BrySmalls

I like the Caps jersey, as long as it's a one-off.  Adidas could have done so much worse with putting the Weagle on the jersey (See Nashville, Tampa Bay, and Colorado as prime examples).

On 1/21/2023 at 1:20 PM, MJWalker45 said:

SBNation/Vox apparently is dropping all or most of its soccer blogs. All of the MLS blogs are currently looking for somewhere new to set up shop due to Vox cutting them loose.

Vox also cut nearly all of their SBHockey blogs too, except for six. I've honestly forgotten that SBNation was a thing.

On 1/22/2023 at 6:19 AM, mrcubfan415 said:

My personal suggestion for a more geographically accurate NFL alignment:

AFC:

East: Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets

North: Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers 

South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans

West: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders

NFC:

East: Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders

North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings

South: Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

West: Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks

 

I suppose the Steelers and Ravens could be swapped to keep Browns-Ravens a division rivalry and to make Colts-Ravens (Baltimore’s old vs new team) a division rivalry too.

That alignment makes sense!

On 12/30/2022 at 2:51 PM, Digby said:

 

Why wouldn't they? No different than having five teams in the Acela Corridor. Sacramento to San Diego is further away than Foxboro to DC.

Well that is a difference! 

Honestly though, Sacramento will inevitably land an expansion club in the coming decade given their U.S. Open Cup run this past year. They're also trying to figure out the finances for building a stadium. Plus, MLS loves giving second chances to their markets, e.g., San Jose Earthquakes 2.0, LAFC, NYCFC, and Inter Miami FC.

I don't think Sacramento should receive a club again at this time.

On 12/23/2022 at 10:23 PM, Dilbert said:

Hearing rumors that Landon Donovans San Diego Loyal will make the move up from USL Championship to MLS in 2024.  Don Garber supposedly has approved it and we are just waiting for an official announcement at this point.

 

Bill Foley (owner of the Vegas Golden Knights) looked at putting an MLS team in Las Vegas but instead purchased Premier League Club AFC Bournemouth. Building a new stadium in Las Vegas plus the expansion cost in the MLS was too much for him and said Bournemouth was a bargain. I think Las Vegas is a no go at this point and San Diego as a strong yes to be team number 30

San Diego is a logical choice. Glad that Las Vegas could be out of the running for club #30, however, I wouldn't be surprised if they're club #32 down the road.

On 12/27/2022 at 9:55 PM, WestCoastBias said:

 

Time for Sacramento to find a billionaire owner and swoop right back in and take Vegas' spot...

Absolutely not. Sacramento had their chance and blew it. Besides, would MLS really need five California-based clubs in the league?

21 hours ago, Sport said:

A round robin group stage sounds very fun. Who do I have to cyberbully to get that going? 

Garber.

802 Goals for Ovechkin!

29 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

Capitals also dropped their Stadium Series logo. We'll finally see the weagle on the front of a jersey.

 

Finally! It only took management 16 years to give the fans what they want!

20 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

It's a new year. That means new MLS playoff structure!

If MLS does go through with a "Group Stage" playoff, why bother having conferences? Just take the top 16 teams in the league.

20 hours ago, Digby said:

I kind of like the idea in the abstract but feels like it would swing the pendulum back to making the playoffs way too long. Also with Leagues Cup that makes TWO extra mini-leagues on top of the regular season. How much MLS are we all clamoring for, anyway?

Enough to entice one to purchase their MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.   

13 hours ago, ebod39 said:

Yikes. Not good.

I agree. So much potential wasted. At least Ovie is capitalizing on his pursuit of history (pun intended).

Alex Ovechkin’s trademarked ‘The Gr8 Chase’ logo revealed

On 12/9/2022 at 11:28 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Well, then, if people will pay the price, then that means that the price isn't too high.

It appears that we agreed on something!

On 12/9/2022 at 11:28 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

To complain about any given player's contract is utterly foolish, partly because of the aforementioned (and repeatedly proven) lack of correlation between player salaries and ticket prices, and partly because high player salaries are actually a cause for celebration, as they indicate the robust health of the sport that you supposedly love.

Just to be clear, the longevity of these contracts are worth celebrating even though it's possible that the players may not live up to their expections [current age in brackets]?

• Aaron Judge [Age 30] Yankees: 9 years, $360 million (2023-31)
• Carlos Correa [Age 28], Giants: 13 years, $350 million (2023-35)
• Bryce Harper [Age 30], Phillies: 13 years, $330 million (2019-31)
• Corey Seager {Age 28], Rangers: 10 years, $325 million (2022-31)
• Gerrit Cole, Yankees [Age 32]: 9 years, $324 million (2020-28)
• Manny Machado [Age 30] , Padres: 10 years, $300 million (2019-28)
• Trea Turner {Age 29], Phillies: 11 years, $300 million (2023-33)
• Xander Bogaerts [Age 30], Padres: 11 years, $280 million (2023-33)

On 12/9/2022 at 11:28 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Still, if you consider the price of a ticket too expensive, then the answer is: don't pay it.  And if enough other people come to that same conclusion, then the price will go down.  (Also, there's this new thing called "television" that allows you to enjoy games without having to buy any tickets at all.)

