NBA Free Agency: I Hope...

As all of the NBA Alerts hit my inbox and time ticks away on the clock, I'm actually starting to get pumped about this whole Free Agency thing.  I'm surprised to say that I haven't been following it as much I thought I would.  It's partly because I think a lot of the info that's shared by the media is bullsh*t.  I believe none of what I hear or read until it's officially official.  I think most of these NBA analysts are opportunists and are just making up information to get more media attention.  None of these NBA insiders have Lebron James, D-Wade or any other free agents' ear like that.  Everyone wants to be the first to break the BIG story, but the enormous amount of conflicting reports exposes everyone for simply speculating as much as the next man.

BUT, I can't help but admit that I'm starting to ooze with excitement about the possibilities that lie ahead for the NBA and its fans. Starting tonight at midnight, the NBA will be front and center of the sports world.  A league shakeup is less than 3 hours away.  What a treat for the fans!  We all think we can do a better job than a team owner or GM, if given the opportunity.  That's what fantasy sports is all about.  Organizations finally have the opportunity to get top notch talent.  It'll be very interesting to see how the NBA capitalizes on their time in the spotlight.  The amount of talent eligible for free agency, in the same year, will probably never happen again.  This is historic, people.

Once the players have swapped jerseys and changed area codes, I'm hoping three things will happen as a result of the free agency moves. 

1.  BEAT LA!!!
As you know, I'm not a Lakers fan.  I practically stopped watching the NBA Playoffs after Game 5 of the Celtics/Cavs series because it was pretty obvious that we were on our way to a rematch of the 2008 Finals.  Been there.  Done that.  Wasn't interested in doing it again.  I dislike the Lakers and Celtics equally so it made it difficult to cheer for either team.  As much as it pained me, I sat out most of the NBA Playoffs and Finals.  I watched Game 6 and 7 of the Finals, but that was it.  And, once the game was over, I didn't feel any type of way.  I just turned the channel as if it was any other game.  Moral of the story is, I'm tired of The Lake Show starring Phil Jackson as the "Zen Master" and Kobe Bryant as "Snitch".

With that said, I want all teams in contention of landing a major free agent to understand that their purpose is to build a team that has a serious chance to BEAT LA !!  If their roster doesn't stack up well against the Lakers, then they've failed.

Not only will that be a fail for all of the teams, but it will also be a fail for the NBA because this year's free agency period is allowing a lot of teams to hit the reset button and get a do over.  If one team can't manage to deliver a championship team and wipe out the Lakers, then this was all for naught. Which leads me to #2.


2.  NBA:  WHICH ORGANIZATION WILL EMERGE A WINNER?
I touched on this a little earlier, but I want to go slightly deeper.  This year's free agency period is bigger than Lebron James.  He's only one man, and he can't do it on his own.  He proved that in Cleveland.  This year's free agency is about acquiring the right pool of talent to create a championship squad. 

The NBA and team management must recognize that they're under a microscope.   Everyone will judge, critique and scrutinize every move made.  The organizations are all being graded.  It's similar to teams being graded after the Draft.  No different. Each team/owner/GM must impress and show how innovative and business savvy they are.   How good they are at assessing the needs of their team and implementing a plan to fill the holes.  How creative they can be with eliminating the dead weight to come under the cap.  How well each organization will sell or market its team to a player.  How well  they will convince the player that poor decisions of the past are exactly that, in the past and won't impact the future.  A pitch deck or 3-minute video about what the team and city can offer isn't going to get the job done.  The business of basketball is what I'm interested in.  The organization that's most successful at all of the above will emerge the winner.  

This leads me to #3.

3.  NY KNICKS:  DON'T EFF THIS UP!
It's no secret that the Knicks organizations has destroyed its reputation.  Players no longer jump at the opportunity to play at the World's Most Famous Arena.  How embarrassing.  Knicks fans have suffered long enough.  It's finally time to close the chapter on the past and return to the Glory Days of the 90s.  The time is now.

Knicks fans have been waiting for July 7, 2010 longer than anyone.  We've had this date circled on our calendars for years.  All of the bad moves that were made over the years and presented as strategic decisions to get us under the cap are excused.  The slate has been wiped clean.  I, along with ALL Knicks fans, know that it was BS, but all is forgiven as long as the Knicks don't eff this up!
 
