The Beautiful Game, MLS and the American Fan

Nice to see soccer - specifically the World Cup - on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, with the title, "The Beautiful Game." The special report by Grant Wahl includes photos of people kicking a ball around in various parts of the world. I have not yet read the entire piece, but these three sentences on the first page are worth repeating: "At its most basic level - a handful of kids kicking what passes for a ball round whatever open ground they find - the game is a source of joy, sometimes a means of escape. At its pinnacle it defines nations and dissolves differences. In short, this simplest of games unites humankind like nothing else."

But will the intense worldwide attention to the World Cup translate into increased fan interest in the United States, where it has been said for at least 30 years that soccer was the game of the future and always will be? In its May 3 issue, SI briefly weighs in on this debate with several reasons why soccer will or will not "crash the major North American sports-popularity party." On the plus side are soccer specific stadiums catering to crowds of 18,000 to 27,000, the fact that the NHL and NBA have seen dropping attendance and that there is fan support beyond the MLS (noting the home opener sell-out of the D2 Portland Timbers). But on the other side it is argued that right now MLS is simply a cheaper ticket in a recession and that two top-drawing teams, Seattle and the Union, are riding on first or second-year excitement. "How many nil-nil draws before those fans disappear?" asks the writer.

But the argument against soccer really, I mean really, ever competing with baseball, football or basketball for fan interest in the U.S. is the last point: "We dare ya. Take the top three teams and name at least two players on each. Exaaaactly . . ." I think they have a point there.

Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64?

"When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine?"

Those lyrics, of course are from "When I'm 64" on the Beatles' immortal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album released in June 1967, at the end of my junior year in college. Forty-three years later I still remember how I and many of my 20 and 21 year old friends said we could not imagine what it would be like to be 64.

Today I find out. Yep, Coach P is 64 today, May 19, 2010. And if anyone ever doubts the rewards of coaching, I can show him or her the birthday wishes posted on my Facebook pages from a number of my former players on both the Medford Strikers Xtreme and the Medford Strikers '81-'82 team, and from some parents from those teams.

Thanks to all for the good wishes. And what does 64 feel like? Well, I'm still out running, just not as far or as fast. And I'm still working. So not much different than 63. And anyway, it beats the alternative suggested by another song from back in my college days, this one called "My Generation," by The Who: "Hope I die before I get old."

MLS in the News

Lots of news about the MLS today. Jack Bell reports in his blog in the New York Times that the Montreal Impact will be introduced tomorrow as an expansion team beginning play in 2012. It will be the league's third Canadian side, along with the existing Toronto FC, and the Vancouver Whitecaps, which begins play next season.
Earlier today MLS announced that Manchester United will play three games in the United States this summer: July 21 in Philadelphia, July 25 in Kansas City and July 28 against the MLS all-stars.

More from the Times: Jere Longman's piece on the British view of American soccer (60% respect - up from 30% not too long ago - according to former American international, John Harkes) reports "widespread indifference to Major League Soccer." Longman quotes noted British soccer writer Brian Glanville as saying of David Beckham's move to the L.A> Galaxy: “As much as his game has eroded over the years, he should be one of the better players in the early-retirement home that is M.L.S.,”

Ouch.

Longman's article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/sports/soccer/06longman.html?ref=soccer

Running for Our Girls

TABERNACLE, NJ, May 1, 2010 -- We're here because four girls died.

Today on an unseasonably hot morning at Seneca High School was the 12th Annual Run For Our Girls, supporting the Precious Gems Foundation in honor of Amanda, Megan, Shana and Angela, who were killed by a drunk driver in North Carolina on April 6, 1999. Amanda's parents are among my closest friends and she played on a Medford rec league soccer team with my son Scott way back at age 7.

I ran a lousy race (5K), but who cares. We're here because four girls died. If you knew any of them or their families, it's impossible not to shed a tear when their names are read just before the start.

I was pleased to see another good turnout for this event, which benefits the foundation as well as substance awareness programs at Shawnee and Seneca High Schools. Shana's sister, Erin, is a teacher at Seneca and all of the girls were current or former students at Shawnee.

My good friend, Bob Ellis, who is three years older than I am, continues to defy age and beat me by more than three minutes while my son, Scott, ran a 20:05 on the slow course, good for 5th overall and 2nd in his age group. But times don't matter. We're here because four girls died.

Five years ago, when the race was run at Shawnee H.S., I caught up with Cara, at the time a girl on my Medford Strikers Xtreme team, in the first mile. No way a 9th grade girl on her high school track team should be running behind a guy in his late '50s, as I was then. We had a game that night, so as I ran by, I told her, "Cara, if you don't beat me, you're not starting tonight." She passed me at the 2-mile mark and finished comfortably ahead of me. (See post-race photo, right.)

It was a good race, and everyone had fun, but then, as today, it didn't matter. We were there because four girls died. Honor their memory.