Thursday, January 11, 2007

Becks Hams It Up

So by now all the really annoying office know-it-alls have exclaimed about how David Beckham is coming to America, more importantly, coming to the greater Los Angeles Area. Just what this city needed, another prissy bastard with a superiority complex.

I am a big Beckham guy, when he is delivering quality service balls to Ryan Giggs or Teddy Sheringham. Since his departure from Old Trafford, he has gone without winning one major trophy with Real Madrid and has contributed to more bench time then actual pitch time. But hey, he looks pretty.

I fear that this is just another Carlos Hermosillo move, bringing in a big time name soccer star that ends up flaming out and collecting a paycheck. I hope that it isn't the Hermosillo model and more the Hristo Stoichkov model with the Chicago Fire, where a player in the downside of his career was able to come in and play serious minutes making the Fire one of the better and more stable franchises in the MLS. Stoichkov had a brilliant playing career in Europe and actually won titles with Barcelona, however he didn't have the face for the American media. In any case, the MLS has made it a habit of signing guys with big name value, but little left in the tank.

Is Becks washed up, well he is injury prone and the "Galacticos" declined to resign him or even offer a new contract for a reason. Since the World Cup he has garnered more attention for having his captaincy with the FA taken away and his subsequent departure from the national team. Again, there was a reason Steve McClarren took the armband away and didn't make a big fuss when Becks left the squad.

So the future for the MLS looks somewhat brighter. They have proven that given the right circumstances, they can go out and sign a guy with name value. Is Ronaldo to the Red Bulls next? That has yet to be determined due to the influx of money being pumped into world soccer by Dubai and the United Arad Emirates, two countries that have made it "business as usual" employing the Gabriel Batistutas and Rivaldos of the world. In any case, the MLS has their franchise guy to go along with another guy, Landon Donovan, that needs to be the poster boy for American soccer. Surely the move is seen as a positive for Donovan, who needs a swift kick in the arse after his rotten egg at the 2006 World Cup.

However the Galaxy and the MLS risk re-opening pandora's box. They can end up with a guy with little left in the tank that collects paychecks for a living, something that they desperately tried to get away from after the countless number of disasters in league signing history. "El Matador" anyone? This would do a lot to stop the growth of young, promissing American soccer talent that this league was supposed to showcase. As it is, the league already has shipped out some of the better American talent to Europe. That is of course the point of the league and American Soccer has come a long way from John Harkes and Alexi Lalas. However the MLS is in that critial period where it has to land some credibility on the world stage if it is going to ultimately survive. American soccer settled with the appointment of Bob Bradley as US national coach and failed miserably in trying to legitimise the program with a big name like Jurgen Klinnsman. So that gauntlet has been dropped and this move must bring some legitimacy to the MLS and American soccer or come 2010 no one will really care about US soccer and the development of the program.

Will I go watch? Perhaps. I mean, it is going to be a circus for the first few months when he is around and games will probably be sold out. As people realize that the product on the field is still soccer, the true hard core fans will remain, and I will be there supporting my guy Sasha and company with the thousand or so fans that frequent the Home Depot Center. Besides, I really don't feel like being part of that whole Scientology Revival the first couple of months as all of Becks' Hollywood friends like Tom Cruise and Will Smith make the Galaxy games the new "sports" experience.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Life is Complete Again!!!

From Tom Hoffarth's Blog:

-- Official word finally came out that, at last, Petros Papadakis will return to the L.A. sports-talk airwaves, teamming up with Matt "Money" Smith in the KLAC-AM (570) afternoon drive 4-7 p.m. slot starting this Monday. Papadakis, who left 1540-AM a few months back after starting his radio career and picking up a No. 1 ranking in our 2006 Best/Worst of L.A. Media poll for sports-talk hosts, had been rumored to be going to 570 for some time now, but nothing could be said until the contracts were worked out. The announcement was finally made Friday after station program director Don Martin gives Joe Grande and Wayne Cook the standard "we're going in a new direction" speech. “Right now the crazy thing is I haven't worked on the radio in three months so I've got so many things built up in my brain that my head is about to explode," Papadakis said. Smith added: "Of all the talented people I’ve had the privilege to work with, I say with great certainty Petros is right at the top. His passion, creative genius and unique perspective on not just sports, but all talking points is a refreshing change from what this city was accustomed.“ Daily News USC beat writer Scott Wolf, a regular on Papadakis' 1540 show, has already posted a blog item on this. The 570-AM website has already taken down the bios of Cook and Grande from the "Good Times" show promos.


