crashing the box
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Manhattans In the Soccer Bubble (or a Few Thoughts on MLS Cup & College Football TV Ratings)
We were four of the 1,019,000 viewers who watched last weekend’s championship game. Sitting in our own little pocket of the sporting universe that afternoon (nestled in a homey little Queens apartment), it felt like the entire world was drinking it in along with us. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be in 2013. 505,000 average … Continue reading
The Knicks of La Liga (or Why I Fell for Atletico Madrid)
“Atlético fans are prisoners of a feeling, of their colours,” – Fernando Torres I’ve been prisoner of a feeling for years now. I blame that elderly Spaniard in a soccer bar some time ago who drunkenly slurred out his reasoning behind supporting a team that is effectively the New York Mets of Madrid: “it’s a … Continue reading
The Kobayashi Maru (or Why International Football Sometimes Feels Like a No-Win Scenario)
“I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.” – Captain James T. Kirk; STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan” As the World Cup draw for 2014 in Brazil approaches, I’ve taken note of a curious pastime many of my sport journalist colleagues have been whiling their time away with over the last few weeks: the … Continue reading
Styles Make Fights (or Why The Neutral Should Be JAZZED for MLS Cup 2013)
The highlight reel from their contest this past July shows it all. A contrast in fighting styles between opponents often generates momentous bouts. It happens again this weekend. They step into the ring in Sporting Park this Saturday at 4:00pm on ESPN. In one corner, you have Real Salt Lake’s lovely, passing style and elegance. … Continue reading
The Deuce Dilemma (or Will US Soccer Fans Ever Be Satisfied?)
(Photo by: Tony Manfred) I often find it strange that a sport built from the tribal rituals of a fiercely communal curiosity called “folk football” should spend so much of its time in the modern era online. Alas, that is the world we live in. Technology has irrevocably changed the game. A recent poll suggested … Continue reading
Saving a Bum Show (or Why I Love the International Game)
Many a bum show has been saved by the flag. – George M. Cohan It’s a white-hot, primal fire that burns at the heart of all sports fans. It’s no secret to any serious sporting aficionado that, in the modern world, team allegiances are akin to a modern tribal identification. We slip on our tribe’s … Continue reading
Why Olympic Soccer Matters (or March Madness for Futbol Geeks)
In the long shadow of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship this summer, that nuisance of an association football tournament – the Olympics – will buzz around soccer clubs’ ears begging for them to release their players for the competition. Just another age-specific tournament that FIFA can’t stand because it threatens their monopoly by daring … Continue reading
The Way Queens Is the Home To the Bodega (or How MLS and Red Bull are failing New York)
They stare at me most every morning. Sitting on the Manhattan-bound express F-Train, coffee in hand as I try to drag myself into the land of the conscious, I read the MSG Network print ads posted across the car from me. An action photo of a hockey player is superimposed with copy such as the … Continue reading
#PrayForMuamba (or Futbol in the 21st Century)
The moment the Twitter-verse began reporting that Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba was breathing again in a hospital-bound ambulance after his horrific collapse at White Hart Lane was the same moment Davy Arnaud scored the Montreal Impact’s first MLS goal – an entire continent away. I had to fight back tears. If there was ever a … Continue reading
Beautiful Lunacy (or Embracing MLS First Kick)
It’s beautiful lunacy. A huge collective of adult men (and a spattering of adult women) throw on scarves, jerseys and t-shirts; or they throw on worn ball caps and jackets. They dress for battle. They head down to their neighborhood bars, donning their tribal colors, and they begin to drink with their fellow tribesmen. And … Continue reading
crashing the box 