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| Vox Media's HR department. |
I saw something late last week about a tech company that had their people show up to work and attempt to gain entry with their keycards. If an employee saw green, in they went...with a momentary reprieve, but if they saw red...
Red light, green light. Where have I heard that before?
I don’t mean to make light of the layoffs that appear to have wiped out what’s left of Major League Soccer coverage on SB Nation. I do, however, know that I’ve relied on SB Nation’s devoted team sites for years – particularly in preseason, when I’m sniffing around for hype on a player I don’t recognize. Some of those sites were better than others – bluntly, a couple employed stenographers instead of writers – but I’ll miss them all. And whatever I thought of any given writer, that’s a person now looking for work and that sucks.
Losing Stumptown Footy hits closest to home, obviously. The Portland market has always had a decent stable of writers and, more recently podcasters, but Stumptown made the local scene feel a little bigger and more stable. They had some good people to boot. Anyhoo, Vox Media can go to heck. Yearning for the days when people ran local media, and many other things, as a community concern. If I win the lottery. Or invent something...I listed each in the order they’re likely to happen...
The past week also saw the tragic, savagely unlucky death of Charlotte FC’s Anton Walkes. My oldest child turns 25 this year, which drives home the the agony of Walkes' parents. My heart goes out to his friends and teammates as well.
That’s it for the week’s tragedies, thank gods...
Last week was a slow fucker outside all that. (How slow was it?) The MLS Kickoff letter posted power rankings so premature that I couldn’t see the point in the reading – or the writing for that matter. [Ed. - Totally unrelated, but the soap dispenser next to one of the sinks at the bowling alley literally prematurely ejaculated. It went off when the water turned on and could not perform when the time came.] In fact, this little nugget from the second of Matt Doyle’s mailbag posts (again, the scrounging is universal) might have been the most interesting soccer-related thing I read all week:
“And because of that parity, the bottom of the league tends to play at a higher level than the bottom of other comparable leagues, while the top tends to be lower because of budget constraints. The delta between “good team” and “bad team” in MLS just ain’t that big and, as such, you get a higher percentage of truly competitive games here.”
Call it a blessing, call it a curse, it’s all MLS, baby.
Red light, green light. Where have I heard that before?
I don’t mean to make light of the layoffs that appear to have wiped out what’s left of Major League Soccer coverage on SB Nation. I do, however, know that I’ve relied on SB Nation’s devoted team sites for years – particularly in preseason, when I’m sniffing around for hype on a player I don’t recognize. Some of those sites were better than others – bluntly, a couple employed stenographers instead of writers – but I’ll miss them all. And whatever I thought of any given writer, that’s a person now looking for work and that sucks.
Losing Stumptown Footy hits closest to home, obviously. The Portland market has always had a decent stable of writers and, more recently podcasters, but Stumptown made the local scene feel a little bigger and more stable. They had some good people to boot. Anyhoo, Vox Media can go to heck. Yearning for the days when people ran local media, and many other things, as a community concern. If I win the lottery. Or invent something...I listed each in the order they’re likely to happen...
The past week also saw the tragic, savagely unlucky death of Charlotte FC’s Anton Walkes. My oldest child turns 25 this year, which drives home the the agony of Walkes' parents. My heart goes out to his friends and teammates as well.
That’s it for the week’s tragedies, thank gods...
Last week was a slow fucker outside all that. (How slow was it?) The MLS Kickoff letter posted power rankings so premature that I couldn’t see the point in the reading – or the writing for that matter. [Ed. - Totally unrelated, but the soap dispenser next to one of the sinks at the bowling alley literally prematurely ejaculated. It went off when the water turned on and could not perform when the time came.] In fact, this little nugget from the second of Matt Doyle’s mailbag posts (again, the scrounging is universal) might have been the most interesting soccer-related thing I read all week:
“And because of that parity, the bottom of the league tends to play at a higher level than the bottom of other comparable leagues, while the top tends to be lower because of budget constraints. The delta between “good team” and “bad team” in MLS just ain’t that big and, as such, you get a higher percentage of truly competitive games here.”
Call it a blessing, call it a curse, it’s all MLS, baby.
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| My eyes don't see potential... |
As I sit down to type this, MLS preseason is just three games old. Only one of those games – Minnesota United FC’s 1-0 win over the husk of New York City FC – speaks a language I can understand, but I also see a fairly full set of games queued up for this afternoon (it's in there, trust me). One features my local team, the Portland Timbers, who square off against Sporting KC later today. I don’t see any new names on the Timbers' preseason roster that don’t have @ (T2 player), a % (draftee) or a ^ (academy player) next to the name, which doesn’t leave much to get excited about. Can’t stream the game either, so...at least I’ll have some glass-half-meaningful results to kick around in next week’s edition. Even FC Cincinnati starts by then (January 27, against Austin FC, also not streaming; chintzy bastards).
