Get set, ready, Draw!

   Today was the FIFA world cup draw which set up the 32 teams that will be participating in next summer in one of, if not thee, most spectacular sporting event in the world. The draw took place in Moscow so that meant for us in the west coast the draw occurred during the morning. As a sports fan and an even bigger soccer (football) fan, I was filled with excitement sprinkled with a tad bit of suspense. The tad bit of suspense is credited to the fact that Spain were in Pot 2 which meant that a team from Pot 1 was going to be grouped with La furia roja. Portugal were the lucky ones that were placed into the group stage with Spain. Morocco and Iran are the other two teams that make up group B in next year's world cup. The excitement comes from a variety of reasons. The draw is a reminder that the world cup is fast approaching, yet summer of 2018 can't arrive fast enough for some of us. The unison feeling that the world participated in watching or at least keeping tabs on the groups that were being formed by chance is enjoyable. Fans around the globe were tensed on what kind of group their national team will be placed in while coaches were in attendance to start calculating on how they plan on taking their team to the knockout stages now that they know who their opponents will be.

   Overall the groups are heavily favorable towards the teams from Pot 1 who are the highest ranked teams by FIFA with the exception of Russia who are the host of the tournament. Generally speaking this world cup draw felt similar to a UEFA champions league draw. The group stages are set for where the bigger teams get a bit of favoritism. This time around FIFA decided to split teams in o\pots based on rankings instead of geographical/confederation locations which is maybe why this draw has no group that stands out as the "Group of Death." The reason why I compare this world cup draw to the champions league is that on paper most people of any background can look at the groups and pick the two teams they believe will go through onto the next round. I am aware that these teams don't play each other on a yearly basis and that money doesn't have that much of an effect on results, but it just makes one question when FIFA introduce the 48 team world cup in 2026 how creative are they going to be in deciding on a format that delivers on the excitement that can parallel the millions of fans world wide. 

    Below is a list of groups and teams that will make up those groups next summer. The number next to each team is their FIFA ranking. I highlighted the two teams in each group with the best FIFA rankings. These are not the teams that I think will advanced out of the group stage. I personally think Senegal and Nigeria are legitimate contenders to make it to the knockout stages. What my attempt here is that in general most people would agree that the highlighted teams will advance to the next round, now some may deny and disagree with the rankings which is reasonable. However, if those same people were to place a bet on which teams reach the knockout stages their picks would align similar to the highlighted chart below. Which is the reason behind why I state that this draw feels similar to a champions league draw. One can pretty much automatically pick the top two teams that they can say will advance out of the group stage. Yet, this is the world cup and anything can happen! I hold that dearly, there will be surprises and I can predict with confidence that the world cup will be amazing, filled with joy, euphoria, and heartbreaks. The whole world will be watching. 

• Group A: Russia (65), Uruguay (17), Egypt (30), Saudi Arabia (63)
• Group B: Portugal (3), Spain (8), Iran (34), Morocco (48)
• Group C: France (7), Peru (10), Denmark (19), Australia (43)
• Group D: Argentina (4), Croatia (18), Iceland (21), Nigeria (41)
• Group E: Brazil (2), Switzerland (11), Costa Rica (22), Serbia (38)
• Group F: Germany (1), Mexico (16), Sweden (25), South Korea (62)
• Group G: Belgium (5), England (12), Tunisia (28), Panama (49)
• Group H: Poland (6), Colombia (13), Senegal (32), Japan (44)

   Don't take that as a notion that I am not excited for the world cup. Oh boy, bloody hell, even with the United States not participating in next summer's tournament I am as stoked as ever! I currently don't share the same sentiment as Taylor Twellman does about feeling disgusted on the failure of the men's team. Maybe due to that I am a bigger soccer (football) fan than I am a US soccer fan. Or it could be that I see the state of soccer as it is in this country and don't pretend that the quality of play has become any better simply because more buildings and facilities have been built. However, that is a debate for another time, for today is a day to celebrate! a day for soccer (football) fans all over the world to come together and begin the possibility game while self fulling oneself with hope on how their national team can pull of the grandest quest in sports.   

Same place, different time. Valencia-Barcelona recap

   Valencia and Barcelona finished their match on Sunday to a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla. Second place Valencia hosted the league leaders Barcelona for a clash of the two best teams in La Liga. The match was a tale of two halves, but before we get into certain specifics lets address the horrendous error by the refereeing officials. In minute 30, Lionel Messi shot the ball straight towards Valencia's goalkeeper who fumbled it into the goal. The ball went over the line. That means it was a goal. Yet, the goal was not awarded.
 
   Barcelona dominated the first half. They were the more threatening and aggressive team by far. The Catalan side had around 70% possession in the first half and finished the half with 8 shots. Valencia defended as a unit, but seemed to play like a small club who respected their opponent too much. Barcelona were very frustrated and disappointed going into the half with no goals. Valencia weren't able to leave their own half for the majority of the first 45 minutes which was due to their poor passing. The valencia team had completed less than half of their passing attempts at the end of the first half. However, the second half saw a completely different Valencia side emerge from the dressing room.
 
   The second half was noticeably better for the home team who came out pressing higher lines and attacking Barcelona's goal. Los che threatened on the counter, especially on the left side where Gaya and Guedes had a great combination to score the first counted goal. Semedo had a rough day defending Barcelona's right side. Valencia went up 1-0 and almost could have extended their lead if a penalty was called on Umtiti's tackle on Guedes inside the box. The call wasn't made and play resumed and Barcelona tied the game with a superb pass from Messi to find Jordi Alba on a perfectly timed run to one time it behind the keeper and into the net.

   There were whispers going around that Valencia's Owner, Peter Lim, is going to go speak with Paris Saint-Germain on acquiring Goncalo Guedes on a permanent basis. Guedes is a talented young man who has a bright future where ever he plays his football, but Mr. Lim should also travel to Milan to speak to the Internazionale side on getting Geoffrey Kondogbia to stay in Valencia on a permanent basis as well. The Frenchman demonstrated his strength and capability to read the game from the midfield position. Kondogbia prevented Busquets from effectively passing the ball to Iniesta and Paulinho, disrupting Barcelona's midfield game plan. This lead to Busquest having to play deeper, to the point where he seemed to play as a third centerback in between Umtiti and Vermaelen. In addition to disrupting the opponents midfield, Kondogbia also connected passes that lead to quick counter-attacks. This allowed for Dani Parejo to join the forwards high pressing line. Iniesta was eventually subbed off in the second half by Valverde. Kondogbia accomplished a job where most coaches put two players to prevent Barcelona's midfield from cutting them apart with their precision passing. Kondogbia was a joy to watch from a fan's perspective.

   Obviously, Kondogbia wasn't on his own as Valencia is a well organized team that demonstrated in the second half to be real title contenders. There is still a lot of games left to play, but Marcelino's side revealed that his young Valencia team isn't undefeated by accident and has no plans on easing up any pressure on the league leaders.

La Liga: A Two Horse race ?.....again.

    Valencia will host Barcelona at the Mestalla on Sunday November 26. Barcelona is leading the Spanish La Liga with 34 points while Valencia sits in 2nd place with 30 points. It will be an enticing match between first place versus second place.

    Valencia hasn't played well in their last two matches. Their opponents were the better aggressors in those matches, yet Valencia were able to win both those matches with a combined score of 5-0. Valencia have had the biggest turn around from any team from last season that was disastrous from the start. A lot of credit should be given to their new manager, Marcelino Garcia Toral, who reorganized the team on the field and changed the locker room mind set. Veteran players were sold and a few new players were brought into the squad. Valencia is well organized and attacks well on the counter. Barcelona will be without Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez due to suspension for accumulating yellow cards. Barcelona's head coach, Valverde, said that the team will appeal to the league to overturn the players' suspensions. Valencia are not immune to suspension as they will be without their head coach due to be seeing sent off on Sunday's match against Espanyol. There was a bit of confusion why the head coach was sent off and the team plans to appeal to the league on overturning their coaches suspensions. 

