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Scotland’s Bad News Bears to become America’s Team for TV audiences

It could be the best of TV. It could be the worst of TV. If Paul McDonald has his way, this summer fans will be making the calls on who plays and who doesn’t on a small football club tucked in the highlands of western Scotland.

A few weeks ago there was a a flurry of news coverage about the project in the UK. Little if anything appeared here in the States, which made the new franchise’s name-America’s Team FC-all the more curious. But the BBC picked it up, so it must be real. And it is, but as of yet only 62 people have voted on the TV show/team’s website for who they think should be the first recruit, so there’s not exactly worries about the website crashing–or producers cashing in–just yet. And they’ve only got 51 Facebook fans, so while the BBC found it novel enough to cover, the buzz isn’t exactly blowing up.

But those few people could make some history if they choose to pony up $50 to play real-life fantasy soccer (and maybe watch as their preferred winger gets in a fight at the pub for making out with some Scot’s girl). It’s just all so weird, sad, fascinating, ridiculous, evil, genius–I had to learn more. If not this show, there’s no doubt TV is heading toward the interactive. Soccer on the cutting edge or cutting down the game? But damnit, this means I’m going to have to pause The Rock of Love Bus to give McDonald a call and get to the bottom of this… Click HERE for the full story…

So you think you can be a professional soccer player?

Keyvan Heydari thought he could too. Almost did. Now some 20 years after he first tried, after he covered six World Cups (starting with Mexico 1986) as a journalist and broadcaster, after he contributed to outlets such as NPR, The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald, The Washington Post, L’Equipe, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Paris Match, Univision, ESPN, Gol TV and Telemundo, not to mention a couple of soccer books published in Italy… he wants another shot.

After the jump, Heydari delivers part 3 of his exclusive dispatches from a place where, yes, even a 45-year-old has a chance to live the dream. Click HERE for the full story…

So you think you can be a professional soccer player?

Keyvan Heydari thought he could too. Almost did. Now some 20 years after he first tried, after he covered six World Cups (starting with Mexico 1986) as a journalist and broadcaster, after he contributed to outlets such as NPR, The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald, The Washington Post, L’Equipe, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Paris Match, Univision, ESPN, Gol TV and Telemundo, not to mention a couple of soccer books published in Italy… he wants another shot.

After the jump, Heydari delivers his first of several exclusive dispatches from a place where, yes, even a 45-year-old has a chance to live the dream.

Click HERE for the full story…

(this is all five parts of the story in its entirety)

Ron Isley croons from the stereo of the Audi A6 Quattro Clint Dempsey purchased from sports agency-mate Ryan Nelsen. “You fool one day you’re here and then you’re gone.” But before the beat drops, before UGK’s Pimp C and Bun B have a chance to trade verses about making the most of the Texas youth they were dealt, before we’re even out of the parking lot of Dempsey’s apartment, we’re out of the car.

Across the street private preparatory school blazers are tossed to the sidewalk; tiny fists on fragile arms flail like loose garden hoses. “What the…. Should we break up that fight?” Dempsey asks without a glance to me, his big black eyes fixated on the fracas as if he already has his answer. “Sure, your town your call,” I tell him beginning to crack open the passenger seat door. We jump out of the car stopping traffic on the bustling two-lane road in London’s Wimbledon neighborhood. The dozen kids, no older than 12 maybe 13, turn toward us as we approach, taking notice of the bigger boys calling out, “Hey, what are you….”

Click HERE for the full story…

PART 5

Looking over photos back in New York, it’s clear that the closest I ever got to being Clint Dempsey was on the golf course (and that probably will end once he puts in some practice). The flare that helped get Clint to where he is today might be lacking at the moment as he fights for playing time in a system at Fulham that often works against the instincts he and his brother developed in the name of Maradona in the trailer park, but listening to Clint talk about his game, you know those skills are there if only in hibernation. And I’m not one to wake a sleeping beast. Golf though, well, I figure if I was going to take Clint in something, the frustrating game of golf was my best shot. Click HERE for the full story…

PART 4

It’s dark out, time has gotten away. I didn’t envision talking to Dempsey to be this easy, for him to be so engaged. I should probably let the guy get some rest. But he keeps asking questions, almost as many as me. He wants to compare our lives, proving his point that he’s just another guy working his way up. Click HERE for the full story…

PART 3

Lance Dempsey now coaches soccer in North Carolina. Seeing the game from the other side of the sidelines gave him a new respect for the work his older brother put in. “My parents sacrificed a lot,” he tells me. “But I don’t want it to sound like something crazy, like we were homeless, like Clint was the focus of the family. My parents did what any good parents would do. They helped all of us. Clint put in a lot of work.”