The best way for James Dolan and Donnie Walsh to restore our trust in the organization is to make  something happen!  We're not asking for a Miracle on 34th Street, but we'd like something close to it.  I think most of us have realistic expectations.  We don't expect to land Lebron.  After all, we're Knicks fans.  We're very accustomed to getting the short end of the stick.  But, on the other hand, we're Knicks fans!!  We don't expect to be straight disrespected by everyone either.  So, we better be #1 on someones list...Chris Bosh, Amar'e Stoudamire, Joe Johnson, somebody!

It would be a catastrophic disaster for the city if we weren't able to land one or two of the Big Boys, especially after you consider all that we've been through. Despite being the laughing stock of the league for the past decade, Knicks fans are ride or die.  Through it all...Frederic Weis, Allan Houston's $100 million contract, Isiah Thomas, Stephon Marbury, Jerome James, Eddy Curry, Lenny Wilkins, Larry Brown, Tim Thomas, Steve Francis, and the list goes on and on and on, we remain naively optimistic that something good will happen for us.  As long as we're saved the embarrassment of being the last kid picked on the playground, I'll be grateful.   I hope that's not too much to ask.

Mahut/Isner: How Do You Define 'Epic'?

I haven't done an opinion piece in a minute.  And then, the Nicolas Mahut/John Isner match happened.  I definitely may be alone in my thoughts, but trust me, I know that place well.  I'm comfortable there.

I am not afraid to say it...the "EPIC" match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner kind of annoyed me. No, definitely annoyed me. So much so that I'd go as far as describing it as ridiculous, but first let me say this. 

My intent is not to make light of what these guys accomplished.  It takes a lot of strength and endurance to play tennis.  I recognize that.  Then, when you think about how long these guys were battling it out against each other (11 hours, 5 minutes, over 3 days), you can't help but stand up and applaud them for their fortitude.  I mean, to serve ace after ace and exceed 115mph is pretty sick!  On paper, when you look at all of the records they've broken (longest match, longest set, most games, # of aces), it's phenomenal and will probably remain unbroken forever.  *Cue applause.*

HOWEVER, at some point during yesterday's match, maybe it was around 41-41 in the 5th,  I went from being completely in love with what I was witnessing to quietly questioning the killer instinct of these guys.  I knew something was wrong because I lacked emotion watching them play their hearts out.  Maybe it was because I tuned in when they were already at 28-28 and I missed how they arrived at that moment. Or, maybe it was because I'd never heard of these guys before so I had no attachment to either of them.  Then I decided it was all of the above and then some.

The purpose of tennis is to break your opponent.  And, these guys were having the hardest time breaking each other.  And, on top of them holding serve, it appeared like neither of them challenged the other.  Are their serves that deadly that they can't be returned?  As I watched the match, I noticed that they both held serve 40-0 or 40-15.  It was rarely 15-15, 0-30, deuce or anything that suggested that one player held an advantage over the other and there would be an end to the match if one of them went on a roll.  The lack of intensity suggested that they were fine taking this match to a fourth or fifth day, if necessary.  I guess what made this match so "epic" was that it was a classic pairing of talent.  But, in my eyes, it wasn't tennis at its best.  It was more like mediocrity at its best.  A completely different vibe from Pete Sampras/Andre Agassi at the US Open 2001 or Rafa Nadal/Roger Federer Wimbledon 2008, just off the top.  Maybe I'm spoiled by the greats and can't appreciate the up and comers.  No, that's not it.  I like Gael Monfils, Rajeev Ram and some others.

The only reason I didn't turn the channel sooner was because I thought I'd miss something if I did.  Sports is about witnessing greatness when it happens.  Replays are ok, but it doesn't replace that indescribable feeling that comes over you when you experience amazing happen firsthand.

Speaking of, I was also flying high from the USA/Algeria match when I tuned into Mahut/Isner.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking that Wednesday, June 23rd could possibly go down in history as one of the greatest sports days ever and I wanted to be involved to the nth degree.  As much as I'd like it to, life doesn't stop for sports.  Duty called and I was forced to shut the tennis match off because I had somewhere to go.

