Haha cool. So that's two in the league. Hardly much different from the SPL then, or most years in La Liga

I'm also in a league of usually about 100 people set up by a west ham website, the code is 132850-40614, but draws fans from other clubs too, so worth joining for anyone scrambling around for a league to piggyback onto incase the SYG one doesn't get enough members on its own.

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As an aside, how do you think Everton will do this season? I'm predicting 5th for them. I can see them finishing ahead of Spurs and Liverpool.

Optimistically predicting WH finish around 12th-13th.

i'd really like to join but but but but...

The next few years will be interesting for the MLS, which has apparently set itself the task of becoming the third biggest league behind the Prem and La Liga before the end of the decade. Sounds silly but it will likely overtake the Brazilian and Argentine leagues, which are apparently on the verge of a financial crisis, very soon, and if that happened it'd almost by default be the biggest league outside Europe. Lots of big structural/financial upheavals expected in the mls.

I don't think its silly, around the end of the World Cup there were a few analysis articles trying to explain why Brazil shit the bed so mightily and they mentioned the significant decline in the talent pool for Brazilian leagues because of competition with Europe and even MLS in attracting players. I agree with that "by default" its becoming the largest league outside of Europe, indeed in short time it may even surpass the smaller leagues there by the economic reality that the US is bigger half of Europe combined.

Of course, the major problem the MLS has at this point is something the European leagues have no problems with, attendance. In Europe, futbol is mostly the only game in town, people go to live matches even for smaller teams or leagues. In the US, there are so many sports venues and leagues, between professional and college sports, that its hard for MLS to gain ground. It does has a growing TV share, which is the bread, butter, meat, and potatoes of American sports so it is at least on a kind of sustained life-support until the live audience fan base can grow.

To be sure, MLS is more talented than its reputation abroad suggests, its just a matter of time before an American audience grows to realize this and buys into it. The market pitch for this current MLS season has been, "Watch some of your favorite stars from the World Cup" since practically the entire USMNT currently plays in the MLS..

The attendance thing would surprise you. US figures are very good in that area. Its lack of tv coverage remains the real problem along with its uncompetitive (internationally) wage policy, both of which are apparently about to change dramatically in the next few years. What would also help would be a credible and properly marketed Americas club trophy equivalent to the Champions League, so teams like LA Galaxy would regularly have to compete against sides like Corinthians, Boca Juniors, etc. I think there'd be a real interest in Europe to watch that as they're teams we know about but never really get to see.

True, I checked the MLS figures and I was very much surprised at the per match and average attendance. However in the aggregate (5,000,000 annually), its still relatively small behind NFL (18,000,000), NBA (21,000,000), NHL, (22,000,000), College Football (50,000,000) and especially the behemoth that is MLB (74,000,000 largest in the world!!)...

By per game NFL is largest in the world, but there are only 240 games a year. Also NHL, college football, and especially MLB NEED live attendance to make money and in many instances even just break even! Meanwhile NFL makes the most TV $ in the world and similar in its merchandising, the NBA also makes a large portion of its profits through TV and merchandise. MLS is like NHL and MLB, it needs live audience to make money but as you mentioned the new TV deals will change that significantly. Things should be very interesting in the new few years..

As it is US attendance figures dwarf anything in Europe at every scale, which is why Euroleague football are trying to make so many moves into the US market, including all these recent Euro team matches in America and bigger TV deals

I don't know how it is in Europe where futbol is really the ONLY professional sport, so like is it on all the TV? Here in the US the biggest sports usually have at least 1-3 games on "national (e.g. free over the air) TV" and also 1-3 games on national cable (like TNT or ESPN which are part of basic packages in the majorit of markets) weekly so you can totally avoid cable or even going to a game in person and still manage to see several in a given week. Is it like that but with futbol in Europe or do you have to have cable and/or go to games in person?

Can only speak for England but football has a massive cultural footprint here although mainly through newspapers and a general media awareness. There's actually not much of it on regular tv though. For anything but big tournament matches you need a sky satellite package.

Its main competition is rugby, cricket and formula 1 which are all popular but still miles behind football. I know basketball's v popular in France and Greece and Spain but I don't think it's really taken off here in the same way - at a professional level anyway. I don't think there are any household names in rugby or cricket right now but I'd be surprised if anyone here (as in England) wouldn't know who Wayne Rooney is or, in the case of F1 (which is actually my fave sport of all), Lewis Hamilton - even if they've never actually watched them.

Honestly I nt optimistic. I suspec our sqaud isn't big enough to deal with the pressures of the Europa and the Premier League. It feels like Everton are all to reliant on Lukaku as their main striker and if he's having a bad day then it could go wrong.

