North American Pro Soccer 2019

[-kj]

The ads aren't really the main TV issue; it's the rather low camera angle.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 hours ago, Gothamite said:

I’m glad Yankee Stadium was an option.  That was the price of getting a New York team.  But they need to be out very, very soon.

 

Well, that's not happening. Again, as you yourself indicated, the team is still at Yankee Stadium because no other option exists.

 

 

2 hours ago, Gothamite said:

And while I have no issue with the size of the pitch, anyone who watches players slip and slide realizes that the quality of that pitch isn’t where it needs to be.  Temporary sod laid on top of a field will never be as good as real grass.

 

Of course you're right about this. While I characterise the current situation as not so bad, I don't mean to deny the flaws.

 

So I certainly will agree that playing at the Stadium is far from ideal. Yet that's what we have. And — here's the important bit — that's what we're going to have for the foreseeable future. Your posited decade-long wait is half over, and an alternative is no closer than it was on day 1.

 

The only hope of NYCFC getting its own stadium within the next decade would be for it to select a location outside the City, an option which the team's fanbase would currently consider unacceptable. Time will tell whether this attitude will change. (I admit that I hope it does not.)

 

 

2 hours ago, Gothamite said:

It [playing at Yankee Stadium] is unquestionably dragging down attendance. 

 

That assertion is actually highly questionable. The team's lower attendance as compared to its first couple of seasons is more likely down to the absence of famous European stars. Lampard, Pirlo, and Villa drew plenty of people in — indeed, it was the signing of Lampard that felt like a sign from the Universe that NYCFC had to be my team, and that it was time once and for all to stop sneering at MLS.

 

However, these big European stars have since been replaced by less famous players, who, naturally, have less power as gate attractions. If we want attendance at 2015-2016 levels, then the rich CFG goons are going to have to deliver us a Mario Balotelli (whom I find entertaining but don't actually want on my team) or a Gareth Bale.

 

But even given the drop, NYCFC's attendance is still very good by the relevant standards. No one else is in Atlanta's class of averaging more than 50,000 a game, an astonishing level that surpasses even the Cosmos at their height; but NYCFC draw significantly better than the Red Bulls, the Philadelphia Union, and D.C. United (the last of which just opened a new park and has its own famous European star). So citing attendance as a reason the team must leave Yankee Stadium just won't do.

 

 

2 hours ago, Gothamite said:

That’s not the real Yankee Stadium.  It’s “Yankee Stadium II.”   Wasn’t until many years later that everybody agreed to say that it was the same stadium.

 

Hmm. I do not object to pedantry on principle; but please understand that calling the remodelled original Stadium "Yankee Stadium II" constitutes an act of latter-day revisionism.

 

The situation at the time was described as the Stadium being closed for refurbishing; and after 1976 the park was always described as having been refurbished or remodelled. Not until the advent of baseball analytics did it become convenient to divide the Stadium pre-refurbishment and post-refurbishment into "Yankee Stadium I" and "Yankee Stadium II", for the purposes of tracking ballpark effects.

 

This is merely a matter of bookkeeping, not of historical reality. In reality, same location + same footprint = same stadium. 

[FiddySicks]

Ugly scene in Phoenix tonight. Phoenix Rising FC was up on Galaxy II 4-1 and fans started throwing objects onto the field. The match was eventually ended early and while Phoenix wins their 20th straight and clinched the western conference, there’s talk they may make Rising forfeit the match and may even deduct points from them

 

 

[FiddySicks]

Monday is out (for the dumbest reasons I’ve ever heard), but...

 

[Gothamite]

So happy for you, brother. 

 

And back to Yankee Stadium...

 

 

[tp49]

3 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

Monday is out (for the dumbest reasons I’ve ever heard), but...

 

Hopefully there will be a public event I can take some time off of work to attend.

[SFGiants58]

5 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

Monday is out (for the dumbest reasons I’ve ever heard), but...

 

 

 

Yay!! Now Sacramento can finally have a pro team!

[AnPheitseog]

Honestly(and likely wont happen, and I understand why not)?

 

I wish that MLS would adopt UEFA cat 4 size requirement for the field.

 

100m x 68 m/ 115 yards x 74 yards.

 

Nice and simple. 

 

(weirdly, I would HATE the idea in baseball but love it for soccer)

[Red Wolf]

I was going to complain about soccer because SKC was down 4-1, but now they're down 7-1. But at least they scored unlike Arkansas State football.... I guess.

 

EDIT: Oh hey, it's 7-2 now. Comeback time, baby!

 

EDIT2: Shockingly, there was no comeback.

[-kj]

Nobody needs the Galaxy feeling rejuvenated.  Damnit, SporKCs.

[Sport]

FC Cincinnati WON  a game!