Despite feeling that way last night, I watched the match this morning.  I thought I'd feel differently.  I HOPED I'd feel differently.  Nope.  Still felt like someone needed to step it up, take their game to the next level and win this thing.  Enough is enough.  Now, don't misunderstand me.  I'm not voting for a 5th set tie-break.  I'm just saying that when your back is against the wall, the true competitor, champion within you must reveal itself and power you through to the next level.  Will the strongest finisher in the game please stand up!

For example, I'm not a Kobe Bryant fan, but I won't deny it, that dude gets a look in his eyes when he knows time is ticking on the clock.  He wasn't himself in Game 7 against the Celtics, but generally speaking, he switches gears and gets it done.  He takes the game over, pulls the trigger and shuts teams down.  In my opinion, that's the sign of a winner...a true champion (cue Ron Artest's song, just kidding.  I wouldn't wish that on you guys).

Well, John Isner did it.  He shut the door on Mahut and got the victory, 70-68 in the 5th set.  I was naturally rooting for Isner because he's American, but that was the only reason.  And, if not for that, I really would've been emotionless watching the match.  Do you know how wack that feels as a sports fan?  The stats for this match are astounding, but for some reason, there's still a disconnect for me. 

Sadly, I can honestly say that neither of those guys won me over as a fan. However, they do have my respect.  Isner survived to play another match, but both men deserve to be congratulated.  I wouldn't last 30 seconds on the court with either of them.  I know where I stand.  But, before this match is entered into the books as one of the most "EPIC" matches of our time, let's rethink that once the novelty wears off.


Sidenote:  The word "epic" is quickly becoming one of the most overused words.  It annoys me to no end.  My use of it in this post was purely facetious.  Now that I've pointed it out, you'll see what I mean.  Let's all do our part to reduce the number of times this word is used.  I thank you in advance.

ESPN 30 for 30: The Two Escobars

ESPN is often criticized for excessive self-promotion and being its own biggest fan.  I don't disagree.   However, one thing that ESPN should be beaming with pride about is its phenomenal documentary series, 30 for 30. 

ESPN premiered the first documentary of the series, Kings Ransom, back in October.  Since then, the network has received much deserved critical acclaim for many of the docs that have aired.  I've missed a few here and there, but definitely make an effort to view them all.  Some of my favorites have included:  Without Bias, The U, and the excrutiatingly painful to watch, Winning Time:  Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks.

Even with quite a few stories still to be told, The Two Escobars, premiering tonight on ESPN at 9pm/ET is being hailed as the best one yet.  Everyone that has had a chance to watch The Two Escobars raves about it, including Cannes and Tribeca Film Festival critics.

Directors Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist retell the story of Columbian soccer player, Andres Escobar, his love for soccer and time spent representing the National Team during its 1994 World Cup run.  Simultaneously, the doc looks at one of the world's most notorious drug kingpins, Pablo Escobar, while ultimately drawing parallels between Andres and Pablo's gruesome murders.

Trust me, if you only watch one documentary from the 30 for 30 series, choose The Two Escobars. It airs tonight on ESPN at 9pm/ET!!  Let's face it, our society has a fascination/obsession with crime stories, whether real or fiction.  I guarantee, The Two Escobars will satisfy the hole left in your heart since the Sopranos finale.

Here's more info about the doc:

While rival drug cartels warred in the streets and the country’s murder rate climbed to highest in the world, the Colombian national soccer team set out to blaze a new image for their country. What followed was a mysteriously rapid rise to glory, as the team catapulted out of decades of obscurity to become one of the best teams in the world. Central to this success were two men named Escobar: Andrés, the captain and poster child of the National Team, and Pablo, the infamous drug baron who pioneered the phenomenon known in the underworld as “Narco-soccer.” But just when Colombia was expected to win the 1994 World Cup and transform its international image, the shocking murder of Andres Escobar dashed the hopes of a nation.

Through the glory and the tragedy, The Two Escobars daringly investigates the secret marriage of crime and sport, and uncovers the surprising connections between the murders of Andres and Pablo.