The biggest (happy) item from the past week was Josef Martinez finally leaving Atlanta United FC – where he made all of his name – to Inter Miami CF. For perspective on “all of his name,” let’s turn things over to Sam Jones, the young scamp who writes the MLS Kickoff newsletter:
“Drive around Atlanta proper at any point in the last few years, and you could turn the corner from a mural or billboard of Josef and run into another mural or billboard of Josef. In the city, his gravity pulled harder than anyone else's. When it's peak Josef and he's scoring 15 games in a row or breaking the MLS scoring record, that orbit is a fascinating place to be. When it's not peak Josef, and he's occasionally finding the net while struggling to offer more than a half-hearted defensive effort or any kind of off ball run, that orbit is still totally fascinating. It's also frustrating.”
Because Martinez is one of the league’s best-known quantities, and because the last sentence above speaks to what is known, I don’t have much to add beyond, Josef is capable of being great; the real question is whether he can be again. And what all that will mean for the Eastern Conference in 2023.
The week’s second biggest story provides a useful foil to Martinez’s move. Chicago Fire FC shipped its once and former rising talent, Jhon Duran, to the Premier League’s Aston Villa for a chunk of change to big to refuse. I wish the kid all the best, of course, but spare a thought for those poor, suffering bastards, aka, Chicago Fire fans. I get that their front office couldn’t turn down $18 million, but I doubt anyone who supports one of MLS perennial playoff dodgers will find much solace in any “good piece of business” that sees them missing the playoffs for the sixth(?) straight season. As for Duran...I mean, did anyone even have the time to get attached? Just one season, man...
I didn't see half as much commentary around it, but Christian Ramirez signing for Columbus Crew SC may ultimately prove to be a bigger story than either of the two above. With Lucas Zelarayan feeding him and Cucho Hernandez beside him (maybe?) and a top-half defense behind them – though I have to say I’m not entirely sure what happens with the midfield post-Artur (assume they’re still shopping?) - Columbus goosed its odds of making the space above the Eastern Conference playoff line more crowded. Again, there’s only so much room at the inn...
It's all scraps from there – e.g., Paxton Pomykal signing an extension with FC Dallas, Andrew Farrell (who I always pull for) doing the same with the New England Revolution – and moves like that operate more in the spirit of la plus ca change than actual change. One note on Pomykal: I don’t really get the hype around him. There’s the fragility, for one, but I suspect the bigger issue follows from the fact I’m not an FC Dallas regular/fan, which could mean I’ve been denied “his essence.” Extensions matter most to the locals, I suppose...
Draftees and homegrowns don’t really churn my butter (and check out this absolutely filthy song by Wynonie Harris), so I don’t have anything on FC Cincy this week. As noted above, Portland has the preseason game today – and that’s it for a minute/till the (other) Coachella thing (February 12) – but they did see some players - Eryk Williamson for the U.S. and Santiago Moreno and Juan David Mosquera for Colombia - called up for next Saturday’s U.S. Men’s friendly against Colombia. Which segues nicely into...
The biggest (happy) item from the past week was Josef Martinez finally leaving Atlanta United FC – where he made all of his name – to Inter Miami CF. For perspective on “all of his name,” let’s turn things over to Sam Jones, the young scamp who writes the MLS Kickoff newsletter:
“Drive around Atlanta proper at any point in the last few years, and you could turn the corner from a mural or billboard of Josef and run into another mural or billboard of Josef. In the city, his gravity pulled harder than anyone else's. When it's peak Josef and he's scoring 15 games in a row or breaking the MLS scoring record, that orbit is a fascinating place to be. When it's not peak Josef, and he's occasionally finding the net while struggling to offer more than a half-hearted defensive effort or any kind of off ball run, that orbit is still totally fascinating. It's also frustrating.”
Because Martinez is one of the league’s best-known quantities, and because the last sentence above speaks to what is known, I don’t have much to add beyond, Josef is capable of being great; the real question is whether he can be again. And what all that will mean for the Eastern Conference in 2023.
