Friday, March 14, 2008
Tampa Bay a bust for soccer
What were they thinking? Could the men's Olympic qualifying tournament be disrespected any more? From the uninformed Fox Soccer Channel announcers to disappearing Cubans, to empty stadiums. One of the most important soccer tournaments of the decade for the American's has little more flavor than a high school game on local cable access.
I honestly feel like recommending you don't even watch the games. I wrote earlier this week about Olympic dreams, but the only thing keeping this from looking like a nightmare to anyone is that the U.S. has all but qualified for the semifinals - barely.
If you've been watching along with me, here's a laundry list of things that are simply inexcusable:
1. Games every 2 days? Give me a break. I know it needs compressed due because it's not a international open date, but this is serious soccer we're talking about, not a youth tournament. Teams just shouldn't be asked to play 2 games in 3 days.
2. Horrendous ticket sales in the wrong size stadium. Bring back Hershey, PA PLEASE. It only held 5,000 people, but those 5,000 provided amazing atmosphere. What genius though there was any chance of even filling that huge NFL stadium more than even 20%? I was reminded recently that "hope is not a plan". If you're going to stage a tournament in a facility that big, you better be prepared with a plan to sell tickets through some other mechanism other than just making them available through TicketMaster.
3. Staying with the stadium choice... Newsflash! If you only have 10% of your stadium filled, put those people on the opposite side as the camera. There was not a SINGLE person sitting on the side of the stadium visible on TV. Dumbasses.
4. If you're going to put a soccer game on TV, make your announcers actually show up, and have them actually read a few articles about the games they're covering in advance. From mispronouncing names of US players, to thinking Jonathan Spector was on the bench for the Cuba game (when the biggest news of the entire announcements of the US roster was that he was staying with West Ham in London until the semifinal round of this tournament). Last night, they even said Bob Bradley should be fast tracking Stuart Holden to US citizenship so he can appear with them during World Cup qualifying?? If he's not a US citizen, what the hell was he doing on the field last night? Oh, and by the way, he was also on the roster for the US v Mexico match last month. I know, I actually talked to him after the match!! Why do these guys have to sit in a studio in LA watching a game on the same small screen as we are. Get your butts to the game people!
5. Oh, and hey Mr. person in charge of Cuban player security. Another newslfash, the Cuban players are probably going to try an defect. More power to them as far as I'm concerned, but maybe, just maybe you'd have someone outside their hotel room door - at least until after the last game of the tournament?
Anyway, I'm sure I'm missing a lot here. Share your thoughts? All I know is this tournament is setting back our sport in this country. Let's hope Nashville for the final-four is better, but not holding by breath.
Comments:
The problem with the site is that too many people involved with soccer are afraid to admit that not everything is a huge deal. They think just because soccer has grown, it has to be a major experience any time a ball is rolled out.
Within eight hours are stadiums that seat between 3 and 5 K (Charleston and Atlanta). These are built for soccer. They would provide the atmosphere Hershey had while staying in the general region.
It's OK if we admit that these are relatively minor events. Coming to grips with that might actually make them better. I remember those matches in Hershey, and that was fun.
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I honestly feel like recommending you don't even watch the games. I wrote earlier this week about Olympic dreams, but the only thing keeping this from looking like a nightmare to anyone is that the U.S. has all but qualified for the semifinals - barely.
If you've been watching along with me, here's a laundry list of things that are simply inexcusable:
1. Games every 2 days? Give me a break. I know it needs compressed due because it's not a international open date, but this is serious soccer we're talking about, not a youth tournament. Teams just shouldn't be asked to play 2 games in 3 days.
2. Horrendous ticket sales in the wrong size stadium. Bring back Hershey, PA PLEASE. It only held 5,000 people, but those 5,000 provided amazing atmosphere. What genius though there was any chance of even filling that huge NFL stadium more than even 20%? I was reminded recently that "hope is not a plan". If you're going to stage a tournament in a facility that big, you better be prepared with a plan to sell tickets through some other mechanism other than just making them available through TicketMaster.
3. Staying with the stadium choice... Newsflash! If you only have 10% of your stadium filled, put those people on the opposite side as the camera. There was not a SINGLE person sitting on the side of the stadium visible on TV. Dumbasses.
4. If you're going to put a soccer game on TV, make your announcers actually show up, and have them actually read a few articles about the games they're covering in advance. From mispronouncing names of US players, to thinking Jonathan Spector was on the bench for the Cuba game (when the biggest news of the entire announcements of the US roster was that he was staying with West Ham in London until the semifinal round of this tournament). Last night, they even said Bob Bradley should be fast tracking Stuart Holden to US citizenship so he can appear with them during World Cup qualifying?? If he's not a US citizen, what the hell was he doing on the field last night? Oh, and by the way, he was also on the roster for the US v Mexico match last month. I know, I actually talked to him after the match!! Why do these guys have to sit in a studio in LA watching a game on the same small screen as we are. Get your butts to the game people!
5. Oh, and hey Mr. person in charge of Cuban player security. Another newslfash, the Cuban players are probably going to try an defect. More power to them as far as I'm concerned, but maybe, just maybe you'd have someone outside their hotel room door - at least until after the last game of the tournament?
Anyway, I'm sure I'm missing a lot here. Share your thoughts? All I know is this tournament is setting back our sport in this country. Let's hope Nashville for the final-four is better, but not holding by breath.
The problem with the site is that too many people involved with soccer are afraid to admit that not everything is a huge deal. They think just because soccer has grown, it has to be a major experience any time a ball is rolled out.
Within eight hours are stadiums that seat between 3 and 5 K (Charleston and Atlanta). These are built for soccer. They would provide the atmosphere Hershey had while staying in the general region.
It's OK if we admit that these are relatively minor events. Coming to grips with that might actually make them better. I remember those matches in Hershey, and that was fun.
Post a Comment
Within eight hours are stadiums that seat between 3 and 5 K (Charleston and Atlanta). These are built for soccer. They would provide the atmosphere Hershey had while staying in the general region.
It's OK if we admit that these are relatively minor events. Coming to grips with that might actually make them better. I remember those matches in Hershey, and that was fun.
Links to this post:
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