Sports Fanatic Blog

David Beckham can leave two possible legacys on Major League Soccer. He could either be a great success or a total flop.

If he is a great success, it will be a new era for the MLS. Top players from other countries will come and improve the overal quality of the league.  This in turn will have young Americans playing soccer even more then they already are. Interest will no longer go away as kids get older. This in turn produces better American soccer players and improves the national team.

Now lets say he flops.  I don’t think thats the worst thing in the world being that he is on the LA Galaxy. We know that they are one of the MLS teams making money and he will definately bring in more. If he flops, they should at least still break even and have learned many lessons on what can and can not work.

Either way, it is all about perception. If quality improves but it remains perceived as poor, it won’t matter. Just as said above, it all begins with the kids. If kids grow up fans of an MLS team, they will grow up with the perecption that their team can compete and will be loyal fans. It is just like any other expansion team in any other sport. It takes a generation till the fan base is large enough to stick.

You are reading the title corectly. I am calling for a Yankees comeback and that they will win the American League East.

Why would I say such a thing? It is because I have no faith in the Red Sox to maintain the way they are playing. On the flipside, I think the Yankees will play much better and get closer. The rotation of Wang, Pettitte, Clemens, and Hughes (soon) is as good if not better then any other team. The big question mark, just like every other teams questions marks, is the bullpen. I’m going to say the bullpen will improve because the starting pitching is better now then it was opening day leading to a more rested bullpen.

As for old timers day, it is a great event. O’Neil and Brosius look like they are in such great shape that they could still play. I think this is a game that should get nationally televised. The regular Yanks Angels game after the old timers game was on Fox. Why did Fox not want to add the old timers game? I said the same thing about the NHL game that was played outside a few years ago. These special games I think would be able to hold a national rating and possibly increase the rating of the normal game around it. Not to mention Fox has nothing else on at 2PM on a Sat.

Soccer in the United States has definately made a leap foward from where it was even a few years ago. The problem right now is that they don’t help themselves.

After winning the Gold Cup with ease, the US went to Copa America with a young roster missing many key players. Why would they do that? Their excuse is going to be they can’t keep the players away from their clubs all summer since the MLS is a summer season. That is a huge problem. The MLS needs to switch to a different schedule. Perhaps a split season schedule giving from mid June to mid Aug off.

I suppose what bothers me the most is that in the Gold Cup final the US beat Mexico. Mexico then turns around, goes to Copa America, and beats Brazil. At the same time, the US goes to Copa America and doesn’t even easrn a point. It leaves me with several what ifs as a fan. What if the same team that played Mexico had played Argentina? Would the Copa America experience perhaps have helped the veterans just as much as it would help these young guys when it comes to top notch international competition?

As a fan you want your team to always have the best team it can possibly have out on the field. That didn’t happen for the US in the Copa America and if a sport is to grow in the US, then the US national team certainely has to to try to do that every time out.

I will be attending Yankees old timers day tomorrow so that will be the topic of the next blog.

When Dolan gave New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas a contract extension towards the end of last season, I didn’t understand why. I still don’t.

Dolan said he wanted to see “progress” before extending Isiah’s contract. While I understand why he would want to give Isiah another year to be with the team, a multiyear extension is a bit much. Looking at the 2007-08 Knicks, the moves made should make them a playoff team. Now if the Knicks don’t make the playoffs, Isiah should be fired. If the Knicks do make the playoffs, then Isiah did his job and is showing progress. This should be the tell all year and the watch should have continued to this year. The rookies are no longer rookies and the sophomores are no longer sophomores. The development of Eddie Curry was enough for him too keep his job, but now he should really be in the spotlight with the players he has now.

Dolan needs to make the statement: Playoffs or Bust.

Today we shall deal with the recent free agency deals in the NHL. In particular, what the Sabres and Islanders doing.

The Sabres lost several top key players for them. I don’t quite understand why. Obviously for a small market team like Buffalo it would be difficult to get their three top free agents signed. What makes no sence is that they couldn’t even get one signed? Lets for arguments sake say that the their centers had no interest in returning (which isn’t true because one of them mentioned on an NBC game that it might be possible for them both to return), how do they let Zubrus go as well? I know the Sabres have a ton of depth but these three guys are really going to set them back particullarly since they aren’t really even changing divisions.

As for the Islanders, I am totally lost as to what their plan is. When they traded for Smyth, they needed another player to get them over the hump and they thought Smyth would do that. The prospects they gave up arn’t huge prospects but the first round pick from this year I think is what the Islanders are going to regret. Now Smyth is reported to definately not wanting to stay on the east coast so once the Islanders knew that how do they not keep Blake? This is even worse then the Sabres because the Isalnders don’t have the depth of the Sabres.

Next blog entry: why there needs to be a Isaiah watch again.