PZ's Place

The morning after the night before

ericpz — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:40:41 +0000

Some thoughts the morning after LA Galaxy clinched their third MLS Cup: Yes people we get it. Beckham pays a lot of bills. However, there were another 21 players on the pitch last night. The match hadn’t even kicked off and the whole “is this his last game” angle was already worn out. Ian Darke sure didn’t help matters by not going five minutes without bringing it up.

MLS Social Media Table

ericpz — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:33:05 +0000

The other day I started to have a “chicken and egg” discussion with myself—yeah, I know. Anyway, is it because teams are good that they have the most fans or are the teams good because they have the most fans and, therefore, are able to make the most money to spend on players?

Who’s in charge anyway?

ericpz — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:19:39 +0000

Yeah, we all saw this one coming. I'm still mulling over the choice of Jurgen Klinsmann as the new head coach of the US mens national team. I'm still not convinced it's the right direction as coach. However, there may be other things going on within the USSF which may be associated with the change which may prove this move to be a good one in the long-run. We just won't know for some time.

My least favorite part of MLS season

ericpz — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:09:49 +0000

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while--yeah, I know, I haven't posted much recently--will know I'm not a big fan of the All-Star Game. But what are you going to do? The league has managed to stumble on a a formula which works. The MLS XI vs some "big club" from another country seems to be selling out stadiums and attracting a large enough TV audience on a Wednesday night to keep ESPN happy.

Sunil Gulati goes all in

ericpz — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:23:32 +0000

I've no other way to explain the decision by US Soccer to make a change in the National Team's head coach right now. Bob Bradley was obviously blindsided as he was seen scouting earlier this week.

The MLS ups and downs

ericpz — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:00:40 +0000

Follow discussion about MLS online somewhere and you’ll inevitably come across someone preaching the fact that for the league to succeed, it needs to follow the “Euro Model”. This usually means seasons starting in the Fall and ending in the Spring….and some form of Promotion/Relegation system with no playoffs.

1-1…to the referee!!!

ericpz — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:26:05 +0000

When I lived in LA, I’d always remind people that you don’t live for the weather in the Summer, you’re there for the Winter weather. Wearing shorts in January seems a whole world away from where I am now. This time of year though, there’s an extra flavor of weather…rain. Rain in California isn’t like it is in other places I’ve lived. Ya see, when it rains there, it does so all day. And it’s not just a little shower. It dumps heavy amounts over the course of the day. The good ...

It’s kicking off.

ericpz — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:37:42 +0000

I realize I haven’t posted in a while but to be honest, I probably would have just ranted about something or other so I decided to keep myself limited to 140 characters. However, do to some serendipitous events, possibly due to some planetary alignment or the SuperMoon, I found myself flipping through all the games last night and felt the urge to write something. First, besides the late games (Goats cramming those attending into parts of the stadium to make it look fuller than it was, and Smurph fans scared of a ...

It’s a Funny Ol’ Game…

ericpz — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:18:19 +0000

I have to laugh sometimes at how people jump from one extreme to another. We seem to have become a bi-polar society or something—not that I’m an expert on the topic or anything. The American soccer fan is a prime example of this.

Pride for Africa, Gold for Spain

ericpz — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:25:46 +0000

Is it just me or did the World Cup seem to last a lot longer when I was a kid? Argentina, Spain, and Mexico those World Cups all seemed to last half the summer. The entire summer seemed to revolve around them. This year it just blew by.