Colorado Rapids Front Office Chats

Last night the Colorado Rapids front office hosted an event for Rapids supporters (C-Firm, Class VI). They unveiled the new uniforms. Logan's Revenge was more or less spot on. Jeff Plush did say that the maroon / burgundy is pantone 202 if you're looking to get it just right. I have to say that Jeff Plush would make the politicians proud. He managed to do an excellent job of answer a lot of questions from supporters without giving many concrete answers. That's not to say the question and answer session wasn't very constructive. And his answers were useful. But they left themselves room for certain issues to be finalized. Heck, he even pointed out there may be minor changes to the 2007 Rapids kits. Some questions that I thought were important : a) When asked about trading older, non-productive players (i.e. Kirovski and Mathis), it didn't sound as though any trades were in the works b) RTD and the Rapids / KSE likely have nothing and will likely have nothing set up for transit directly serving the stadium for 2007. c) Business speak like "KSE DNA" produces giggles from most people. d) The FO is excited over their prospects in the draft. They also feel they got the better end of the deal in the Cannon for Ugo + Herc trade.

Southampton and the English Championship

Could it be? Could Burley have turned around the ship at St. Mary's and have it the Siants going in the right direction? He seemed to do it last year as the season wound down. But Southampton had some up and downs earlier this season. But unlike the last couple of years, there are not one or two teams that are running away with the Championship. Southampton are 4 points off the top of the table and 3 from an automatic promotion spot. Southampton very well could be at top by the new year. They have 5 games coming up. They face Southend and Wednesday away from home. But they they really should win those especially given how well they've been playing lately. The same with Leicester at home. Palace and Norwich won't be easy but they'll be at St. Mary's. Southampton hasn't lost in 7 league games. Could they be on the verge of closing out 2006 without losing in their 12 games of the year?

Chelsea's Tough Schedule

EPL Talk has some fun looking at Mourinho's mind games. They also manage to point out that both ManU and Chelsea have more or less had as equally challenging (or non-challenging) schedules. One thing The Gaffer didn't take into account is how they've performed in the Champions League. Chelsea's done well while ManU's lost to a couple teams that would struggle to win the Championship, let alone the prem.

Major League Soccer Combine

The list of players for the MLS's 2007 combine looks to be as follows : 2007 ADIDAS MLS PLAYER COMBINE LIST BY POSITION GOALKEEPERS (5): Talmon Hall (San Diego State University); Justin Hughes (University of North Carolina); Chris Konopka (Providence College); Phil Marfuggi (Clemson University); Nick Noble (West Virginia University) DEFENDERS (11): Andrew Boyens (University of New Mexico); Ty Harden (University of Washington); Michael Harrington (University of North Carolina); Kyle Helton (Duke University); Aaron Hohlbein (University of Wisconsin); Zach Kirby (Boston University); Hugh MacDonald (Monmouth University); Nigel Marples (Towson University); Billy Meier (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee); Jay Needham (Southern Methodist University); Steve Purdy (University of California) MIDFIELDERS (19): Rich Asante (Syracuse University); Karim Boukhemis (Marshall University); Bryan Byrne (University of California – Santa Barbara); Alex Cunliffe (Fairfield University); Steven Curfman (Wake Forest University); Greg Dalby (Univeristy of Notre Dame); John DiRaimondo (St. Louis University); Eric Ebert (University of California); John Michael Hayden (Indiana University); Scott Jones (University of North Carolina – Greensboro); Jared Kent (Old Dominion University); Nick LaBrocca (Rutgers University); Justin McGrane (Northern Illinois University); Nate Norman (University of Notre Dame); Ryan Solle (Wake Forest University); Wells Thompson (Wake Forest University); Josh Tudela (Indiana University); Sinisa Ubiparipovic (University of Akron); Chase Wileman (Southern Methodist University) FORWARDS (23): Charles Altchek (Harvard University); Gerardo Alvarez (Northwestern University); Corey Ashe (University of North Carolina); Aaron Chandler (University of San Francisco); Adam Christman (University of Virginia); Omar Cummings (The University of Cincinatti); Andrew Daniels (Brown University); Edson Elcock (Old Dominion University); Brad Evans (University of California – Irvine); Robbie Findley (Oregon State University); Jeff Gonsalves (University of Rhode Island); Willy Guadarrama (Campbell University); Ryan Guy (University of San Diego); Chris Loftus (Duke University); Jerson Monteiro (University of Alabama at Birmingham); Frederico Moojen (Clemson University); Simon Omekanda (Penn State University); Riley O’Neill (University of Kentucky); Randi Patterson (University of North Carolina – Greensboro); Dane Richards (Clemson University); Mike Sambursky (University of South Carolina); Jarrod Smith (West Virginia University); Erik Ustruck (Santa Clara University); For more information on college players getting into the MLS, keep an eye on College To Pros.

How Soccer Explains the World, Part II

I enjoy finding news and blogging about soccer from sources that are usually non soccer oriented. Over at Reason's Hit and Run blogs David Weigel blogged about soccer, world views, China, and how Daniel Bell writes an "amusing" essay on all of them.