Untold: Hope Solo vs. U.S. Soccer (Clip 8)

A small clip from the Netflix sports doc "Hope Solo vs U.S. Soccer" which I recently watched. Why? I don't know, I guess I was really bored. 

I never followed the Hope Solo drama, I remember all the news stories about it when it was going down but I never really cared for women's soccer even when I was a soccer fan so I didn't pay much attention. 

But this revealing Netflix production just made me dislike US Soccer even more. 

Garber, after all these years still trying to make MLS look better than it is

Garber is a bum, after all these years as head of MLS he is still out there trying to blow smoke up people's butts and make MLS look better than it is. That is his job I guess.

I just can't believe I fell for MLS' crap all those years ago, and Garber is still up to his shenanigans.

Take for example his "state of the League" address or whatever it is now.

Oh, first off, I hadn't thought of MLS for quite awhile until last week when I started to watch the Hope Solo vs US Soccer thing on Netflix and then all of a sudden it dawned on me that it was that time of year again that MLS should be having their championship game. I had to actually look it up because of course if you don't go look it up for yourself you would never even know MLS existed, it is that irrelevant. 

So anyway, I went to MLS' website and there was a news article about Garber and the state of the League. I read it and started to almost vomit immediately. 

(link) https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-commissioner-don-garber-we-have-an-unbelievable-opportunity

But here is what really caught my eye. 

"MLS recently became the second-highest-attended soccer league worldwide, with over 12.1 million fans filling stadiums this year. There are new benchmarks in sponsorship, consumer products and digital engagement as well – powering increased investment in soccer across the U.S. and Canada."

"Wow", I thought. "Second-highest-attnded soccer league worldwide"?

That seems sketchy to me. You can't tell me MLS gets more fans than the Bundesliga or La Liga or any of the other European leagues. C'mon Garber, don't give me that sh*t.

But then they provide a link to the stats.

League - Country - Total Attendance

English Premier League

England

14.6M+

MLS

United States

12.1M+

Bundesliga

Germany

12M+

Serie A

Italy

11.6M+

La Liga

Spain

10.7M+

Brazilian Série A

Brazil

10.2M+

Ligue 1

France

8.4M+

LIGA MX

Mexico

6.9M+

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Wow, there is the proof. 

But wait a minute, this is total number of fans, not an average of how many fans show up each week. And doesn't MLS have way more teams than all those other leagues? Something stinks in Smallville. 

So lets's see if we compare apples to apples. 

MLS had 12.1 million fans over 29 teams playing 34 games a year. That breaks down to 12,272 fans a game. 

The Bundesliga had 12 million fans over 18 teams playing 34 games a year. That breaks down to 19,608 fans a game. 

La Ligue 1 had 8.4 million fans over 20 teams playing 38 games a year. That breaks down to 11,053 fans a game. 

Etc. etc. You get the idea. MLS is right around the same amount of fans as the French league. Which we've always kind of known that.

But, MLS is cooking the books with statements like these. They always have. 

This is just more bs from Garber and his crew. (Not the Columbus Crew which he wanted to see go away.)

Anyway, you get the idea. Keep buying their crap if you want. 

I'll watch bullfights in the meanwhile.

Chile vs Venezuela - Nov. 19th, 2024 - World Cup Qualifiers

So, my international team I cheer for most is Chile. 

(Japan and Jamaica are my next favorites.)

I don't cheer for the US, they are always too cocky. I don't like that. 

So it has been rough so far for Chile in World Cup qualifiying. They have only scored 1 point in their last 4 games and as of yesterday morning they were at the bottom of South America's table. What is even worse is with the new World Cup format 6 teams from South America go with a 7th team possibly going after the new playoff format. 

So you have to play pretty poorly to not qualify out of South America, but so far that is what Chile has been doing.

Last night though they regained a little life in their soccer boots and pulled out a victory. With that hopefully can carry some momentum into their next game only problem is the next round of qualifiers isn't until March! Good heavens, that is a long time from now.

Anyway, I will enjoy this victory for now.

Trump wins, RSL loses, the Utes throw a temper tantrum

What a week.

1. Trump wins. You had to know he was going to win, Kamala offered nothing.

Change? She offered change? Change from what, yourself? Change from yourself is Trump.

2. RSL are out of the playoffs. You had to know RSL was going to get beat, they always get beat.

Now the offseason can begin and we can all forget about soccer for awhile.

3. The Utes lose to BYU and throw a temper tantrum. I love seeing the Utes fall apart, but even I was shocked to see the behavior of Coach Whit and Athletic Director Harlan after the game. First off, with regards to the holding call that gave BYU life which led to the game winning field goal, it is part of the game. Sometimes you get the calls and sometimes you don't. But none of that matters, what matters is that the Utes scored zero points, 0 points, no points, in the entire second half. A football team should be ashamed of themselves for not scoring a single point in the entire second half. Not only that but they didn't score any points in the first quarter. All their points game in the second quarter only! C'mon Utes, you have to do some soul searching, admit you suck and move on. But now they are saying they got robbed, they are not proud to be in the Big 12, blah blah blah blah blah. 

Don't believe me?, check out the video, the press conference starts at 1:45 in the video. Oh, notice how Coach Whit knocks the chair over as he leaves the conference as if he were a jilted lover storming out of the coffee shop when he finds out she's leaving him for the new guy at work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WmJ1J38V1Y

Oh, RSL is in the playoffs I guess

I really had no idea but here is an article from KSL.

