Folks, it is Autumn in the USA and it's officially soccer season! If my loyal readers out there were wondering where in the heck I've disappeared to, I'd like to spend a few moments letting you know about a typical week for me this glorious time of year.

When I'm in town, I'm at soccer field at least four days each week. Click to continue reading...

Wow! What a weekend of great football and – oh by the way - what a difference a few days off from blogging will do to your numbers!

The great football I'm talking about was a long way from the Camp Nou or Old Trafford – in fact, the pitch where I spent hours watching some fantastic football was about 15 miles from my house. Click to continue reading...

If you're like me, then you not only love sports, but the business of sports. As we head toward the Beijing Olympics, this weeks' Economist has a fascinating section on sports business.

I'll be plucking bits and pieces from this section over the next week or so but to start, I'll share the latest chart to make you all wish you'd taken up golf as a kid - but aside from that, it also lists the other 10 highest earners in sport. Click to continue reading...

Did you ever think that old hockey joke would make its way to the soccer fields of America?

If the two SuperLiga semi final matches are any indication of the current emotional state between Mexican and American club football, then I'm afraid unless something is done, the SuperLiga tournament will continue to have this major black eye (and bloody nose, and busted mouth, etc. Click to continue reading...

As we close out the soccer week in America, I've got to reflect on the MLS All Star game and events that led up to it. I've always been a critic of the MLS all star game – more the format really than the match itself. In fact, if America insists on a All Star game, I suggested in an earlier post that we look to Australia's State of Origin rugby league match up and emulate their format for our match. Click to continue reading...

America loves All-Stars. For whatever reason, we are infatuated with this idea of a group of best of the best. I've suggested in the past that America needs to just drop the "All-Star" game for soccer altogether. Why? Because it's a holdover from the other main stream sports, is basically a strange concoction of players, and besides all that, we already have an All-Star team – it's called the US National Team. Click to continue reading...

Why does Major League Soccer feel the need to copy the other major American sports? I suppose it gets to the old debate – do they try to lure non-soccer fans to the sport by feeding them familiarity, or do they try to grow the league by attracting purists (such as myself) who spend hours watching the Premiership every Saturday and Sunday morning from August to May. 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...

In my earlier article "MLS in Atlanta? Why Not Make it a Double?" I brought up quite a few areas that warrant further exploration. Several of the discussion points centered around how to make soccer in America as popular a spectator sport as it is a participation sport. My ideas I'm sure are not new, but there seems to be a paucity of information out there for the interested, yet unknowing, average American sports fan. Click to continue reading...

For American sports fans who have had their interest in international football piqued, promotion and relegation is a critical concept to understand. First, let me get it out of the way and I don't intend any offense by this, but the word is "relegation" not "regulation". (I see that mistake made quite often) Now, let me go to the definitions and then I'll talk about what those two words, promotion and relegation, mean to football lovers outside the United States. Click to continue reading...

Can Atlanta support an MLS franchise? That's the question that Arthur Blank has asked Dick Sullivan, a former Home Depot executive who previously had been the Falcons' Executive Vice President of Marketing.

Mr. Sullivan is on leave from that post to help Mr. Blank with some of his other special projects. Click to continue reading...

Apologies to all my Major League Soccer fans out there, there is no disrespect intended in the headline. But for all intents and purposes, the final whistle of Euro 2008 ushered in the period of time that I like to call "the Great Silence."

Sure, we will be tracking transfer news, a handful of World Cup qualifying matches, MLS, and football odds and ends, but the next month and a half is intermission for world football. Click to continue reading...

"To say that soccer is a global sport, and that the world is becoming increasingly interdependent, seems almost tautological these days. Does the case really still need to be made?" Click to continue reading...

Beckham by the numbers: 66,237 in attendance, 3 assists, 3,458 miles to London, and 5,382 miles back to LA

The truth behind why Materazzi got Zidpwned! Click to continue reading...

First goal for an MLS team, First goal in SuperLiga, First assist, and all in less than 90 minutes. David Beckham put a solid first stamp on what could be several great years at MLS. Well done! Click to continue reading...

I recognize those blue track jackets anywhere. Distinctive with the US Soccer logo emblazoned on the sleeve. Yesterday, while shuffling through the security line at Hartsfield Jackson International, four young men were wearing our fine colors as they readied themselves for a trip to Korea. The tournament - the U17 World Cup.

Apparently the lads have been training in the 176 degree heat of Clemson, S. Click to continue reading...

So David Beckham is hurt and has been sitting the bench...and generating a lot of "hater" backlash as a result. And with the English Premiership kicking off what looks to be a spectacular season of football this past weekend, the attention of the American football fan is going to be torn across two continents.

That is ok, we can deal. Click to continue reading...

On some highly popular US based internet threads, it is almost a pastime for gridiron fans and football fans to square off toe to toe. I have seen the argument used that essentially, the two sports are not mutually exclusive. The fact this debate rages on, has led me to gather up some thoughts. I'm going to create a label for the Atlanta Football blog that collects some of the more poignant arguments I've seen. Click to continue reading...

Hi all, back in the States and glad to see USL in full swing. Our own Atlanta Silverbacks fell to Mexican first division legend Cruz Azul, 2-1, on July 28th to a sold out crowd at the RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium. But a good showing nonetheless for the Backs. I for one am eager for the start of the EPL season abroad and the ADASL season locally. Click to continue reading...

I've just come across a news story on Yahoo titled, "Grads in pads: First U.S. national football team prepares for trip to Japan". I've linked to the article for your reading pleasure – I for one, did not even begin to devote my time to it. Good on 'em for trying to export gridiron to different parts of the world, but for crying out loud, we've had a men's national football team since 1885 and played our first sanctioned match against Sweden in 1916.

Click to continue reading...