We'll see.

And symbols, join the league!

the fundamental problem would be that i'm unable to watch it.

if you could offer me an alternative source to figure out who is doing what and how, without having to spend hours studying charts i'll seriously consider it.

at least a place where i could watch the highlights for free? (foxsoccer no longer has them).

thanks in advance?

That is very interesting. That is how the NFL and particularly the NBA operates, its part of the national psyche, it sneaks into national broadcasts like TV news and newspapers, even people who don't follow basketball know who several of the biggest names are in the NBA and can recognize their faces. With NFL football people know about the biggest teams and their recent big games or big losses.

However, this is also in part because again, there are national games broadcasted every week. It surprises me that its not the case in the UK with futbol... There USED to even be all the road Laker games on over-the-air TV until two years ago, it was a Los Angeles staple, whenever there was a Laker road game you could walk into any corner store, restaurant, laundry mat, office waiting room, and see the game on. Its kind of how it became part of LA culture.. Its like that in the major markets across the country. With the NFL there are 4 over-the-air broadcast games on national TV every week, but mostly on Sunday. Also, on Saturdays ABC airs something from ESPN, be it golf, or X-Games, or futbol if there is a good match (they've been experimenting with some English Premier League games on Saturday mornings on ABC)... In other words.. sports aren't just restricted to a cable package, they are part and parcel of American TV..




I didn't you know you fancied auto-racing. Very interesting..

Unless you're actually attending games or watching it on Sky or at the pub, you only get a weekly highlights show and live coverage of the WC as well as some big games from other tournaments. Part of why the Prem has got so rich is that it's not free to air anywhere in the world. And because it relies so heavily on foreign players it has far broader international appeal than any of the other big leagues. But there's never been a lot of free football on English tv, although in the past that didn't matter because going to a game was once a relatively cheap option. To put it into context now, I have Sky so for about £50 a month I get pretty much all the football anyone could ask for, both domestically and from other foreign leagues, plus F1 and loads of other sports. That same £50 wouldn't get me into one actual West Ham game. So for those who can't afford Sky the only option is the pub - and even that's assuming you can afford British pub prices at the moment.


Yeah massively into it. But I like most sports really. I've never really worked out why. It contradicts a lot of my own personality. I'm not a competitive person at all and find things like blind loyalty impossible. But I honestly think that in terms of pure drama, it's up there with anything anywhere. I don't think I've watched a film, or heard a record or seen a piece of art this year that I thought came close to rivaling this last WC. It had everything: beauty (Van Persie's header) outrage (Suarez) heroism (Mascherano), iconoclasm (Spain and Brazil), humility (Luiz consoling Rodriguez) brutality (Honduras), tragedy (Neymar) politics (the whole backdrop of national protests). And that's just football, in one month.

The best option would be this site... http://www.focusvpn.com/

Getting this means you'll be able to watch stuff that you can't cos of regional restrictions, namely Match Of The Day. However, you're limited in terms of internet speed aren't you? I'm sure there are other options but this is the only one I can see.

On a side related note-why Americans should follow Everton

Cos theyre reet good

thanks, yeah. satellite internet. sucks!

well, it's better than no internet actually, ha ha ha… but it's not the best, especially for live video streams.

a reasonable tradeoff for having trees as neighbors. but still...

I watch and follow multiple sports for this exact reason, the drama, the narrative, the developments, the surprises, and above all else the conversation with other people about it. I've engaged in more random conversations with random people on the street, or at work, or at the store since I rekindled my youthful following of sports a few years ago than any other time in my life!

Sport is a great conversation starter for sure, though I'm more diplomatic than most, I like to keep up with other teams that I don't even necessarily like in order to be able to talk with their fans about it, and I avoid all trash talk or strong opinions until I know the teams of the people I'm talking too..

Some people get into sports to be divisive and argue with people, I'm the complete opposite. Shit, I don't even get to wear a Baltimore Ravens' or Miami Heat cap here in LA because it could do more harm than good, and cause more arguments than conversations.. It did suck not being able to celebrate our 2013 Superbowl win because it seemed like THE ENTIRE CITY OF LOS ANGELES was going for the San Francisco FortyWhiners and it wasn't worth starting beef with people who were all butthurt about their loss..

THAT WAS AWESOME.

camus, by the way, also preferred football to the theatre.

oooooh ha ha ha ha ha ha hah a

daaaamn!!!