And, to my visual people, check out the trailer:

PUSH PLAY: 30 for 30:  The Two Escobars

World Cup, Bermuda Style!

 
I've really got to start doing a better job of booking my vacations.  If you recall, last year I was in South Africa when the NCAA Tournament was ramping up and not happy about it.

This year, I was in Bermuda for the first few days of the World Cup.  I quickly realized the overlap of events soon after I purchased my Bermuda ticket.  However, instead of feeling some type of way, I was actually pretty excited about experiencing the World Cup in another country.  Unlike NCAA Basketball, soccer/football really is the world's game.  Participating in the World Cup spirit with Bermudian locals was suddenly a good look.  The only tricky part was that my flight was scheduled to depart JFK on June 12th at 5:20pm ET.  This posed a conflict because the highly anticipated USA/England match was scheduled to be played on June 12th at 2:30pm ET.  There was NO WAY that I was going to miss any of that match.  If it meant getting to the airport 4 hours before my flight, then that's what must be done.

I'm going to summarize my World Cup viewing experience starting with the USA/England match through my stay in Bermuda.

On Saturday, June 12th @ 1:30pm, I arrived at JFK.  Going through security was a breeze.  I was done in 15 minutes.  Next order of business was finding a bar to watch the USA/England match, order a turkey burger with cheese, fries, and a Stella Artois.

There was a lovely restaurant with large flat screens and all, as soon as I passed through security.  However, my flight departed from Gate 43.  I kept it moving because I didn't want to rush to catch my flight after the game ended.  I finally stumbled across Soho Bistro, which was across the way from my Gate.  Perfect.  Or so I thought.  The first thing I noticed about Soho Bistro were the teeny tiny TVs. 

Sigh...you've got to be kidding me!  Oh, well no sense complaining, I chose door #2 and will make the best of my decision. Time to get ready for the match.  When I first sat down, there were about 7 others at the bar. As the match played out, the crowd grew larger and larger.  Eventually, it was standing room only.  A nice mix of USA and England fans.  You know how it ends....a 1-1 draw.  Not bad.  I check the time, we're boarding in 10 minutes.  Perfect timing.

Three hours later, I land in Bermuda.  Besides learning where to eat, the only thing I wanted to know was where's the best place to watch the World Cup matches.  I'm told that THE place to watch matches is at Clearwater Beach.  There's a large projection screen, a bar, and lots of people.  OK, sold!  I check the schedule to determine when I'll make my way to Clearwater Beach.  If I'm going to drag my friends with me, I want to make sure it's a compelling game.  Ummm...Drogba vs. Ronaldo on Tuesday?  Let's do it! 

Until then, I'll just catch the highlights or glimpses of the matches here and there. For example,  on Sunday, I decided that I was ok with catching the highlights.  But, I was in luck!  We ended up going to the Swizzle Inn for lunch and guess what...they're showing the matches!  Nice.  I don't mind if I do.

 

Throughout the island, tons of pubs hung flags outside of their establishments, much like they do in the US. 

The locals also repped their teams by hanging flags from their cars.

I wonder how schizophrenic this US/England fan was during last Saturday's match.

On Monday, it was more of the same. Here's a crew of people watching Italy/Paraguay in a pub at the Dockyard.

OK, Tuesday arrived.  It's time to venture to Clearwater Beach.  I was excited because after all, this was where EVERYONE would be....or so I thought.  We arrived and were the ONLY paying customers there!!! My first thought was, WTH!?!?! Is this is a setup?  Everyone there worked at the beach.  Whateva, man!  I pulled up a chair, my friends ordered drinks, and I made myself right at home.  This was the setup.

The picture wasn't all that clear, but after watching the USA/England match on that little screen at the airport, I wasn't complaining!  This was a much better deal.

Despite the small crowd, the few peeps on hand erupted when Drogba entered the game. 

See?  Empty...I asked them where all of the people were and they said at work.  Ohhhh, I see....that makes sense.  The match WAS on a Tuesday morning.  I'll buy that.

These soccer balls in the net made me feel that Clearwater Beach has the potential to be a soccer hangout.  It's definitely a spot for the locals, so I can dig it.  Overall,  I was glad we came.  I just wish more people were there to enjoy the action with us. 

