When It Rains...

American Soccer Daily is reporting that former U.S. international Eddie Lewis will be joining fellow American Benny Feilhaber at Premiership club Derby County. This news comes only hours after the club announced that Feilhaber had received international clearance from the German and English FAs. It appears now that for some English clubs, when it rains, it pours. Derby County now joins the likes of Reading and Fulham as Premier League clubs with two or more American internationals on the books.

This is a rather bizarre trend if I might say so myself, but I certainly can't complain. What's even stranger is that Derby had also earlier attempted to purchase Eddie Johnson from MLS' Kansas City Wizards (Johnson nixed the deal). America is now seen by many clubs as a bargain basement for solid talent. Whether this is a legitimate reflection of the talent of these American players is debateable, but it certainly indicates both a growing respect for American soccer as well as the continued ignorance of the technical skill and value of many of our best internationals. Change will still be a long time coming.

Jersey Sponsors in MLS

Yesterday, MLS club Houston Dynamo announced a new jersey sponsorship with Houston-based energy firm Amigo Energy. Reputedly, the deal is worth around $7.5 million through 2010, numbers which would net the club around $2 million per year. While some might criticze the look of the jersey (personally, nothing is as bad as the old Galaxy - Herbalife jerseys, and let's not even talk about some foreign sponsors like Doritos, Ty (yeah, the Beanie Baby people), and Bimbo), no one can criticize their club for hauling in a few extra million dollars a year in revenue (even I'd wear a Ty-sponsored jersey if they were giving my club major money). While MLS' structure is such that this money won't necessarily translate to player acquisition, it does mean that already financially fledling franchises can make things much, much easier on themselves.

Sponsorships are themselves always a hit-or-miss situation. Look at the Herbalife situation in LA. If it weren't bad enough that the logo looks ugly (although the Galaxy's new jerseys have improved the look dramatically), the company itself is a dubious pyramid scheme. However, Chivas are sponsored by Mexican paint company Comex, and their jerseys look perfectly acceptable. Likewise, Toronto is sponsored by Canadian-based BMO (Bank of Montreal). The team not only sports a classy organization but they also sport some of the classiest jerseys in the league.

San Jose Returns

While there were plenty of other news-worthy items I could have picked up today, this is what I'm posting:

The San Jose Earthquakes are returning to the MLS fold, says Sports Illustrated and the San Jose Business Journal. Even the MLS Jobs Listing page seems to indicate as much.

I have nothing to say except that I'm going to be drinking several beers tonight in celebrationl. If any of you ever wondered why the old In Limbo blog disappeared off the face of the earth, AEG's decision to move the Earthquakes was the dagger in the heart that spurred its demise. While I never stopped following MLS or loving soccer, my interest waned enough that I called blogging quits. Well, fret no longer, it looks like I and the Earthquakes are here to stay.

Five Beckham Truths

You may have already noticed that many of the articles about David Beckham have been decidedly negative. However, it's important to point out that they're written by an older breed of sports journalist who tend to know literally nothing about the sport. ESPN talking heads (I'm looking at your Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless) attempt to pass off heated opinions as actual intelligence and insight (Jim Rome has made a lot of money doing this over the years) when in reality they really know nothing (Skip Bayless' argument that LeBron James has accomplished more over his career than David Beckham speaks to an ignorance comparable only with everyone's favorite Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf). Here are five truths to help educate them:

Truth #1 - America is not "indifferent" to soccer.

I'm quoting Gene Wojciechowski above, who wrote in his most recent article that July 13, 2007 may be remembered as "the latest example of this country's indifference to a sport the rest of the world adores." He's right about one thing, the world does adore soccer (or football as they all call it), but he's wrong that this country is indifferent. Perhaps Gene would have had a point after the collapse of the NASL in the early eighties, but certainly not now. Not when the Gold Cup Final is drawing TV ratings 41 percent higher than the Stanley Cup Final. Not when the World Cup Final is drawing a bigger audience in American households than the much-revered World Series. Not when millions of American children are playing the game in parks across the country every day. Not when the U.S.'s predominantly soccer-loving Hispanic population adds sixty-seven million more members by 2050. This country is about as indifferent to soccer as I am to beautiful women, that is to say, not at all.

