Digby

Aha, you're right, and that jibes with the NYC Parks signage if this is an official "collab". In my mind those signs were green and gold too but I think I got it mixed up with Boston's parks.

Unfortunately that ATLiens artwork they're probably going to "reference" is... very 1996.

And the answer is... NYCFC. Going with an NYC Parks theme with the little green and gold leaf logo. I like the idea, execution's not quite there for me -- the pattern kinda loses the tree effect for me, and I don't like the bright green stripes. But otherwise I do like a dark green and gold and light blue color scheme, so that's kinda nice and pretty distinctive.

Agree with this, and will note that just because a design is "very 90s" doesn't make it bad! Gives it a huge handicap, sure, but even the wackiest of design eras can be recognized successfully. Of course they cashed in whatever good design karma that had garnered them when it came time to switch to their '00s set....

I think a lot of the problems in question also could've been solved if the SUNS wordmark wasn't so honkin' huge. Shrink it by 10 percent and it would be a more comfortable fit if you must go the route of putting it inside the burst. A lot of the early unofficial mockups following the leaks seemed to have suggested the wordmark would be smaller, and though that turned out to be inaccurate, it looked fine in said mocks.

And if you really want to see misguided "passion" over the most corporate possible soccer, get a load of these New York derby fights. https://hudsonriverblue.com/nycfc-fans-attacked-outside-red-bull-arena-after-hudson-river-derby/ (Plus NYCFC fans bringing back the bad chant! Incredible)

People just need to remember: this tournament is not a Champions League model, it's a European Super League model. Even supporters here mobilized against that closed-shop model but very little pushback seemed to have spread when a closed-shop popped up on our own shores. I'm not saying it hasn't been entertaining, but the very essence of the tournament has prioritized spectacle and Mexican-American money over competition and fairness from the day it was announced. It does seem to me like there are real logistical challenges that merit second looks and rethinks for the next edition, but I'm not sure how much MLS and LMX will be willing to mess with it... they did seem to optimize for $$$ well from the start this year.

I can understand the strategy when you've got a full continental competition to look forward to, which is why I get Arsenal paying to have the USA's number one choice as their own second choice. For the likes of Forest I would think that one of those transfer fees could be put to better use, though.

That would be a fun watch, but alas, runs counter to the point of this cashgrab tournament. The travel is kind of nuts. Tigres/Monterrey, already far from home for multiple weeks, had to fly from the PNW to Texas and now to LA (for Monterrey anyway) and then maybe to MSP/Nashville and then somewhere East Coast again. Crazy amount of travel for a tournament with games every four days.

Matt Turner is going to Nottingham Forest. Good move to get actual consistent playing time, I'd think... but good thing his M.O. is shot-stopping because he'll have plenty to stop there. Arsenal making a 2-5 million GBP profit over a year on a guy that played like 4 Europa League games for them. Inflation is such a problem these days.

I had the Nashville/America game on casually in the background and turned it off when it appeared that America made a winning save in the PKs round. Was very confused to wake up and catch up this morning. Predictably what happens when you have the privilege of hosting Club America. Leagues Cup fever, baby.

https://theathletic.com/4755010/2023/08/07/messi-miami-mls-dallas/ The Athletic had a pretty good piece the other day trying to parse out the current contradictions of how the league is presenting itself, with the Messi spotlight as the probable exception vs. the reality that success in MLS is coming on the backs of strong academies and smart scouting of South America. I don't really see anything wrong with this, despite how easy it is to make fun of the league's improvisational bureaucracy of roster rules. Mbappe's not coming here.

All the NESN guys trying their damndest to spin every Chaim Bloom move for the Red Sox are blinking twice in solidarity.

Five years of Zlatan or Chicharito for LA Galaxy and all it got them was two mediocre playoff runs that ended to their cool young crosstown rival in the semis. Their attendance has remained solid, though, so I wonder how much of that is thanks to having the box-office draws to paper over how deeply mid they've been on the field. I don't know what to extrapolate from the Messi situation for the future of the league but I lean toward "nothing". Maybe a handful of other players can provide his on-field influence, but not many. Does anyone move the needle from a media/attention perspective? I doubt it. Maybe CR7 would've if he'd come here. Maybe Pulisic if for some reason he came back. I don't even know if Mbappe has that sort of draw in America. It's a generational situation, a la Beckham.

