It has been a busy year so far, I have fallen a little behind on posts

Well, as with most humans I have been very busy lately and haven't posted a whole lot. I am going to try and get caught up today or tomorrow ..... or this week. 

A lot has been going on, RSL trudges along, the Royals (women's soccer team) are one of the worst teams ever, the Warriors (rugby team that is way more fun to watch than RSL) are in the playoffs, the US Men's National Team are pretty awful losing a friendly to Switzerland 4-0, LOL !!!!!, and barely winning against Saudi Arabia 1-0. 

Nobody is showing up to their games either, they played Saudi Arabia in Austin and the stadium wasn't even 40% full. Good lord, that is bad.

The bullfight season in Spain is off and running at full speed, with Pamplona coming up in just a couple of weeks. 

Every year it seems like there is a matador that dominates, Roca Rey has dominated for a few years, last year you could say David Galvan kind of took over, but this year Morante de la Puebla is going bonkers. With success after success this year, Sevilla, Jerez, Madrid, and Salamanca so far, some are calling him the best ever. He's been around 20 years now and has his followers, but this year has been different. Even those that don't like him much can't deny he is elevating the bullfight to new heights. 

I will post some photos and videos soon of him for your viewing pleasure.

Anyway, be back soon.  

Utah Royals 1st NWSL team to 10 losses this season after falling 4-1 to Seattle

(by Caleb Turner ksl.com 6-21-25)

Based on the postgame mood, you wouldn't have guessed the Utah Royals had just lost their 10th game of the season.

The NWSL's last-place squad reached the midpoint of its season with a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Reign in its 13th game of the year Saturday at America First Field.

The home team was outmatched from wire-to-wire against the top-five team from Washington, giving up goals in the sixth, 16th, 66th and 91st minutes.

For a brief moment near the end of the first half, it looked like a comeback could be underway when Bianca St-Georges scored her third goal of the season for Utah, but it wasn't to be.

The goal, which moved St-Georges into a tie with Brecken Mozingo for the team lead in goals, was the only one in the cards for the Royals on Saturday, despite leading the visiting team 14-10 in total shots.

The Royals enter the midseason break on an eight-game winless streak and a four-game losing streak, with the next league fixture not until Aug. 3. But still, a sense of optimism and belief remained with players and coach during press conference comments.

Perhaps it's because the break gives the team time to recover from a brutal start to the season that featured two season-ending injuries and take another step in building "from the bottom out," as head coach Jimmy Coenraets described it.

"Make sure you kind of just detach from the game and you get some time by yourself," Coenraets said of his advice to players heading into the break. "I just want everyone to come back in the best possible headspace."

The real reason for the optimism, however, is likely because Utah is approaching this season as one piece of a much larger puzzle. Coenraets said that since the Miller family took over team ownership in April, he has felt supported in building a foundation for what he called "a sustainable future."

"Ever since the change, there was one clear message, and that's, 'Let's build a foundation, and let's build upon the foundation that we are building the next six months,'" Coenraets said. "We want to be competitive as much as we can, but we also want to make sure that by being competitive, we're actually building for the future and not giving up the future to just get results."

Utah will play a pair of friendlies against the San Diego Wave to break up the month-long break and several Royals will continue playing games with their respective national teams, including Ally Sentnor and Mandy McGlynn with the USWNT and Janni Thomsen joining Denmark for the UEFA Women's Euro tournament.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51333558/utah-royals-1st-nwsl-team-to-10-losses-this-season-after-falling-4-1-to-seattle

Larry H. Miller ownership will bring stability to RSL

(by Patrick Kinahan ksl.com 6-17-25)

On a gorgeous evening, standing before the nostalgic admirers showering him with affection, Nick Rimando was inducted into the Real Salt Lake ring of honor at America First Field.

From 2007-19, Rimando was a steady presence at goalkeeper for the Major League Soccer franchise. During his tenure in the league, which included stints with D.C. United and the Miami Fusion, he set records in appearances, minutes, saves, wins and clean sheets.

As Rimando got ready to speak, the crowd chanted his name in unison. The familiar scene has played out countless times in stadiums across the world as teams recognize great players who made strong connections with respective fan bases.

Those relationships between players and fans are among the primary factors that create loyalty with the ticket-paying customers. It's an ingredient missing, to a degree, lately for RSL, which has undergone significant roster changes.

In short, fans desire to connect with talented familiar faces. Look no further than the Utah Jazz, which has enjoyed enormous success with a foundation built on stability.