Truth #2 - Soccer is more popular in the United States now than it ever has been before.

A recent poll on ESPN.com asks its readers "Will soccer ever achieve the popularity it once had in the United States again?" This of course presumes that it's not currently as popular as it once was (when do they mean?), and this is not true. The great myth being pedalled here is that the NASL was the height of soccer's popularity in America. This speaks to a New York bias prevalent both in the political and the sports arenas that tends to ignore the opinions of the rest of the country. One could argue that New Yorkers were more interested in American league soccer in the 1970s than they are today, but to argue that it was more popular in all of America is simply not true. The NASL folded in part because of spending beyond its modest means, but it also folded because it was just not profitable in enough markets nationwide. However, as the television ratings mentioned above indicate, Americans (of which Hispanics actually comprise a part, contrary to Wojciechowski's xenophobic exclusion thereof) do tend to watch and enjoy soccer. Such ratings would have been unfathomable even ten years ago. Couple these ratings with steadily rising MLS attendance numbers, more television contracts, more profitability, and continued success on the international level, American soccer has never been more popular, ESPN's protestations to the contrary.

Truth #3 - Beckham is an accomplished player.

Earlier I mentioned Skip Bayless on Cold Pizza suggesting that LeBron James had already accomplished more in his career than Beckham ever has in his. Maybe I'm wrong here, but it's my understanding that James has never won an NBA title. Compare that with David Beckham, a player who has scored goals in three World Cups, won the Champions League, the English Premier League, and now La Liga, and I fail to see the comparison. In fact, the only American athlete who has made as many comparable achievements is Tiger Woods, an athlete who has won nearly all the most important titles in his respective sport. Beckham hasn't won the World Cup but he has won just about every major European club trophy that matters in his career. What is left for him to accomplish other than winning the World Cup or the Euro Cup?

Truth #4 - Beckham is still a great player.

Gene Wojciechowski's (by now I can write this name without even having to look up its spelling, how sad) first article quoted a "soccer expert" who claimed that "Beckham is past his prime." Nothing could be further from the truth. Beckham is coming off a complete rejuvenation of his career, having inspired Real Madrid to its first La Liga title in four years and having won himself a starting spot with the English National Team only a half-year after coach Steve McClaren declared that Beckham no longer had a place in his plans. Perhaps Wojciechowski's so-called "expert" may have had a case back in January when Beckham was riding the pine in Madrid and desperate to leave, but her case looks absolutely foolish now. Couple this with the renown in which Beckham is still held in international circles for his crossing ability and his strength on a dead ball, and you have a player who is still among the very best at his position in the world.

Truth #5 - Newsflash: Major League Soccer is the highest level of professional soccer in America!

I've never understood the need to call MLS "minor league," but c'est la vie. Certainly, it's had its unprofessional elements (the San Jose Earthquakes used to practice at a community college and change behind a shed), but with over half the teams now playing in soccer specific stadia, the facilities are no longer the culprit. While the salary disparity between Beckham and Jeff Curtin (who I recently interviewed) is vast, this is an area that MLS will improve because of the money that David Beckham will be bringing to the league. Ultimately, while MLS is no English Premier League or even La Primera División del Futbol Mexicano, it's still the premier league in the United States and its getting better every year. Beckham will only help raise the standard of the league even further.

So you don't like soccer? Tough. But millions of us do (interestingly, the ESPN poll above shows that over 50% of the respondents actually watch soccer on a regular basis, a pretty sizeable margin in the grand scheme of the cluttered American sports market). So get over it already.

The Rebranding and Return of In Limbo

In Limbo is back...sort of.

I'll be posting longer articles on Scaryice's Climbing the Ladder every Thursday (oh geez, I did this today...It's A Hard Knock Life (For Them)). Here I'll be contributing pithy thoughts and any other information I can muster.