In between matches, we relaxed on the beach, which was also empty, lol. 


On Wednesday, there was no World Cup watching for me.  We only had one more day to enjoy the island, work on our tan, shop and eat, and that's exactly what we did.  SportsCenter highlights sufficed.

But, we did stop to eat at a restaurant and they had a special World Cup Bar menu.

Yesterday, on our way back to the States, I spotted a crowd of folks enjoying the Argentina/South Korea match.  I wanted to stop and join them but I had a plane to catch.

Curious to know where I watched the USA/Slovenia match this morning?  In the comfort of my own home.

I had the best seat in the house.  Still can't believe the ref did us dirty.  I'm hoping Karma will make an appearance and things will work out as intended.  We're already off to a good start with the nil-nil draw between England and Algeria.  Team USA, we're still in this!

New York Times: How a (Dutch) Soccer Star is Made

We are less than one day away (about 21 hours to be exact) from the World Cup!!  For the next month, that's all anyone will discuss...well, not really.  There will be nonstop chatter about Lebron James and the rest of the free agents, offseason football, and Strasburg (if he continues to dominate), but you get my point.  The World Cup will dominate a lot of conversations for the next four weeks.  New talent will emerge.  Small nations will be put in the world's spotlight for the first time.  And, hopefully, Americans will fall in love with the sport that is loved so much around the world, even if it is short lived.

Over the past month, it's been difficult to avoid the growing buzz about the tournament and which stars to watch.  We all know that the popularity of soccer/football in the States pales in comparison to the rest of the world.  Have you ever given any thought as to why?  Or, furthermore, have you ever thought about the resources and dedication that are put toward developing world class soccer talent in countries outside of the great U.S. of A.?  

Michael Sokolove of The New York Times travelled to Amsterdam and visited the Ajax (pronounced EYE-ox) youth academy aka De Toekomst — The Future.  There, the Sokolove learned the ins and outs of Ajax (stop pronouncing it like the cleaner, lol!).  Ajax and other soccer academies around the world are similar to a big-league baseball team’s minor-league system — but one that reaches into early childhood.  Ajax starts training soccer stars as young as 7 years old through the age of 19. Two hundred promising soccer stars are invited to train at Ajax, the boys only club.  Hardly anyone turns down an invitation. 

Ajax's most notable graduate and accomplished Dutch player at the moment is Wesley Sneijder.  At 23, Real Madrid acquired him for 27 million euros.  He now stars for Inter Milan, the current Italian champion and the winner of this year's Champions League tournament. 

Last night, I read the full 10 page article on the New York Times website and recommend you do the same.   If you're uninterested in the development of soccer players overseas, but care about the development of young basketball or baseball players in the USA, you'll learn something by reading this article.  The article compared, contrasted and criticized the USA's approach to developing talent.

Below are a some highlights from the article.  In no way does it cover everything, but my hope is that you'll have a better appreciation, understanding, and respect for the care and diligence that youth academies like Ajax and others dedicate toward developing top talent.  I think you'll also be forced to question if the US way is the best way to develop athletes.  I was.  

Background of Ajax... 

The Ajax youth academy is not a boarding school. The players all live within a 35-mile radius of Amsterdam (some of them have moved into the area to attend the academy). Ajax operates a fleet of 20 buses to pick up the boys halfway through their school day and employs 15 teachers to tutor them when they arrive. Parents pay nothing except a nominal insurance fee of 12 euros a year, and the club covers the rest — salaries for 24 coaches, travel to tournaments, uniforms and gear for the players and all other costs associated with running a vast facility. Promising young players outside the Ajax catchment area usually attend academies run by other Dutch professional clubs, where the training is also free, as it is in much of the rest of the soccer-playing world for youths with pro potential. (The U.S., where the dominant model is “pay to play” — the better an athlete, the more money a parent shells out — is the outlier.)

Every year, some in each age group are told they cannot return the following year — they are said to have been “sent away” — and new prospects are enrolled in their place. And it is not just the children whose performances are assessed. Just before my second trip to Amsterdam in March, several longtime coaches were informed that they had not measured up and would be let go.