   Both teams are undefeated in La Liga heading into Sunday's match and at the moment Valencia seem like the only team that can slow down Barcelona as both Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid are 10 points behind and seem to have currently dipped in form. It is too early to call, but at the moment La liga looks a two horse race between Barcelona and Valencia. However, after Sunday's matchcomes to a conclusion it can either provide the answer to Valencia's title contender credentials or establish that this was truly a one horse race from the start.        

Thou shalt not steal....stuff...unless it's free labor. That's cool

      I tend not to pay much attention to college sports at the national level. I don't live under a rock and self-righteously avoid watching any college football or basketball games. I would just be terrible at a college sports trivia game due to the fact that I don't care for it too much. The UCLA basketball players caught stealing in China is a story that became entangled in a web with creatures from all over the spectrum. A member of the Ball family to the President of the United States are in on this act. A quick summary; Three UCLA basketball players were caught shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store in China. The three college "students" were arrested and faced a harsh punishment for their crime. To clarify, stealing is wrong, but serving 10 years for theft is an easy case where the punishment doesn't fit the crime. This has lead to the President asking for thank yous and media condemning how dumb these three men are and stirred up all kinds of opinions from people in sports, politics, and everything in between.
   
      What I want to know is why UCLA basketball team in China in the first place? This is a college athletic program not a professional team. The men that play on the team are "Student"-athletes. The word student is before athlete because they are students before they are athletes, is the interpretation of the NCAA president. I understand that the UCLA men's basketball team plays basketball, duh, but why were they playing in China? I think the excuse from UCLA athletic department and NCAA was that it attempted to educate the team about a different culture. But, come on! If that were remotely true-which I highly doubt it was-then why was the team at a Louis Vuitton store?! Shouldn't the field trip consist of seeing the Great Wall of China? That's an easy one to point to, but the rest of it just further reveals how the NCAA and college athletic programs are about making money. Playing basketball in China is not about goodwill or spreading the game as it already exist in that country. It was a clear marketing stunt tagged with the standard b.s. that comes with the two major college sports. The preseason exhibition games would be a poor excuse since there are plenty of basketball programs in the United States to prepare a team for the upcoming season without having to fly over the Pacific ocean. To be fair, I have not heard or read that excuse made because frankly that would be a really dumb excuse to use as a defense for those in charge.

    UCLA is on a quarterly 10 week academic schedule which means midterms and finals come fast for non-athlete college student. "Student'-athletes have a busy schedule as is, now casually toss in a trip to China to promote the school's brand while those in the NCAA administration and sadly others regurgitate that "student"-athletes are not being paid because they are compensated by receiving the best education the top schools in the nation have to offer. This solidifies that the whole "student"-athlete is a joke. They are not receiving an education and happen to play top level basketball, they are top level basketball players that are forced to sign up as students in order to be eligible for their "compensation."         

oh no, Monday!

La Liga- Valencia beat Alaves 2-1 to stay in second place behind league leaders Barcelona who beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0. Real Madrid suffered a shock defeat against Girona. The 2-1 defeat puts Real Madrid 8 points behind Barcelona. The most recent team to make up an eight point deficit and win the league was Valencia during Rafael Benitiez years. La Liga, which is looking like a 3 team race after 10 games, is going to be one entertaining title race to keep an eye on.

MLS Playoffs- The MLS Playoffs are well on there way, Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps played the first match to a 0-0 draw. All I could say about the match is that the drama concerning the Columbus Crew SC and there potential move to Austin provided more entertainment. 

NFL- The best game of the week was between Seattle Seahawks vs the Houston Texans! Russell Wilson vs Deshaun Watson put on a show for the neutral spectator and almost put their two respective fan bases to suffer from cardiac arrests. 41-38 was the final score in favor of the Seahawks placing them 1st in their division ahead of the LA Rams.

NBA- It is great to have basketball everyday, still early in the season to make reasonable prediction on how the season will turn out. The Spurs started 4-0, but lost their last 2 games, The Cleveland Cavaliers are below .500 and the Warriors lost to the Detroit Pistons. I guess even if the finals are already set in the end, as predicted by some of the most intelligent NBA analysts, the regular season will provide plenty of entertainment. 

MLB- The world series! OMG! Game 5 between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers went to extra innings, lasted over 5 hours, and the final score was 13 to 12 giving the Astros a 3-2 lead in the series. Games 6 and 7-if necessary- will be played in L.A. This world series has been fun to watch. The best part is that I get to enjoy it without the allegiance to either ball club. Yet, that hasn't prevented me from experiencing a range of emotions during a single inning. I love October baseball.               

Oh No, Mondays!!

After a event weekend of sports here are a few thoughts on the variety of games I watched this past weekend.

MLB Playoffs-The ALCS proved the paradox that one team-in this case two- can be awful and great in the same series. The Houston Astros went on to beat the New York Yankees in game 7. Both teams were awful, really terrible when either ball club played away. Yet, when those same teams were at home they each played well enough where fans could argue that their team is world series caliber worthy. It was a fun series to watch from the neutral perspective.

NBA-The Los Angeles Lakers opened the new NBA season with a loss to the other L.A. Team. Lakers are going to be thriving in the loser column this season again, but the Clippers didn't look that much better than their rivals. It's the season opener and there are months ahead to play basketball, but I wouldn't be surprised if both L.A. teams do poorly this season.

MLS-Decision Day was entertaining. Having all games be played at the same time in order to keep the suspense to the very last minute is a good strategy to give each game an extra level of importance even for the teams that may be thinking about their holiday plans. The Columbus Crew will be the focal story during the off-season unless Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi decide to quick their careers in Europe and come to the MLS.

La Liga- Valencia beat Sevilla 4-0 taking Los Che to second place four points behind league leaders Barcelona. Under Marcelino's management, Valencia look well organized on the pitch and have enough talent up front and in the midfield to make the neutral observer enjoy a brilliant tactical display. It will be an entertaining to watch the league's big two teams be challenged by a team that used to be included as the big 3 in the early 2000 years. As usual Barcelona media accusing referees in helping Real Madrid and Madrid based media accusing referees in assisting Barcelona.

NFL- The L.A. Rams shutout their divisional rivals in London. The Arizona Cardinals didn't get on the board mostly due to their poor offensive line and the rams defense shutting them down all game. Carson Palmer went out with an injury, reports reveal that he broke his non-throwing arm and will be out for two months. The rams are 5-2 now and are looking like a complete team on all sides of the football. 

MLS, A False Promise

    October 10, 2017 is a day U.S. men's national team (usmnt) lost to Trinidad and Tobago 2-1. The result of that score will keep the usmnt from booking a ticket to play in the 2018 FIFA world cup in Russia. The nation's soccer community were in frustrated disbelief, which were expressed by soccer analysts such as Taylor Twellman who's rant will be replayed over again until the men's team qualifies for the 2020 FIFA World Cup. A positive that can be taken from this outcome is that soccer in the United States matters a lot more than during its infancy stage. However, this is not time to look for positives. Now is the time to look at what sits right front of us. Most were aware of the poor symptoms plaguing US soccer. From issues such as pay-to-play, inequality issues, and the ambiguous path the current USSF currently has on how to "grow the sport." The failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia served as an amplifier of what has been obvious for some time. There is no secret that there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed. Major League Soccer is an issue that has been overlooked due to Don Garber, the league's commissioner, publicly overselling the value of the league. Garber and former usmnt head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, didn't agree on how effective the MLS would be in benefitting the men's national team. Klinsmann advocated for players to seek to play overseas. Klinsmann wanted American players to challenge themselves and go play in stronger more competitive European leagues. Garber clearly did not agree with those comments and countered that if players stayed in the MLS they would get more playing time, which is essentially important to a player's development.
 
