Dave’s Football Blog

Earlier this year, an old college pal of mine called me up and gave me a little stick about the Pittsburgh Pirates getting blown away by Stephen Strasburg in his major league debut. I calmly told him the Pirates haven’t cared about winning since they blew it in 1992, and when they start caring about baseball again, I’ll start caring again, too.

I think MLS is hoping soccer fans in America will feel the exact same way about the CONCACAF Champions League. If nothing else, it will help those 500 or so Galaxy fans who actually showed up last night pretend that their team’s comprehensive collapse against the Puerto Rico Islanders wasn’t real. Besides, winning the MLS Cup before Landon Donovan returns to England in January is what really matters, right? Right?

The 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League begins play tonight with the preliminary round. In that round, the Los Angeles Galaxy, currently the pacesetters in Major League Soccer so far, take on the Puerto Rico Islanders in the first of a two-legged tie at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

The next day, Galaxy boss Bruce Arena and four of his best players – U.S. national team star Landon Donovan, leading MLS goal scorer Edson Buddle, goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and defender Omar Gonzalez — will fly to Houston to compete in the MLS All-Star Game against Manchester United.

You would think that MLS would be a little more cognizant of the fact that it’s hindering its top club’s chances of winning silverware this year by scheduling a meaningless friendly one day after a qualifying match in what’s supposed to be a major continental competition. Even Arena has come right out and said the All-Star Game is “secondary.” If Fabio Capello called up Jermain Defoe and Michael Dawson for an England friendly within a week of Tottenham Hotspur’s UEFA Champions League qualifying match, White Hart Lane and half the Premier League would be in an uproar.

MLS, however, still believes it has to sell both the game and its league to sports fans in this country, and let’s face it — the Puerto Rico Islanders won’t put fannies in the seats like Manchester United will. So it will continue to put the emphasis on these media circuses in the hopes that it will bring in new fans.

This post-World Cup period seems like a passing strange time for American soccer. Two of the biggest clubs in the Premier League came to America to face MLS squads and lost. Sure, Man United and Man City played a bunch of reserves and transfer targets in those games, but surely even United’s reserves, who won a Carling Cup two seasons ago, are good enough to run roughshod over a 10-man Kansas City Wizards squad. They didn’t.

The question, then, is does that say more about the quality of play in MLS than it does about the current state of Man United? And if so, then how much longer will MLS continue to put on these dog-and-pony shows before it starts taking winning its top continental competition seriously?

Given the lack of say MLS had in creating the CONCACAF Champions League, I suspect we’ll see them continue to put the emphasis on these friendlies for a long time to come. It’s a shame, too, because the Galaxy right now might just be good enough to win this Champions League, if it can keep its current roster intact through May. That’s too big an if, though, no matter what MLS says publicly. Even Landon Donovan has his price.

No words. Should have sent a poet.

(Spotted on 101 Great Goals.)

Spencer Hall, the lunatic genius behind the mighty infamous college football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday, has this ongoing series called The Amateur, where he puts his less-than-athletic self through the rigors of different athletic contests. He’s given Parkour and MMA a go. He tried curling during the Winter Olympics. He grew a porn ‘stache and drove six laps around Talladega. Clearly, this is a man with stones big enough to laugh in the face of his own potential humiliation. I sometimes wish I shared this trait.

His latest challenge? Rugby sevens. How he still had enough working fingers to type afterward remains a mystery.

We trot up and down the field, passing the ball back and forth. The one thing about rugby that isn’t intimidating is the ball: oval, nubbly to the touch, it has the feel of a perfectly engineered ball for its sport, almost begging to be carried. If an American football is a squirrely piece of leather begging to be fumbled, a rugby ball is a good-tempered snuggler, easy to kick, pass, or carry without fumbling.

Chris is taking pictures and video. “Man this looks like fun.”

“Wait until he lights me up on a tackle. You might change your mind.”

Avery grins and nods. “Oh, that’ll happen.”

You can read the rest at SB Nation.

The 2010 World Cup is over, Spain is victorious, and by now, that strange mixture of withdrawal and relief has settled into our brains. No doubt you’ve seen Zonal Marking’s breakdown of the final, which attempted to make a nigh-unwatchable contest seem at least somewhat interesting, or The Run of Play’s Brian Phillips doing no such thing in his review of final for Slate, or Richard Whitall’s somewhat cynical farewell to the World Cup as we once knew it, or this animated GIF that clearly explains what constitutes a yellow card in modern football:

But I know what you’re really wondering. You’re wondering who won the Dave’s Football Blog World Cup Fantasy League. Aren’t you? Of course, you are. Well, no further delays, then. The winner of the Dave’s Football Blog World Cup Fantasy League is…

(drumroll)

Me.

I challenged all comers. Some put up valiant fights. Jason Krim, in particular, put up a furious challenge during the knockout stages. Alas, even he came up a bit short, proving once again that won’t accomplish anything if all you do is try to beat Off Constantly. Yes.

So as I said when I launched this contest, if Off Constantly FC wins, the scarf of victory is mine…

Except, of course, that there is no scarf. I’ve decided to donate the prize money to the Nicole Murphy Family Support Fund instead. I already have one scarf for my club and another for my country. I don’t need a third. Some things are more important than that.

In the meantime, there will be plenty more opportunities for you, dear readers, to challenge this reigning fantasy champion. Keep an eye on this site for future contests involving the UEFA Champions League, the NFL, and maybe more. Maybe next time, you can be the one say that you beat Off Constantly. Good luck!