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.

Same Old Story - U.S. Women Win Algarve Cup

The players change but the result is always the same - the U.S. women win the Algarve Cup.

With a 4-2 defeat of Iceland in Faro, Portugal, today the Americans won the tournament for the eight straight year. Happy to say my favorite U.S. player, Carli Lloyd, started the scoring with a left-footed rocket into the upper right corner from just outside the 18 in the 10th minute. Surprisingly, Iceland barreled back to take the lead with goals in the 26th and 28th minutes, only to see Lauren Cheyney score the equalizer in stoppage time when she vollied in a cross from Megan Rapinoe.

Heather O'Reilly scored the game-winner in the 55th minute when she put in a rebound of a shot by Shannon Boxx. Alex Morgan added insurance with three minutes left to play.

Congratulations to Carli on being named Woman of the Match and to the U.S. women for another gold medal in Portugal. Click here for the official U.S. Soccer report on the match.

NCAA Nixes Coed College Cup Weekend

March 9, 2011 -- After two years of study, the NCAA decided not to play the men's and women's Division I College Cups the same weekend afterall. As reported by the NSCAA today, the Men's and Women's Soccer Committees felt it was in the best interest of both genders to play the championships at different sites on different weekends.

The NSCAA applauded the move, and pointed to member surveys that showed little support for a combined mens/women's event, notwithstanding the appeal of a "mega soccer" weekend that might appeal to a broad fan base. Other concerns were the effect of two tournaments rather than one would have on the playing field, especially in bad weather; the effect on conference tournaments; and the possible perception that one gender's tournament had the "marquee" games of the weekend, to the detriment of the other.

While I've always liked "boy-girl" doubleheaders in high school soccer (and basketball), and while I recognize the advantages of a combined event, I tend to agree with the NCAA and the NSCAA that overall it's best to keep the Cups separate.

Union: Doop?

The Philadelphia Union, the team that brings us Bimbo this season, is now advertising doop, described in Jeff Gamage's article in yesterday's Inquirer as an "undefinable word." Gamage called the team's ad campaign promoting doop "high risk high reward." The guess here is that it will be high reward - the Union in its short history has been getting it right when it comes to marketing and promotions. But time will tell.

Trip Down Memory Lane - #8: Beating the State Champs at JAGS in 1998

Our two year reign as state champs, at U15 and U16, had come to an end earlier in the spring of 1998 when we lost an overtime decision to arch rival Cherry Hill Rockets in the first round. (Payback is tough – two years earlier, at U15 - we had beaten the Rockets, former state champions, 3-0 in the first round of the Cup.) JAGS was all we had left to play for this year.

The tournament was at Rider College and I can’t remember who we played and haven’t had time to look it up. We made it through to the final and drew the Wyckoff Torpedoes, who had just a few weeks earlier won the U17 State Cup and were headed to regionals.

Don’t recall much about the game except that it was on one of the back fields at Rider and Lauren Calone, who went on to play at Georgetown, scored our only goal and we held on for a 1-0 win. That night I received an e-mail from Renee Engelhardt, mother of Torpedoes star, Erin Engelhardt (who later played at UVA) congratulating us and saying if Wyckoff had to lose, she was glad it was to us.