The week’s second biggest story provides a useful foil to Martinez’s move. Chicago Fire FC shipped its once and former rising talent, Jhon Duran, to the Premier League’s Aston Villa for a chunk of change to big to refuse. I wish the kid all the best, of course, but spare a thought for those poor, suffering bastards, aka, Chicago Fire fans. I get that their front office couldn’t turn down $18 million, but I doubt anyone who supports one of MLS perennial playoff dodgers will find much solace in any “good piece of business” that sees them missing the playoffs for the sixth(?) straight season. As for Duran...I mean, did anyone even have the time to get attached? Just one season, man...
I didn't see half as much commentary around it, but Christian Ramirez signing for Columbus Crew SC may ultimately prove to be a bigger story than either of the two above. With Lucas Zelarayan feeding him and Cucho Hernandez beside him (maybe?) and a top-half defense behind them – though I have to say I’m not entirely sure what happens with the midfield post-Artur (assume they’re still shopping?) - Columbus goosed its odds of making the space above the Eastern Conference playoff line more crowded. Again, there’s only so much room at the inn...
It's all scraps from there – e.g., Paxton Pomykal signing an extension with FC Dallas, Andrew Farrell (who I always pull for) doing the same with the New England Revolution – and moves like that operate more in the spirit of la plus ca change than actual change. One note on Pomykal: I don’t really get the hype around him. There’s the fragility, for one, but I suspect the bigger issue follows from the fact I’m not an FC Dallas regular/fan, which could mean I’ve been denied “his essence.” Extensions matter most to the locals, I suppose...
Draftees and homegrowns don’t really churn my butter (and check out this absolutely filthy song by Wynonie Harris), so I don’t have anything on FC Cincy this week. As noted above, Portland has the preseason game today – and that’s it for a minute/till the (other) Coachella thing (February 12) – but they did see some players - Eryk Williamson for the U.S. and Santiago Moreno and Juan David Mosquera for Colombia - called up for next Saturday’s U.S. Men’s friendly against Colombia. Which segues nicely into...
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| Miracle I remember it, honestly... |
I think I finally know what really happened between me and the U.S. Men’s team. Before I had an MLS team to truly call my own – and it’s two now – the national team was my main soccer squeeze. And they delivered some of my all-time happiest soccer memories – e.g., Tab Ramos smashing in the goal against Costa Rica during one of the only World Cup qualifier Portland has ever hosted and watching the U.S. upset Portugal in the 2002 World Cup while riding a poor man’s speedball. Sure, the Jurgen Klinsmann years soured me on them a little and missing the 2018 World Cup probably didn’t help, but those things happen and disappointment builds better fans and/or memories.
I think the real disconnection came when I no longer recognized most of the players. And that just sort of crept in over time. Because MLS is, literally, the only league I actively follow, more of the better American players going abroad meant more strangers on the roster. And it’s hard to cheer for strangers. Without even noticing, I stopped putting in requests for time off work to catch games – though U.S. Soccer bears some blame for making the games hard to find – and before I knew it, I could barely make sense of the conversations around the games. The only thing I knew for sure was that I’d never seen Christian Pulisic play a good game. True story...
For good or ill, the latest weird fucker of a World Cup (aka, the great Qatari Sports-Washing of 2022) offered something of a reintroduction. I’ll still miss the overwhelming majority of club games featuring the players playing abroad [Ed. - Related, time to check which leagues ESPN+ carries, I mean besides Bangladesh's top-flight], but I’ve finally seen enough of most of the players to have opinions on them – i.e., the bare minimum requirement for commenting on such things – and now feel enough curiosity to keep track. As for the week ahead, it hardly hurts that my soccer-watching calendar is wide open till the end of February and having an MLS-drunk U.S. roster only sweetens the deal. So, yeah, bring on Serbia, bring on Colombia. And play Eryk, goddammit.
A final note: the fact his parents hung a second “g” in his first name might be the most interesting thing about Gregg Berhalter – and, courtesy of late scandals, he’s now more interesting off the field than his teams are on it. Given that, I wouldn’t hate to see U.S. Soccer try on a new coach for the coming cycle. In the event they stick with Gregg, my only request is that all involved keep up the petty shit.
Till the next one. When we’ll all hopefully have more things to talk about...
...wait! There’s other Big News. Well, not really. The draw for the 2023 Leagues Cup took place on....looks like Friday? And, yeah, I’m interested. I like that it’ll be the only game in town between July 21 and August 19, if nothing else. I haven’t put in the time to size up the match-ups, but, 1) c'mon, I’ve got till July, and 2) knowing that two teams advance out of each three-team group into the elimination round makes naming the odd team out appear quite easy in some of them – I’m looking at you, Chicago, in Central 2. The same could/should apply to West 1, which threw the Timbers into the same pot as Tigres UANL and the San Jose Earthquakes (vaya con Dios, San Jose). I’m guessing Cincinnati will have a tougher time what with Chivas Guadalajara and Sporting KC in Central 3, but that's why they play the games, right?
