It’s a beautiful, warm Sunday here in Frisco, and your trusty correspondent SteveToro is here to try his hand liveblogging the event — from my Windows Mobile phone. No, it’s not an iPhone. Yes, I am going to be typing with my thumbs. Yes, I may run out of battery. But let’s see how much I can do…
Check the comments for more…
I’m generally a fan of Worldcupway, the official blog of FC Dallas. They do some great reporting (see their pieces on the trips to South America with Messrs. Hitchcock and Ellinger for example) — and they do Hoops fans a service with their pre- and post-game reports. They deserve a lot of praise: despite the efforts of bloggers like Buzz and newspaper reporters like Tobias Lopez and Diego Aparicio there’s not a heckuva lot of coverage of our team.
However, they’ve done it again: Worldcupway has been closed to comments for the past 2 days.
This may seem like small potatoes. But it’s an issue that I feel strongly about.
Providing fans with a way to comment on blog posts was an inspired move. It encouraged fans to get involved, to come back multiple times each day, and to connect with their fellow fans. All good things.
And yes, having an “open” corporate blog can be a risky proposition. While it can encourage readers to get involved and to become loyal followers of your site, it also leaves you and your business open for (potentially a lot of) criticism. And criticism, especially in the entertainment industry, can really reduce the value of the product you’re trying to sell.
I can understand why FC Dallas might want to avoid some criticism. There’s been plenty of turnover. It’s been a tough season. The critical stretch run’s upon us. The team could be slipping (or has already slipped) out of contention. Attendance is down — and the promotion staff has clearly run out of ideas.
Sure, comments have been pretty brutal, truth be told. But they haven’t been out of line. Fans are all over Bruno (who’s getting plenty of PT, despite only the occasional flash of brilliance). And our trinity of Schellas, Ellinger, and Hitchcock (and their total of 17 MLS wins). They’re blasting the recent trade of Abe (responsible for all of our production in the ‘08 Open Cup) and the transfer of JT (responsible for much of our ‘07 success) and they’re downright batty that Cooper (and his 13+ goals) hasn’t been granted the contract extension that so many feel he deserves.
But here’s the question I have for you: isn’t FCD bigger than some blog comments?
Do the Rangers take steps to prevent sports talk radio from criticizing their bullpen woes? Does the Mavericks’ owner shy from the limelight when his team chokes in the first-round of the playoffs? Anybody think that Jerry Jones is afraid of some blogger who calls the hiring of Wade “Bum’s Son” Phillips a terrible move?
I know that the Hoops and MLS have a long way to go before they’ve got the fan base and the equity of those teams. And I understand that Hitch & co. still make their bones on how FCD is perceived in the community. That’s why Steve Morrow was canned. That’s why the blog was started. That’s why the Front Office Staff slave away to find new ways to bring people to PHP.
But here’s my gripe: the team will never be perceived as big time if they continue to act like they’re afraid of some anonymous blog comments.
How can you stymie the very people who are so committed to your product that they take time out of their day to read your blog? They’re not being unfair — they’re being fans.
Your Weekly Transcendentalist Horoscope
Random yet oddly appropriate quotes from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.
…but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need fear no change nor accident.
Change seems to be the message all over the land these days. Sounds like change is going on around FCD as well.
FCD vs. Colorado Bowel Rapids
To paraphrase some nasty perscription drug commercial: we don’t have a going problem, we have a growing problem. And by going, clearly I mean scoring. Offense. Balls in the back of the net. Gols. Bulges in the auld onion bag. You know, that thing that helps you win if you can, you know, make some.
Even when we dominate possession — and I thought we had the better of that — we just seem to pass the ball around the top of the box, then wait for some reason to stupidly give it away. Usually this involves ill-advised passes to a striker, despite that player being double-covered or not in a good (or onside, in Jeff Cunningham’s case) position.