     Garber's comments are not incorrect, but they should be analyzed on how it effects the US men's national team. There is no surprise in stating that the MLS is not at the same level as the leagues in Europe. (I understand that there are other leagues that exist that have a strong case in a debate on having a much higher standard than the MLS, but in this case Klinsmann meant Europe) I would argue that the Portuguese and Dutch league are still ahead in quality and player development when compared to Major League Soccer along with the top 5 leagues in the old continent. I am aware one could go case by case through individual cases when it comes to player development. Which are valid, but not the main focus at the moment. I provided a very unaesthetic chart that categorized players that represented the U-17, U-20, and U-23 teams in past tournaments and are currently affiliated with a MLS side. I searched the MLS website to attain the information regarding players' appearances during the season or past seasons if applicable. Most players from the U-17 and U-20 have limited appearance which can be expected due to the general difficulty in breaking into any professional team's starting line up. The U-23 players have an extra column. International cap (Int'l caps) is the number of times that player has played for the US men's national team.

    Garber argued that players will get more playing if they sign with an MLS team. From the data I retrieved players who have league experience under their belt tend to be overlooked, unnoticed , or possibly deemed not good enough to play on the senior team. In this case, players with at least 50 matches played is what I consider "League experience." I highlighted the players with experience in purple, the only exception is Tommy Redding who currently has 37 appearance respectively. Jordan Morris has 24 caps and Kellyn Acosta has 16. These two players are the only players on the list that get called up regularly. Morris sustained an injury that prevented him from being called up to play in the last two world cup qualifiers. The other players have a combined total of 6 caps. Which is concerning on the cooperation and awareness between the US men's national team and the MLS. Keep in mind that there are players in Europe and veteran usmnt players playing in MLS that Arena relied on. The usmnt has been cursed in finding a reliable left back. Beasley and Villafana are the two players on the national team that share playing time at the left back position. Brandon Vincent who plays left back for Chicago Fire has only played for the national team once, yet has appeared in 50 matches for Chicago Fire over two seasons. Each player can be analyzed on individual situations on the limited or exempt from the national team. But, as explained on the left back position, it is shocking how neither, Kilnsmann or Arena looked more closely at Chicago's Brandon Vincent.

   I'm not advocating that Major league soccer is not a good, competitive, of decent quality league, but clearly those who stay to play at home are not rewarded with justifiable opportunity to represent the US men's national team. This isn't a radical idea in any means, American players need to challenge themselves and play in Europe.           
     

US Soccer

U-17 M World cup Squad    age ProMatches- play MLS team years played 

GK Justin Garces                17 0 Atlanta United 0 

DF Jaylin Lindsay              17 0 Sporting Kansas City 0 

DF Chris Gloster                17 0 New York Red Bulls 0 

DF James Sands                 17 1 New York City FC 1 

DF Tyler Shaver                 17 0 New York City FC 0 

DF Chris Durkin                17 0 D.C. United 2 

DF Akil Watts                   17 0 Portland Timbers 0 

MF Andrew Carleston      17 1 Atlanta United 1 

MF Taylor Booth             16 0 Real Salt Lake 0 

MF Chris Goslin              17 0 Atlanta United 0 

FW Bryan Reynolds Jr    16 0 FC Dallas 1

 U-20 M World Cup Squad

                                                                                                        Int'l Caps 

DF Danny Acosta           19 15 Real Salt Lake 2 

DF Justin Glad                20 51 Real Salt Lake 4                                   0

DF Erik Palmer-Brown 20 20 Sporting Kansas City 4 

DF Tommy Redding       20 37 Orlando City 3                                      0 

DF Auston Trusty          19 0 Philadelphia Union 2 

MF Tyler Adams           18 23 New York Red Bulls 2 

MF Derrick Jones          20 12 Philadelphia Union 2 

FW Jeremy Ebobisse    20 12 Portland Timbers 1 

FW Lagos Kunga         18 0 Atlanta United 0 

FW Brooks Lennon       20 23 Real Salt Lake 1 

FW Sebastian Saucedo  20 0 Real Salt Lake 0 

U-23 M Squad 

GK Cody Cropper        24 29 New England Revolution 2 

GK Tyler Miller           24 2 Seattle Sounders FC 2 

DF Tim Parker            24 74 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3                           0 

DF Brandon Vincent    23 51 Chicago Fire 2                                              1 

DF Kellyn Acosta        22 102 FC Dallas 5                                                 16 

DF Eric Miller             24 84 Colorado Rapids 4                                         0 

DF Walker Zimmerman 24 89 FC Dallas 5                                                 1 

MF Paul Arriola         22 9 D.C. United 1 

MF Dillon Serna        23 69 Colorado Rapids 5                                          0 

MF Matt Polster        24 77 Chicago Fire 3                                                 0 

MF Fatai Alashe        23 73 San Jose Earthquakes 3                                   0 

MF Will Trapp          24 125 Columbus Crew SC 5                                     2 

MF Luis Gill              23 155 Colorado Rapids 7                                         2 

FW Khiry Shelton     24 52 New York City FC 3                                        0 

FW Jordan Morris     22 57 Seattle Sounders FC 2                                     24

Will Someone just think of the Players?!

     The NCAA made the sports headlines on Tuesday in the only manner that it knows how. Another scandal. To be fair and accurate, the NCAA is not the one being charged by Joon H. Kim, the U.S. Attorney for the southern District of New York. The federal corruption charges are against four assistant basketball coaches from Auburn, Oklahoma State, Arizona, and USC along with sponsor executive, agents, and  others. Ten personal at the moment are the ones facing the charges. There could be more given that the public conference that was held on Tuesday gave out a number for any one with additional information to call for this ongoing investigation. The NCAA may not be facing charges at the moment, but it doesn't exonerate the organization at all. It should not be a surprise to anyone that the NCAA is once again intertwined in a scandal. Most of the time the NCAA is the one that creates the scandals by coming out to state a punishment for a student or a school's athletic team for violating a NCAA rule. Which then causes a controversy in itself as no one seems to grasp whether the sports college governing body was punishing a school or student for actually breaking the rules or they were simply covering up for themselves. That isn't to say one doesn't have an accurate sense on what the NCAA does, but one should give credit to the NCAA for its ambiguity and complexity shields it from being struck down by anyone with authority. Yet, there is hope. This time the feds are involved and the NCAA may not be formally charged, but the organization is going to be forced into restructuring the college sports landscape if it wants to survive.

     Andy Staples who writes for Sports Illustrated composed a plan on rewriting the NCAA rulebook. Which I agree with so much that if he were campaigning to be the next NCAA president (no one can run, it's not a democracy) I would wholeheartedly endorse Mr. Staples. However, as brilliant as that new rulebook may be, I find it difficult for the NCAA to ever move into a direction where it legislates themselves be that honest and transparent. I am not going to mock or expose the NCAA on their silly, laughable and ridiculous comments like "student-athlete" or their take on "amateurism." I will save that for a more opportunistic time later. In fact, I want to help the NCAA today. My heart is very generous on this lovely Friday.

     My plan is simple. Extend athlete scholarships beyond their playing years. One of the many excuses the NCAA gives to the media is that these "student-athletes" don't get paid with money due to the fact that they are being paid in the best possible currency in America. The athlete will receive a quality college education. A college education is a valuable and instrumental tool to have in this country. Statistics show that those who have gone on to earn a college degree do a lot better than those who don't. A college education isn't cheap and extremely competitive to get in most schools. So being able to attend a prestigious college with an athletic scholarship seems upfront a great offer. However, college sports such as football and basketball have a very busy schedule that involves a lot of traveling across the nation to participate in their sport. This becomes a problem because football and basketball college teams tend to replicate professional sports teams when it comes to travel and game schedules. The NCAA brags about how most of their college athletes graduate at a high percentage rate, which is true. But, football and basketball players have very low graduation rates. One could argue that one of the factors for a low graduation rate in those two sports is effected by declaring for the draft. In football an athlete has to play a minimal of 3 years before declaring for the NFL draft in contrast to those in basketball, who only need to play in one year of college basketball to be eligible for the NBA draft. Yet, declaring for the draft shouldn't have an effect, if any at all, due to the very, very, very, low numbers on how many college athletes get drafted in their respected sport.

