a zombie league. of course it's a gamble---it's a gamble any which way, anyway... so-- whatever works. hey, if the mls got your attention this way then maybe it will work with other people.

me, i think pro "soccer" gets the greatest attention not from disappointed baseball crowds but from those kids who play in elementary and high school and the streets, and then they look at the tv. the risk of course is that those people will go straight into watching the prem (as i believe it's happening) instead of becoming mls fans. i'm saying risk of course-- i am not equipped to see the future. maybe they'll watch everything they can get their eyes on. but here's an example: in el salvador (i know this first-hand) the whole country is split between real madrid and barcelona fandom. true story.

--

ps- here some journalistic confirmation so you see i'm not making this up:

http://www.vagabondjourney.com/socce...ona-or-madrid/

ps- i may be wrong, but i think the real competition is not baseball or the nfl-- it's THIS

I'm in no position to know how significant this is, but the unique problem facing MLS (compared with the NFL, MLB and NBA) is that everyone knows the best teams and players are all playing elsewhere. When you watch a Superbowl or the NBA finals, you know, probably without even thinking about it, that you're watching the very pinnacle of those sports. That has to have a major impact on their overall popularity. For all your optimism about the MLS, the problem is its very infrastructure (mostly in terms of salary caps) means it will never be able to attract the best players and its geographical distance means that it'll never be playing against them (at club level anyway). So the unique problem facing the MLS is how does it sell itself to a mainstream audience used to thinking of its team sports as representing the very highest level possible?

That's true, but I was also talking about the development of the NBA in the late 1970s early 1980s when it wasn't that world class talent and arena wise. However you're right, when the NBA began to make a name for itself in the 1980s, it wasn't like there were any other basketball leagues to compete for audience share. I just really don't see MLS luring away Euro fans one way or the other, so I suppose they have to work with what they can..


Perhaps that's just it. If MLS can't lure Euro talent (like they tried to have with the Beckham deal years ago) in droves they probably won't lure Euro fans. So if they can't elevate their talent to the highest level possible, maybe the selling point becomes developing the culture. If the stadiums are first-class, the teams at least talented and professional, and people are selling out stadiums and beginning to create a buzz (all of which are going on in MLS currently) then that might just have to be enough. Maybe the MLS will have to start to kind of claim itself as uniquely American soccer, having all the amenities that Americans are accustomed to for their spectator sport experience, but not necessarily pretend to be the highest possible level in the world, just highest within themselves. It sounds silly, I know, but again, sometimes American sport is silly.

Looks like the Bale insanity is going to happen.

Anyway,

Controversy over the authenticity of a video of Balotelli playing the piano:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsC_7-67soE

right. and this being a former british colony, it gravitates towards the premier league.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-55728982.html

or to put it more bluntly:





http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...-european.html

(the writer finishes by begging people to spend some money on the mls-- but he doesn't get it.)


that's the thing, the "euro fans" (as you call them/us) know that one washed out star does not a league make. it's not about gimmicks or euro-anything. it's about quality and competition and merit and (yes) a long, world-wide tradition.

what "they" (we) need is a respectable league that makes sense and matters internationally-- not in being the "greatest" league, just a decent one with sensible rules and respect for the game instead of weird shootouts (thankfully gone) and bending over for the nfl. and that's what we're not getting. so we don't watch (at least i don't watch).

i'd love to have a local team that i can follow, but there's simply nothing.


like demonyo, he's a little gay for pirlo as well.

i thought pirlo was going sing or something!

Yeah, Pirlo's a class act. Guess he's been back on the spotlight ever since that panenka. But you know, there's a whole school behind Pirlo.

Growing up I idolatrized Rui Costa, so I was lucky to get to know it.



It's actually sad when you think about it and look at modern football.

That's why the MLS has to expand to a proper pro-rel inter-league system. There isn't a future in huge franchise teams with 40k+ stadiums. They tried the imported talent and mega-club route before (NY Cosmos?) More divisions means more teams that'll inevitably have to target smaller communities for their fanbase. That could be where those districts within cities that have a stronger football/soccer following (either because of their ethnic make up or whatever) could really come into their own. Moving scouting away from the colleges and the has-beens' agents and into the local parks where it belongs. That's where you'll find the little genius who a community, and maybe the country overall, can really get behind. It just takes the patience to start from the bottom and build from there. Yuma FC. That's a team I'd want to support.

Do you know something we don't?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...tenham-hotspur

Not really, just the feeling I've been getting from hearing people that do know something, knowing Real Madrid and knowing Florentino.

Spur's owner Daniel Levy has a reputation for taking transfers to the wire. It makes sense in terms of squeezing the most money out of a sale but if Bale is set on going and the deal is pretty much sealed he could end up with a massive cash injection but, as the transfer window starts to close, little time to spend it.

Speaking of tottenham and the prem league taking Mls interest away...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KeG_i8CWE8

haaa haaa haaa haaaa

i watched it and then i watched it again.

damn, i need a good cable package. they're switching everything around. pain in the ass.

so what is "fuck sucker" gonna be showing now???

--

ps-- ribery is up w/ messi and cronaldo for "best uefa player". ha ha ha . YEAH! he gets the biggest balls award.

That is what happens as teams and leagues get more popular, the TV contracts switch up as bigger fish start to see a bigger pie to swoop on. Here in LA the Lakers away games were on local TV for the past THIRTY YEARS! It was revolutionary when they started doing it, and it made Lakers a community team. EVERYWHERE you went in Los Angeles on any given away game night, a TV had the Laker game on, good or bad game. Last year the switched it on some multi-BILLION $ deal to strictly cable. LA folks were pissed because it was a new channel that like 800,000 people didn't even have access too! Same thing with the Dodgers. Those games used to be on Fox, but now they've been largely moved to FoxSports. Univision is the final frontier, they broadcast all the cable USMNT, Mexico, and other cable futbol matches on UniMas or sometimes KMEX34 (if its primetime) but alas, probably soon they will go all cable because Univision has a cable channel too!!

Yeah, I saw that last year with Modric. I'm sure the word jew is being thrown around a lot in the oficinas.

It's a problem, there's not that much talent available and Tottenham is not in a particularly good position to lure big names. The only certainty is that with that kind of cash flow whoever they get is going to be hyperinflated.

I'm not that convinced, but there are rumours that there's gonna be other players involved in the transfer.

Chelsea-Mad should be a good one tonight. I'll probably leave it to those of you in nearby timezones, though.

Fellaini to Man Utd?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...united-everton