When the boys start at the youth academy they are attached to the ideal of Ajax, whose senior team packs in 50,000-plus fans for its home games and still occupies a mythic place in world soccer because of the innovative style it established in the 1960s — a quick-passing, position-shifting offensive attack that became known as Total Football.

Over time, though, the academy hardens them mentally as well as physically. I asked a player how he felt about his coach’s being fired. He shrugged. “The football world is a hard world,” he replied. “He has made the decision to send boys away. Now he knows how it feels.”

On the success of the academy... 

Late on afternoon in the cafe at De Toekomst, I was talking with a coach, Patrick Landru, who works with the academy’s youngest age groups, when he asked if he could take my writing pad for a moment. I handed it over, and he put down five names, then drew a bracket to their right. Outside the bracket, he wrote, “80 million euros.” The names represented five active “Ajax educated” players, as he called them, all of whom entered the academy as children, made it through without being sent away and emerged as world-class players. Eighty million euros (or even more) is what Ajax got in return for selling the rights to the players to other professional clubs. Once a team pays this one-time transfer fee, it then negotiates a new, often very large, contract with the player.

Wesley Sneijder, the first name on the list and probably the most accomplished young Dutch player at the moment was acquired for 27 million euros. The other four players named on my pad were, like Sneijder, highly paid pros for clubs outside the Netherlands and prominent members of the Dutch national team that will compete in the World Cup beginning this week in South Africa.

 On training- the schedules and culture...

During training sessions at Ajax, I rarely heard the boys’ loud voices or laughter or much of anything besides the thump of the ball and the instruction of coaches. It could seem grim, more like the grinding atmosphere of training for an individual sport — tennis, golf, gymnastics — than what you would expect in a typically boisterous team setting. But one element of the academy’s success is that the boys are not overplayed, so the hours at De Toekomst are all business. Through age 12, they train only three times a week and play one game on the weekend. “For the young ones, we think that’s enough,” Riekerink said when we talked in his office one day. “They have a private life, a family life. We don’t want to take that from them. When they are not with us, they play on the streets. They play with their friends. Sometimes that’s more important. They have the ball at their feet without anyone telling them what to do.”

By age 15, the boys are practicing five times a week. In all age groups, training largely consists of small-sided games and drills in which players line up in various configurations, move quickly and kick the ball very hard to each other at close range. In many practice settings in the U.S., this kind of activity would be a warm-up, just to get loose, with the coach paying scant attention and maybe talking on a cellphone or chatting with parents. 

On how Ajax compares to a traditional American development system... 

More than three million boys under age 18 play organized soccer in the U.S., but we have never produced a critical mass of elite performers to compete on equal terms with the world’s best.

Americans like to put together teams, even at the Pee Wee level, that are meant to win. The best soccer-playing nations build individual players, ones with superior technical skills who later come together on teams the U.S. struggles to beat. In a way, it is a reversal of type. Americans tend to think of Europeans as collectivists and themselves as individualists. But in sports, it is the opposite. The Europeans build up the assets of individual players. Americans underdevelop the individual, although most of the volunteers who coach at the youngest level would not be cognizant of that.

Americans place a higher value on competition than on practice, so the balance between games and practice in the U.S. is skewed when compared with the rest of the world.

No other nation has as comprehensive a college-sports system as exists here, and none assume that an elite athlete will seek (or benefit from) higher education. “You have a major problem in the ages of 17 to 21,” Huw Jennings, now the director of the youth academy at Fulham, in the English Premier League, told me when I visited him in London. “The N.C.A.A. system is the fault line. I understand that it is good for a person’s development to go to university, but it’s not the way the world develops players.”

On monitoring the boys' diets... 

I was in the office of Olav Versloot, the club’s chief exercise physiologist, when a 14-year-old knocked on his door, eager for the results of his latest body-fat measurement, which was too high the last time. Boys in their midteens are permitted to have up to 13 percent body fat; by 17, the measure is supposed to be down to 12 percent. (The younger players, who are almost always lean enough, are monitored more loosely.) “The first time limits are exceeded we are quite liberal,” Versloot told me. “Diet suggestions are made. But after that, we start a program with a dietitian. Parents are called in, and special exercise programs are started.”

