Bon_Mot

Wow!  This guy was either up against a deadline and just threw some spit balls to see what would stick or he underestimates the GM's around the league and doesn't have a good grasp of what would benefit the MLS.

1.  Ronaldo - Not only is he fat, but he's got bad knees, too.  And his work ethic has been challenged.  Let whichever New York franchise that wants him have him - the coach will be gone within three years because there aren't enough pies in all of the Big Apple to satisfy his appetite and there's way too many distractions to keep him focused on soccer.

2.  Zizou - This seems like it could be a "legitimate rumor"...and who wouldn't want a THIRTY-SIX YEAR OLD with a horrible reputation in the states.

3.  Makelele - I have no idea where this came from.  I think this Martin Rogers guy just likes saying "Makelele".  It's fun.  Go ahead.  Say it again.  "Makelele".  If you don't know how to pronouce his name, it's kind of like ukulele as in the Hawaiian guitar which roughly translates into "jumping flee" in English...but I digress...  What does his partner have to do with him coming to the US, and how does Houston enter the picture?  Does Yahoo pay its Sports Writers well?  If so they'll be receiving a resume soon.

4.  Rafa Marquez - I'd like to know what "...there are strong suggestions in Spain..." means.  Who's making these suggestions in Spain?  Is it someone who has witnessed how the fans of the FMF treat their players like gods?  Is it someone who could explain why the captain of the Mexican National Team would play in the domestic league of its most hated rival?

5.  Cannavaro - I don't remember any rumors at all of him coming to the MLS.  But hey, what franchise wouldn't want to spend millions on a THIRTY-FIVE YEAR OLD center back who's under 5'10''?!

6.  Henry - This could actually happen!  One outta ten ain't bad, Martin!

7.  Veron - What's great about this Rogers guy including Veron in his article is that he wrote an article the other day about how Veron NOT coming to the MLS was good for the league.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news?slug=ro-veron121507&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

8.  Giggs - I would much rather see him as Sir Alex's successor at Man U.

9.  Larsson - Dude, he's thirty-friggin-five.  My over 30 Co-Ed team even considers that old for a forward.  And he even says that Larsson might be "impossible to get."  I'd hate to see that guys Wish List for Christmas.

10.  Collina - Now you're not even trying, Martin Rogers.  Really?!  You couldn't name another old player from one of the top clubs in Europe?  What about Figo or Roberto Carlos?

Thank goodness the football coaches only allowed 69 kids on the First and Second All-District Teams this year! 

Feel free to go over to the football board and tell those guys that there's too many players named for what's supposed to be an "elite" squad.

http://www.setxsports.com/setxforum/index.php?topic=30467.30

I wanted to do a toy drive, but I was "enfluenced" in another direction.  :'(

Was it just me, or did THE Ohio State University play durrrrrty?  They seemed a little too self-assured with that one goal lead, and then looked panicy when they went down one.  I was rooting for WF really quick.

Success would be an understatement to describe this food drive.  With well over a $1,000 donated and many, many, many, non-perishable items collected, Southeast Texas showed its holiday spirit.  All three programs did a great job, with The Big Giver being Little Cypress - Mauriceville.  Great job, everyone!

The soccer programs at Nederland, PN-G, and LC-M are participating in a food drive to benefit children and families who are served by Child Protective Services.  Non-perishable food items and/or gift cards may be dropped off in the parking lots of each school on Saturday, December 15th from 10am to noon.

Please let families throughout Southeast Texas have a happy holiday!

I really would have rather have kept Wells and traded Onstadt (considering the 13 year difference in age) if it was an option.  I hope Boswell stays injury-free.  The Dynamo have struck gold in almost all of their moves so far!

I'm sorry to let you know that there won't be a Southeast Texas Showcase this year.  Practically every team in this area is a part of the same district, no one from Houston wants to make the trip over here, and many of the local coaches wanted to get some games against Houston teams.

After re-alignment this spring, there should be an opportunity for more than one tournament, so the STS might return for the '09 season.

The U-17's beat Brazil!

What is IMG ?

