Imagine

We just bought a lotto tix for tonight with one purpose.  Win and we’re off to Phoenix to bid tomorrow!  Its an auction is it not?  Just imagine…

To think its come to this.  A team that had passionate fans in Winnipeg is now being sold to the best bidder in a courtroom in the desert.  There’s only 2 bidders.  Only 2 groups in all the world who want this team and one is the league. As a fan, we’d just like to be there and make a bid, have a say and speak on the behalf of all the passionate hockey fans in North America and say “shame” on you NHL for letting this happen!  Just imagine…

PS: we’ll miss you on the pitch Danny!

Ultimate Becks?

After listening to the FAN 590’s poor attempt to discuss soccer during their flagship show, Woodpeck realized once again that it does sport no good when egos get in the way.  T’was supposed to be a round table discussion of how to fix soccer in North America and they blah, blah, blah’d about nonsense mostly pertaining to themselves and never even got to the point of it all.  It was so good (or bad cuz we think so) that its not even available as a podcast.  What a wasted opportunity.  Which leads us to discuss David Beckham’s situation…

He’s got to go back to Europe.  It makes way too much $en$e for everyone involved.  The fact that yesterday the MLS put up a deadline for a deal is also key.  Now that Kaka is hurt, AC Milan not only would like to have Becks on their roster moving fwd, they NEED to have him.  Beck’s worth will never be higher than it is today and the MLS knows it.  He’s playing some of his best soccer of the last 5 years and by putting up a deadline, the MLS is saying buy now or never just to drive the price to its highest level.  Which makes heaps of sense from their point of view.  If by chance Becks were to stay in the MLS, they need to know soon so they can gear up their marketing machine for 2009 with him included.  That marketing machine will be starting up shortly so they need to know if their centrepiece will be a part of it or not. They also know that Beckham could get hurt at any moment.  With every passing game he plays, the risk of injury grows.   So the sooner the deal happens for MLS, the sooner they can breathe easier.

The deal will get done though.  Consider these factors.  Due to the financial downturn we’re pretty darn sure the MLS needs the money.  The LA Galaxy sure could use the money.  AC Milan needs Beckham. Beckham needs AC Milan.  Beckham needs AC Milan for soccer and promotion reasons and vice versa.  Posh needs Fashion Italy.  For all these reasons, the deal will get done.  Maybe not by tomorrow but it will soon.  The perfect storm has brewed for the MLS and as much as they will come out and put on a brave face, they need this deal too.  Beckham can walk away from the MLS at the end of this season.  For nothing.  Weigh one season of Beck’s current market worth in North America against the offer from AC Milan.  He’s already been the league’s poster boy for 2 seasons.  His market worth over here is fading and no matter if he’s a part of the MLS or not, the 2009 MLS season is gonna be a tough sell. Without much entertainment dollars out there in the general public, Beckham might not have enough clout to fill that many venues.  Therefore, its pretty much a no brainer.  Just agreeing on the right price for both sides is the only stumbling block.  Here’s to hoping every1 comes out smelling like roses and the egos don’t get in the way!

Some Becks Links of Interest from both sides of the pond from the last week or so:

• Beck’s “I want out of MLS“
• Beck’s Career in the MLS an epic failure
• Brits wrong on Becks
• Beckham was Never the Saviour
• LA Galaxy have rejected a reported $10 million bid
• Beck’s Letter to America
• The best Beck’s resource on the net!  So far…

Snow Job

We are snowed in.  What does that mean?  More posts of course! 

Here’s an update on what we found curious of late:

• TFC has Sold OUT its allotment of season seats (16,000) for 2009.
• We were excited about the De Rosario deal to TFC.  Here’s the Dynamo take.
• Ernie Whitt gets to take the Team Canada helm.
• VanOC is already dropping the ball for 2010.
• Sigi is the man in Seattle.  Talk about starting with the top coach on the market!
• One man’s journey at the Bills in Toronto game!  Check out the Hilites and Lo-lites!

We welcome Beer, Beats and Bites to our linkages!  Eat, drink and be merry!  Who could you ask for more in a blog?

This Win is 4 All the Fans

Time to wrap what we’ve taken notice of the past few days:

• Today is American Thanksgiving.  Think football is number one on the menu?  Not a chance!  This “game” is number one without a doubt!
• Robert Müller’s tale is far from over but is already inspirational!
• Congrats to Kid Poker for winning the BC championships!
• Also coming out on top was the Columbus Crew, who won the MLS cup!  Now if the MLS could only fix how the cup is won and bring it more in tune with what happens overseas.  No matter, a win is a win!
• and lastly, congrats to the Calgary Stampeders for winning the Grey Cup.   It doesn’t matter if the main event was lack luster.  A win is still a win!  Is there an echo in here?

Note 2 Pinheads, Create a 2nd Divison 4 the MLS!

Seriously, with so many bids for MLS expansion on the plate the time couldn’t be better to create a 2nd division for the MLS.  The current 7 bids all look solid and we’d be sad to see any of ‘em fail.  So why not create a 2nd division?  Seize the moment pinheads!  The time is now!  Hold the current crap teams accountable!  Can you imagine Becks playing for a 2nd divsion team?  Or Montreal moving to the top divison while Toronto falls to the 2nd?  Great stuff that could only add to the current setup and rivalries.  The cup play would be a fantastic bonus!  We can’t think of a good reason whyknot and only reasons whyfour!

• Kudos to Triple Dead Heat and  Sports and the City for being the first blogs to link us all “proper like” in their blogroll.  Mucho thanks!

