Bon_Mot

[quote name="DogOne" post="815624" timestamp="1278016353"] I'm not a Mensa member but it seems to me that the more options we can give our kids the better.  If they want to play on a team like Mike Hughes' great but alot of kids aren't willing or able to make that kind of commitment and if there are no other local clubs they're not going to play at all.  Just my two cents.[/quote] Like I said, I'm no Mensa member either, but you're talking about a team and I'm talking about a club. This area is not relevant on the state level, but it should be. It's got the numbers to do it, but they are spread out too thin once the kids get to the high school age.

[quote name="DogOne" post="815624" timestamp="1278016353"] Bon Mot, this last statement abut consolidating the local clubs to form one solid club seems to conflict with your first post where you criticize the "Pay to Play" system that results in too many kids being left out of the process because they can't afford the travel or trainer's fees.  If our area went to one consolidated club, where are the kids that can't afford the travel or training expenses going to play?  I'm not a Mensa member but it seems to me that the more options we can give our kids the better.[/quote] My opinion on the Pay to Play system is an indictment on the entire USSF and their method of identifying talent for the national team pool. That system won't change unless Klinsman gets the USMNT job, though. Under the current system that we have to work with, I think you have to identify what "success" is. My opinion: I think that means that a club can [i]consistently[/i] compete with the rest of the state at the U14 and up levels. I think there should be one [u]solid[/u] Director of Trainers for the entire club. Then I think there should be satellites. One for Port Arthur and MidCounty, one for Orange County and anyone north of that, one or two for Beaumont and Lumberton, and one for Hamshire Fannet to Chambers County. Each of these will have an Assistant DOT who meets with the DOT to make sure everyone has the same agenda, and (I believe) that's learning to play soccer - not winning - at the beginner levels. I think by the U14 level, these trainers should be able to identify the talented and comitted players and also be able to assemble one very good team and a couple of other pretty good ones. I also think that these satellites could continue to field teams at the U14 an up levels, but on a less competeve basis with the rest of the state.

[quote name="rip2506" post="815271" timestamp="1277846028"] It is hard in this area(Golden Trianlge) to develop a team of premier level playing ability. [/quote] I disagree with this.  If all of the local clubs would consolidate to form one solid club it could be done. Keep the local clubs as satelites for the young ones because I think neighborhood teams are vital for little kids.  You know your teammates, they can carpool if needed, and the opportunity for spontaneous knock-arounds grows. But once they get to U14 or so, bring em all together and separate the wheat from the chaff so that instead of 4 to 6 teams that are so-so, you have one team that should be very competitive and couple of more that shouldn't be too far behind. I really don't think this area can create more than 3 teams that could go to Houston and compete on a regular basis. And by "volley ball" I meant that I would play a ball onto our roof, and then when it came down I would try and get it back on the roof within 2 or 3 touches.  I have been call a female several times, though.

westend, I don't know how good you are with numbers, but you were off a little: From [Hidden Content] On Saturday, the United States’ loss to Ghana was seen by 14.9 million on ABC — an American record for the tournament — and an additional 4.5 million on Univision. That’s 19.4 million viewers for a Round of 16 game on a Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Eastern — the same number that Fox averaged over six prime-time games for last year’s World Series.