     The extension for athletic scholarships should apply to all college athletes. Based on NCAA statistics the only athletes that would benefit the most from this new rule would be basketball and football athletes. For example, lets take player A, who plays football in college D1 school program. Player A played 4 years for the school, he declared for the draft his third and fourth year, but was not selected in either year. Player A will have the option to activate a clause that will be on his fourth year scholarship contract -since scholarships are year to year not "full rides"- to extend his scholarship for an extra school year in which the player will no longer be eligible to play, but have an entire academic school year to earn their college degree. I understand that some of the backlash will be that why should a scholarship be given to an athlete who can't play and technically isn't that an academic scholarship? To answer the first part, the scholarship is from playing their fourth year that has a clause to extend it for academic purposes. That way it won't count against the amount of scholarships a school has to offer new recruits and the player has an advantageous opportunity to earn their degree. And no, technically it will not be an academic scholarship because the money to support the college athlete will come from the school's college athletic department. I would add that any person who still have an issue and state something along the lines of "Why would a school or an athletic department support an athlete for a whole academic year?" Well mister (most likely an older white male who enjoys the way things are and doesn't want them to change), college sports collects millions, if not billions, of dollars due to T.V. broadcasting contract with giant television networks. Schools and athletic departments have the money to offer to help out the "student-athletes" they publicizing enjoy announcing that they help them receive a college education. The NCAA can finally have some merit when they state "student-athlete" and offer a valuable college education if they implement this new rule.

    I am aware that this one new rule may not be enough to change the scandalous atmosphere that surrounds the NCAA and I agree. I really prefer Staple's idea. However, this is a rule that could be implemented ,with a few regulation changes, by the NCAA and Universities in the following year. This rule is for the benefit of the college athlete. The intended target of this new rule is to eliminate those "paper-weight" courses and allow for the college athlete to experience the student aspect of there "student-athlete" life.       

The State of U.S. Soccer- What's wrong ? "Everything"

     The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) will be holding an election next year. Sunil Gulati, the current president of USSF, will face for certain one challenger in Boston attorney Steve Gans. To clarify, Sunil Gulati has not yet stated whether he will run for reelection, but I don't see why he wouldn't. Gulati can ride on the 2026 joint bid to host the world cup along with Mexico and Canada. If the bid is successful-at the moment it looks like the only serious and favorite contender- Gulati could solely run on that platform for reelection. It may not be the best scenario for the state of soccer in the US if Gulati runs on that platform only, due to the multiple problems the organization needs to address, but it would be a difficult task for an opponent to run a successful campaign against a person who brought the world cup to America.
   
     Reading articles on the upcoming election and the rumors of potential candidates to challenge the current sitting president ignited my thoughts on what are the issues that the US soccer governing body is currently facing. In the past elections Sunil Gulati has run unopposed, but with a certain challenger forces any candidate that runs to lead US soccer to have a plan. Whether that plan is a broad message or a detailed agenda, the candidates will have to lay out a plan, any plan, in order to be competitive in this race. Full disclosure, it is still a bit early and candidates can join and drop out before the election any time and Gulati could potentially run unopposed again, but I am basing this "insightful knowledge" on today's current situation.

     I have a list of issues I hope will addressed either because it needs improvement and/or there isn't a clear direction on a particular issue.

1.  Coaching 
2. Rid of Turf fields 
3. Youth development
4. equal pay transparency

I am well aware that coaching is a general topic, but bare with me here. The issues I see with coaching in the US is that coaches that are considered good and at times great seem lost to me. To be more specific, coaches don't tend to have teams demonstrate their intended styles. That's assuming a coach has a particular example. When I think of coaches who have managed the U.S. teams in the past such as Bob Bradley, Jurgen Klinsmann, and Bruce Arena I don't really know what they are doing. Not to say they don't manage games well or lack of knowledge and experience of the game. My Point is when those 3 coaches come to mind and are compared to other coaches their influence over a team tends to be head scratchers.  (i.g. Jose Mourinho's defensive approach, Arsene Wenger's fluid ball movement, Pep Guardiola's Tiki-Taka, and Conte's and Diego Simeone's extreme tactical approach). I am aware that the former and current US coaches are being compared to club coaches who have a lot more time with their respective teams to mold them into their preferred styles. However, one can look at past international teams such as Spain, Holland, Brazil, and Germany teams that influenced an era based on their style of play. The US international team could have that influence, perhaps not immediately at the international stage, but certainly domestically. MLS coaches tend to not have any style. Caleb Porter Portland Timber's head coach, is the only coach who comes close to having a style influence over his team. He has stated that he wants his teams to have an attacking style and score plenty of goals. Porter's first two seasons his team finished 3rd on goals forced and 16th and 11th the following years. The overall point I am making is that coaching in the US is ambiguous and needs to be addressed. Whether it's on coaching development and education or hiring a national team coach that knows what he or she is doing.

Second, a candidate could get a lot of support if they address this topic. The women's national team SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PLAY ON TURF FIELDS. Plenty of players on the women's team have vented that they do not enjoy playing on turf. They have expressed their feelings on social media and multiple interviews. I personally loathe playing on turf. It sucks. This one is simple. Who ever is the next president, fix it.

Youth development has similar issues as the coaching. For both boy's and girl's academy there should be a style implemented on how to approach the game. What ever style that may be it should be up to those in charge, but clarity is needed.

My last point is simple. Address the pay difference between the men's and women's national teams. Be transparent about it. Why do the men get paid a certain amount and women another. Whether the president has to explain each individual contract or sponsorship agreement so be it. It is a PR disaster that should be avoided. A bold candidate could come out and suggest equal pay or something "crazy" like that to solve this issue.

           

Drama at the Lowest Quality

  The United States men's national team had two poor results these past two qualifiers. The US soccer team lost to Costa Rica (3-0) at home and drew (1-1) away to Honduras. One point out of the possible six is utterly pathetic if one wants to be consistent on the standard that the usmnt should be held accountable to. There are a few who feel that Bobby Wood's late equalizer is one of the most important goals in US soccer history for what it means. It means that the usmnt has their fate in their own hands. If the team wins their last two qualifiers against Panama and Trinidad and Tobago in October they will have earned an automatic birth to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The team played poorly in both games and were fortunate to have even leave Honduras with a point. Which is one of the reasons that many feel that Wood's goal is a historic one. To me, it just demonstrates how much the US soccer program still has to go before it can consider itself an actual contender on the international stage. At this point, they need to demonstrate that they are contenders in their own region. The United States currently sit in 4th place which give the team a chance to qualify via a intercontinental playoff against a team from the Asian Football Confederation. The usmnt plays the team that sits right above them, Panama, and the last placed team, Trinidad and Tobago, for their last two games. Honduras, who is tied with the US on points, sits right behind the US, but will face Mexico and Costa Rica for their last two qualifying matches. The odds are in favor for the US to qualify to Russia. However, it will be done in a dramatic fashion and at the very last minute.
   The US team has plenty to work on. They have issues from the back line all the way up to the forwards. They don't have quality fullbacks to play four in the back, which means if they want to be competitive at the world cup (if they qualify) Arena needs to experiment and tinker with a system and formation that amplifies the squad's strength. On that note, Arena was awful in his decision making against both Costa Rica and Honduras. I am purposely not saying tactical, because to this day I have no idea what Arena soccer style consists of other than survive and get by. The midfield can't purposely posses the ball to control a match. It could be that Arena hasn't found the right midfield combination, but to be quite frank the US doesn't currently posses any player that can pass above the 85% completion stat. There is hope. Pulisic, Bradley, Nagbe, Acosta and Zusi (if Arena use a 3-5-2 formation and plays him on the right) are good players that can win games. The forwards are great individual players, however, under Arena, there hasn't been a pairing that has worked well together. Woods, Dempsey, Altidore and Morris can all score goals, but just not at a consistent enough rate with one another on the pitch. A lot of this comes down to coaching and Bruce Arena is going to have to figure it out if he wants to have a positive impact at the world cup. These last two games will certainly be a benchmark on where the state of US soccer is at. Under pressure till the end, the usmnt might provide a very dramatic finish in the qualifiers that it will diminish Wood's "historic" goal as a casual last minute goal the US got in Honduras.  

