Meet Nyrel Sevilla. He’s six years old, and he’s here to knock your sorry ass into next week, bitch. And unlike Ben Roethlisberger, he’ll never have any trouble playing with a concussion.
Here’s a quick glance at some other stories worth reading:
- The Saskatchewan Roughriders lost the Grey Cup when Montreal’s missed field goal was negated by Calgary having too many men on the field. Montreal made their second field goal attempt, and the quest is on to scapegoat the 13th man. [Canada.com]
- Hines Ward’s comments on concussions makes the Steelers look far worse than they’ve looked on the field lately. [The Sporting Blog]
- Merrill Hoge has a slightly different take on concussions. [NFL FanHouse]
- Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore wants to kick your filthy pirate ass off the Internet for using Justin.TV to watch Stoke v. Burnley. Don’t expect him to offer a legal alternative anytime soon. [Techdirt]
- Can legal gambling and football co-exist in the wake of match-fixing scandals? [Pitch Invasion]
- Grahame Jones lays into the FIFA executive committee, calls them “rogues and villains,” tells us nothing we didn’t already know and can’t really change. [L.A. Times]
- Lionel Messi wins the Ballon d’Or. Predicting the sunrise was tougher than predicting that. [The Offside]
- MLS will give commissioner Don Garber a sweet contract extension on one condition: he gets the new collective bargaining agreement done during the offseason. Any more grenades y’all wanna toss on that powderkeg, MLS owners? [WVHooligan]
- The Rochester Rhinos have bolted USL for the new NASL. This is rather big, and I will write more about it very soon. [Triangle Offense]
And since this site still has extensive links that cover football’s origins and evolution, here are a couple of interesting pieces about that.
- Aston Villa pays tribute to William McGregor, the Scotsman who came up with the idea of a “football league” back in 1886. I’d say that idea was a success. [BBC]
- Here’s another look back at the gridiron game a century ago, when nobody wore any padding and players were killed regularly. Hines Ward would have loved it. [Every Day Should Be Saturday]
7 responses so far ↓
1 Jeff // Dec 1, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Re: Rochester – doesn’t that, for all intents and purposes, nuke USL-1? Especially with Charleston going to USL-2? Right now that leaves two bad teams (Austin, Cleveland), one good team that’s leaving after next year (Portland), one team that doesn’t exist yet (FC New York), and one rather geographically isolated team (PR), for a total of five. Shouldn’t they just roll all of USL-1 and -2 together into one big league, let Portland stomp everyone for a year, and then compete like normal in 2011?
2 Dave // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I was saving something like this for a longer post, but here’s what I think is going to happen:
1.) Cleveland is set to move back to USL-2, and I suspect Austin will follow, resulting in a single USL pro league.
2.) The Islanders will follow Rochester to the NASL. I’ve heard rumors that the’ll move to a Puerto Rican league and focus on the Caribbean, but I don’t buy that. I think they have too much to lose in CONCACAF if they do that.
3.) Portland will close up shop for a year and focus on getting ready for MLS in 2011. Their ownership group has no interest in getting involved with the TOA, and I don’t think they want to compete in a 3rd-division USL, esp. with all the other clubs bitching about the cost of flying to Portland.
4.) No idea about FC New York yet, but I don’t think that club will want to be a 3rd division side, either.
3 Shamin // Dec 2, 2009 at 3:39 am
Great blog. I like that you acknowledge all types of football. If you want a good read that illustrates the evolution of football from its birth (well, slightly illustrates it) I suggest “The Ball is Round – A Global History of Soccer” by David Goldblatt. Published in 2006, Goldblatt traces the origins of football and also gives reasons for the spread of the rough university style of football around the world and how they evolved to become the ball sports we know today. American football, Aussie Rules Footy, Soccer, Gaelic football and rugby all comes from the same rough football played in British universities in the 19th century.
4 Jeff // Dec 2, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Dave, would Portland really risk shutting down for a whole year? Seems to me they’d just as soon stomp everyone in USL-1.5 for a year just to keep the momentum going and make sure casual supporters don’t forget about them when they move to MLS.
5 Dave // Dec 2, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Jeff: The Timbers ownership has never been involved with TOA, and they’ve said on more than one occasion that they would sooner shut down for a season and prep for 2011 than join the breakaway. Granted, I seem to recall one of the Rhinos owners saying he wanted no part of the breakaway either, so we’ll see.
The big issue with Portland staying in USL for a year is travel costs. Charleston and Cleveland self-relegated to save money on travel, because USL-2 sides are closer together. How much are they saving if Portland sticks around for one more year? Every one of those small clubs will bitch and moan about having to fly out west once or twice in 2010. Plus, I’m not sure Portland wants to play in what’s essentially the 3rd division.
I could see a scenario where Portland agrees to play one season in the NASL, then gets replaced by, say, FC New York. (Word on them is that they might not be ready in time for 2010.) Vancouver’s doing something similar, where they’re playing for one season, then getting replaced by Edmonton.
6 jaak // Dec 10, 2009 at 9:15 am
gghkl;lLet your requests be made known unto God Phil.4:6 for in Ps.132:15 He said: I will abundantly bless her provision. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise 2Pet.3:9.
For we walk by faith, not by sight 2Cor.5:7. and If God be for us, who can be against us? Rom.8:31
7 jaak // Dec 10, 2009 at 9:15 am
Let your requests be made known unto God Phil.4:6 for in Ps.132:15 He said: I will abundantly bless her provision. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise 2Pet.3:9.
For we walk by faith, not by sight 2Cor.5:7. and If God be for us, who can be against us? Rom.8:31