[quote name="westend1" post="815186" timestamp="1277819600"] Wow!  All 20,000 soccer fans in the US were pumped. [/quote] troll You know what I find exciting: Baseball. Anytime you can give me 6 minutes of action squeezed into 4 hours, sign me up. You know what's thrilling: the pick off move.You know what gets me going like 5 hour energy: Watching a relief pitcher warm up.  You want to see a prime athlete: 1st basemen. You want to see another sport loaded with action: football. An average play lasts all of 5 to 7 seconds, and in that time they work sooo hard, they get almost a minute to recover for the next play. [i]And[/i] these guys work so hard during a drive, they only have to play on one side of the ball. [b]AND[/b] since there's so much action, theses guys get[u] SIX [/u] timeouts [u]EACH[/u], [u]TWENTY[/u] two minute tv timeouts, and breaks for quarters and halftime. I'm exhausted just thinking about resting that much. The Wall Street Journal analyzed 4 televised games this past season and found out that the ball was actually in play for 11 minutes.  11 MINUTES! That's action! A friend of mine works at a bar in Austin and they've had to open at 6:30 in the morning several times and have had people waiting in line. And it's like that all over the US. In Beaumont, not so much. Which is surprising since the Golden Triangle is seen throughout the state as an area on the forefront of everything cool and innovative...   Do I think that this World Cup won over tons of fans in the US? No. I'm not that naive. But what it did do was expose soccer as a viable second tier sport behind the big three.  And you know what, these fans are young, multi-cultural, and most importantly PASSIONATE.  Footbal and basketball aren't going anywhere, but baseball is losing fans by the boatload. And it's current fanbase is old, old, old. Finally, I hope you realize that when a football game ends 21 - 14, that these teams didn't score 21 times and 14 times respectively.  You realize that this was 3 to 2, right?

I was totally joking about the Mensa thing.  I was being a wisenheimer because I tend to be a know-it-all with my posts on here. Besides, the only meetings I should be attending are AA. Along the lines of that "entitled" theme for many of those upper class kids in the big cities is a lack of drive.  If a kid doesn't like his playing time or the team he's on, instead of busting his tail to become a better player or better teammate, he simply goes to another team or mommy and daddy start a coup to get whoever they want replaced. The trainers at the big clubs are to blame for a lot of this, as well.  Instead of working to get the players on a team better, they will simply scout for better talent from other teams to poach with promises of scholarships or better training with blokes with cooler accents. For kids who want to get better, figure out when the last time you called a couple of friends and just knocked around or when you worked on skills by yourself. I'm gonna go Glory Days on you now, but when I was in high school I spent countless hours playing "volley ball" onto the roof by myself.  I also had a ball at my feet inside of the house most of the time.  I would dribble wherever I went.

Rip brought up a good topic.  How would you overhaul our youth system? I think one of the biggest problems is the "Pay to Play" system in some of the highest levels of our clubs. I think you could go to downtown Houston today, cull a couple of dozen kids from the inner city, and beat the tar out of the Texans within 3 months of quality training in tatics and a little conditioning. Too many kids are being left out of the process because they can't afford the travel or trainer's fees.  Dempsey's parents went to outrageous lengths to keep him with the Dallas Texans.   And, in my opinion, there are WAY too many silver spoon, mama's boy, never been told "NO" entitled, punks in the system. Another problem with our club system is the lack of creativity. One of the jokes with foreign trainers is that US kids will sit around before practice with a sack of soccer balls and wait for the cones and coaches, but the rest of the world's kids would be playing as soon as 4 kids showed up and they could find anything to use for goals. Next, winning is emphasized too early.  Many youth teams will put their kid who is the most mature (biggest and fastest) up front and long-ball to him constantly so that he can out run or out muscle the opposition for a goal. The problem is that this is seen as successful because in America, if you're not #1, you're not good enough. Even at U10. And eventually when the rest of the kids catch up with that big kid, no one has figured out how to solve the puzzle and PLAY the game. Soccer is ultimately pretty simple.  It comes down to which team is more athletic, composed, skilled, or creative.  Our current system addresses one of the four: Finding the best athletes.  The new Academy system is working at this somewhat.  I like that most of the MLS teams have Academy teams and the "homegrown" rule, eventhough no one that anyone knows has taken advantage of it. And I really like limiting the games and increasing the training sessions. I've got more, but I've got a Mensa meeting to attend now. ;)  What are your thoguhts?

I don't want to comment on the game too much because I don't want to crush the keys on my keyboard.  Ricardo Friggin Clark...  As to our group of youngsters, I'll agree they're good, but look at some of the rest of the world with talented players around 25 or younger like Spain - Torres (26), Raul Albiol (25), Sergio Ramos (24), Busquets (22), Fabregas (23), Iniesta (26), David Silva (24), Navas (25), Pedro (23).  Let's face it, we have no #10, we have no forwards who can score, we have no left backs, we have no young depth at keeper behind Howard, and most importantly our youth system needs a total and complete overhaul.

