U.S. Open Baby

Arthur Ashe Stadium

Well folks, it's that time of year again! NFL Football is starting in just 8 days, College Football begins in earnest this weekend (No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 4 LSU are you kidding me?), September call-ups are just 2 days away in Major League Baseball, and Flushing Meadows Park is open for tennis!  While I love football and MLB, I must admit that I might just be the most excited for the U.S. Open!

For those of you who haven't been, I would highly recommend making the trip to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for a day session at the Open. Everybody talks about Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is certainly gorgeous, but for me, the best part is stumbling on great matches on one of the many side courts.  During the first week it's not unusual to find yourself watching a classic third or fourth round match just feet away from the net and across from the chair. It is impossible to truly understand just how hard the men (and even the women) hit until you have to take cover to avoid getting taken out by an errant forehand.

2009 - Court 11, Round 3: Kateryna Bondarenko def. Anastassia Rodionov

Is standing at the net a bit close? Instead, head over to Louie Armstrong where it is almost guaranteed that you will be in the midst of watching a great match when you hear screaming from the grandstand and rumbling that another classic match is being played right next door. That's your cue to leave your seat, climb the bleachers to the catwalk between Louie and the Grandstand, and get a bird's eye view of both amazing matches.

2010 – Louis Armstrong Stadium Robin Soderling

2010 – Grandstand: Gael Monfils

Even if you don’t care about tennis, but want a pretty park with good food, stunning views, and great drinks, the U.S. Open has that as well. 

Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

U.S. Open Signature Cocktail

Ice

4 oz Vodka

3/4 Cup Seltzer 

1/8 Cup Lemonade

Splash Chambord

Mix well and add tennis ball shaped melon!**

Flushing Meadows Corona Park - Queens, NY

So, if you are trying to find something to do over Labor Day, I suggest you buy a ground pass, grab a U.S. Open Signature Cocktail and watch some tennis!  

Drop a comment below if you go out and see some tennis!

*Photos generously provided by Agata Porter
** All amounts have been modified by Jason and Agata to increase maximum deliciousness and potency!

FIFA is $occer

- 18th FIFA President and corrupt mofo, Sepp Blatter

Check out this excellent piece on the evolution of FIFA into its modern, corrupted form. Here's a key excerpt on how FIFA revolutionized the way the rest of the sports world thinks about sponsorships and money:

At his first dinner as [FIFA's 17th] president, [João] Havelange encountered the German businessman Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of adidas. Dassler, an aggressive, manipulative entrepreneur who was then serving as the CEO of adidas France, had thought a great deal about how to capitalize on the explosion in the popularity of televised sport. Over a series of meetings, Havelange, Dassler, and Dassler's partner, Patrick Nally, devised what eventually became the template for modern sports sponsorship. As the soccer historian David Goldblatt writes in The Ball is Round, the plan had four components:

First, only the very largest multinational companies, whose advertising budgets could bear the load and whose global reach matched the TV audience on offer, should be approached as sponsors. Second, sponsorship and advertising would be segmented by product type: There could be only one soft drink, one beer, one microelectronics firm, or one financial services company that could be the official World Cup product or supplier. Third, FIFA would have total control over all forms of TV rights, advertising, stadium space, etc. Any and all existing deals in a host country would have to go. Fourth, FIFA itself would not handle the details of the sponsorship and TV deals. Marketing and TV rights would be handed over for a guaranteed sum of money to an intermediary who would sell them on.

To cover the last part, the selling of TV rights and sponsorships, Dassler created a marketing company called ISL, short for International Sports and Leisure, and established an office across the street from FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

The combined effect of Havelange's two insights [the other being support of Africa and Asia as a new power base] was to co[n]vert FIFA into a sort of hydraulic cash-flow machine.

Politically Incorrect Football: No, I will not predict the 2011 Season

Dear NFL fans,

It's been a long, strange offseason. I have been travelling for work for a solid year, so I haven't had to bear the brunt of the absurdity, but suffice to say that most NFL fans had their intelligence insulted and players before plays and owners finally decided that no, we're not going to forego billions and billions of dollars because we're not getting a big enough percentage of said billions of dollars.