My first reaction was that Rodgers had lost his mind, and I still think there's an air of desperation about the signing, but I suppose the reality is he had to get someone in, and, at £16m, Balotelli probably represents quite good value compared with other forwards in that price bracket.

Well there's a coupla things I've thought about re: Balotelli, Firstly there's a reason Milan got rid of him for £16mil, the guy is such a liability it's untrue. And it seems odd they've replaces one manchild with another.

Anyhoo at least the press now have a new player to hound.

they will probably put him on for 5 minutes at a time, hope he scores, and sub him out


people kept talking about suarez bite because that shit is so weird but balotelli's world cup performance was much worse.

While clearly performance wise suarez had the better WC showing his bite was a worse shitting the bed than anything that happened or more particularly didnt happen for Italy. The problem woth suarez is because of his talent a lot of people mistakenly overlook his antics in a boys will be boys kind of excuse. Maybe its my bias, but in nfl and nba, especially those basketball players on the national team repping their,country, being the most talented player on your team or in your sport comes with a spotlight and so with significant leadership responsibilities.. in that regard suarez is one of the worst superstar athletes in world history. He squanders all the social capital that his talent builds with his poorsportsmanship and cheating in multiple big games.. while super mario likes to act the fool, its more a kind of shtick, its almost cute

Honestly, I'm trying to recall and I can't think of anything Balotelli has done that's worse than what Suarez has done. Whether it be biting, deliberate handballs or ducking and diving like a stuntman in The Transporter.

Suarez and Balotelli seem to occupy opposing poles on the madometer scale. Suarez is too competitive for his own good while Balotelli seems like the living embodiment of 'no shits were given'

yes!

I must admit, I am quite fond of Super Mario's "Look How Many Fucks I Give" approach because its not cheating, more like the way a caricature of a stoner in an 80s American "feel good sports movie" would be.. The goofball who makes the team fun to be around and is still on the roster because well, dude can play. Suarez is talented and knows it but abuses his talent. Balotelli is talented and knows it and milks it. There is a difference between milking it and abusing it.

That one was pretty bad, true.

Pretty much sums up everything about Balotelli for me

The Mourinho story is just brilliant, easily his best story.

meanwhile, en españa…

http://youtu.be/8pgbDKWbElw

That story's hilarious. I keep flip flopping over him going to Liverpool, edging more and more towards it being a bad idea. But is there a better striker for 16m available? I dunno.


Haha. Looks to me like a 50/50 scuffle with Godin coming out the loser. Did either of them get a red card? i regularly see worse at corners between lesser known players go unnoticed.


Meanwhile let's just smile at MU fan's ongoing torture. The post match phone ins this evening have been pure comedy gold.

oh so the prem started already? damn damn damn. i'm having a pretty great lazy sunday that football could have made PERFECT.

beautiful first day of fall weather here. i think these are my last g&ts of the season. adiós g&ts!

story said cronaldo just got a warning from that. that was the spanish supercup or something, not a league match.

Yeah, the Prem started last week. Man City play Liverpool tomorrow night, which would be worth a watch if you can find a stream or something. Too early to say much about individual teams but Chelsea definitely look strong. I backed them to win the title before the season started and haven't seen anything yet to change my mind.

you may have heard this one recently....

what's the difference between manu and a triangle?

a triangle has three points!

Not related to football but anyone who wants to see pure courage in a sportsman should've seen Andy Murray beat Robin Haase in the US Open today. Epic stuff!!

I find it's even funnier when you see and hear Mourinho tell the story - you can also really see his affection for the guy reminiscing about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3I8QzpvfU

just read that bayern is trying to get xabi alonso. what the fuck? what the fuck!!

fucking guardiolo. what the fuck is he doing?

his mind is too baroque for me to comprehend.

is this just while javi martinez recovers? but why doesn't he find a central defender if he plays martinez there?

but why is it always spaniards with him? can't he look elswhere?

he's like the monty python skit: spain spain spain spain spain spain spain with a side of spain

What's wrong with Alonso? He's a great player. Sure he's getting on, but he's still.

nothing wrong with him per se. though as a straight substitute for javi martínez he lacks the speed and endurance.

my problem is with guardiola's baroque shit. lahm as midfielder, etc.

the dfl supercup ended dortmund 2 bayern 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0XIplROGs

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ps maybe xabi alonso will go where lahm is and lahm back on defense. fingers crossed.

Seems a good deal to me. With Martinez, Schweinstieger and Thiago all injured, and with Kroos gone, Alonso offers great short term cover in various positions at a knocked down price and with little chance of him blowing his top whenever he's benched. I can't think of a single negative, tbh.