We’re not getting goals from midfield. Heck, we’re not getting goals from defense. Kyle Martino (yes, you read that right, they’ll make anyone a color commentator these days) said that FCD has scored off one set piece all season (Drew Moor on a corner kick). That ain’t good, guys. Ain’t good at all. Until we start getting goals off set pieces and non-strikers, teams will simply play to our weaknesses by taking away our strikers’ shots and leaving everyone else on our team alone so they can manage to screw things up. Check out the pain:
Notation: Striker, Midfielder, Defender, Gone
8/30 - Cunningham
8/23 - Rocha
8/16 - Cunningham
8/3 - Cooper (2)
7/27 - Cooper (2), Oduro, Thompson
7/19 - Cooper, Toja
7/4 - Thompson
6/26 - Cooper
6/21 -
6/15 - Cooper
6/6 - Alvarez
6/1 - Oduro
5/28 - Cooper, Moor
5/24 - Oduro (2)
5/18 - Oduro
5/10 - Cooper
5/3 -
4/24 -
4/20 - Cooper, Thompson
4/12 - Alvarez, Cooper
4/6 - Cooper (2), Alvarez
3/30 - Toja
Kenny’s and Dominic’s goals from the Club America friendly seem to further confirm this: we aren’t getting any goals from non-strikers. The only non-strikers still on our roster who have scored all season are Drew Moor (on that one set piece) and Andre Rocha (on that 40 yarder). And I wouldn’t be surprised if Rocha is Ricardinho‘d before the season ends (Ricardinho’d - v. to send back to the Brazilian farm team). This brings the total to:
Strikers - 24 (18 after removing Thompson and Artie)
Midfielders - 3 (1 after removing Toja, 0 after Rocha gets the boot)
Defenders - 1
For those of you that think this is normal, here’s a comparison to Celtic after just 4 games:
8/10 - Barry Robson
8/17 - Paul Hartley
8/23 - Stephen McManus, Georgios Samaras (2)
8/31 - Georgios Samaras, Shunsuke Nakamura
That’s less than half the goals coming from strikers and 1.75 goals/game against opponents that use bunker tactics. Now Celtic isn’t even in mid-season form yet, and lost to one of the biggest jokes in Scotland, yet that is still a far more impressive goal distribution than we have here in Dallas.
So what do we do? Obviously, we need goal scorers. I’m so dedicated to the team, I made a list. Of everyone. On the planet. All 6.7 Billion or so. Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t give me those kinds of post sizes, so I just had to give context around the guys that played on Thursday night. If the FCD front office needs the entire list, just shoot me an e-mail. At my charitable scouting rate of 20 cents/hour, this will work out to a $639 Million consultancy fee. Since FCD’s top priority is winning, according to Señor Hitchcock, I feel they’ll pay the fee and my time will have been well-spent. So here they are, in order:
173. Andriy Shevchenco
174. Semih Şentürk
175. Kenny Cooper
176. Ashley Young
177. Brian McBride
565. El Pescadito
566. Wayne Rooney
567. Jeff Cunningham
568. (Fat) Ronaldinho
569. Paul Scholes
1,254. Ramon Nunez
1,255. Roberto Mina
1,256. Dominic Oduro
1,257. Abe Thompson
1,258. Juan Toja
9,845. Chad Barrett
9,846. President Bartlet
9,847. Drew Moor
9,848. Clarence Goodson
9,849. Schella Hyndman’s indestructible balls
16,082. Kobe Bryant
16,083. Steve Nash
16,084. Eric Avila
16,085. Ally McCoist
16,086. Mo Johnston
28,096. Last year’s Tom Brady
28,097. Joe Hamilton
28,098. Dax McCarty
28,099. Ocho Cinco
28,100. Bo Jackson
45,283. Buzz Carrick
45,284. Victoria Beckham
45,285. Bruno Guarda
45,286. David Beckham
45,287. Bruno Guarda’s Mom
146,837. Steve Morrow
146,838. Bob Woodward
146,839. Blake Wagner
146,840. Kyle Martino
146,841. Maradona (not back then, I mean now)
156,037. Sarah Palin
156,038. Jon Stewart
156,039. Michael Dello-Russo
156,040. Tony Stewart
156,041. Martha Stewart ’s bodyguard