OK, that really is it.
I think the real disconnection came when I no longer recognized most of the players. And that just sort of crept in over time. Because MLS is, literally, the only league I actively follow, more of the better American players going abroad meant more strangers on the roster. And it’s hard to cheer for strangers. Without even noticing, I stopped putting in requests for time off work to catch games – though U.S. Soccer bears some blame for making the games hard to find – and before I knew it, I could barely make sense of the conversations around the games. The only thing I knew for sure was that I’d never seen Christian Pulisic play a good game. True story...
For good or ill, the latest weird fucker of a World Cup (aka, the great Qatari Sports-Washing of 2022) offered something of a reintroduction. I’ll still miss the overwhelming majority of club games featuring the players playing abroad [Ed. - Related, time to check which leagues ESPN+ carries, I mean besides Bangladesh's top-flight], but I’ve finally seen enough of most of the players to have opinions on them – i.e., the bare minimum requirement for commenting on such things – and now feel enough curiosity to keep track. As for the week ahead, it hardly hurts that my soccer-watching calendar is wide open till the end of February and having an MLS-drunk U.S. roster only sweetens the deal. So, yeah, bring on Serbia, bring on Colombia. And play Eryk, goddammit.
A final note: the fact his parents hung a second “g” in his first name might be the most interesting thing about Gregg Berhalter – and, courtesy of late scandals, he’s now more interesting off the field than his teams are on it. Given that, I wouldn’t hate to see U.S. Soccer try on a new coach for the coming cycle. In the event they stick with Gregg, my only request is that all involved keep up the petty shit.
Till the next one. When we’ll all hopefully have more things to talk about...
...wait! There’s other Big News. Well, not really. The draw for the 2023 Leagues Cup took place on....looks like Friday? And, yeah, I’m interested. I like that it’ll be the only game in town between July 21 and August 19, if nothing else. I haven’t put in the time to size up the match-ups, but, 1) c'mon, I’ve got till July, and 2) knowing that two teams advance out of each three-team group into the elimination round makes naming the odd team out appear quite easy in some of them – I’m looking at you, Chicago, in Central 2. The same could/should apply to West 1, which threw the Timbers into the same pot as Tigres UANL and the San Jose Earthquakes (vaya con Dios, San Jose). I’m guessing Cincinnati will have a tougher time what with Chivas Guadalajara and Sporting KC in Central 3, but that's why they play the games, right?
OK, that really is it.
For all the Timbers USL years there was the SoccerCityUSA blogsite as our goto news/opinion source - with lots of blog-taken match pictures too. I can't forget how the regular commenters on its low-moderation message board were a striking mix of the insightful and the truly assholish. Allison, its founder, brought it back a few years ago after a long hiatus, but her absence for almost a decade of MLS Timbers meant we all had moved to STF. And I have really come to depend on STF when piddly, uncertain coverage on Oregonlive and random, infrequent articles in WW and the Mercury were the sad, print alternative.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes your very fine site all the more important. Otherwise, the only remaining fan voices will be the couple of local Timbers-centric podcasters.
Man, I hope some eleventh-hour salvation comes for STF (and the other SB Nation sites I follow)!
I very vaguely remember SoccerCityUSA. I *think* I was posting Timbers/USL stuff to BigSoccer at that point, along with an MLS general column, but I deleted all that content in one of my...fits. And, yeah, it's a real bummer to lose yet more local coverage. I have no idea who shows up for post-game pressers if/when Stumptown people completely depart the scene. And gods bless the local Timbers-centric podcasters....
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's generational, but I love having an unofficial news source where fan commentary is an integral part of every article - like STF. I think of you as my favorite place for ruminations and analysis. I don't get the feeling that you want to be a source for breaking news items. That's a different mode of operation.
ReplyDeleteIf some new site becomes a rebirth of STF, we'll all have to do our part to let our fellow Timberistas know about it.
Thanks! And I, like you, wish there was a really smart/funny forum for Timbers chatter. If I could make this site do it, I'd be delighted...guess I never really pushed that aspect. And, hell yeah, any and all should lift the next incarnation of STF as close to heaven as they can get it.
ReplyDelete