I love it too!!  And did you see Lippi refused to shake the Slovakian coach's hand just like Domenech? And how ironic was it that all the Italians were upset that Slovakia was wasting time by rolling around on the ground... :'( Not a good tourney for the Mediterranean Region.  Greece, Italy, France, and Algeria are all done.  Spain is all that's left.

I don't have the answer or the 4th spot on our backline. I can tell you why Spector, Bornstein, Goodson, Gooch, et al SHOULDN'T start much easier than I could choose from them. If it was a video game, I'd just go with a 3-2-3-2 with Clark and Edu as holding mids. Speaking of midfielders, is there any way we can get Feilhaber on the field for the entire 90? Maybe move Dempsey up front so Jozy will have a 4th different strike partner in 4 games?

[quote name="bullets13000" post="814426" timestamp="1277397733"] [quote author=bullets13000 link=topic=69695.msg802147#msg802147 date=1273974916] [quote author=BrenhamFan link=topic=69695.msg801483#msg801483 date=1273859852] I'm going for Germany and the US...  I see Brazil, Germany or Italy winning though. [/quote] i have my doubts about italy this year.  they always seem to do well in the Cup, but i'm predicting a poor showing from them.  they went 7-0-3 in qualify, but against a weak group, and only scored more than 2 goals in a game once.  with an anemic offense against weak teams, they're going to have trouble scoring against the best teams in the world, even if their defense can hold opponents to only a goal or two a game.  since they won the world cup in 06, they've slowly dropped in the fifa rankings, and are currently 5th.  don't get me wrong, they have the talent and the pedigree to win it all, but i just don't feel it this time around.  [/quote] BAM! [/quote] Don't hurt your shoulder patting yourself on the back... :P

[quote name="bullets13000" post="814365" timestamp="1277346965"] I read the "5 things we've learned" thing.  I'll have to admit, I have to give Bornstein credit.  I thought he was garbage in every game leading up to the cup, and i thought clarence goodson should've gotten the nod over him, but he played really well.  DeMerit has also been a beast in the air. [/quote] Bornstein did play a good game, but I'm afraid Kevin Prince Boateng will skin him on the flank multiple times on Saturday if he starts again.  As much greif as our defence got in the lead up to the tourney, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, and DeMerrit have played fantastically.  I love Gooch, but he wasn't ready.  What's really scary is that we don't have a decent left back in the youth system either.

Stats on goals scored through the first set of games: [Hidden Content]

I hope I'm wrong (along with almost all of America), but why-oh-why is Rico Clark starting over Torres?!?!?!  And why is Findley starting over Buddle?!?!?!?

[quote name="dualdellortos" post="809714" timestamp="1275836023"] BTW - congrats on the new gig! NOOOOOOO Foooootball!  Sweeeeeeeeeet! [/quote] Thanks! He had all of us working 8:00 to 6:00 on Saturdays and then noon to 7:00 on Sundays in addition to the 7:00 to 7:00 on Monday to Thursday.  [i]And[/i] I was "encouraged" to work through my conference period on breaking down film and whatnot...

I started a group in each of the 4 Fantasy Games offered by ESPN.com.  The group name is [b]SETX Sports[/b] and the password is [b]Crawfish[/b] for each of the groups. [Hidden Content]

Not only would he have made our squad, he'd be one of the "untouchable" starters along with Howard, Donovan, Dempsey, and the coach's son.  I'm pretty sure any of the Azurri's top 30 outfield players would probably start for the USMNT immediately. Not really sure about the Milan reference.  Rossi plays in Spain at Villareal. And I chuckled at the news, but I don't know if I consider him a traitor (or trader for that matter).  He always stated that his goal was to play for Italy. By the way, Benny Feilhaber was born in Brazil.  Stuart Holden was born in Scotland.  And for the Italians, Camoranesi was born in Argentina. P.S.  I just read the news release at the top of the page.  That is confusing.  Borriello plays at AC Milan, not Rossi, but I can see how that sentence can be misleading.  Also, if Rossi would have made the team, he would have been the ONLY non-Serie A player on the roster. P.P.S. If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at this guy: Nevin Subotic.  This guy played for the US U-17s and the U-20s but then threw a tantrum when one of the coaches got mad at him:  "Well, Rongen certainly said some discouraging and false things about me. Never in my life have I heard that a high level coach publicly criticizes a player. Professional coaches do that one-on-one with the player. I find this disappointing, because a few months later after Rongen said I was not good enough for the U-20s, I played a very good season and started getting calls from various countries [U.S. included] for the full men's team. I still don't know what he saw in the other players, and what he didn't see in me." He'll be representing Serbia at the World Cup this year...

