JAGS: The Early Returns

So last night I sent out e-mails to 277 schools about the JAGS Tournament. I received 15 error messages - a 5.4% rate, which is better than most years. That may mean there is less turnover in the coaching ranks or simply that somehow I found about some coaching changes since 2010 and updated my mailing list before the initial blast.

At any rate, I sent out the first round at 10:42 p.m. and 10 minutes later I had my first registration: my old buddy, Kevin Davies of Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ, one of the good guys I look forward to seeing once a year at JAGS. I told him he won the prize for being the first college coach registration of the year and he said he'd take the trip to the Bahamas. Sorry, Kevin - the prize is a trip to Paulsboro.

Another Year, Another JAGS

It wasn't really that long ago that we closed down the headquarters tent at Mercer County Park after the 30th Annual JAGS Tournament. But here we are getting ready for the 31st in less than two months.

The first meeting isn't for two weeks, but the planning is underway. I've spent the past few days updating the mailing list for college coaches and am ready to send out the first e-mail blast to 277 college coaches. Statistically, about 5% will be returned because the coach has left the job and I didn't know it.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of good soccer in June and to seeing many friends whom I see on only this occasion each year.

It wasn't long ago that I lamented turning 64. When they roll out the first ball at this year's JAGS, I'll be 65. Time marches on.

Return of the Cosmos?

Sunday's New York Times Magazine has the story of Paul Kelmsley, a Briton who seeks to bring back the New York Cosmos by winning the 20th MLS franchise, supposedly earmarked for the New York Metropolitan area. Kelmsley recently bought the rights to the Cosmos name and now has a staff of 16. For those who weren't born back in the md-70s, the Cosmos were the glamour team of the old North American Soccer League for a few years, playing before huge, often capacity, crowds at the Meadowlands. Reading the article brought back some memories for me of when I covered the team for the Trenton Times in 1977. It was a heady time for a young sportswriter who loved soccer and who was in law school at the time. The locker room after each game was a celebrity hangout - I turned the corner one day and bumped into Mick Jagger, who is not much bigger than I am (about 5'-5"). And of course there was Pele, the world's most famous player, along with Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia. Pele was quite the gentleman - despite the press of media after each game he patiently and politely answered every question in excellent English. Perhaps my favorite Cosmo, however, was Bob Smith, from Steinert (which also gave us Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito), whom I had gotten to know when he played for the Philadelphia Atoms. Smith was an attacking fullback with good speed and tenacious defensive ability. Over his career he earned 18 caps for the United States and was inducted into the Soccer Hall of Fame. But when I knew him he was a gangly kid from Trenton who made good with the Atoms then went on to live the dream of every youth soccer player when he stepped onto the field with Pele. Whether or not Kelmsley will succeed in resurrecting the Cosmos remains to be seen. The price is said to be about $100 million. But with Pele still acting as a spokesman for the organization, I wouldn't rule out anything. Who knows, maybe this time next year Mick will be back to sing Start Me Up at the home opener.