So great, late July comes and we finally get word that the NFL season is happening! The draft went off without a hitch, players are coming in to training camp and now we're a couple of preseason games in... Everything is back to normal! I can start neglecting my imaginary girlfriend on Sundays, and that void in my life that I'd been filling with alcohol will now be filled with football. And alcohol.

Wrong.

I am submitting to you, loyal fans of the most-watched sports league on this spinning blue orb, that the entire National Football League 2011 season will be the biggest fluke in the history of sports. I'm not going to waste the time and energy expounding upon what teams are going to do what because anyone who claims to be making a serious attempt at such an endeavor is selling a plate of shit fit for a TGI Friday's menu.

People forget that this was the longest work stoppage in the history of the NFL. But Murphy, there was no work! It was the OFF-season! Au contraire, nameless Italics voice. We lost free agency, where teams can spend months courting the best suited players to their team. Instead we got three frantic days of grab bag signings, and teams wound up unevenly loading some positions while neglecting others. And while we're at it, there were no offseason workouts, where new players (i.e. those free agents that they normally sign in March) and the new rookie class all get to know each other. This year, the start of training camp was like the first day of high school. Rookies were the freshman and free agents were the transfer students. Only difference is that unlike most American high school students, these guys now have a little future job security. At least until 2021.

Further exacerbating that point, the lack of offseason workouts and controlled team activities will inevitably lead to disastrous injuries across the league. I'd say I feel sorry for the players a little bit, but fuck them, they're getting millions of dollars to do that to their bodies. This is what you fought for, jackasses. So the combination of lack of master planning, lack of team cohesiveness, and lack of conditioning will result in many games this season being played with about the same level of mastery as a land war in Africa.

There is no reason on earth I should be "predicting" what's going to happen. It's like predicting where the Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting next, or Kim Jong Il's wardrobe selection for the day. They're not predictions. They're guesses pulled out of your ass, between yesterday's Taco Bell sampler box and that polyp you should really have checked out.

But the Reverend Doctor Robert Michael Pierre Gustav Toutont Beauregard Finley III, Esquire (aka Beau, the "B" in JB Sports Chat) came at me and insisted I provide some sort of NFL preseason content. And I don't blame him. This is a sports blog. That's what sports blogs do. But fair warning, if you expect anything I predict to actually happen, you shouldn't be watching sports, you should be watching your diet and trying to eliminate paint chips from your daily consumption.

But before I get into that, a quick note to Entertainment and Sports Programming Network: Hey assholes, when I'm overseas for work and the only American station I have to watch is ESPN America, why in the hell would you broadcast the Little League World Series? NFL preseason football, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer... hell, the Canadian Football League. Any college sport. I'd even take high school women's field hockey. But when you're my only link back to the Land of the Free and you're broadcasting me a bunch of 12-year-olds as Aruba faces Japan in the LLWS quarterfinals, all your doing is making me want to blow Bristol, Connecticut and South Williamsport, Pennsylvania off the map. Get your programming priorities straight, dammit!!!

Okay, on with the predictions:

1) Within 365 days of this post, the Jacksonville Jaguars will relocate to Los Angeles. 26 of the 38 Jaguars fans will move with them.

2) The division winners are going to be teams nobody expects. All these smug sportscasters are banally making the safe prediction that the Patriots, Packers, and Eagles will win their respective divisions. This year is going to be a fluke. It will be teams we don't expect, like the Memphis Showboats, the North Melbourne Kangaroos, the Tonawonda Kardex, and the Buffalo Bills.

3) Albert Haynesworth (DT, Patriots) will spend at least one night in jail. And he will fall in love.

4) White people who claim to be 1/16th Apache will be the only people who will continue to be offended by the name of the Washington Redskins. Like the Native American community in America doesn't have bigger fish to fry right now.

5) The underground cult-like fan base for Browns RB Peyton Hillis will bestow upon him the nickname "The Cleveland White".

6) Tony Romo will continue to make the same kind of comical blunders we've come to expect from a Polish-Mexican quarterback.