275,091. Gordon Brown
275,092. Robert Downey Jr (”you never go full retard“)
275,093. Pablo Ricchetti
275,094. Matt Stone
275,095. Trey Parker
1,873,388. Barnum
1,873,389. Bailey
1,873,390. Anthony Wallace
1,873,391. Barack Obama
1,873,392. KirkBhoy
984,837,896. Jessica Simpson
984,837,897. William Shatner
984,837,898. Aaron Pitchkolan
984,837,899. Nancy Kerrigan
984,837,900. Boris Johnson
3,923,140,086. Asif Ali Zardari
3,923,140,087. Islom Karimov
3,923,140,088. Dario Sala
3,923,140,089. Alex Ferguson
3,923,140,090. Barry Ferguson
6,721,850,700. Elizabeth Windsor
6,721,850,701. Tom Brady
6,721,850,702. Marcelo Saragosa
6,721,850,703. Don LaFontaine [UPDATE: Whoops, he’s dead now]
What? There’s a trading deadline? We can’t sign anyone we want? Not even Robert Downey Jr.?!? Damn. Well, Schellas, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
WTF Commentary of the Week
Alas, Kyle Martino did a decent job. For a rookie. Rob Stone, however, is the journalist equivalent of Eric Wynalda. I saw Stoner interviewing Les Miles last weekend and then doing the Thursday night game. This guy won’t get out of my TV, for crying out loud.
One side note about their commentary. They compared Cooper and Cunningham and the gist of the argument goes like this: when Cooper scores, FCD wins; when Cunningham scores, his team doesn’t necessarily win. Yawn. I think this gives a little too much credit to Kenny and not enough to Cunningham. When we’re playing like crap, Kenny is taking ridiculous shots from 30+ yards out. He gets them on frame and no one complains, but ultimately he’s so far away from goal that when we’re not playing well he’s not putting himself in a position to create a goal. As for Cunningham, the dude is a poacher. Go and look at Ruiz’s stats (I have not, too much time ranking every player on the planet) and I’d imagine you’d see similar trends. Jeff will get goals when we have bad games, just as Carlos did (Houston playoff game, anyone?). Now I wouldn’t dream of drafting Jeff over Kenny. I just think the stats don’t reveal what the players are doing out on the field. Are these two going to gel at any point? Who knows. At this point in the season, probably not. Hopefully I’m proven wrong. Ultimately I think if we get more offensive chances created by midfield players, people will swear Kenny and Jeff are soul mates. That is a big ‘if’ however.
Minutiae
I might have pointed this out to some of you before, but Anthony Wallace has a really tiny head. I mean, if this soccer thing doesn’t work out, he’s got a guaranteed career in sanitation — he can stick that noggin in any sized pipe he wants!
I was pretty busy around the time Abe Thompson was traded, otherwise I would have done an Iron Man Memorial post on the subject. I can see players with attitude like Ricardinho, Alvarez, and Rocha not being “on the bus”, but Abe? I hope he gets more playing time where he’s going, but Kansas City is collecting strikers like we collect central midfielders who cannot score.
Oh, Kickette, what would we do without you? Probably something productive and less depressing.
Beer news: Budweiser gets bought by Belgians, then they come out with an “American Ale”. Anyone gonna call BS on this one?
And Your Weekly Namesake Update
Attempting to get Guatemala into the final stages of World Cup qualifying. Probably enjoyed his trip to Trinidad & Tobago, and managed to go another game without a yellow card. Amazing.
WordPress is only letting me type posts that have no new lines. Every post gets jammed into a single paragraph. This makes typing out a MMP aggravating and pretty much pointless. Regular MMP service will resume once it is fixed.
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