The Wide World of Fútbol

I just returned from a really nice trip to Montréal, QC (despite American Airlines' attempts to sabotage our experience). Yonder north of Burlington, Vermont lay Montréal: a beautiful city with a wonderful international vibe. The cuisine is out of this world. (The serving sizes are downright American!) The people are unabashedly friendly. "Pas posible!" you say?. Vendors, shops & restaurants readily accept American dollars and hand you back Canadian change, zesty Montréal Brisket & Cuban cigars. Order any beer at any dive in Canada, and you get bubbly gold. Gambling is legal. It's an American Dream!

And Quebecers love their sports. Montréal still mourns the loss of its beloved baseball Expos (Expos paraphernalia is ubiquitous, t-shirts, ball caps, etc.)

Montréal, not Canton

Montréal, it turns out, is the birthplace of modern American Football. British soldiers garrisoned in Montréal in the late 19th Century introduced a variation of their rugby football that has since evolved into its various forms today: the NFL, the CFL and the darling of summer: the Arena Football League. Nothing in my American upbringing would have led me to think that Canada was the breadbasket of American Football. We hiked up from downtown Montréal to the Parc Mont Royal (Montréal's Central Park). All along the way, we heard what we thought were flocks of Canadian geese. Au contraire! After a steep climb up the steps towards the Kondiaronk Belvedere (sure wish someone had told me there was a tram we could have taken!), we realized that what we were hearing weren't Canadian geese, but rather the cheers from nearby Molson Stadium of Alouettes' fans celebrating a victory against the BC Lions. And it's a very odd sensation to watch the Alouettes play on TV and hear the French language play-by-play. But their passion and enthusiasm is unmistakable.

During this trip we also had a chance to meet a Canadian lobbyist from Toronto. I happened to bring up the great Galaxy/FC Toronto game last month. And it turns out he had been to that game in person at BMO Field! He raved about FC Toronto (even though they've had a rough first season). BMO Field in Toronto has one of the most spectacular views in the sport: overlooking downtown Toronto's skyline. It also happens to be the National Soccer venue for the Canadians. So they play most of their big international games there. FC Toronto has sold out its season. Yes, that's right. A Major League Soccer franchise has a team that sells out regularly. Their fans are positively feverish with the fútbol spirit. They are young, upwardly mobile, urban-dwelling fans with a lot of loose change for Molsons, Labatts and FC Toronto soccer scarves. This bodes well for another Canadian franchise in the MLS. Vancouver? Montreal? Just make certain that the soccer-specific stadiums up north have retractable domes.

I watched the end of the FC Dallas/FC Toronto game from Canada. The Canadian broadcast team was pretty weak. They had a Canuck and a Brit on there. I'll cut them some slack because of how long it's been since FC Toronto has scored a goal. Frisco's Pizza Hut Park pitch had American football yardage markers all over. Why does a soccer-specific stadium have football stripes on it? But I'm very happy that locally we have Brad Sham. He's a broadcasting giant in DFW. He could have easily been a national play-by-play guy. But all the same, I'm glad we have him all to ourselves here in Big D.

Happy Birthday, Cristobal! Soccer-Point blogger Cristobal Cuarenton steered me in the direction of the "Fox Football Fone-In". I had recently begun listening to the podcasts of "World Soccer Daily" with Steven Cohen. And, as it happens, he co-hosts "Fox Football Fone-In" on the Fox Soccer Channel every Tuesday night with Nick Webster. (Thanks, Cristobal for the tip.) The two hosts, both ex-pat Brits, seem to be having a marvelous time talking futbol from L.A. They are nicely sun-tanned. They get along famously. Their humor & enthusiasm is contagious. They aren't snooty at all towards their American cousins. And the American callers are real soccer fans who follow the sport very carefully. Viewing the "Fone-In" is like sidling up to a couple of blokes at the local pub to hear them spout off about their beloved sport. They have great guests on the show. The first time I watched them they had Johnny Rotten on there. Turns out, he's a huge Gunner. They had Preki on last week. He has done an OUTSTANDING coaching job at Chivas USA. They're in first place in the West now after their Super Clasico victory Thursday night on ESPN2 against the lowly LA Galaxy. This past week's guest was Chivas player Jesse Marsh, the guy that tackled Becks a couple of weeks ago and a melee ensued. Nick & Steven can chatter away about the whole wide world of soccer: from Serie A in Italy to the EPL, Spain's La Liga, Australia's A-League and Le Championnat. That's a lot of soccer to cover.


Years ago we loved watching ABC's Wide World of Sports. Jim McKay's opening segment remains one of those few sports anthology shows along with NFL Films, the Olympics & ABC's The Superstars that gave me the chills. (OK, ABC's The Superstars was cheesy. But who didn't love their TV Theme Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar"?)

