View Full Version : Good Lord the MLS (American Soccer League) is Fucking Attrocious


Boner
10-29-2006, 09:28 PM
I flipped it to FSC to see if there was maybe a Euro highlight show on or something (something to get my mind off the Steelers game and something I can't bet on) and they have Chivas USA at Houston Dymanmo in the first round of the playoffs.

THEY ARE PLAYING THIS GAME AT A FUCKING FOOTBALL STADIUM WITH THE FOOTBALL YARD MARKERS AND LOGOS STILL THERE!!!

How can they think this league should be taken seriously when they have a playoff game on the Houston Cougars' field??

Not to mention I just saw 2 of the worst set pieces I've ever seen at the pro level.

I give up. I'm gonna go drop next week's paycheck on the Cowboys.

sppunk
10-29-2006, 09:30 PM
You could've just said soccer and not specified any league.

Boner
10-29-2006, 09:32 PM
Yeah, except that the Premiership is the second most financially successful league in the world.

sppunk
10-29-2006, 09:40 PM
Yeah, except that the Premiership is the second most financially successful league in the world.
Is the NFL the most?

Boner
10-29-2006, 09:40 PM
is it just all of the sudden supposed to have huge stadiums that no one will fill up? everything has to start small, moron. i agree, the league sucks. but hopefully it will take off. but until then, there isn't a lot of money. cities don't want to waste tax money on something that they don't know will be worth it. salt lake city wanted a new stadium for Real Salt Lake, but everyone voted it down. it's understandable because not everyone likes it. football is still the biggest. it pisses me off because soccer is amazing. BUT, it's understandable. things aren't just HUGE enough to all of the sudden spend money on stadiums.

News Flash: This is the MLS' 11th season.

News Flash Number 2: FC Dallas and Chicago Fire have each spent a year playing in half-empty high school football stadiums.

News Flash Number 3: The quality of this league is equivalent to a 2nd-tier South American league a la the Uraguayan league or a third tier European league a la the Czech Gambrinus League (even this is a stretch; probably more like the Norwegian Tippenlagen).

News Flash Number 4: The North American Soccer League was televised on ABC in the 70s and 80s. The two Florida teams and the Cosmos drew exceptionally well. Many of the teams including the Dallas Tornado and the Chicago Sting drew larger crowds than their MLS coutnerparts (FC Dallas and the Fire, respectively) draw today.

Final Word: Ever since England won the 1966 World Cup, which was televised domestically on ABC, the USSF has been trying to push soccer onto mainstream America. While their efforts have led to soccer becoming the number 1 participation sport in the US, it is still nothing more than a participation sport.

Boner
10-29-2006, 09:43 PM
Is the NFL the most?

Yes.

aldango
10-29-2006, 10:01 PM
The thing isn't the league, it's the team. Dynamo is new. They don't have a stadium; the UH stadium is good and a really good size for them. It's not even really on campus. During the summer (non-football) it's a dedicated soccer stadium, and I guess they don't have the money to pay U of H to change it each week.

However, I was watching Real Salt Lake a while back, and their field was ALL crazy.

aldango
10-29-2006, 10:11 PM
Well, wait, the league sucks too.

But that *specific* problem had to do with the team.

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:15 PM
This game is awful. Chivas is practically begging the Dynamo to score and they can't do it. The ball has been on the Chivas half of the field all game but Dynamo's strikers are ass.

redbull
10-29-2006, 10:18 PM
yeah bring on chelsea plz

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:19 PM
This game is really hilarious. It's not so much Chivas keeping Dynamo out of the net as it is the Dymano just have no finishing ability.

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:23 PM
Nice they just gave a Double Yellow Card to Chivas for a foul that probably would be legal in the South American Leagues. The second yellow was for arguing.

aldango
10-29-2006, 10:24 PM
I watched Dynamo kill Chivas during the summer. What happened?

And it's still on, eh? I need to watch this 'travesty!'

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:25 PM
0-0, second leg of the first round of the playoffs.

Chivas won the first game 2-1, so they simply need to draw to advance, but they're a man down for the final 30 mintues.

aldango
10-29-2006, 10:27 PM
So if Houston wins tonight, who advances? Goal differential? I need to look up this playoff format.

Trotskilicious
10-29-2006, 10:29 PM
The New York team is called the Red Bulls. I couldn't believe it. It's so awful when a team is named after a soft drink.

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:29 PM
Yeah. I don't know what the tie

redbull
10-29-2006, 10:29 PM
The New York team is called the Red Bulls. I couldn't believe it. It's so awful when a team is named after a soft drink.
redbull

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:31 PM
The New York team is called the Red Bulls. I couldn't believe it. It's so awful when a team is named after a soft drink.

Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian TMobile League is as well.

Boner
10-29-2006, 10:32 PM
Dynamo scored on a PK.

Chivas got their first shot of the game in the 66th minute.

LOL.

aldango
10-29-2006, 10:32 PM
The New York team is called the Red Bulls. I couldn't believe it. It's so awful when a team is named after a soft drink.

I was just looking into Red Bull and their sports enterprising... they spend $300m on their sports stuff.