 

I'm new to technology. I didn't know that's how everything worked! Can I also stream games on my laptop and what one calls a smartphone? /sarcasm

9 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

1. It's not grammar. It's spelling. (Or, from another point of view, word choice, as the misspelling gives us an entirely different word.)

 

2. Yes. 

 

Well, except for the factors that distort the market by putting downward pressure on contracts to the disadvantage of players. These factors include, amongst other things, a salary cap or a luxury tax, the draft, limitations on when a player can become a free agent, a team's right of first refusal, and compensation for a team whose player signs elsewhere.

 

So, even though the pay of players in the top sports leagues is far beyond what workers in any other field make, the reality is that owners are systematically stealing from players (the people who do the actual work that creates all value), as player contracts are being kept artificially low, by an enormous amount.

 

Your critique is thus entirely unfounded. Teams offer the contracts that they offer because they can afford to do so, based on their revenue. If a team were to price out its fans, as you suggest, its revenue would drop as a result, and likewise would drop the size of contracts that it can offer to players.

 

The main thing to understand is that the interest of players is identical to the interest of fans (in other words: to the general interest). If you are a fan of a sport, then you should naturally be in favour of the highest player salaries possible given the league's revenues, and therefore opposed to the market distortions that hold those player salaries down.

 

1. Word choice is grammar and not spelling.
2. The owners generate more revenue by increasing ticket, concession, parking, and souvenir prices. Here is a costs breakdown for a family of 4 to attend an MLB game last year. Fans will still attend games regardless of the costs. 
   
   While I am a sports fan, I do not look through rose-colored glasses. I cannot celebrate, support, or cheer for a player (e.g., Aaron Judge) earning an astronomically high contract because the team (e.g., Yankees) can afford him and because the fans are paying that contract for years to come one way or another. 

2 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

First of all, it's "rein in".

 

Secondly, no.  The size of a contract is determined by the market.

1) Thanks for the grammar check!
2) Is it? 

It's time to reign in the absurdly high contracts that are given to players in the NBA, MLB, and NFL. Fortunately, the NHL doesn't have ridiculous  contracts that pay more than $120M to one player (at least not yet). At the rate things are going, no one will be able to afford going to a major league game anymore.

13 hours ago, Rockstar Matt said:

The US literally just suffered their worst knockout round loss in the modern era despite having it's most talented team.

I disagree. Their 2-1 AET loss to Ghana in the 2010 WC was worse AND we had several strikers on the roster back then!

6 minutes ago, Rockstar Matt said:

 

Going to nitpick here, but the US have only failed to get out of the group stage once this century (2006). This is the 3rd straight WC we've gotten out of the group stage and 4th out of the last 5 WC's that we've qualified for.

That's a fair nitpick. To be fair, those past advancements have never been in convincing fashion as it came down to goal difference (2014) or winning their final match (2010 and 2022).

Guess what I really wanted to say is that I hope one day that the US convincingly wins in the group stage so we don't have to worry about tiebreakers.

Happy with the 1-0 result, though the US should've had another goal. I was skeptical that we could sit on that lead for an entire second half.

The Round of 16 match against the Netherlands should hopefully be a good test. Overall, I'm glad that we got out of the group stage for once. 

Judgement Day is here for the USMNT! All they need to do is win to advance. Hope they can pull it off to make up for the 1998 match against Iran.

Who had Costa Rica in their pool as the first Concacaf nation with a win at this World Cup?

On 11/25/2022 at 4:31 PM, Rockstar Matt said:

Some additional thoughts:

 

- Zimmerman is fine when defending, but he’s been bad to atrocious picking out passes to the midfield. He looks a little timid or even scared, at times. I thought he almost cost us again. 

- Ream has been outstanding. So glad to have him out there. It seemed like he’s provided a veteran calming presence for the team. He clearly isn’t intimidated by anyone. He and Robinson have been great on the left side. Really really strong.

I fully agree with you on these points. Zimmerman isn't making sound decisions right now. I don't watch too mich MLS but not sure how he'd won best defender in 2020 and 2021.

I was concerned he would have coughed up the ball to Kane at a critical moment during the match. Fortunately, that didn't come to fruition.

Ream and Robinson have impressed me the most so far. I'm glad they're on the squad.

Congratulations Qatar! You're the first team eliminated from the World Cup!

I couldn't watch the England match at work so wondering why there were about 12 minutes of stoppage time in both halves?

Ecuador clearly outclassed Qatar. The empty seats in the stadium in the second half speak volumes to Qatar's dismal play  on the pitch. Qatar is the first ever host nation to lose their opening match in the World Cup. 

Perfect analysis for my 6,666 post.

First goal is called offsides, which is complete bull

I'm not sure if Chicago's owner's did their brand research or maybe it's a sense of city pride, but the Hounds name has been used in different sports leagues.

A quick Google search shows there's currently a team in the Chicago Metro Baseball Association called the Chicago Hounds.

Also, there used to be a hockey team called the Chicago Hounds.