7) Troy Aikman will once again accidentally say the C-word on the air

8) Tom Brady will sleep with your girlfriend, just because he's an asshole and he can. (Besides... you're not happy with her. It will be a good reason to call it quits with her).

9) An NFL player will do something with a gun that will be even stupider than what Plaxico Burress did. My guess is a Cincinnati Bengal.

10) People in the following cities will have virtually nothing to live for unless their team makes a conference championship: Saint Louis, Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Houston, Phoenix, and Oakland.

LOCK OF THE YEAR: Philadelphia will continue to be the most ironically named city on earth.

Normally at times like this, I'd post some old statistics off of which we might be able to gauge what will go down this year in the NFL. But there's virtually nothing. The only thing I could think of pertains to other seasons with work stoppages... In league history, there have been two other work stoppages. Both of those seasons, the Super Bowl was won by the same team. An unlikely team that many people discounted, and both years that team had an unproven veteran quarterback with little of value on his resume. That's right, the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl after the 1982 season and the 1987 season, and they are going to win it in 2011. If history can tell us one thing about what will happen in 2011, it's that the Lombardi trophy will be coming back to the Nation's Capital, and nobody will see it coming.

That's all I've got for the preseason, folks. I'm going to go eat a doner kebab. I'll see you in September when I'm back from Germany and done travelling for good.

Georgetown Hoyas in Fight with CBA's Bayi Rockets

Earlier today, or later today, depending on how you want to look at it, the Georgetown men's basketball team was involved in a brawl in China. The team was playing an exhibition against the Bayi Rockets, a Chinese Basketball Association team made up of players who serve in the People's Liberation Army (Chinese military). The game, however, was cut short when a melee erupted with the score tied at 64.

The Hoyas out-fouled the Rockets 28-11 in the first half. As a Georgetown fan present states:

The whole thing came undone in the third. About two minutes in, the ridiculously lopsided foul calls continued (we were in the bonus again 2 1/2 minutes in) and the first real shoving match kicked off over a loose ball. The players on the court separated each other pretty quickly, but then the craziest thing I've ever seen happened- one of the Bayi big men got in JT3's face and almost took a swing. He was so shocked he didn't know what to do. So that upped the ante a bit.

Then the foul calls truly took on a comical dimension. We supposedly fouled them every time down the court, despite some really good defense on some possessions. There were four or five intentional fouls called, giving them four shots each time down the court. JT3 was called for a technical for stepping over the line onto the court. I counted Bayi scoring two field goals in the entire third quarter.

The Washington Post has the details:

Immediately before the fighting began, Bayi forward-center Hu Ke was called for a foul against Georgetown’s Jason Clark. The senior guard clearly took exception to the hard foul and said so to Hu, trigger[ing] an exchange of shoves.

Hu is 6'10". Clark is 6'2" on a good day. The benches cleared. Chairs were thrown. Fans began to storm the court.

A woman sitting in the Georgetown fan section directly behind the bench implored Chinese police to try to calm the situation, saying someone was going to get hurt. The Chinese police had been watching the tensions escalate to the point of physical confrontations but made no attempts to break up any of the fights taking place on the court.

This was an incredibly dangerous situation for a bunch of young men (kids, really), alumni, and Georgetown coaches and assistants. Coach Thompson managed to arrange an organized escape to the buses without the help of police.

Before anyone was seriously hurt, Thompson said, “We’re outta here,” and pointed toward the tunnel behind the Hoyas bench leading underneath the stands.

As Thompson and his staff summoned players together and began escorting them off the court, the group had to dodge plastic water bottles being hurled from the stands. Once they reached the safety of the locker room, the team immediately gathered all its equipment and headed for the buses outside.

Members of the Hoyas staff were trying to find a police escort for the entire Georgetown contingent, including alumni and supporters who attended the game as part of a 10-day tour of China, fearing reprisals from Chinese fans. But rather than wait, Thompson told everyone to walk to the buses together.

Disgusting.

Here's a link to the video if you'd like to see Clark essentially get jumped by two Bayi players, followed by bedlam.

Beatem Down G-Town: Hoya Fightcha!

On a "goodwill" trip to China, the Georgetown Basketball team got into a brawl with Chinese Professional team Bayi.