even though they're on the same team.  This might be the worst miss I ever seen! [Hidden Content]

[Hidden Content] By Terrence Thomas - Express-News Their résumé and expectations long ago suggested that winning state championships is where their focus lay. Yet, there the No. 6 Churchill Chargers were Tuesday, celebrating their 3-1 District 26-5A victory against No. 5 Lee as if it were the third round of the playoffs and not a regular-season finale. The victory at Blossom Stadium moved Churchill into a tie with Lee (15-5-4, 10-2-4) and No. 4 Reagan (13-2-5, 10-2-4) for first place in 26-5A, but the moment wasn't lost on the Chargers (13-4-4, 10-2-4). By winning, Churchill collected its first district title — shared or outright — since 2007. The Chargers also garnered 26-5A's No. 1 playoff seed thanks to a tiebreaker. Reagan will be the No. 2 seed, Lee the No. 3 seed and New Braunfels the fourth seed. “It's been a few years since we won (a district title),” Churchill senior midfielder Nick Cukjati said. “Every year, one goal of ours is to win district, but that's not where it ends. “We want to win state. We want to win regional. So, district is just a small step on the road to doing it.'' Cukjati, a holdover from Churchill's 2008 state semifinalist squad, more than did his part in getting that journey going. He scored twice, including once on a brilliant 30-yard free kick in the second half that provided the Chargers the cushion they needed. David Rios scored Churchill's other goal off a pass from Tommy Herrick. “Every year, people have high standards for us; they expect us to do well,” Cukjati said. “To win district is a great feeling. This gives the team a whole lot of confidence going into the playoffs.'' Seeking a third straight outright 26-5A championship, Lee was forced to play catch-up virtually from the start. Churchill went ahead 1-0 just 11/2 minutes into the game before Roberto Moreno put in a pass from Bryin Venegas to tie it at 1-1 in the 10th minute. But the Volunteers couldn't muster another reply after falling behind 2-1. “We're no stranger to adversity,” Lee coach Bobby Ramos said. “It's just that things didn't go our way. “We had plenty of opportunities. We just couldn't finish the opportunities.''

[Hidden Content] What do you think? I don't know if we have enough history to earn the royal sash, but I think they're trying to evoke memories of the 1950 kit that was white with a red sash like River Plate.

[quote name="Nike5" post="764855" timestamp="1266954767"] Um i beg to differ. I was at the high school in 2009 and we lost to brenham 2-1 in our last round of playoffs. Not nederland, and if i recall correctly we beat nederland the two previous years BEFORE the districts split. Now yes in the years since we have moved out of there district it is not so easily decided as to who the better team is but i believe that record speaks for itself. [/quote] Who said that Nederland knocked Lumberton out of the play-offs?  I don't know if you're differing with me or what, but Lumberton lost to Brenham 2-1 at Humble High School in the Area Round of the 2009 season on the same night that Willis eliminated Vidor at Charles St. in Humble.  I attended both games.  The next night, Nederland lost to Waller at Kingwood Park High School.  It was all during the Area (Second) Round of the UIL Bracket. And what record speaks for itself?  The overall record?  I don't think that one would lean toward Lumberton.  Only the record of the years[i] you [/i] played?  Definitelty Lumberton.  Which record is doing all of the speaking here? I sure wish Lumberton and Nederland would have played a non-district game against each other these past two years...

So much for humility. ;)

Ummm.  I think Nederland did, too...  Nederland was eliminated by Waller in the Area Round and Lumberton was eliminated by Brenham in the same round.

Nederland won 1-0.

woof