USMNT, JK-"Lol"

   The United States men's national team hosted and lost to Costa Rica Friday night at the Red bulls arena. The usmnt team currently sits 3rd in the CONCACAF hexagonal table and the last automatic spot for the 2018 world cup in Russia. I still see the US qualifying for Russia by finishing third. If the US finishes fourth, their path to Russia becomes a bit more exciting. The US will be forced to play a nation from the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) in two games-home and away- in  order to qualify for the world cup. If finishing forth isn't exciting enough no need to worry, a possible opponent for the US could be Syria! But, that's living in the "what if" realm. What should be discussed is what happened in the 2-0 defeat to Costa Rica.

  The US team wasn't as disappointing as the 2-0 result suggests to those who go simply by the score. The US created chances early on and pressured Los Ticos on their final third, but that allowed for the US to be exposed on the counter-which the Los Ticos did-and fell behind 1-0. The US had no other option but to attack which created the same scenario for the second goal to occur, which it did, in the later minutes of the match. The US team still can't manage to control a match with possession of the ball. They lose it too often which disrupts any real momentum. I would describe the US style of play as counter attacking, but with possession. Which sounds silly, I know, but it describes the current style the US has. The two weakest links for the US were at left back and one of the centerbacks. The US has a history of somehow never finding a player that could play that position well and constantly. Jorge Villafana is the current player tasked for the job and is being overwhelmed by the burden. Decision making is off or too slow, as well as his runs, even with advantage position and possession, when he goes on a run he constantly loses it by being too slow and putting the ball too far ahead or just simply losing the ball to his opponent. On the defensive end Villafana is average at best. Fabian Johnson was quiet as well at the left midfield position. But, based on the players past performances one could judge that the left back hindered any positive play for the player ahead of him. Tim Ream looked awful at centerback. His play looked too casual without any real grit or intensity paired with a few poor decisions that could have added to the deficit. Bruce Arena should see that Ream is a national level player, let alone a starter. Arena would be wise if he were to call up Matt Miazga and give the 22 year old defender a chance to prove himself instead of waiting for him to turn 29 and have him realize he is a Tim Ream. The US will qualify for the world cup, but that doesn't mean there isn't much to improve upon-there is plenty, especially if the US wants to be competitive among the world's best.  

Valencia for top 3

   Sunday was a great day for most, if not all, Valencia supporters. Los Che drew against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. The score was 2-2, but could have gone either way even up towards the added stoppage time minutes where both teams had clear opportunities to win the match. The draw isn't the biggest positive surprise-Valencia is actually the team that has taken most points from Real Madrid of any other team in La Liga- it was in the manner and style that the draw was earned that has given Valencia a sense of rebirth. Valencia is a team that throughout most of its history has been a successful team, for a while they were consecutive winners of the "other" league. Which is finishing in 3rd place behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, the last two seasons for los che has been horrendous for the club. It will be part of their history that will not be remembered fondly of, but it happened and it is there. Fans know it, the team knows it and anyone who closely monitors La Liga knows it. Sunday saw a team that was organized, ambitious, and courageous. There are plenty of positives to be taken from the match. But, lets begin with a few obvious factors. First, Real Madrid where without Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo. Second, Karim Benzema had an awful day, missing eight clear opportunities to score. Third, Bale was no where to be found, could it be his speed has really diminished that much as he ages? The conclusive point here is that Real Madrid didn't necessarily executed their game plan in the manner they normally do due to a few set backs and their star players performing their vanishing acts.

  That being said, there were plenty of positives for Valencia on the day. The first goal for los che was straight from the academy products. Gaya to Lato to Soler was the brilliant combination that lead to the goal to tie the match at 1-1. The team looked well organized and attacked on the counter. Kondogbia had an excellent debut locking down the midfield forcing Modric to play throught the outside to create chances for Madrid. Kondogbia scored the second goal to put Valencia in the lead at 2-1. Ruben Vezo and Murillo looked solid in the back line as they debuted as the center back pair for the team. The two goals against Valencia, the first one was a bad pass to Kondogbia which allowed Asensio to scoop it up and work his magic with his left foot and the second goal was from a freekick. This is not to take anything away from Real Madrid, they did have more clear opportunities in front of goal to have easily put los che away. But, all that means from a Valencia perspective is that the team remained organized and stayed on their marks to make it as difficult as possible for the home team to score. That is something that was missing from the Valencia side the past two seasons. Now under Marcelino Toral Garcia Valencia really looks competitive. It is still early in the season, only two games have been played, but from what I have seen from this Valencia side has given me hope to be excited for this team going forward.

2017-2018 Champions League draw is complete

   The UEFA champions league group stage is set. The draw has come to a conclusion. Group A through group H has familiar foes lined up to play each other later in on in up and coming months. Group A contains Benifica, Manchester United, Basel, and CSKA Moskva. At the moment, the best team is Manchester United. The season is still too early to predict a team's form, but the last two games the red devils were world class. I see them winning the group.

  Group B contains Bayern, Paris St Germain, Anderlecht, and the Scottish team, Celtic. I am curious to watch Moussa Dembele play in the champions league stage. He is a young Frenchman that shares the name as another highly regarded french player that Barcelona is after. However, as much as I would like to see the minnow succeed and perform well, Bayern and PSG are loaded with talent and I see them both qualifying to the knockout rounds. The only uncertainty this group has to offer is which team finishes first and second between the German and French giants. 

   For some reason it feels as if group C tends to be filled with teams that play each other often in the champions league. Almost as if we have been here before. Chelsea, Athletico, Roma, and Qarabag make up the group. This is one of the few groups that can go either way. I must apologize to Qarabag, this is a three team group where the Azerbaijan team will not have much say in this group. They may play the part of hindering another team's chances if they can pull off an away draw. But, this group is up in the air. Roma, Athletico, and Chelsea will all be competing for the top two spots. Chelsea seems to be the team that seems to have internal problems with the whole Diego Costa saga and rumors of the head Coach Conte not getting along with the board members. If the team can ignore those issues Chelsea has good chance of coming out out of this group. However, one slip up could see them entering the Europa League. 

Group D contains Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiacos, and Sporting CP. If one, such as myself, predicts this group based on paper then Juventus and Barcelona will finish in the top two spots. Sporting could surprise a few, but at the end of the six games will most likely finish third. Barcelona is going through a few issues on their own. From the board members lying about Messi signing a new contract, teams telling them no in the summer transfer window, new coach, and an aging team that seems to not having any real reinforcements. That being said Barcelona is still a great club with extremely talented players and should have enough to make it out of the group. Juventus is well organized and talented enough to force Barcelona to be content with second place.

  Group E was described as a typical Europa League group by a friend of mine. Liverpool, Spartak Moskva, Sevilla, Maribor make up this group that might be described as one of the weaker groups in the tournament. However, depending on how these teams perform during their domestic league the top two spots are in sight for all four club teams. I predict that Liverpool and Sevilla will come out of it. These two teams may not be seen serious title contenders in their respective leagues, but they have enough talent to make it out of the group stage.