I'd also like to thank Chris Bailey with the Chicago Fire Media Relations for setting up my interviews with Curtin and Russolillo. He mentioned to me that Osorio's position is to remind the players that while they might not make much by American standards, it's even more difficult to be in their position in other countries, particularly South America. Once again, thanks Chris!

So look for posts every now and then, and you can bet I'll be linking to my articles every Thursday.

BIG UPDATE: NEW MOVE!

Hey everyone, I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in so long. I was dying during the World Cup, but my duties at work have prevented me from blogging. Well, our friend at Climbing the Ladder, has given me the opportunity to post an article on his site every Thursday. So check it out beginning tomorrow, and every Thursday.

Ownage

Guess who's back? No, not me, although it has been too long, but your San Jose Earthquakes of course! It all started Tuesday when it was announced on MLSnet that there was going to be a special expansion-related announcement made by Commissioner Garber on Wednesday afternoon. Later that night, it surfaced, somewhat obscurely, on Major League Baseball's official website that on Wednesday there was going to be an announcement about a venture between Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff and Major League Soccer. This was confirmed definitively later that evening when the always-reliable Matchnight reported that Major League Soccer was going to announce a return to the Bay Area in a press conference on Wednesday. Naturally, on Wednesday it was indeed confirmed that Wolff and his associate, John Fisher, had made a deal with MLS giving them three years in which they are given priority as an expansion franchise.

This news came only a day after news that San Jose State University, in a move of crushing humility, announced that they were hiring an outside managing firm for the now tenant-less Spartan Stadium. It should come as no surprise that without the Earthquakes as a primary tenant, Spartan becomes practically useless and costly for those other eight, non-football months. It's unclear whether the officials at SJSU believed that AEG was bluffing, but from what we know of the negotiations, it's obvious they thought that they could get a sweetheart deal. That of course didn't happen and now their former tenants are playing at Robertson Stadium in Houston, Texas. The timing of both this article and the expansion announcement is funny, if not also a little ironic. Whether Spartan is in Wolff's plans, whether as a permanent solution or as a temporary option, remains to be seen, but you can't help but think it has to warm Don Kassing's heart just a little.

Of course, this three year deal does not mean that San Jose will be receiving an expansion franchise anytime soon, or even at all, this is all still contingent on a soccer specific stadium. However, the only thing that Wolff wants is the land and transportation access. According to the San Jose Mercury News: "If San Jose or another Bay Area city is willing to donate the land and pay for related road improvements, Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff will build a stadium and deliver a Major League Soccer team to replace the departed Earthquakes." Or, in Wolff's own words: "We think we have a concept of financing that's a little bit hybrid between public financing and private financing." If Santa Clara is an option, either at the Fairgrounds property, or near the Great America amusement park, a stadium plan would not require a public vote like it would in San Jose. Either way, what the public needs to be aware of is that this will cost them almost nothing.

What's most important about this move though, not only for the team, but for MLS as well, is the public visibility of the owners involved. Indeed, just as Dave Checketts is a huge name in Salt Lake City sports, Wolff and his associates are big in the Bay Area and owners of a successful Major League Baseball franchise. Already articles from sports journalists who typically ignored the Earthquakes, such as Ray Ratto, have begun appearing in Bay Area newspapers. This is the kind of publicity you can't buy, and it's all because of the local visibility of the owners. However, this move is equally as important for MLS, since it means getting an ownership group that is already committed and experienced with another franchise in another league. Certainly, AEG owns other sporting franchises, but Wolff is not a faceless conglomerate, nor does he want to create an entertainment center (like stadia in Dallas, Chicago, and Colorado demonstrate), but a true soccer home for the San Jose Earthquakes.

This is a step in the right direction, not only for the Earthquakes and their fans, but also for MLS. By getting a committment from the ownership group, MLS has sent a signal to all other potential expansion cities that says: "Step up, front the fee, and promise a stadium, and you can get a team." Not only that, but it puts MLS right back where they wanted it, in one of America's largest television markets. This is a win-win move for the league.