RSL needs the same consistency the Jazz had under the Larry H. Miller ownership group for decades before selling the team to Ryan Smith's group. And if history is an indication, now that the LHM people bought the team, count on it.

During the press conference announcing the Miller family's acquisition of RSL and the Utah Royals, Steve Miller said as much. Miller, who serve will serve as chairman and governor of both teams, is the son of the late Larry Miller.

"I think what we bring is stability. I think we bring a great understanding of this market," he said in a Deseret News story, noting the family's almost 50 years of experience in all facets of running a professional sports franchise.

"I think the sum total of the package that we bring is going to be — I'm not a huge fan of the word synergistic so maybe find a synonym for that — but I think there's a lot of adjacencies. ... Our expectation, frankly, is that bringing that to the table is exactly what these franchises need."

The Miller way has energized coach Pablo Mastroeni during a trying season. After making the playoffs last season, and then losing several key cogs, RSL is languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

The roster changes combined with the new ownership have made this season a transitional year. At the same time, the team's administration is excited for the future.

"Obviously, the proof is in the pudding when they owned the Jazz and how remarkable that team was and perennial playoff contenders," Mastroeni said during his weekly appearance on The Zone. "The one thing that they've made really clear is they want to build a team similar (to the Jazz) — something the fans can hold on to because the stars will be here."

In the world of soccer basically teams can sign and sell players from and to different leagues, which was the case for RSL last offseason in both situations. Mastroeni believes his team can lose players but still maintain a nucleus to remain consistently competitive.

He points to Diego Luna as an example of a player capable of staying with RSL over the next decade. At 21, the northern California native is already a fan favorite.

The Millers "want to build a team that everyone in the community can really hang on to for years and it's not just switching players out because we want to sell them. Every player's situation is going to be different, but the philosophy I think moving forward is we want consistency.

"To be successful year after year you must have a core of players that are reliable, that can grow together, that understand their different clicks, I think that's how you build a successful team. I'm so grateful that the Miller family has joined."

Another plus is local ownership, which arguably lends itself to a great urgency to be successful. Former majority owner David Blitzer, who has maintained a stake, is from New Jersey and has shares of several sports teams around the world.

"It's different when you have local ownership," Mastroeni said. "They come to the games (and) their fans. They want the same thing that we all want, which is to win. I think they're going to do it a little differently and build some continuity within the group — hopefully, keep a lot of these young players that are developing under our watch."

https://www.ksl.com/article/51331457/patrick-kinahan-larry-h-miller-ownership-will-bring-stability-to-rsl

My take - a mammoth opportunity missed

So the Utah Hockey Club is now the Utah Mammoth. Ummm.... ok.

I previously have said they should have gone with the Mountaineers. Classic, non-cartoonish, and would have fit in nicely with the State and the NHL.

It also would have fixed the yeti problem. They could have had the mascot be a yeti, or a bigfoot, or a sasquatch, and its name could have been "Wasatch" which was the original plan for the team name Yeti anyway.

But nooo.... now we have a mammoth as a mascot. How are you going to have a mascot as a mammoth?

I don't know, won't the tusks get in the way of any antics he wants to do?

What a missed opportunity.

Why didn't they come to me and ask me what I thought?

Seriously.   

Tusks up: The Utah Hockey Club is now the Utah Mammoth

(ksl.com May 7, 2025)

It's been about 10,000 years since a mammoth last roamed Utah land. So with that perspective, the naming process for Utah's NHL team hasn't been too long at all.

After a 13-month process, featuring multiple rounds of fan voting and trademark issues (not to mention an entire season), Utah's NHL team has a permanent name.

What was the Utah Hockey Club is now officially the Utah Mammoth.

The team said a total of 850,000 votes were cast over the course of a year to eventually land on the new moniker.

"The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we're building together," team owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement.

The announcement ends what has been a long process to find a name for the NHL's newest franchise.

It started in April 2024 when Smith Entertainment Group put out a public request asking for potential team names. A month later, the organization released its first ballot, allowing fans to choose four names of a list of 20.

That list was cut to six names — Yeti, Blizzard, Hockey Club, Venom, Outlaws and Mammoth — for another round of voting last summer.

And then the trademark hurdles came.

The team hit a snag with presumed favored Utah Yeti when Yeti Coolers refused to enter into a coexistence agreement with the team. The team had plenty of conversations with the cooler company, and the NHL (a Yeti partner) even tried to help tip the scales, but Yeti ultimately wanted to protect its own trademarks.

