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AMERICAN SOCCER MEDIA LANDSCAPE NEEDS TO GET BEYOND THE BLOG

Ives Galarcep moved to Fox Soccer. MLS hired my Waiting For Gaetjens co-host Greg Lalas and Sports Illustrated’s Jonah Freedman to run MLSnet 2.0. Jose Romero left the Sounders beat at the Seattle Times. Glenn Davis got laid off from the Houston Chronicle. Dirty Tackle was purchased by Yahoo!. Did I miss something?

Some good some bad. And coincidence or not, this media transfer window has come along with increased concern and critique of the soccer media landscape, from the benefit or lack thereof of certain hirings to the direction of certain outlets content and coverage.

Big Surprise: It’s just about my favorite topic. I haven’t addressed it recently because I didn’t have anything to say that I haven’t already said (which is at the heart of this entire issue). In 2007, I wondered about the future of the American soccer magazine. To have a print magazine in the vein of FourFourTwo for American soccer is something that as a fan of soccer and magazines I dream about, but as a magazine writer and former editor I fear will never exist. (for the record, I don’t love FFT, but what else do we have?)

I heard from plenty of people both inside and outside the industry when I wrote that 2007 essay, and the correct question coming back was, “Where are these specialized advertisements waiting to be sold?” The salesman in me thought it possible, but more than two years removed, and what with the crumbling state of ad-driven journalism, I’ll concede it may be impossible.

But that comes with a qualifier. Click HERE for the full story…

Laugh about it, shout about it / When you’ve got to choose / Every way you look at it, you lose
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Lost in the whirlwind tour of South Africa and the Confederations Cup, which brought outlets from Harper’s to Deadspin to what seemed like every newspaper in the country out for a week-long soccer columning festival, was the demise of Brad Friedel’s once heralded (here at least) soccer academy in Ohio. So why does that matter?

In the last two weeks I’ve received emails asking why I didn’t write anything about the Confederations Cup or when I would. I’m still wondering, what really is there to say? Dan Loney did the best job I’ve seen of basically saying just that while pointing out the US MNT is not that good and doesn’t have any depth and doesn’t have the best coach they could. Too many of the rubberneckers came with, as Loney put it, “nonsense like winning games and getting good performances out of our players.” So where should the attention be going? Click HERE for the full story…

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore–And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over–like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags / like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

-Langston Hughes

On Friday, April 3rd, FC Harlem will open its doors to the public for a photo exhibit and reception, celebrating the growth of the club, soccer’s place in uptown Manhattan, and the first of its kind (in NYC) soccer field, to be built in the borough. For the club’s director Irv Smalls and the few hundred kids that participate in the club, some dreams, all be they minuscule in the grand scheme of things, no longer need be deferred.

Photographer Rojelio Rodger Rodriguez was kind enough to give TIAS a preview of his exhibition. Prints will be available for sale at the event, with proceeds supporting FC Harlem. Click HERE for the full story…

As most of you likely know the beloved du Nord, the time-consuming spawn of Minnesota’s Bruce McGuire, is on hiatus… maybe forever. Which begs the question of where to go to get your daily dose of soccer weblinks.

After finishing a piece here at TIAS and waiting for an embargo to pass so that I can publish it–something that won’t be such a big scoop but will trigger the journey that come summertime should provide for some exciting TIAS exclusives–I’m wondering about Bruce, the void left by du Nord’s absence, and technology… Click HERE for the full story…

Steve Goff touched on a topic close to my heart yesterday. He asked readers, “What do you think it is going to take for an American soccer player to re-enter the mainstream commercial industry?”

I live in two worlds: soccer journalism and the non-sporting mainstream media. At magazine after magazine soccer is shot down for editorial coverage–the blow off usually arrives with something like “oh, another soccer pitch from Spangler.” A few laughs and editors move on.  Asking why soccer and its players aren’t the kings of media would not be hard to answer–surprise, by and large no one cares about soccer in this country–but bringing that around to ask what it will take is a whole different matter entirely. Moreover, how do we get there? People caring about soccer is just the beginning. Click HERE for the full story…

Like a child breaking down and building back and breaking down and building back an antique before carving their own milestone, 2008 was a year of tinkering before making real progress.

But that’s not to say history wasn’t made… Click HERE for the full story…

While I try to edit down and pair together a year’s worth of notes into some sort of digestible column on the year that was 2008, check out 2007’s offering (has anything changed?) and take a moment to vote for your favorite online soccer offerings over at USSF and Soccerlens. Click HERE for the full story…

READ THIS FIRST

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LET OUT THE SLACK EDITION

There’s so much soccer going on right now that I don’t know where to turn where to look where to work. The largest project in the history of this little blog is almost finished and will help usher in my favorite month of the year. The last two weeks in an un-August-like Manhattan have already begun to hint at the change.

On top of what has been the busiest summer of my life, I’ve been neck-deep in research, swimming in hours of interviews, and what feels like a lifetime has passed trying to write what will be by far the longest story in the long-loving history of TIAS. It’s been some time coming–I’ve gotten married and will have changed “day” jobs since I started writing this particular story–and still I’m not finished.

A clock needs to stop before I can put the final stamp on it. So I lift my head out of the weeds—willow weep for me—and try to watch some soccer, think about soccer, or god help me write a blog post about something other than what I’ve been absorbed in. Maybe it is my fault, my full plate, but American soccer has to take some of the blame. 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…