The United Soccer Leagues has been a doormat to the MLS for too long.  They have allowed MLS to walk all over them.  MLS has taken multiple cities from the USL to put into their league and have not suffered any kind of legal troubles or image issues.  This has been a coup for MLS.  They [...] Click to continue reading...

A split on the football front for me this weekend and, with the inconsistent form of Ipswich combined with the plight of the injury decimated Seahawks, that's about the best I can realistically hope for on any given week.

Starting on the brighter side, the Tractorboys made it 7 points out of a possible 9 in their past 3 games with a solid 2-0 win at home against QPR. Click to continue reading...

By now it should be clear that I am a dedicated fan of football from both sides of the pond. As mentioned earlier, I was raised in England in the southeast and spent much of my childhood growing up in and around Ipswich, and later in a smaller town, Bishop's Stortford which is about 30 miles or so northeast of London. Click to continue reading...

Writing an introduction, in my opinion, is the hardest task of any type of written work. So I'm glad it's done (see the Pre-Game). Before I dive into my specific teams and the reasoning, or lack thereof, for the blog title and the teams I follow, just a bit of background is in order.

Throughout this blog you will often find me switching between sports on both side of the Atlantic, and for example, examining the ins and outs of two very different types of football. Click to continue reading...

Thad over at The Back Post is reporting that the Wizards have a new beat writer to replace Bob Luder whose name has come up in the Star's recent layoffs. According to Thad, the new writer is Randy Covitz, who is currently with the Star. From a quick search of the Star's website, it looks like recently, Covitz has been mainly covering NASCAR and racing for the Star. Click to continue reading...

In order for Soccer to make it to the U.S. sports fan's main menu, it must play a schedule that has both sense and purpose.  An American professional soccer league must begin play every year 1-2 weeks before the Major League baseball season begins and it must end its regular season 1-3 weeks before the start of the NFL [. Click to continue reading...

If you're a football fan, I'm pretty sure this Sony ad for the US market - featuring Peyton Manning and Dale Earnhardt Jr. - will piss you off. I thought we were past this sort of soccer-bashing in the USA, but apparently not. I spotted it over at EPL Talk, where the "Soccer Fans: Boycott Sony [...] Click to continue reading...

1. Billionaires always have good home security Which would explain why Salomon Kalou's equalizer on Sunday means Chelsea haven't lost at Stamford Bridge since February 2004. 2. But Roman Abramovich should definitely think about building an extension There were less than 42,000 at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea vs Man Utd. Click to continue reading...

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Bookmark to: yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = "Poll: How Does The NFL Affect Your Premier League TV Viewing Habits?"; http://www.epltalk.com/poll-how-does-the-nfl-affect-your-premier-league-tv-viewing-habits/3221 Click to continue reading...

It's my kind of Sunday! First, this is an excellent sharp retort from Boltgirl to Rudy's  bull about Obama's record.  Truth will out (I hope). On the first full day of NFL action the Pats pulled out a scary win - and it remains to be seen what Brady's status will be.  He walked off ... but [...] Click to continue reading...

Alan Curbishley has resigned as manager of West Ham saying that transfers were being made without his knowledge or input. Such a situation is clearly an untenable position for a manager. Curbishley said that what had happened amounted to "a breach of trust and confidence meaning I had no option but to leave. Click to continue reading...

From Matt: Can we analogize different major sports leagues to different branches of the federal government? Yes we can! Presidential politics is like the star-driven NBA while congress is the NFL and the judiciary is MLB. It's surprisingly plausible. And I'll extend — state government is like MLS with people occasionally telling themselves they'll pay attention [. Click to continue reading...

You may have missed an article by Oliver Kay in The Times this past weekend that featured a very revealing interview with Manchester City executive chairman Garry Cook regarding the future of the Premier League. The headline perfectly sums up Kay's article: "Vision Of A Breakaway League With No Relegation. Click to continue reading...

NYRB 2 TFC 0
You could ponder tactics and strategies when you try to think about TFC's loss today, but it would lead you nowhere. It was not a game of match-ups and styles. It was more of a simple tale of talent and luck. New York had both. Talent does not have to show up for long. New York proved that today. Click to continue reading...

Only Time Time Will Tell went on line Nov. 4, 2006 at 9:58 p.m. blasting Mark Jones for the way called a football game. Almost two years later, the Only Time Will Tell Crew has attended countless sporting events and watched millions of hours of events on television, the crew has decided to go mobile. Click to continue reading...

You read that right. Dynamo defender Craig Waibel equalled the NFL record 63 yard field goal while kicking with the Houston Texans for charity. OK, so it wasn't a game situation and no one was rushing him (or whatever you call it, I don't really understand NFL to be honest) but it's still impressive. Click to continue reading...

We've all seen shots taken by MLS players from far out which, while well driven, sailed way high of the goal. Sometimes we joke that certain players would do better in the NFL as a result. Well today, the Houston Dynamo's Craig Waibel was playing around with the funny shaped kind of football and apparently was so impressive some keen NFL observers may take interest. Click to continue reading...