The news comes as KSPN-AM (710) went ahead and hired Kevin Kiley to babysit D'Marco Farr on the 1-3 p.m. slot., starting Tuesday, Jan.16. Good luck with that one. Kiley has assignments as an NFL sideline reporter for Westwood One coverage of the NFL playoffs for the time being and is willing to relocate to L.A. since he has a kid attending UCLA. Will the show get better? At least Killey will challenge Farr on all his half-baked ideas about what makes the sports world go around. And on NFL picks, we're guessing Kiley would at least win against a dog.Knowing these two hirings were on the way, we decided to hold off the release of the 2007 Best/Worst of L.A. Media series until February to give these guys a chance to settle in and work their way into the Top 10 list, where they belong.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

New Year Round Up

Rose Bowl
Vegas listed the line as Michigan -3, I think a lot of people lost their parlay on that one. Michigan apparently forgot that New Year's was a time to show the world what your squad is made of, you bring out the best and you try to prove the fans and voters that you belong. In Michigan's case, it was also a chance for them to prove that their BCS title game snub was a mistake. Had they brought the house to the Trojans and completely dominated their PAC 10 opponents, they could have made a legitimate argument that they should have been included in the BCS party. After further review, the call stands.

Michigan was completely overwhelmed by Pete Carrol and the fellas, got dominated like they had been last season, when the Maize and Blue lost 7 games including a pre-New Year, who cares bowl. With it, the onced hyped and celebrated Woverine team that had only lost once all season, a thriller to rival Ohio State, has reopened the question everyone wants answered, is Lloyd Carr history?

After an uneventful first half, the Trojans went three and out on what looked like really bad play calling. Lane Kiffen and Steve Sarkesian called ISO right with Chauncy Washington that resulted in a loss of yardage and a fourth down. That is when Pete Carrol decided enough was enough. A Lawrence Jackson interception at mid field, and the Trojans decided the antiquated running game was done and over with. An offensive onslaught insued with John David Booty picking appart the Michigan secondary on what seemed like easy pitch and catches to Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the Woverines. Their desire to stick with the run resulted in digging themselves a huge whole in the third quarter that they could not get themselves out of. Mike Hart was useless, and the offensive line was being overmatched by a quicker defensive squad that often times met Hart or Chad Henne in the backfield. It got to a point where the best defender for USC was the clock in Henne's head that made him hear the foot steps and feel the pressure and release the ball early, underthrowing his wide open recievers.

What was left was a game that lacked any real interest, despite the touchdown strikes Michigan had in garbage time. With the game all but wrapped up, the only thing Bob Davie and "Mush Mouth" Brent Mussberger could zero in on was Dwayne Jarrett's taunting display toward the Michigan secondary. I guess they didn't watch the first half when the Michigan corners got away with holds and illegal contact down field, or when Michigan safeties would stand over Jarrett and Smith after they broke up a play and flap their gums. I think pointing at a guy and handing him the football pales in comparison to some of the crap Michigan was trying to pull. It's not DJ's fault the Wolverine secondary is slower and softer then they think they are.

So, officially the UCLA loss was a fluke, and the Bruins never won that game, they Trojans lost it. UCLA's blow out loss to a down Florida State in another preseason, whatever bowl that has come to be the symbol of the Karl Dorrell era is proof of that. With that said, the preseason hype will be much deserved, USC will be the preseason number, end of story. A distant second will be Michigan.

Fiesta Bowl
The only thought I have to say about what Boise State did to Oklahoma is to display my disgust for the officiating crew. If the NCAA wants OU to win so badly to make this "mid-major" argument go away then they should have just named the Sooners Fiesta Bowl champs. A phantom pass interference call on an uncatchable pass set up the tying touchdown for the Sooners, who would have won the game had Jared Zabrinsky not been a real "G" and led his squad down the field. A couple of trick plays later, and the Broncos pull off the "annexation of Puerto Rico" play win. God bless the WAC, Mountain West, WCC, and all mid majors everywhere.

By the way, how far has Bob Stoops fallen when he is cheering a game tying two point conversion like he just won the Super Bowl and gets out classed by a first year WAC coach. I guess the Big 12 isn't what it used to be anymore.