It's the residency program in Bradenton Florida.  Here's the Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMG_Soccer_Academy

Check out their website.  IMG isn't limited to soccer academies.  It's pretty incredible.

http://www.imgacademies.com/home/default.sps

I didn't see the game, but I'll try and catch the next one against Brazil.  It's Saturday at 1:30 on FSC.  I got a chance to listen to these IMG guys from Bradenton at the TASCO clinic.  They love what they do and you can tell.

Did someone change our district up?  ???  Last I checked LCM, Silsbee, HJ, Ozen, and WO-S were a part of the district, too.  You might not think these guys have a chance and don't deserve to be in your poll, but last year a lot of people didn't think Central had a chance either and that seemed to upset a few people in Beaumont, too.

the point wasn't how SP would interpret what Sharkie said, it was how the readers of this forum would interpret it.  But, hey, I understand your desire to defend a fellow coach.

You got me there.  I didn't factor in the idea that readers of this forum (since they aren't from Friendswood) are inherently mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging morons and couldn't possibly interpret the sentence properly.  :  I'm so glad you're here to direct us.  Tell us what we should think next!

Thank goodness you're not one of my parents.  You'd force me to move to Texas City or Clear Brook so I could deal with a more logical support group.  I'm glad both Coach Peters are so classy.  You would make it really easy to root against FHS.

And we beat Lumberton last year 5-1

...in what was the first scrimmage for Lumberton

...after Kelly had been practicing and playing for two months

...and Lumberton had a roster of 13 players because of kids missing for basketball and band

Surely you won't deny that your Kelly team last year jelled and got better from your opening game to any game that you played a month or so later.  I'd say that if a full strength Kelly team would have played a full strenght Lumberton team this past March it would have been a "Pick 'Em".

FriendswoodFan,  I'd rather you didn't call me "BM", it sounds too excretory.  Also, you're starting to come off like a Deer Park fan.  That's never good...

Third, Seven Lakes may be relatively new, but they are very good - better than Nederland or Kelly I think most people would say.  Surely you do not dispute that?

I'll dispute it until Nederland or Kelly plays K7Ls.  I know that they knocked out the beloved Mustangs from the boys play-offs last year, but I'll dispute it until proven otherwise because both programs are top notch and scared of no one.  But...oh wait...I see what you're saying...If F'wood couldn't beat 'em, surely lowly Nederland or Kelly couldn't either.  How cute!

Fourth, Shark tried to imply that Friendswood's coach was somehow dodging him and his mighty squad.  You and I know that is not the case (and so does he), but that did not stop him from trying to plant that seed in the minds of the readers of this forum.  Frankly, a pretty lame thing for any coach to do.  So, my reply point was to point out that if he really wanted to play them, he knew (and knows) where to find them. 

Are you talking about this:

I did contact the soccer coach at friendswood and tried to line up a game with him.  However he couldnt put us on his schedule. 

S. Peter would never consider this as someone saying that he is dodging them.  It's a harmless statement that says that neither school had an open date.

Fifth, the Friendswood tourney is not the only tourney in which FHS is playing this season -- Shark could have taken his team to the Brenham tourney as well.

If you're talking about the Diadora Cup at Brenham, if you did a little fact checking before casting aspersions, you'd see that Kelly has a district game that weekend.

Anyway, go watch Kelly.  I have.  They're really good, and they play quality soccer.  Then make your judgements.

it is a pretty common fact that Kelly is the best team in our area.

Based on what?  To say that comes off as arrogant is an understatement.  You've proven nothing against our area teams.  I will support Kelly as an area team, and I will support their coach as a personal friend but I will never support baseless, unproven statements such as this.

"...pretty common fact.."

GIVE ME A BREAK!

It's pretty obvious that you're just here to be a spoon and stir stuff up, but against my better judgement I'm going have to actually join in and defend Kelly's schedule here:

Jan    10    Klein Showcase Tournament  Austin Westlake  @630

Jan    11    Klein Showcase Tournament  Ft bend Clemens @330

Jan    12    Klein Showcase Tournament  San Antonio Lee  @900

These are the games that Kelly will be playing during the Friendswood Tournament.  Pretty salty.

And I also have to ask about this:

Finally, Shark, if you REALLY want to play the best teams, then it's easy enough t sign Kelly up for the January tournaments that teams like Friendswood, Brenham, Seven Lakes, etc. go to every year. 