   Group F may seem like a cake walk for Manchester city, and that's because it should be. Manchester City is a clear favorite to come out on top of this group that contains Shakhtar Donetsk, Napoli, and Feyenoord. Napoli is the only team the poses a threat to the citizens of Manchester, but I don't think they have enough to topple Manchester City from winning the group. Feyenoord is no team to sleep on, young talented squad the plays very attractive dutch soccer can make for entertaining group stage games against Manchester City and Napoli. 

   Group G will put Monaco, Porto, Besiktas, and RB Leipzig against each other in the fall and winter months. RB Leipzig were a surprise in the German Bundesliga giving the German giants, Bayern, a bit of a scare. Yet, I don't think RB Leipzig has enough magic left in them to pull that off in the champions league. Besiktas and RB Leipzig will compete for a spot in the Europa League while Monaco and Porto will fight for the top two positions. 

Group H resembles somewhat a little bit of group C. Three very talented teams with a minnow team that hopes to perform well enough in their domestic league in order to qualify and receive a better draw next year. APOEL, Real Madrid, Dortmund, and Tottenham make up the final group. Unlike group C, group H has a predictable clear first place team in Real Madrid. This team under the watch of Zinedine Zidane has become a team flourishing with talent. A mixture of solid veterans and young talent this team is going to compete for every trophy this year. A string of bad luck is the only way of slowing this Madrid team at the moment. There is plenty of time still of course and the season is long, but of all the teams favored to win it, Real Madrid is a safe bet. That leaves second place up for grabs between Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham. Both teams are talented teams and could have easily claim the top two spots if it weren't for being drawn into the same group as Real Madrid. I see Dortmund taking the second place spot leaving Tottenham to compete in the Europa League.  

 

2017-2018 Predictions for Club Football

English Premier League                August, 15, 2017 predictions made     
1. Manchester City                           June 1, 2018 Actual standings (1), (2)...
2. Manchester United
3. Arsenal
4. Liverpool
5. Chelsea
6. Tottenham
7. Everton

La Liga 
1. Real Madrid
2. Athletico Madrid
3. FC Barcelona
4. Valencia CF
5. Sevilla
6. Villareal
7. Real Sociedad

Serie A
1. Juventus
2. AS Roma
3. Napoli
4. AC Milan
5. Lazio
6. Internazionale
7. Fiorentina

Bundesliga 
1. Bayern Munich
2. Borussia Dortmund
3. Schalke 04
4. RB Leipzig
5. 1899 Hoffenheim
6. FC Kolin
7. Bayer Leverkusen

Ligue 1
1. Paris Saint-Germain
2. Nice
3. Monaco
4. Lyon
5. Marseille
6. Saint-Etienne
7. Bordeaux

Best regular season teams vs World Series Champions

   Traditions are important. They can have a significant impact on a community. In the baseball community, there tends to be treasured traditions that are held in high regard. I will not list each baseball tradition and debate its morality and importance. That is not the point here. Sports are a tradition themselves and there isn't anything wrong or wicked in that. I do want to question the number of games played in a regular Major League Baseball season. 162. At first, 162 may seem like a random number to the outside spectator, but it does have its purpose. One of those purposes is that it determines which teams make the play-offs for an opportunity to be the world series champion. That is where my interest peaked. Do the best teams during the regular season win the world series ?

   I collected data from 39 seasons (1977-2016) as my sample size. From the information that I gathered, only 9 out of the 39 seasons or 23% or (.231), of the best regular season teams went on to become the world series champions. The Chicago Cubs (2016), New York Yankees (1978, 1998, 2009), Detroit Tigers (1984), New York Mets (1986), Oakland Athletics (1989), and the Boston Red Sox (2007, 2013) are the teams that make up the 9 seasons when a team held the best regular season record and won the world series. Note that the two season the Boston Red Sox pulled off the double, their best regular season record was tied with the Cleveland Indians (2007) and the St. Louis Cardinals (2013) respectively for those seasons. The regular season is long and it can take a toll on the players and the ball clubs. I am not stating nor taking a stand against the number 162. I enjoy baseball, I am aware of the criticism that baseball encounters; "the pace of the game is too slow.." and "the season is too long.." However, whether I agree or disagree with either of those criticisms isn't the topic for today. I am stating that the regular season isn't seen as important as it should be.

  The regular season isn't a walk in the park and for most of the players isn't a guarantee. Players and teams put in a tremendous amount of work to win those games. The individuals are awarded, such as the Cy youngs, golden gloves, and homerun leaders. Yet, the team that was the best throughout the year tends to be awarded less, if any, and soon enough forgotten and overshadowed by the world series champion. Unless, on the rare occasion, that same team wins it all. From the sample size that I researched and analyzed, one could easily observe that the majority of the teams with the best regular season record do no win the world series.

   I am not saying the world series champion isn't deserving of being honored and celebrated throughout the sports world. But, for the sport nerds out there, they can point out that technically the play-offs are a different tournament. Which it is. What I am proposing is that the team with the best regular season record be remembered and recognized by sports historians and fans for what they accomplished. Being the best team all year long. Maybe the two, if they aren't the same team, can have a 3 game series in the spring to determine the best of the best prior to the start of the new season. If that were to ever happen, I am aware that in the spring teams are, well it's spring baseball. But, that's the point. It could be a glorified spring game with some meaning to it.

Champions League Semi-finals

UEFA Champions league semi-finalist chart from 1999-2017.

-Click on "Chart" for access.

Real Madrid has won 3 of the last 4 Champions league titles. One argument that is brought up repetitively is that the champions league always has the same semi-finalist. Now I will give the benefit of the doubt that those who make that statement do not literally mean that the same four teams always make the semi-finals, but that it is a rotation of the very rich teams. The chart that I made takes into consideration all the teams from 1999 to 2017 that have made it to the semi-finals and how many times each team has respectively participated in one.  

Gentlemen, Please have your resumes ready...

   The NFL pre-season is just around the corner. Teams are starting get their engines running. Players are working out, coaches are navigating through the free agents available to fill any gaps or if possible improve a few positions and tinker with the roster before they have to cut it down to 53. Preseason in short is a method for coaches to test and observe players that can potentially aide them in their quest to victory. Two available free agents come to mind. Johnny Manziel and Colin Kaepernick. Both are quarterbacks that are currently without a team. The news up front is simple. Two QBs that are free agents looking for a team. Now unfortunately, the world isn't as black and white as deciding what flavored ice cream one wants to enjoy during the summer.
 
   Colin Kaepernick has had one of the most interesting free agency sagas I have ever seen in my short sports viewing career. Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem at the start of the season to protest what he believed to be the unjustly shootings on the black community. He played for the San Francisco 49ers for the 2016 NFL season. He started the season as a back up and ended up earning the starting position. Kaepernick ended the season with sixteen touchdowns and four interceptions which is actually a lot more impressive knowing that he did it with the 49ers. For those who don't follow the game too closely the 49ers were a disaster, from the front office to the team's play. Kaepernick opted out of his contract at the end of the season.
 
   Johnny Manziel or Johnny "Football" as he is also known as, came out today announcing that he is seeking on returning to play professional football. Stating that he has been in contact with a few teams. That has not been verified to my current understanding at this time. Manziel hasn't played a game for over a season almost two.

   I wont get too into the numbers and stats as those are readily available anywhere online. The point is that one of these two free agents has played longer and demonstrated to be a play short on winning the grand prize, the super bowl. The other was a over-hyped college player that did not impress at all in his two seasons in the league that was filled with actual controversies. From what I have been able to detect on a hunch from the media and football world is that Manziel has a better opportunity on landing on a team than Kaepernick. My football "intelligence" tells me that neither one will get signed. That is not to say that both are on the same standard on their quality of play. Colin Kaepernick by far has demonstrated that he is clearly the better player of the two and to compare them is a bit laughable. One could argue (those in the anti-kaepernick group, let me help you out) that teams could sign Manziel on a cheaper contract. He would demand less money than Kapernick. However, those who state Kaepernick is a distraction can not logically in any way hold on to that argument. Just how Kaepernick has proven to be the better quarterback of the two, Johnny Manziel has demonstrated on multiple occasions to be a distraction and burden to a football team. Now only time will tell how the NFL and its teams will demonstrate their "intelligence." In a free market teams can do as they please, there is a great product out there for buy that can benefit them. The free market is a great place to see which team is dumb enough to sign the distraction.
 