We Snatched Victory out of the Jaws of Defeat

OMG!  So much to catch up on & read so here’s what we found curious:

• The Alex Burrows vs. Pierre-Marc Bouchard sparring from a Minny viewpoint.  Here’s the recap from the game on Saturday.  Nuthin’ happened between the two.  Pfft!
• Soccerlens.com was an interesting all-footie read if you don’t mind the ads that is…
• What???  The Columbus Blue Jackets are on a roll?  Find out why.
• Bryan Colangelo’s best/worst moves as the Raptors GM.  Read on and the article really heats up when it gets to the “worst” part.  Talk about venting!
• This past Thursday, the Vancouver Whitecaps and BC Pavilion Corporation made public a snapshot of how BC Place Stadium might be configured in order to best accommodate soccer events.
• MLS has a new trophy with a new name.  Too bad it snubs the previous namesake. 
• Congrats to Canadians Darus Suharto and Scott Montgomery at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.  To make it that far is an achievement is the purest sense and of course worthwhile for all the ca$h!
• & finally this NWT man is rolling his way across Canada in 100 days to commemorate 100th anniversary of 5-pin bowling!  WTG!!!

It’s Easy to be a Tuesday Morning Quarterback

Nothing beats a good cliche to start the day:

• A good varied roundup of takes on Freddie Ljungberg’s signing with Major League Soccer & Seattle Sounders FC.
• Beckham could leave the MLS after 09 due to an opt out clause and he also has an option to buy a MLS team when he leaves?  Whoa!  His deal just keeps getting better! 
• A good midwest US take on what is wrong with hockey and what can be done to fix it.  We thought it to be ESSENTIAL READING. 
• Attention MLB teams!  K-Rod will be an overpaid five year flop if you pay him what is rumoured to be his asking price.  5 years for 75 million?  We realized he is only 26 but he’s logged a lot of innings and critical work during his tenure with the Angels.  Anything beyond half of his asking price/terms is taking a massive risk.  We give K-Rod 2 more good years until he sputters.  Of course, ppl said the same thing about Yankee Closer Mariano Rivera and he’s proven us wrong to date.  We think he’s one of a kind and the exception to the rule. 
• Kudos to the NBA for still doing trades involving stars.  In a cap ridden professional sports world these types of trades are too few and far between.  Good on both teams for taking a risk, shaking things up and making things interesting for the fans.  If only more teams would do this… (insert your fave team here).  This blog predicted and gave decent reasons for an IA trade way back in May!
• The Pressures of Youth Football (soccer) is a good post but the comments are what we found to be most interesting.  You can substitute “football” to any sport/arts/performance your child is enrolled in and make it applicable.  Parents take note!

Weekend Wrap Smorgasbord!

Here’s what we found curious this past weekend:

1. Leafs are worth lots.  Really?  OK, so that is not news but we found Peddie’s arrogance in the article noteworthy.  Read and feel his confidence grow. Also note how the farm team, Marlies is losing sveral million dollars a year.  Were they better off on the Rock or was the move justified?  If memory serves correctly, the team moved from NFLD in order to save money and be more financially sound.  Was the team in St John’s losing more than 10 million a season?  Doubt it.
2. Soccer and Entertainment mixing in North America?  A good story about the new Seattle Sounders.  Who knew that Drew Carey was part owner?  The Price must have been Right!  (that’s twice we’ve used that line in a week!)  The golden nugget in this story (outside of the Obama links) is that its written in LA but all about avoiding LA to be successful in the MLS.  Congrats to the team on a great logo, colour choice and tribute to their past!  Just don’t confuse the team with the USL league one that just finished its season and its run with the name.  
3. Staying with the Sounders.  This article has been one of only a handful to mention that Freddie Ljungberg’s signing was a good thing.  Most of the stuff we’ve read has been negative about him being too old, a has-been, washed up etc…  Personally, we’ll wait to see him on the pitch before we make up our minds.  Really, until a player suits up and joins in the fray can we truly judge his quality.  Sure his past is up and down so what will we be getting in North America for a rumoured 5 million a year?  Time will tell of course.
4. The Formula 1 season came to a close yesterday.  What an exciting last lap and end to the season it was!  Glock’s dry tire strategy doomed him and allowed Lewis Hamilton’s dramatic pass on the final turns.  We could not believe our eyes and immediately thought that Glock had orders to slow (yes, time for some conspiracy theories) but as he correctly and plausibly admits, it was mother nature that got the best of him.  Regardless, our congrats to Hamilton for not losing the title this year and winning it in such a memorable fashion!  Formula 1 needed to end the season on a high note and they certainly delivered!
5. Sticking with driving, Nascar has a great showdown lined up for the last 2 races.  Can Jimmy Johnson hold on?  Can Carl Edwards unseat the champ?  Murphy’s law aside, we think the title is Johnson’s.  He’s historically clutch (pun intended) and drives his best down the stretch (pun even more intended).

Top 3 takes from our Inbox!

Here’s some interesting things we just discovered recently in our INBOX!

1. Goalkeeper makes Major League Soccer History by scoring goal in his first game!  View it here and here!
2. We’re huge proponents of Skateparks.  Kudos for Saint John, New Brunswick on getting down to business and giving the kids something to skate on!
3. BLTs is a fantasy hockey feature at ESPN.  Gotta love the concept of  ”Bacon, Lettuce or Tomato. Bacon is sizzling-hot, and this player needs to be picked up and active while the hot streak continues; lettuce is used as more of an accent as opposed to the main part of a sandwich, and this player can be used to bolster the back end of any roster; tomatoes need some more time to ripen, so only pick up this player if you’ve got long-term keeper considerations in mind“