Bengals receiver Chad Johnson reported to training camp yesterday sporting the finest in Portuguese soccer wear. Ocho Cinco sported a Sporting Lisbon shirt yesterday as he checked into training camp. No word on if Johnson feels that Sporting was wrong for rejecting a 11.8 pound bid from Everton for Sporting midfielder Joao Moutinho. Click to continue reading...

I was able to read more on what had happened in Columbus Sunday night -- from the Times of London (two articles -- thanks Jonathan), from BigSoccer (thanks Chuck), and from the Crew's official website. I recommend reading the comments from the Times and BigSoccer; they're very illuminating. Based on what I've been able to read, there was much less to the incidents than what was reported by the AP, and what happened is not any more serious than what happens at a typical match in the NFL or some other professional sports league in America. Click to continue reading...

In a few days the MLS will host their annual All-Star game in Toronto at BMO Stadium. This year they will be put up against West Ham a middle to low end of the table club in the EPL.


But lets get down to brass tacks (I never really got that saying.. does anyone really know where that comes from). Click to continue reading...

FxB of So Many Balls and I have sparked up a well reasoned debate on the subject of MLS expansion and something I'll call, fan commitment. Because well reasoned debates are so rare on the internet, I'd like to keep it on the front pages rather than the comments for now...and of course encourage others to weigh in. Click to continue reading...

Sometimes athletes keep their families to close to them and with the two biggest sports stories of the summer season that is no different. During the last couple of weeks the families of former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre and Manchester United's Ronaldo have kept their gums from flapping about both players situations. Click to continue reading...

3.8 million Americans tuned in to ABC to watch the network's first ever U.S. broadcast of a European Championship final. And as we know, they were treated to a great match of attacking, honest football.

Of course 3.8 is a fraction of the number who tune in to watch the NFL's championship game, the Superbowl. Click to continue reading...

The death of high school soccer? Perhaps, but that may not be a bad thing. Soccer is different from other American sports. No one in American football has to worry about falling behind the curve because other countries are taking nine-year-olds into professional development in that sport. Also the maturity level needed is very different. Click to continue reading...

Although Atlanta is seldom mentioned as one of the front-runners for a MLS side, Arthur Blank, the owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, is still very interested in bringing a team to the city. It would also seem that the league is just as interested, calling Atlanta 'a "tremendous" potential market that would expand the league's footprint into the Southeast. Click to continue reading...

The owner of NFL's Atlanta Falcons is interested in bringing an MLS team to Atlanta.  Major League Soccer is interested in putting a team in a major city in the south-east.

The stadium required to bring in a new MLS team to Atlanta could not be completed before 2012 which would likely be the earliest a team could be added.

Click to continue reading...

Toronto FC are the Jackie Robinson on Canadian MLS clubs; they opened the door for wealthy Canuckistani's nationwide who have big time soccer dreams. And while Vancouver and Montreal have been knocking on the front door for a while now trying to lock up the Larry Doby spot, Ottawa --you read that right, Ottawa-- is trying to use the tradesman's entrance and sneak in through the back. Click to continue reading...

Putting your hands on a major trophy is something that all athletes live for but in some sports they hand out of the trophy in a better way then most. In the United States, when a team wins a major trophy like the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals, they roll out a stage on wheels and present the trophy to the captain of the team. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

No, it's not that sort of post, and I do realize this is a soccer blog, but I'm a sports fan in general, and I always watch the SuperBowl. This year, though, was the first time I watched it with only female friends.
"You're actually going to watch the game?" Kim said incredulously.
"Isn't that the point? Click to continue reading...

What if the NFL followed MLS' asinine playoff system and let more than half of its team into the playoffs?

Of course, the NFL playoffs are no joke. Teams that make the playoffs are there because they deserve to be there, not because they weren't as bad as the really bad teams.

But what if it was like MLS, where teams can mess around for three-fourths of the season and still have a legitimate shot of playing for the league title? Click to continue reading...

David Beckham will not start for England in their fight against Croatia Wednesday night. Due to his rash of injuries over the last eight months and his lack of pace, Steve McCalren has decided to go with Shaun Wright-Phillips instead.

I guess Peter Crouch will have to find someone else to set him up and inspire the squad.

Here is England's starting XI:
Carson - Richards, Lescott, Campbell, A Cole - Wright-Phillips, Gerrard, Barry, Lampard, J Cole - Crouch

In other 'the sky is falling news' for England, the pitch at the £757million ($1. Click to continue reading...

Manchester City have signed a new three-year deal with China's leading internet and mobile rights provider.

City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is in Shanghai today to sign the agreement with Premier Goals which sees the launch of the Blues Chinese language website. The deal also includes a mobile communications agreement covering SMS, MMS and WAP services.

Click to continue reading...

It could just be a muddy NFL game in London.

Or it could be the beginning of the apocalypse. Click to continue reading...

History in the making at Wembley this weekend. The Miami Dolphins are taking on the New York Giants in the first ever NFL game to be played outside the US.

I've had a passing interest in American Football for the past 15 years or so. It all started when I watched the Superbowl with my uncle - those days broadcast on Channel 4 in the small hours. Click to continue reading...