Video Replays may not be the Problem

    The match between New Zealand and Mexico in the Confederation tournament in Russia was an ugly match. As a person who resides in the CONCACAF region I tend to follow the Mexican national team quite closely. Monitor their moves on a weekly basis. It was an awful game from El Tri. Not sure if it was due to the line up changes or the team didn't have much respect for their opponents. The all whites came out in all black today, but they played organized and were dangerous on the long balls which caught the Mexican defense out of position on more than one occasion. That is just an ugly game, no one can really change that. Blame the Mexican head coach? sure, but he isn't the first and the only one who has tinkered with his line up when facing a "weaker" side. The ugly part came later on.
   The center referee had quite a handful on his plate therefore I wont use his name. We are human and mistakes are a given. What is special about the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia is that it will be the first international tournament that will use video assisting replay. Or VAR. Which is a big deal for multiple reasons. One being some are strongly against it because it will ruin the beautiful game. A game that is run by an organization that is accused of bribes, tax fraud, and money laundry but the line is drawn on technological advancements. To be fair the proper argument that those who are against VAR make a fair point. That the referee checking video replays will halt or slow the game down. Which is true, but I will counter that wasting game time isn't new. When a player gets sent off or a penalty awarded it can take up to three minutes just to resume play. That is why there is stoppage time added at the end of each half. The center referee had quite a few mistakes, but it wasn't because of the VAR. They were due to human error. Diego Reyes and Rafael Marquez were not awarded yellow cards when they purposely committed a foul to stop play. Now both of those were not dangerous plays and both occasions the players pulled and yanked on their opponents shirts. It can be seen as more tactical than dirty, but both merit a yellow card for it. Most fans, if not all, were aware of that. The referee had to use the VAR to give Diego Reyes the yellow card which should have already been given! There was no if, and, or buts here. That led to a scuffle where a shoving match arose and potential red card offenses could have been committed. THAT is when VAR should come in to productive use. Not to give a yellow that should have been given. That was just awful. That being said I will give credit for the center referee for actually going to the sideline and watching the video himself. The prior two incidents when referees used VAR they trusted the men upstairs. Which is not wrong, but the image it portrays is a negative one. The center referee is putting a lot of trust in others when he has the capability to check himself and receive upstairs information when it is HE or SHE that will be attacked and blame for any little blunder.
  That being said the referee's error was not VAR, even though I strongly believe the VAR was not used properly, driven. I was human error and poor officiating. That being said, this shouldn't be the death sentence to end VAR. It will take time for refs to know how to properly and effectively use it. This match should not define the use of VAR. It was an ugly match that shouldn't be watched as a replay in the first place.      

Let the Bats Fly

   Baseball, America's past time, a sport that is engraved in the nation's DNA is still alive and well. It wont die out anytime soon.Now I must admit as a child baseball was not my first choice, but as time continued to move forward and I matured just a bit, baseball has become a lot more interesting to me. It did help that a professor that I looked up to assigned the college class baseball related assignments. I appreciate and respect the sport. As a younger little person I enjoyed playing the game, yet watching the major league games was dreadful to my short attention spanned mind. Now I can watch the occasional regular season game and stay tuned in for the most part. There have been a few incidents in the past few weeks that has brought up the debate about baseball's unspoken rules. Plenty of sports writers and pundits have given their two cents on the topic. The incidents that has given 24 hour sports news outlets material is accredited to major league pitchers intentionally hitting the opposing team's batter. There a few circumstances that merit a batter from receiving a "deserving" fastball to the body.
   One incident could be if a player, say like Manny Machado, who slid into second with his cleats up hitting and in this instance hurting the field player on the opposing team. The opposing team's pitcher who is looking out for his teammate here throws a 90 mph fastball to Machado when its he is up to bat. Machado takes the hit and walks to first. It was expected. Now this particular series between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox was intense from the start. Multiple factors played into this series turning into an emotional fiery exchange between two AL East teams. Chris Sale decided to join in on he fun and aim for Manny Machado's back side the following game. Machado did not take to kindly to Sale's self imposed unwritten rule regulator.
  A second incident for a major league player to be hit by a pitch is if they flip their bat. To clarify, if a batter hits a home run and flips his bat, the pitcher can take that as show boating, offensive, and even somehow disrespecting the game. The next time that same batter is up at the plate fans, players, coaches and even the umpires know what's going to happen.
   There are a few more unspoken rules in baseball that can lead the discussion to continue on for days, but the issue is not about the unspoken rules. Sports in general have a variety of certain rules or etiquette that are followed in that particular sport. The issue I take part with baseball is how it allows players to solve these issues on their own in a very dangerous manner. I question whether certain sports fans or people in general lack a basic understanding in fundamental physics. This is a hard spherical object that is being launched at 90 miles per hour at a human body. I am not sure what else is needed to explain that getting hit by anything tends to hurt especially if it's coming at you at such a high speed.
   The league tends to no get involved nor implements any rules or policies to prevent pitchers from intentionally hitting a batter. The occasional home plate umpire might read the situation and throw out the pitcher, but no suspension or fine will follow. My solution, have batters throw their bats at the pitchers that intentionally hit them. This way it becomes like a western stand off, a duel, but instead of it being bullets it can be replaced by a bat and baseball. This solution works out great for two reasons. First reason is that if batters throw their bats at pitchers, the pitcher might think a bit longer before he acts on throwing a baseball 90 mph at a person with a bat. Second reason, the entertainment value will dramatically increase! Move over UFC and WWE baseball is here with some real action. Or, just bare with me here, pitchers can stop throwing fastballs at batters and learn to control their temper tantrums a bit more. I prefer the former, but like I mentioned before baseball isn't my first choice go to sport. I haven't watched enough to gauge a better feel for the game. But I do know stupid when I see it.

The Good Ol Days.....

    The world of sports experienced a familiar reminiscent dose of racism this past week. Two players in particular were at the receiving end of the abuse. Sulley Muntari and Adam Jones.

   

   Sulley Muntari, the 32 year old Ghanaian midfielder plays for Pescara in Italy's Series A. On 30 April 2017, Pescara visited Cagliari. The score ended 1-0 in favor of the home team, but the interesting aspect of this particular game was the incident that occurred towards the end of the match. Sulley Muntari heard fans chant racial slurs that were directed towards him. Muntari went up to the referee to let him know what he had heard. In Italy, due to the level of visible racism in the soccer stadiums the league has intended to combat this by implementing procedures to eradicate this buffoonery. The first step is that the referee states a warning over the stadium's speaker system. If the racist chants have not stopped the match is stopped. If needed the match can be abandoned. On Sunday none of these counter measurements were implemented by Daniele Minelli, the center referee for the match. Muntari was booked for complaining to the referee about what he heard. Muntari ended up walking of the pitch before disappearing into the players tunnel he looked into the stands slapping his forearm with his opposite hand to indicate that This is me, This is my color. For his humanistic response to such vile abuse Muntari was shown a second yellow card, therefore receiving a red for walking off the pitch without permission. Indicating that he will be suspended for the next game. Daniele Minelli, "the altruist", thought it would be fitting to have Muntari suspended and to sit out the next game in order to avoid being racially abuse for a second consecutive week. As of today at this time the Series A disciplinary committee has overturned Muntari's suspension. That same committee cannot punish the fans or the home team due to it's own rules, only 10 people were involved and therefore not reaching the minimum 1% of the fans needed to be racist in the stadium in order to act on a disciplinary action. 