That work began as is typical among siblings, with the younger brother trying to keep up with his older brother. Ryan, now 30, has five years on Clint, whose feet were firmly placed in the elder’s footprints at a very young age. The boys took to the free form and constant flow of soccer over the traditional family favorites, football and baseball. The Dempseys weren’t initially a soccer family and Nacogdoches didn’t have anything similar to a club team. The boys played pick-up games in their largely Hispanic neighborhood, learning from their peers without coaching or structure. They ran through the house and school hallways with their favorite soccer jerseys on.

Click HERE for the full story…

PART 2

A talented tennis player, Jennifer Dempsey ranked in the top two at Nacogdoches High School. Her athletic pursuits begged for more attention, and being a family of limited means, younger brother Clint, 13 at the time, was forced to put his soccer development on the backburner after three years of family sacrifice supported his pay-to-play club needs. It was only fair; Clint is one of five children (younger than Ryan, Jennifer, and Crystal; and older than Lance) and was by no means the only child in the family with sporting aspirations.

Click HERE for the full story…

PART 1

Ron Isley croons from the stereo of the Audi A6 Quattro Clint Dempsey purchased from sports agency-mate Ryan Nelson. “You fool one day you’re here and then you’re gone.” But before the beat drops, before UGK’s Pimp C and Bun B have a chance to trade verses about making the most of the Texas youth they were dealt, before we’re even out of the parking lot of Dempsey’s apartment, we’re out of the car.

Across the street private preparatory school blazers tossed to the sidewalk, tiny fists on fragile arms flail like loose garden hoses. “What the…. Should we break up that fight?” Dempsey asks without a glance to me, his big black eyes fixated on the fracas as if he already has his answer. “Sure, your town your call,” I tell him beginning to crack open the passenger seat door. We jump out of the car stopping traffic on the bustling two-lane road in London’s Wimbledon neighborhood. The dozen kids, no older than 12 maybe 13, turn toward us as we approach, taking notice of the bigger boys calling out, “Hey, what are you….”

Click HERE for the full story…

losing effort maybe not the only lesson for american soccer at the olympics

In the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, China came home with 59 medals (28 gold), good enough for 3rd place in the medal count behind Russia and the United States, the latter of which had 91 (36 gold) and dominated the games as has become the summer ritual every four years.

In 2000, the Chinese took home exactly one medal in the Olympic sports of track and field, swimming, rowing, sailing, and canoe/kayak. There are 119 medals available in those sports, all of which the USA excels at. When China found out Beijing would be the 2008 Summer Olympic host city, the nation set forth “project 119″ to take some of those medals and add to their traditional domination in other obscure Olympic sports such as table tennis, badminton, and gymnastics, and hopefully and finally knock the USA off the medal count top spot for the first time in decades. (Russia on the other hand appears it would rather challenge the U.S. and its Allies on the geo-political instead of athletic stage).

In 2004 China took home 63 medals (32 gold) behind the U.S.’s 102 (36 gold). As of Monday at 9pm EST the count for 2008 stood at China 67 (39 gold), USA 72 (22 gold). Economist and bookmakers alike have China winning both the overall and gold medal count. Now that’s how you do national program initiatives.

In the face of this Chinese emergence under Project 119, I couldn’t help but think about our little development initiative, the United States Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer’s “Project 40,” now Generation Adidas, which was meant to develop young American players with the original goal in 1997 being to win Olympic gold on way to taking home the 2010 World Cup. How’s that working out? A Slower road, no? Nobody said communism doesn’t have its mobilization advantages.

Click HERE for the full story…