On how to become a star...

There are two ways to become a world-class soccer player. One is to spend hours and hours in pickup games — in parks, streets, alleyways — on imperfect surfaces that, if mastered, can give a competitor an advantage when he finally graduates to groomed fields. This is the Brazilian way and also the model in much of the rest of South America, Central America and the soccer hotbeds of Africa. It is like baseball in the Dominican Republic. Children play all the time and on their own.

The other way is the Ajax method. Scientific training. Attention to detail. Time spent touching the ball rather than playing a mindless number of organized games.

The more thoughtful people involved in developing U.S. soccer talent know that we conform to neither model. We are a much larger nation, obviously, than the Netherlands. Our youth sports leagues, for the most part, are community-based and run by volunteers rather than professionals. They have grown organically, sending out tendrils that run deep and are difficult to uproot. Change at the elite levels is more possible than at the stubborn grass roots.

Efforts to change American soccer culture are largely occurring in the older age groups. Some of the most talented players are being extracted from a deeply flawed system, but only after they’ve been immersed in it for many years.

The academies of M.L.S. teams have begun to abandon the pay-for-play model and are bearing nearly all costs, including travel, for their players.

I'll be paying extra attention to the Netherlands team. They have a pretty easy group with Japan, Denmark and Cameroon, so they should advance to the next round with no problem.  


Like I said, these are just excerpts from the article. When you have time, please read the full article and leave a comment below.  Would the Ajax model work in the states?  I'd love to know your thoughts.

Sidenote:  I love that the New York Times' feature stories also include a slideshow and video.  That's very thoughtful of them.  They recognize some of their readers prefer to watch a 3 minute video or review pictures via slideshow over reading a 10 page article.  I consumed the info via all three options.  I'm a junkie, lol. 

Below are links to the full length article, slideshow, and video.  Pick your poison.

Article: How a Soccer Star is Made

Slideshow:  The Ajax Soccer Academy:  From Boys to Pros

Video:  Training to Play the World's Game 

Don't forget the World Cup starts tomorrow (Friday) at 10am/ET on ESPN with South Africa vs. Mexico.

I'm most looking forward to USA vs. England on Saturday at 2:30pm/ET on ABC.  I'll be posted up at a bar at JFK waiting to board my flight to Bermuda.  I'm hoping I can find some Amarula to put me in a South African frame of mind!

Click here for the full World Cup schedule.




Source:  The New York Times

The NY Jets' Newest Defensive Weapon: Kyle Wilson aka KDUB20

It's June, which means everyone is probably thinking about the NBA Finals...except for me.  When Cleveland was on the brink of elimination, I knew it was going to be a repeat of the 2008 NBA Finals, and decided I would not be participating.  As a Knicks fan I can't support the Lakers or Celtics.  I'm sitting this one out. 

Instead, I'm looking beyond the NBA Finals and am more focused than ever on my NY Jets.  The reports aka tweets from OTA have taken my fandom to the next level.  It may still be a little early for some, but I figured you could use a distraction from all the Celtics, Lakers, Armando Galarraga, Jim Joyce talk.  I refuse to believe that I'm only one that can't wait for things to get popping on the gridiron.

So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to the NY Jets' newest defensive weapon, Kyle Wilson aka KDUB20!! The New Jersey native was drafted in the first round by the home team and will prove to be a great addition to what is already being hailed as the #1 defense in the league.  In fact, Rex Ryan has already penciled him in as the starting nickelback and punt returner.  And, since OTA started, all of the reports on KDUB20 have been positive.  The consensus is that Kyle's athletic and talented enough to make an immediate impact.  I cosign this.

Plus, he's surrounded by Pro Bowl talent which is only going to make his football IQ shoot through the roof.  Darrelle Revis + Antonio Cromartie + Bart Scott will not let him fail.  Trust and believe that.

Check out the Boise St. DB's highlight video below and look out for him this season.  Hint:  He'll be the dude in the #20 jersey with the locs.  Get familiar. 

PUSH PLAY:  KYLE WILSON (ALREADY HOME)