Major League Soccer has its anthology soccer show now: It's called "David Beckham's Soccer USA". After this summer, you could question the judgment of programming chiefs naming the show after David Beckham. But this show is also televised in the UK. So they've got to convince otherwise unsuspecting Englishmen to watch Major League American Soccer. But I think this kind of show is very important in translating the sport to the American audience. The League has to get the stories across in this medium. I'm thinking specifically about a few passages in the NY Cosmos book I read this summer: "Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the NY Cosmos", the companion piece to last year's wonderful documentary. In the late 70's, the NASL really wanted a big time TV network contract to show their games weekly. But one of the ABC guys tried to convince them to instead go with a weekly anthology style show along the lines of the Wide World of Sports. The book goes on to explain how the network aired the games on Saturday afternoons when no one would be around at home to watch the games. The ratings were abominable.

October 28th, the NFL will take their product for another overseas exhibition in their International Series. This time it will be the Miami Dolphins squaring off against the NY Giants at Wembley Stadium. It appears that the NFL has shrunken their European operations so as to retool their efforts and focus on the UK.


It's very exciting to have the NFL season once again underway. I'm a huge Cowboys' fan. But the NFL has a much bigger challenge trying to sell their sport overseas than Major League Soccer has in getting a foothold in American Sports.

The Joys of International Program Management and Football Friendlies

Due to a customer visit yesterday in the repair facility where I work, I elected not to wear an England kit. It wasn't so much the idea that all my German colleagues would throw me into an unused office and beat me up, it was more like the fact that I didn't want the company CEO and CFO getting bent out of shape with me not following company dress code...again.

My local was filled with football fans last evening for the big event. Sure, there were a couple of English floating around, but there were mostly German supporters. Not a surprise, being Frankfurt.

Frank Lampard's goal wasn't half bad, but I was more concerned about the keeper; I don't need Arsenal's number one making any more mistakes than he has already this season. I was saying as much to a friend of mine when Germany equalized off some pretty questionable play by England's own keeper.

A festive pub is always cool during a match, particularly with the rivalry like this one.
Things turned up a notch when Pander struck a nice shot past Robinson late in the first half. It was a worthy winning goal.

During the half time break I finished my pint and paid up; I needed to get home and get some rest before my customer arrived the following morning. Of course, this only meant that I left the pub, walked 20 meters to my flat, keyed in, then turned on the telly to see the second half of the match. Not terribly exciting, save for a bit of SWP, but there you go.

I normally support England when it comes to International football, but this was a so called friendly, and I'm not all that big of a fan of these things. Too many times it interferes with club play. In short, I wasn't too concerned about the result, and went to bed dreaming of sugar plums and whatnot.

This morning on the commute to work, I saw lots of smiling faces; something that's unusual with German commuters at 7am. But, their team had one a good victory last night, and they were proud.

Upon my arrival to work, my colleagues excitedly talked to me about the game, then they gave my English colleague a bit of ribbing when he walked in the door. "We just can't seem to lose at Wembley," they said.

Big fun. Hopefully all the Arsenal players got through the evening without too much wear and tear, and I hope Becks has a good flight back to LA.

go gunners
bryan

England vs. Germany

A storied rivalry, to be sure, will continue tomorrow in Wembley Stadium: England vs. Germany. It's a "friendly". (Yeah, right.) New MLS/"Soccer in America" ambassador David Beckham will likely be playing for England's squad after a glorious defeat in Giants Stadium Saturday night. As an observer of the sport here stateside, these European friendlies have a lot more meaning now that England's most famous athlete plays on our shores. If Beckham plays poorly, his performance will be blamed on the lackluster quality of soccer in America, the distractions of Hollywood and field turf. They're already lining up the sound bites in the English press. Former England coach Sir Bobby Robson had this snide remark about the American game for BBC Sport:

"In the short term he looks OK, but the longer he plays in America, with respect to the football being played there, the less competitive he will become.

"It is not the greatest level of football. He will lose the match sharpness he needs to play at the top level with England."

Steven Goff over at the Washington Post's "Soccer Insider" calls this kind of talk "hogwash". If, on the other hand, Beckham plays splendidly, English fans will credit Beckham for maintaining a high caliber of play against all odds, further contributing to his legend in English football. As Charlie Brown would say, "Good grief".

After the terrific LA Galaxy SuperLiga semifinal victory over DC United and last Saturday night's showdown in Giants Stadium before 66,237 fans, Beckham has really taken to his American adventure. Although hopes for reaching the MLS playoffs remain dim, Beckham could still redeem his inaugural year in American soccer and help allay this summer's AnkleGate troubles by helping the Galaxy beat Pachuca next Wednesday night for the first SuperLiga trophy (Television still TBD).

(Image courtesy of the BBC)

Like any good, patriotic English lad, David Beckham wants to do anything to help his country's football squad re-assert itself in international competition. The Holy Grail for English soccer would be a World Cup victory to set on the mantle along with 1966. England, after all, invented the modern sport. Stateside fans should remember this dream of English football fans. It's maybe not as daunting a task as making soccer safe for consumption in America. But for all the bluster about the supremacy of English Premier League football, international success eludes them. Taking on diplomatic roles like playing soccer in America, is to reach for the pinnacle of soccer statesmanship: Pele, Brazil's gift to the world. His ambition may prove to be more than his bite. But this isn't as much a reach as Michael Jordan (23) playing baseball. Or is it?

For now, let's see how Becks does tomorrow in Wembley. Cheers!