Apparently, they prefer to buy teams outright (they bought a few teams in Europe, too) instead of sponsor them. So Red Bull *owns* that team. Doesn't mean it's right for them to be the Red Bulls...

I looked it up because they have 2 Formula One teams (and teams in pretty much every major racing format). So much money.

Boner
10-30-2006, 01:46 AM
I love soccer too, but I live 30 minutes from Pizza Hut Park yet follow FC Dallas hardly at all. My soccer fandom is devoted more toward Serie A, the Premiership, and the Bundesliga as well as the Champions League, European Cup, and other International competitions.

If you saw the way that Dynamo-Chivas game played out, you probably wouldn't watch another MLS game for a while.

Nate the Grate
10-30-2006, 02:16 AM
While their efforts have led to soccer becoming the number 1 participation sport in the US, it is still nothing more than a participation sport.

Is this true? I would think that golf has more people participating than soccer. If it's because of the kid factor, why do you think soccer is popular with kids? It's extremely simple and inexpensive. Parents naturally Iwell, usually) want their kids to become involved with something athletic, and soccer is a real easy place to start. Nothing too much to buy, nothing too much to teach. Go kick a ball. Then the kids grow up, and a lot of them grow out of it and move on to other stuff. Check the number of youth soccer teams in your area, then check the number of teen-age soccer teams. While this dropoff is normal in every sport, it's especially true in soccer.

Mexicola
10-30-2006, 02:19 AM
You could've just said soccer and not specified any league.

This guy knows what's going on.

I'm Hardcore
10-30-2006, 03:12 AM
yeah the MLS blows, but give it time.

Nothing/everything
10-30-2006, 06:04 AM
in other news: ManU completely obliterated Bolton last saturday. Their form has been pretty spectacular as of lately.

aldango
10-30-2006, 12:28 PM
yeah the MLS blows, but give it time.

It's on a slow climb. The Wikipedia article on it has lots of information about that... apparently they've lost $350m over the last 10 years, but soon will turn a profit as teams build stadiums for themselves, a huge revenue problem (and the subject of this thread!)

phaedrus
10-30-2006, 12:54 PM
Is this true? I would think that golf has more people participating than soccer.
you've got to be kidding me. golf? Tiger Woods did a lot to popularize the sport among youth, but it's still hugely inaccessible to them. it's a rich man's sport, played predominantly by whites only.

If it's because of the kid factor, why do you think soccer is popular with kids? It's extremely simple and inexpensive. Parents naturally Iwell, usually) want their kids to become involved with something athletic, and soccer is a real easy place to start. Nothing too much to buy, nothing too much to teach. Go kick a ball.
exactly. that's what makes the sport so great, along with its cross-cultural appeal. you can go almost anywhere in the world and play soccer.

Then the kids grow up, and a lot of them grow out of it and move on to other stuff. Check the number of youth soccer teams in your area, then check the number of teen-age soccer teams. While this dropoff is normal in every sport, it's especially true in soccer.
i would say that it's especially true in any sport that require a huge amount of athleticism, not just soccer. sure there are niche sports where players are extremely dedicated throughout their entire lives, but any other sport where you need to be extremely athletic you can expect to see a huge decline once you hit adolescence. it's not like baseball where you can sit around and drink beer while you play.

Boner
10-30-2006, 12:59 PM
Technically if you build a soccer-specific stadium, you will turn a profit within your first 3 years. BUT that is because you are getting a taxpayer-paid stadium, with no rent, and no property taxes for 25 years through TIF Districting. So, for example, while Milwaukee will likey get a team, build a stadium, and be "profitable" from the get-go, you really ought to factor in about $250 million it costs to build the stadium plus the other incentives in no rent and no taxes.. Well they won't make $250 million of profit for 15 years.

So, when cities are voting the stadiums down, it's not that they hate soccer. People in the SLC and Milwaukee love soccer. They are saying that he societal value of having a soccer team and the identity that will come to our city is not worth spending $250 million just to make $10 million a year and provide entertainment for 15,000 fans per night. It's bad economics.

Orenthal James
10-30-2006, 01:30 PM
klosterman wrote about soccer and children and it was pretty funny.

Nate the Grate
10-30-2006, 01:33 PM
you've got to be kidding me. golf? Tiger Woods did a lot to popularize the sport among youth, but it's still hugely inaccessible to them. it's a rich man's sport, played predominantly by whites only.


Perhaps I'm overvaluing the adult factor, and maybe I'm biased because I've worked at a golf course for three years, but there are a TON of adults that play golf. I wouldn't say it's a "rich man's sport" anymore, but it's true that you're not going to find any golf played in the inner city. I don't know, I need to see some statistics on this.

Nate the Grate
10-30-2006, 01:39 PM
This is the closest thing I could find from a quick Google. I don't have time to do more cause I have class, but this is from a 1994 census.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2/gen/96statab/parks.pdf

Clyde Griffith
11-09-2006, 12:46 AM
youre atrocious

Ted.
11-09-2006, 12:47 AM
Do you even have a job?