According to the Washington Post:

What began as a goodwill trip to China for the Georgetown men’s basketball team turned violent Thursday night, when its exhibition game against the Bayi Rockets deteriorated into a melee during which players exchanged blows, chairs were thrown and spectators tossed full water bottles as Hoyas players and coaches headed to the locker room at Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

Georgetown Coach John Thompson III pulled his players off the court with 9 minutes 32 seconds left in the game and the scored tied at 64 after a chaotic scene in which members of both teams began throwing punches and tackling one another.

 All we can say is HOLY SHITBALZ!

Details coming in...

U of Miami's Illicit Booster Benefits

You may have seen yesterday that Ponzi schemester Nevin Shapiro admitted to providing millions of dollars worth of illicit payments and benefits to 72 U of Miami baskeball and football players.

Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion.

Nevin Shapiro said this photo was taken during a basketball fundraiser in 2008, in which the booster donated $50,000 to the program. From left to right are men’s basketball coach Frank Haith, Shapiro and University of Miami president Donna Shalala. Shalala is holding Shapiro’s donation check, which the booster has said was entirely comprised of Ponzi funds.

Also among the revelations were damning details of Shapiro’s co-ownership of a sports agency – Axcess Sports & Entertainment – for nearly his entire tenure as a Hurricanes booster. The same agency that signed two first-round picks from Miami, Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, and recruited dozens of others while Shapiro was allegedly providing cash and benefits to players. In interviews with federal prosecutors, Shapiro said many of those same players were also being funneled cash and benefits by his partner at Axcess, then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Shapiro said he also made payments on behalf of Axcess, including a $50,000 lump sum to Wilfork, as a recruiting tool for the agency.

While perhaps the most egregious case of illicit boosterism that we've seen in years, and one with greater cause for concern due to the involvement of NFL-level agents and pro-football officials, this is neither the first or last we'll see of this until the NCAA recognizes that big money sports will draw this type of behavior. Trying to crack down on players without addressing the larger institutional problems will do little to change the way boosters, coaches, agents and players behave.

If you haven't seen it, check out the HBO Real Sports special, "Dirty Money," and discussion about money in the NCAA. Clips included below.

Dirty Money:


NCAA Athletes and Money, Part 1:


NCAA Athletes and Money, Part 2:


Overtime:

L.A. one step closer to a(nother) NFL stadium. Who will play there?

- The proposed new stadium, Farmers Field, would sit right next door to the Staples Center, and compete against Cowboys Stadium as the premier venue for events such as the Final Four

The L.A. City Council has approved, 12-0, a non-binding agreement to proceed with the demolition/relocation of part of the L.A. Convention Center, to make room for AEG's planned 72,000 seat NFL stadium, which already has sold naming rights to Farmers Insurance, to be dubbed "Farmers Field." The relocation of the Convention Center facility would be funded by $275 million in city bonds; AEG would pay for the new football stadium and two parking garages.

City officials expect the stadium to create more than 14,000 construction jobs and 6,300 permanent jobs while making it possible for the city to renovate its Convention Center at a time of tight budgets. Still, the proposal has drawn sharp questions from residents who live near the stadium site who are worried about the traffic that will pour onto local streets and the 110/10 freeway interchange.

Well, jobs are good, and better the 110/10 interchange, where people are used to madness during big conventions and Lakers games, than at the junction of the 57, 60, and 10, where rival "Los Angeles Football Stadium" is looking to be constructed. An L.A. team should be in L.A., not in Pasadena or Industry.

But who, exactly, will fill this stadium (or the unfortunate City of Industry alternative) with well-heeled celebrities, wannabees, and fans of both? Given that the lockout is over, this autumn will mark the start of the 17th consecutive season the country's second-largest city has gone without an NFL team. Here are the six most often mentioned contenders:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars - Locals can't watch most home games given the need to blackout the perpetually undersold stadium. Also, the team sucks, with the likelihood of bringing home a Super Bowl trophy in the near future looking pretty bleak. Gotta think this is the best bet, given an average-aged stadium, very poor fan support, and little franchise success.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1997 (avg. NFL stadium age: 17.8yrs), it is the 13th oldest NFL stadium.
• Fans/Attendance: Bleacher Report calls them "Probably the worst fans in the league", the avg. 2009 attendance - 49,651/game (30/32); 31/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: In 22 years, they have won 0 League Championships and 0 Conference Championships; they won Division Championships in '98 and '99.