...Seven Lakes has been around for about a total of 2 years.  ???

Just come out and say it.  You hate Monsignor Kelly High School like the rest of America. 

You'd never see the Nederland coach getting on here doing that.

Prolly because he's lost so much, he's run out of excuses.

I don't know if this is legal or not, but since Kelly is a private school I thought it would be OK to release some video of their training techniques.  It's cutting edge stuff!!

http://www.break.com/index/japanese-binocular-soccer.html

This could happen:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=484393&cc=5901

Ives Galarcep opinion:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=484380&root=mls&cc=5901

SFA, I think the real question is should a kid who doesn't play for Spindletop Select be allowed to be called a "soccer player" or merely "a kid who aimlessly kicks a soccer ball from time to time"?  How many players can you name outside of the Select Family?

Nederland

Nederland

Nederland

Nederland

..........you get the drift

Probably the best Nederland team ever........right, Rob? 

As of now, this Nederland team has proven nothing.  At least they have last year's Brenham team to look at who made the Regional Final game starting 5 or 6 Sophs most of the time.

Starting up any program is very expensive.  Some of the major expenses are the coaching stipend, meal money, travel money, and equipment.  According to the number of players anticipated and the cheapness of the district, you looking at anywhere around $10,000 but probably closer to $20,000 and up to start the program.

I would imagine getting an official petition going around at the high school and junior high would be a good first step to present to the athletic director.  At that point he and the other suits would research the feasibility and all that good stuff.

That being said, there's no way that it makes money for the school.  I played for HJ, which is somewhat similar in size, and we were lucky to get 100-200 fans a night.  It's not like some of the soccer powerhouses around here who do a good job of filling the stands, so the school is not going to get any return on its investment. 

I don't have any hard data, but I find it hard to imagine that ANY sport other than football actually makes money for the school.  I don't even know if the schools break even at home games after the officials, ticket takers, field crew are all paid and then the bill for the lights is taken care of.  I really doubt that football makes money either when you think about each player is wearing at $200 worth of equipment most of the time just for practice.

Anyway.  The more the merrier.  And as more 3A's get soccer, the quicker there's a 3A Tournament.  Right now there's around 50 or 60 throughout with probably almost a dozen coming in within the next couple of years.  According to El Presidente Lane, the number needs to be about 120 or so for UIL to make the move.

The MLS Expansion Draft for the new San Jose franchise is Wednesday the 21st at noon.  Here's the list of unprotected players:  http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20071120&content_id=130425&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

I kinda hope Lance Watson gets picked up by San Jose because it doesn't seem that this new coach at KC likes him very much.

And it sounds like St. Louis or Philly will get the next franchise:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=482671&cc=5901

This message board just started up

http://texashssoccer.com/index.php

Nederland Men's Schedule

January 4 New Caney Scrimmage Don Ford Stadium             5:00

January 5 Alumni Scrimmage HOME 2:00

January 7 Crosby Scrimmage Crosby HS 6:00

January 10-12 Panther Challenge Kingwood Park High School

Thursday           Kingwood Park 8:00

  Friday Santa Fe 2:00

  Saturday             Sharpstown 2:00

January 15 Monsignor Kelly High School HOME 7:00

DISTRICT

January 18 West Orange-Stark WO-S MS 5:30

January 22 Silsbee HOME 7:00

January 25 Little Cypress-Mauriceville             LC-M HS 7:00

January 29 Lumberton Lumberton HS 7:00

February 1 Central HOME 7:00

February 5 Ozen HOME 5:30

February 8 Vidor Vidor MS 7:00

February 12 Hardin-Jefferson HJ HS 7:00

February 15 Port Neches-Groves HOME 8:00

February 19 West Orange-Stark HOME 6:30

February 22 Silsbee Silsbee HS 7:00

February 26 Little Cypress-Mauriceville             HOME 7:00

February 29 Lumberton HOME 7:00

March 4             Central Babe Zaharious 5:30

March 7             Ozen Ozen HS 5:30

March 11             Vidor HOME 7:00

March 14             Hardin-Jefferson HOME 7:00

March 18             Port Neches-Groves HOME 7:00