 

They scored 27 seconds in against Montreal and then held on for dear life. 

[Digby]

10 hours ago, DiePerske said:

Honestly(and likely wont happen, and I understand why not)?

 

I wish that MLS would adopt UEFA cat 4 size requirement for the field.

 

100m x 68 m/ 115 yards x 74 yards.

 

Nice and simple. 

 

(weirdly, I would HATE the idea in baseball but love it for soccer)

 

In theory I like the gamesmanship/tactical flexibility/general quirkiness that having a range of field standards instead of a single size brings.

 

In practice I hate watching narrow field games. 

 

 

 

16 hours ago, Gothamite said:

So happy for you, brother. 

 

And back to Yankee Stadium...

 

 

 

Alright, so the sidelines are the correct length, but it's a rhombus. I can read between the lines.

 

[Digby]

On 9/14/2019 at 12:18 PM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

 

 

 

The funny thing to me is how Fenway Park actually works... kinda well for soccer watching? Mostly due to the parts that are terrible for baseball watching.

 

Maybe the Revs' long-term Boston plan is just to wait for pro baseball to die out.

[Burmy]

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I get why that's supposed to be funny, but I don't think it's very funny.

 

Soccer tradition is to have a variety of titles and cups. Actually, all sports have trophies. Before they renamed it to the XFL (1.0) Championship, it was probably "The Big Game at the End"; even the they realized titles are important in the context of sport.

 

Being earnest is always more impressive than being cynical. There's nothing wrong with just calling it the Wisconsin Cup and caring about it non-ironically.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 hour ago, Digby said:

Alright, so the sidelines [at Yankee Stadium] are the correct length, but it's a rhombus.

 

A rhombus?  So you think the corners are not right angles?  That's demonstrably false.

 

 

12 hours ago, DiePerske said:

Honestly(and likely wont happen, and I understand why not)?

 

I wish that MLS would adopt UEFA cat 4 size requirement for the field.

 

100m x 68 m/ 115 yards x 74 yards.

 

Nice and simple. 

 

If that would force the Yankees to remove the pitcher's mound for NYCFC matches, as they did for a friendly before NYCFC existed, I am for it.

 

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, DG_Now said:

I get why that's supposed to be funny, but I don't think it's very funny.

 

Soccer tradition is to have a variety of titles and cups. Actually, all sports have trophies. Before they renamed it to the XFL (1.0) Championship, it was probably "The Big Game at the End"; even the they realized titles are important in the context of sport.

 

Being earnest is always more impressive than being cynical. There's nothing wrong with just calling it the Wisconsin Cup and caring about it non-ironically.

 

It’s not cynicism, it’s whimsy.  Forward Madison has been leaning into whimsy hard since its inception.  

 

Hell, their whole theme is based around a silly absurdist college prank from forty years ago.  But that’s perfect for their hometown. 

[Sykotyk]

1 hour ago, DG_Now said:

I get why that's supposed to be funny, but I don't think it's very funny.

 

Soccer tradition is to have a variety of titles and cups. Actually, all sports have trophies. Before they renamed it to the XFL (1.0) Championship, it was probably "The Big Game at the End"; even the they realized titles are important in the context of sport.

 

Being earnest is always more impressive than being cynical. There's nothing wrong with just calling it the Wisconsin Cup and caring about it non-ironically.

Just a correction, but the title game was renamed to The Million Dollar Game. 

[Sodboy13]

2 hours ago, DG_Now said:

I get why that's supposed to be funny, but I don't think it's very funny.

 

Soccer tradition is to have a variety of titles and cups. Actually, all sports have trophies. Before they renamed it to the XFL (1.0) Championship, it was probably "The Big Game at the End"; even the they realized titles are important in the context of sport.

 

Being earnest is always more impressive than being cynical. There's nothing wrong with just calling it the Wisconsin Cup and caring about it non-ironically.

 

This is a team that held "Salute To '80s Wrestling Night" with an appearance by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and offered ticket packages with autographed 2x4s. This is a team that has made its own custom plastic lawn flamingos, took off the legs and opened up a hole in the bottom, and made it a beverage vessel. Their team captain chugged a beer out of it on the field after a win. Lips right up to the plastic bird butt. They're selling out a third-division team every night. The locals have embraced it, supporters groups are strong, and they're even making road trips. It's a true organic fan culture mixed with top-shelf minor league baseball weirdness, and it really works.

 

In Authentic Cup news, the Fire got a sugar rush off the sale Saturday and beat the Dallas Burn 4-0 to recapture the Brimstone Cup, the Chicago Fire-est trophy in all of sports.

 

 

[FiddySicks]

Did the 1999 Dallas Stars throw that trophy into the pool off of their hotel balcony too?