2. San Diego Chargers - I hate this idea, for the same reason I hate the Raiders coming to L.A. There's no reason that California shouldn't have an NFL team for each major city, and grumbling Angelenos don't want their smaller neighbor's hand-me-downs. Also, this is mostly about stadium issues; no doubt Qualcomm is an old p.o.s., but Supercharger fans are aplenty in "America's Finest City," and this is a team that has been quite good and a perennial contender in recent years. Unfortunately for San Diegans, the Chargers are the next team on the list that will be in search for a new stadium, and there are two in L.A. that plan to be a-callin'.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1967, it is the 5th oldest NFL stadium.
• Fans/Attendance: avg. 2009 attendance - 67,543 (18/32); 24/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: 1 League Championship, 1 Conference Championship, 15 Division Championships, including their last playoff appearance in 2009.

3. Oakland Raiders - The saying goes, "You can't go back again." Clearly that isn't true for the Raiders, who returned to Oakland after winning a Super Bowl and making the playoffs 6 of 12 years in L.A. But as they say, "The Raiders moved to L.A., and back to Oakland. No one in Los Angeles seemed to notice." (at 1:45)

The Raiders have an even older stadium than San Diego, and despite having "the craziest and scariest fans in the league," they also have the lowest attendance in the league, in raw numbers and by capacity filled. They are one of the winning-est franchises on this list, no doubt; they are the only franchise to play in the Super Bowl in four different decades (the other: the Pittsburgh Steelers). But success has little to do with where the Raiders play, apparently, and Al "Just Win" Davis would have no qualms bringing the team back to L.A. or its suburbs, regardless of the collective groan from everyone outside of Raider Nation.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1966, 4th oldest NFL stadium.
• Fans/Attendance: avg. 2009 attendance - 44,284 (32/32); 32/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: 3 League Championships, 4 Conference Championships, 15 Division Championships, including their last playoff appearance in 2002.

4. St. Louis Rams - The "other" former L.A. team, the Rams are a sad tale of early success without long-term fan support. Having won a pre-merger NFL Championship in 1951, six seasons after charging out of Cleveland, the Rams spent a solid 48 years in Southern California, and may have been cemented as "the" L.A. team, but for the notorious 1979 move to Anaheim. Anaheim, as Angelenos will let you know in no vague terms, is in Orange County, not Los Angeles; Orange County is not Los Angeles. Trying to name any team in the O.C. "Los Angeles" is an insult not taking lightly, as vitriol toward the Anaheim Angels goes to show (no, their inaccurate marketing name change will not be used by me). L.A. mostly rejected the Rams for the newcomer, Super Bowl winning, downtown stadium-having Raiders, and the Rams were among the most impacted by the League's new blackout rules, never really getting the attendance they expected at the co-located Angels Stadium. An 11-5 season in 1989 seemed to signal resurgence, but the 49ers utterly destroyed them in the NFC game, sealing their fate and causing Georgia Frontiere to flee with her team to St. Louis in 1995. Despite moving to the Midwest, the Rams have always remained a part of the NFC West. With the sports-mogul Kroenke family (who also own the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche) as the new owners, and attendance at the bottom of the league despite good performance in the early 00s and a re-energized team behind the arm of 2011 Offensive Rookie of the Year Sam Bradford, it may be time for a team that spent most of the merged NFL's existence in the City of Angels to return.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1995, 14th oldest NFL stadium.
• Fans/Attendance: avg. 2009 attendance - 55,237 (29/32), 29/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: 3 League Championships, 6 Conference Championships, 15 Division Championships. Last playoff appearance - 2004.