  Without missing a beat, the day after, across the pond where baseball is played, in the civil rights proud ground breaking the color barrier America's historical past time, descended into the twilight zone. The Boston Red Sox hosted the Baltimore Orioles. Adam Jones, Baltimore's center fielder, witnessed fans shouting racial slurs and targeted by a peanut tosser. The next day Adam Jones was given a standing ovation by the Boston crowd during his first at bat. The Red Sox's front office came out in defense and support for Adam Jones and condemned anyone who used racial slurs in Fenway park, threatening that they will be banned for life (Which they stood by, a few fans have been band). I believe that the Red Sox organization handled the situation as best as possible. The troubling aspect of this was not the Red Sox organization or the league, but what one former baseball analyst said. Curt Schilling said that Adam Jones created a situation. That he needed proof in order to believe that Jones was being targeted with racial abuse. Schilling's defended his outrageous claim by citing that he has heard his black teammates use the N-word 100 million times and went on twitter to some how demonstrate proof that based on the artist and music a person listen's to is an indicator of what should or shouldn't be offensive to them.

   The troubling aspect in these two similar events isn't the big leagues or the front office of the teams, however, I do believe the Italian FA did act in a molasses manner towards a situation that should have been resolved the next day. What is worrisome is the individuals with certain power and authority are yielding towards inaction rather than any action. As I mentioned before the the leagues and front office of the teams did their part in a swift, respectful and not over reaching manner. No one was unfairly punished. Muntari had his suspension over turned and the Red Sox organization warned their fans or any other visitor about their zero tolerance racial abuse policy (and kept true to their threat). So what astonishes me the most is that men like Curt Schilling demand proof for such horrendous acts. Why? As a self-proclaimed person of science I believe that facts should be observed and results questioned and analyzed. But, in this situation what is the purpose of questioning and demanding proof from Adam Jones? To call him a liar and diva seeking attention because racism doesn't exist in sports and in particularly baseball? I am curious to why then stadiums across the United States honor the number 42. As for the Italian referee, Daniele Minelli, what if Muntari was lying? Would announcing over the stadium's speaker system to remind the fans that racism has no place in the soccer world cause such a PR uproar? Minells's inaction and Schilling's support for inaction unless someone personally provides proof to him directly is an indication that there is plenty of work needed to be done to combat racism in sports and in our communities. There have been great strides across the global sporting community to eliminate those with racist mentalities from barring into stadiums to spew their filth onto others. Yet, we need to vigilante amongst our own sporting communities that particular individuals are not fueling racism with inaction and denial.                           

Then there were 48....

It will rain cats and dogs. The Earth will crash and burn into the sun if a huge meteor doesn't strike it first. FIFA did it again. FIFA members voted to expand the number of teams in the world cup from 32 to 48 starting in 2026. Those greedy FIFA leaders. The first or the main reason to my belief is that FIFA expanded the number of participants in the world cup is due to money. That is no secret. But, please everyone brace oneself. No, not because I am about to agree with most US soccer writers and claim that FIFA has just destroyed and ruined the world cup. I will state right here and now, this might be a good thing FIFA has done. 

  

For starters the purpose of FIFA is to govern the sport of football worldwide. Their purpose is to serve all the nations not just a few. One of the goals for FIFA is to make football/soccer accessible to as many people as possible. There are 211 nations under FIFA, by increasing the number to 48 that means that around 25% of the football participating nations will be able to take part in the tournament. Let's address the cons first, the quality of play will be lower. That is true. But, I see that as an initial problem. In 1998 the number of teams participating in the summer spectacle increased from 24 to 32. In 1994 the United States was in the tournament due to the fact that they were the host. The increase of teams allowed for the United States to qualify for the trip to France in 1998. One could argue that the United States soccer team did not belong at all. They lost all three matches, easily the worst team among the 32 teams. I am not here to critique the quality of the United States. One doesn't have to be a fan to acknowledge the improvement and growth of the national team since then. In fact, if the United States team does not qualify for the 2018 world cup it will be seen as a huge failure. The point is that increasing the amount of teams will allow for other under developed footballing nations to have the opportunity to grow. How will other nations grow their national programs? Money. Each nation that makes it to the world cup is rewarded prize money. In 2014, the 16 nations that did not make the knockout stage were rewarded $8 million dollars. What FIFA is proposing is to award all participating members at least $5 million for making it to the tournament. That means that around 25% of the nations will be awarded. Nations like Jamaica, China, Panama, Honduras, and multiple nations from Africa and Asia would benefit from the money to improve their national soccer programs. Which is in fact the best part in all of this. When fans around the world sit to watch the world cup most of them know who to bet on. The Germanys, Spains, Brazils, Argentinas, Frances, and Italys of the world will be pretty safe bets on winning the whole thing. The format of 32 teams is great and I personally enjoy it. However, it does seem to be a bit redundant. Especially most of the third games in the group stage. Most of them are boring spectacles where the group is pretty much set and teams throw out their B team. I would enjoy more knockout rounds in the FIFA proposed 16 groups of 3 teams where two teams advance from each group. These single knockout matches raise the stake instantly compared to a third group game that feels forced.

These are still what ifs. A lot of what ifs. All FIFA did was vote on increasing the number of participating teams from 32 to 48. They now have the task of assigning the number of births each confederation will receive and the actual format of the tournament is still not set in place either. As I mentioned earlier this can benefit a lot of nations. However, FIFA still needs to be transparent in their dealings as well as enforce the national federations to be held accountable for the money they receive and how it will be used. There are other problems that FIFA still needs to take into consideration and work out befor the 2026 world cup. Yet, to all the dooms day and apocalyptic voices I say, hold on. Step back and lets see how FIFA moves on from here. Change is uncomfortable and scary at times, but it's FIFA. This can go in ANY direction. FIFA has a BILLION dollars in reserves, I see it as a benefit if that money is spent on more nations to improve their national footballing programs than having it sit in a Swiss bank account.     

 

College Bowls Don't Matter

The amount of bowl games for college football is ridiculous. This year alone there will have been over 40 bowl games played. Six of those bowl games are prestigious enough to win and truly savor the victory, but due to the college football playoffs there are only two bowl games that have any real significance. Based on the rotating of the six prestigious bowl games (Capitol One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Rose Bowl, and Allstate Sugar Bowl) two of these bowl games are host to the semi-final games for the CFP depending on the year. The NCAA has halted for any new bowl games starting up for the time being, till 2019 to be exact. The college football playoffs started in 2014, it was designed and intended to demonstrate to the entire nation which college football program is the best one in the country. And of course along with excitement for the fans and extra cash flow from sponsors to the executives. It is still too early to accurately predict what will be the result of the college playoff system, but a safe bet is that it will diminish the importance of bowl games. To be fair, the bowl games were already losing value do to the increase of more bowl games appearing left and right causing inflation of quality and importance. It's simple. 

Bowl games already feel pointless. This year the Rose Bowl was a consolation prize between Penn State and USC. It was quite the spectacle. Last second field goal to win the game. However, with the college playoffs in the picture all USC really won was a bowl game with history. While the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl victory earned the winning participant a spot in the college football playoff national championship. Making the Rose Bowl almost as meaningless as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl this year. Now the Rose Bowl will have some more meaning reinstated when it will host the semi-final for the college playoffs. As one may catch on, these bowls have quite the Mickey Mouse names. Even the prestigious college bowls are not safe from being re-branded, I mean renamed. A person can search up the list of all the bowl games that are held and will catch on to the pattern in the naming of these football bowls. College football bowls do not matter any more. The College Football Playoffs has already pushed it to the back seat on this cash generating vehicle. However, these college bowls will not vanish any time soon. As long as these bowls continue to be named after corporations, the NCAA will gladly accept the money on behalf of the players. Due to their amateur status NCAA athletes are not allowed to receive any form of payment. I would like to clarify, the bowl games do not matter to most fans, the importance rest on the money being generated for a non-profit organization.