-----

RSL falls in penalties to Minnesota in playoff opener

(ksl.com 10-29-24)

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath matched his season high in saves with seven and added another one during Tuesday's penalty shootout at America First Field.

Still, it wasn't enough in a playoff-opening loss to Minnesota United FC.

The temperature dipped below 40 degrees as the new MLS playoff format dictated the game go directly to a penalty kick shootout with all zeroes on the scoreboard after a chilly and somewhat stale 90 minutes.

MacMath made the play he needed to with a save on the third penalty attempt from Minnesota, but Justen Glad missed the ensuing shot for RSL to take the shootout deeper into the near-freezing late autumn night.

Minnesota made its next three penalty shots, and Braian Ojeda hit the crossbar for a miss on the sixth RSL attempt for a 5-4 shootout loss.

"We gave ourselves a really good chance to win this game," MacMath said. "And obviously fell short."

United entered the day as one of the hottest teams in the league with four wins in five straight unbeaten matches and brought the fight to AFF with a lead in both total shots and shots on target. Keeper Dayne St. Clair proved a worthy opposite to MacMath in goal with six saves of his own.

The Minnesota defense frustrated RSL's advances throughout the game with a five-man "low block" that made it difficult to find spaces in the final third of the field.

Head coach Pablo Mastroeni said the team just needed to "make plays" and lamented that "you can't tactic your way into the back of the net."

Diego Luna had the best chance of the evening for RSL just 13 minutes in but St. Clair got to it for his first block of the night. Luna exited the match in the 70th minute and Mastroeni said the MLS Young Player of the Year finalist was "cramping up."

Whether it was cramps or the lack of goals, Luna's frustration was evident as he kicked over a cooler of drinks on his way to the RSL bench. Minnesota has now held RSL to zero goals through the last two meetings between the two teams, dating back to another 0-0 draw on Oct. 2 near the end of the regular season.

"We'll go back to the drawing board and just figure out ways to get guys in dangerous areas," Mastroeni said of the offensive struggles. "And hopefully, you know, this weekend we'll get a goal that changes the landscape."

RSL now heads to Minneapolis on Saturday for a must-win Game 2 in the best-of-three first round of MLS Cup playoffs.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51166102/rsl-falls-in-penalties-to-minnesota-in-playoff-opener

At this point making fun of the Utes would be nothing but cruel

Look, I'm not going to poke fun at the Utes. 

I mean, there is still a big big game coming up in two weeks, BYU vs Utah at Rice Eccles. We need to take things seriously, BYU could choke. It happens, anything can happen.

But the Utes are looking rough, I mean rough. And BYU is a steamroller at this point. 

But let's just let things chill at the moment, with the election coming up and this game (I refuse to call it "the Holy War",) let's just get through the next couple of weeks and I think we will all be happier as we get into the middle of November. 

(the above video was posted just after the Utes lost to Arizona State and John Kurtz makes some good points)

Big 12 football standings.... delicious

 

First off, it has been a long time since I posted, I know.

But nothing has changed since July, I still have no idea what is going on in the soccer world and I don't care. MLS still sucks, that is a given.

Also, I still don't follow hardly any other sports. Why would I? It's all stupid.

But I had to smile this week with what is going on in Big 12 college football. The State of Utah has been turned on its head, and it has been fun to laugh at under my breath.

For some reason, even though I'm bored with most sports, I seem to listen to ESPN 700 radio a lot. At least "the Drive with Spence Checketts." Is it because he is Dave Checketts' son?, maybe. I don't know, but he does a very good job with his radio program.

Last year it was fun to listen to ESPN 700 during football season because I could feel the anguish of all Utes fans when the greatest college football quarterback of all time, or at least that is what they build him up to be, Cam Rising couldn't play due to injury but every week they held out hope that he would come back. "Cam this, Cam that, blah blah blah blah blah." They even had a segment on the radio called "Conversations with Cam" which was hilarious because the guy comes off as, shall we say....annoying? Well, he never did come back and the Utes sucked it.

Now, BYU didn't do any better so nobody could really smile or gloat.

But this year, lol.

One week in particular stands out, the week before the season began. With Cam coming back the guys on the radio could not blow anymore smoke up anyone's butt more than what they were doing. They were picking the Utes to win the Big 12, without a doubt. They were even interviewing one of the Utes players, I can't rememeber which one, but the words "national championship" came out of his mouth. 

Contrary to that they had one of the sports guys from KUTV on, I can't remember the guy's name but he has been a Utah sports reporter since forever, and he was asked if he thought BYU would go "bowling" this year, meaning they would win at least half their games in order to qualify for a bowl game. 

The guy said, "No, they won't. They are going to struggle this year, I don't see them winning 6 games this year." Even Spence Checketts was taken back a little bit by that statement.

Well, well, what a difference a few weeks makes. 

After Cam got injured by some paper cups of Gatorade, the Utes are struggling. And BYU, at least at the moment, can do no wrong. 

BYU is ranked number one in the Big 12, where the Utes are, well, so far down you have to scroll once or twice to get to 'em. 

It has been delicious to watch. I even scared myself a little last Sunday as I giggled with delight at the hightlights of Arizona stomping on the Utes in Rice Eccles, the place where my flags once flew. My laugh was uncontrolable, almost sinister. It reminded me of the Joker's laugh from this deleted scene from"The Batman." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZNWLGL_CxI

"You think they deserved it, you think they deserved it!"

So, I know there are still many games to be played, but at least for now, let's all raise our paper cups of Gatorade and give thanks.