5. Buffalo Bills - The Bills have not won a league championship since 1965, and are the only franchise to ever lose four consecutive Super Bowls. Four. I lost a lot of quarters as a kid betting on the Bills to finally pull it off, this year. Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Bills (except for the game they play in Toronto each year, leading to a significant Canadian following) was built in 1973, only 6 years younger than decrepit Qualcomm in San Diego and 9 years older than "'Unintentionally-Collapsible Roof" Metrodome in the Twin Cities. Bills fans are hardcore, showing up at high rates (95.9% in 2009) to an outdoor stadium known as the windiest NFL stadium in the country, and in spite of poor performance for the last decade.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1973, it is the 7th oldest NFL stadium.
• Fans/Attendance: avg. 2009 attendance - 70,128/game (10/32); 22/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: 2 League Championships, 4 Conference Championships, 10 Division Championships; last playoff appearance was 1999.

6. Minnesota Vikings - How is this on this list? They have stadium issues, like the Chargers (although there will be no snow storms covering San Diego's field), but it seems ridiculous that fans willing to trudge through devastating snow storms to watch games in Detroit and at the outdoor U of Minn. stadium are going to give up their beloved Vikings without a fight. Also like the Chargers, this is a high performance team that has been successful of late, with 7 playoff performances in the 90s and 4 in the 00s. Although, I imagine if the Vikings owner decides to flee to warmer climes, Vikings fans may be too distracted by "mini-burgers" and FQ to notice.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1982, it is the 9th oldest NFL stadium, and the only one with a collapsible roof.
• Fans/Attendance: avg. 2009 attendance - 63,775 (24/32); 10/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: 1 League Championship, 4 Conference Championships, 18 Division Championships, including their last playoff appearance in 2009.

Wildcard: New Orleans Saints - Prior to Hurricane Katrina, there was a lot of talk about the mediocre success of the Saints, and their name was bandied about as a possible future L.A. team. But after the almost-storybook 2006 season, and the franchise-best, Super Bowl champs 2009 season, it seems unlikely--and perhaps downright cruel--to take away NOLA's pride and joy.

Metrics:

• Stadium: b.1975, 8th oldest in the NFL. Post-Katrina renovations completed summer 2011.
• Fans/Attendance: avg. 2009 attendance - 560,840 (11/32), 19/32 by stadium capacity %.
• Franchise Performance: 1 League Championship (2009), 6 Conference Championships, 15 Division Championships. Made the playoffs in 2010.

Prediction: Two L.A. teams, the L.A. Chargers and the L.A. Jaguars, with one actually in L.A. at AEG's Convention Center site, and the other in the City of Industry's "Los Angeles Football Stadium."

The Raiders have other options, like sharing a new Santa Clara stadium with the 49ers (whose Candlestick Park is the 3rd oldest NFL stadium, b.1960), or building their own in Oakland near the decaying Coliseum, so I suspect test balloons of moving south is more about negotiations and posturing than anything else. Santa Clara may be 40 miles south of Oakland (and SF, for that matter), but that's still a lot closer than the L.A. Convention Center, 400 miles south. The Vikings and Bills aren't going anywhere, with the sort of fan bases that they have. That leaves the Rams, but I imagine the Jaguars and the NFL are both more desperate to end the failed Jacksonville experiment than to give the Rams a second-shot at thriving in sunny SoCal.

Then again, it'll soon be 17 seasons without even one team, so, as always with L.A. and football, everything is speculation until the first kickoff.

Black & Red: MLS Power Rankings

- DC United Coach Ben Olsen is not happy that his biggest fan ranks his side at #9

If you like MLS, you are probably reading a proper football blog instead of this tripe. So, you'll already know that you should be reading the SB Nation blog Black and Red United, who has come up with awesome MLS Power Rankings. They are, of course, most awesome because they confirm that LA Galaxy are the best in show, at the moment, and on a clear path to defending their Supporters' Shield (best regular season performance). Now if only they could win another MLS Cup. See the full article here.