I don't think Garber speaking in a hypothetical is a credible enough basis for the way that story is written, but such is the UK tabloid press. Though it would be hilarious to see how many new roster mechanisms, invented rules and "creative" revenue schemes they could come up with if the star floodgates were indeed to open. How many ways could you conceivably slice the Apple revenue pie?

I'd say the teams that remain are good by virtue of continuing to win, yeah.

Oh, easily. This is going to make LeBron's calls look like paragons of objectivity.

I do think there was an element of complacency from some of the older players here -- not in a "they care about their PERSONAL BRAND" complaint or whatever petty nonsense Carli Lloyd was saying -- but maybe an overconfidence that they'd still be world-beaters despite being older and, in many cases, out of form. Not so much in that final game at least, but earlier on. At least that's how I interpreted some of the desperation and imprecision we saw. Beyond that, yeah, I blame the coaching. That it took Lavelle's suspension to make a smart tactical switch is pretty unfortunate. I don't blame Vlatko + staff exclusively, but I do get the feeling that while a lot went wrong -- some bad decisions from players, some injuries, some plain outlier-level bad luck -- he wasn't getting the most out of this group. Good news is that this seemed like a weirdly (relatively) fallow year for the USWNT talent-wise, and next World Cup will have this young core in their prime years and with a tournament of experience already. I'm also now extra-fascinated to see what the staff and roster will look like for the Olympics, just a year away now.

Such a wild game. Good on FC Dallas for making it tough and, almost, winning. They seem to have lost their heads at the end, just more Messi Effect. The thing that really strikes me about watching Messi in MLS (besides his insane precision being more obvious against this sort of opposition) is that he is truly the type of guy who makes the people around you better. Not just because he attracts the attention and can be a god-level playmaker but also he seems to just have injected this whole team with such confidence. I guess it's the "We have Messi so we'll be fine" approach. It also helps that the worst team in the league was able to gut its roster and get a new coach seemingly overnight. I don't know that it would reflect well on MLS for a bunch of 35+ guys to be able to just stroll in, hardly practice, and immediately win a trophy, though.

USWNT did play much better today despite losing Lavelle. Performance was not as disappointing but sometimes you meet a solid team with a keeper on a heater. Was Morgan so gassed that you didn't want to keep her in for potential PKs? I dunno. First time I've seen PKs decided on a f-ing video review. Such an un-fun way to watch the sport.

On this subject, I just turned on Chicago Fire vs Club America and they're playing at the old Bridgeview stadium. A throwback game! But -- considering Club America is one of the Liga MX teams that will sell tens of thousands of tickets at any stadium in the US -- it goes to show you the logistic difficulty of this tournament as it stands, though kind of a cruel irony for the Fire who can never catch a break. Is it Taylor Swift weekend at Soldier Field or what?

There's only so much he can do. Moving operations to an NFL stadium is a massive logistical undertaking and is not an easy thing to do for a tournament like this where the home team hosts and you can't plan the schedule 9 months in advance. Especially nowadays where the stadium concert tour circuit requires such absurd production elements that it takes a week to set up/tear down a one-day show. (See also why Charlotte, hilariously, had to give up their home games for Leagues Cup knockouts thanks to Beyonce.) MLS will make crazy money on these "intimate" venues for a Messi appearance, though... much easier to get close than it ever was at Camp Nou, as long as you pay for it.

Germany joins Canada and Brazil in going out in the group stage. Crazy tournament! Truly no idea who the favorite could be at this point.

The more I look at the Suns set, my feelings on the white ball aren't changing... but I'm also missing the black in this set. Phoenix is one of the rare cases where throwing all the colors in somehow works (as long as mid grey isn't one of the colors), and works even better when white is tertiary at best. The home in particular just ends up too Stormtrooper for me, given this team's design history and what you'd expect of a team in Phoenix.

Funny (?) thing about that is that FIFA totally cooked the knockout rounds schedule with the assumption that the USA would win their group; how else do you explain the only remaining prime-time-in-the-Americas matches in the tournament to be on the 1E path. Well, guess we'll enjoy the Netherlands at beer-drinking hours and wake up at 4am for more USWNT (probably only one more time, but maybe twice).