So the team moved on from the name that had topped many lists, and the final vote was between Mammoth, Hockey Club and Outlaws (only after a brief flirtation with "Wasatch" as a potential Yeti replacement).

Mammoth was the "clear favorite" in that final tally, according to the team, which was something that was seen from fans on social media and within the arena. But that's only one reason Wednesday's announcement wasn't a big surprise.

Last week, the team essentially leaked the name by updating its YouTube handle to "UtahMammoth" — a pretty clear sign of what was coming.

The team even took the positive reaction to the hiccup as further validation that it had made the right choice for the name.

The Mammoth moniker comes with plenty of Utah ties, too. Mammoth fossils have been found throughout Utah, including in Bear Lake, Fillmore, Orem, Park City, and Lake Powell. A complete mammoth skeleton was even discovered in Hunting Canyon in 1988.

As for the rest of the branding, the team will retain its inaugural season colors — blue, black, and white — but introduce updated designs.

The primary logo features a mammoth profile with a mountain peak forming the crown of its head. The silhouette of Utah is embedded within the mountain, with an "M" inside the state outline. Secondary logos include a tusk piercing a "U" and a new "Mammoth Sans font."

Jersey designs will resemble last season's sweaters, maintaining similar stripe patterns but showcasing the new marks. The home jersey will be black with the primary logo on the chest. The away jersey will feature the diagonal "Utah" wordmark in the updated font.

The away jersey can be seen as a call-back to the Utah Hockey Club season — and it likely won't be the last. The organization emphasized the Utah HC name will always remain part of its history, with future opportunities to pay tribute to the team's inaugural identity.

For now, though, the focus is on launching the new Utah Mammoth brand.

While fans had to wait for the official name, they won't have to wait for merchandise.

Hats, shirts, hoodies, and more — everything except jerseys — will go on sale at the team store in the Delta Center at noon on Wednesday. Jerseys will be released, along with the rest of the NHL's uniforms, ahead of next season.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51308328/tusks-up-the-utah-hockey-club-is-now-the-utah-mammoth

More "blah blah blah" from Garber - "a powerful soccer nation"

From the KSL article about the Miller's buying RSL there was a quote from Garber. 

"The fact that we, together, can take this sport and combine the power of what makes sports so important and how it can enrich and improve lives," Garber said. "Particularly in a state like Utah that has such strong participation, speaks to the momentum and the vision and the opportunity that this sport, this club, and our sister club, the Royals, can have in just making our country a powerful soccer nation."

I can't stand Garber, never could even when I was a die hard "MLS can do no wrong" fan.

But he thinks MLS and the NWSL can make the US a powerful soccer nation. Dude, have you not been paying attention? The US is getting worse at soccer, not better!

MLS has been around almost 30 years! And women's soccer I have no idea, sometimes it is here and sometimes it goes away.

But over the past 30 years, with maybe one or two exceptions, the US has never gotten better at soccer on the world stage. We are always struggling to even qualify for the World Cup, last time we didn't even make it. 

And Garber keeps spewing this garbage about us becoming a powerful soccer nation. One can argue it is because of MLS and the lack of real competition that the US has never been, and most likely never will be a powerful soccer nation. 

Dude, get lost.

Oh, and by the way, the Utah Warriors are now in 1st place in Major League Rugby. How's RSL doing?

Isn't it ironic

Kind of funny, ironic, or sad, however you look at it, that the Miller group bought RSL seeing as back in the day Dave Checketts (RSL's founder) accused Larry H. Miller of trying to sabotage any RSL stadium deal.

I vividly remember Dave Checketts being interviewed by Doug Wright on KSL radio when Checketts was pushing to get a stadium deal done. He was running into a lot of road blocks, or at least he saw it that way, and he accused Larry Miller of working behind the scenes to sabotage any stadium progress. 

Doug Wright was shocked.

But I kind of side with Checketts on this one because I also remember Larry Miller being interviews on KSL radio when he was interested in buying the Minnesota Twins MLB team and move them to Utah. He was asked if there would be enough of a fan base to support a MLB team and he replied "We'll have to wait and see how the soccer team does."

Meaning he thought that if the soccer team was successful then there wouldn't be enough other sports fans out there to support a MLB baseball team whose season schedule would over lap that of a MLS team.

You have to remember this all took place at a different time when Utah's population was about half what it is now. 

Anyway, the soccer team stayed, the Twins did not come to Utah, and now the Millers own RSL.

What the hell?