Black and Red United's Week 20 Power Rankings:

1. LA Galaxy
2. Seattle Sounders FC
3. Real Salt Lake
4. FC Dallas
5. Colorado Rapids
6. Columbus Crew
7. Philadelphia Union
8. Sporting Kansas City
9. DC United
10. Chivas USA
11. Houston Dynamo
12. Portland Timbers
13. Red Bull NY
14. San Jose Earthquakes
15. New England Revolution
16. Vancouver Whitecaps
17. Chicago Fire
18. Toronto FC

Kevin Durant's Hometown Love

The other day, the Basketball Jones notified the blogosphere of Kevin Durant's tattoos in a picture. He has a bunch, but they are all hidden from view when he dons his Oklahoma City jersey. The Thunder are sometimes lauded for not having visible tattoos, which is an odd plaudit with, like everything in basketball, some racial aspect. Regardless, Kevin Durant is from the DC area. He didn't go to then local powerhouses Georgetown or Maryland, but he still has some love for DC.
Witness:

The first thing I noticed was the Walgreens-esque W of the Washington Nationals. I admit, I gave a little "hell yeah" in the dour confines of my office. Of course, the exclamation was tempered by the knowledge that the Nats would likely lose to the Braves later yesterday evening. Fortunately, probability didn't work out and the Nats crushed the Braves 9-3. Thanks, Kevin Durant.

I think.

Jürgen Klinsmann's First Press Conference as USMNT Head Coach

Highlights from the introductory press conference with new US Men's National Team heald coach Jürgen Klinsmann:

Big focus on Klinsmann's living in the U.S. for 13 years: Is this really that big of a deal? I think this matter's more to casual and fair weather fans than the core US soccer fans who just want to see the team and game--throughout all levels of development--improve.

"The style of play should reflect the culture of the country": In the same thread, Klinsmann and US Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati both emphasized that Klinsmann isn't going to try to impose a "European style of play" (read: German) on the US game. This is probably a good thing, since the U.S. side doesn't have the talent to dependably profit off of counter-attacks the way Germany does. But it is less clear what Klinsmann thinks the U.S.-style is/will be; he sort of punts on that follow up question and says that he'll spend the next few months talking to MLS and other U.S. coaches to get a sense of this.

"No immediate decision on coaching staff": One major marker of Klinsmann's run as German Men's National Team head coach was to immediately clean house and surround himself with coaches he trusted. It looks like that won't be happening quite the same way with the USMNT; Klinsmann says he'll take some time to work with different folks and see who meshes. Since he's starting a new cycle and won't have a major tournament (I think?) to deal with until CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2013, he has some breathing room before settling on the staff that will guide the Yanks into Brazil 2014.

"American youth" don't focus enough on soccer: In perhaps a hopeful nod to the fact that the U.S. soccer talent pipeline is broken, Klinsmann made two important comments about the development of U.S. youth players. First, he notes that, unlike European youth talent who go pro at 18, U.S. soccer players usually got to college. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying people shouldn't go to college. But in the U.S., the only college-to-pro pipelines are in football and basketball, because in those two sports, college ball is professional sports. The players don't get paid, but they get full scholarships, and the rest of the business is just as massive as the NFL or NBA. Compare that to the other Big Three sport in the States, baseball, where really talented players go into the minors at 18, sometimes with deals with MLB for scholarships to go to college after their playing career ends. This may actually end up being a better deal for players, who get paid to train and play in the D-league even while knowing that their odds of ending up pro is slim, and getting to the highest level of the sport is slimmer. I have no idea how hockey works. In any case, it seems much more likely that youth development will succeed if soccer follows more closely to baseball, rather than football/basketball. We will see if Klinsmann's appointment will pair well with MLS moves toward a D-league (USL's PDL).

Klinsmann's second comment about youth development was that American youth talent don't spend enough time playing. He used the example of Mexican kids who will train in an organized way for maybe 4 hours a day, but then play pick-up ball or just mess around with ball skills for another 5 hours, so that they're spending pretty much every waking moment playing soccer. As I alluded to in my last post (Bradley Out, Klinsmann In), the U.S. youth development pipeline is over-reliant on organized play, on expensive traveling club soccer and college ball that excludes a lot of undiscovered talent out there. Discovering the "U.S. Style" may in large part be a matter of figuring out who we are missing; in finding that, we may discover we are much more a soccer country than we ever knew.