Shallow and frivolous

18-year-old footballer breaks news of transfer on Facebook. Honestly, I'm a little surprised this hasn't happened before. (Though I think Alecko Eskandarian may have announced his transfer to, like, Real Salt Lake on Facebook. But that was at least one trade ago, and it's MLS.)

Speaking of Real Salt Lake, I present the first in an occasional series, called Hot MLS Coaches.

Part One: Jason Kreis

So, he whines about the refs a little more than I'd like. And he's shorter than me. But this is his first full season, RSL are amazingly not sucking this season, and he went to Duke, so I think the balancing test comes out in his favor. Also, he can wear a suit pretty damn well.

Why I love Ladies...

Sexism in sports blogging: A Q&A. You should all read this. I think the soccer blogosphere (god, I hate that word) is actually a little better about all this than some other sections of the sports blogging world -- seriously, there are sites that I can't even read because they're so overtly misogynist. But I'd be lying if I said that the need some blogs feel to preface every Euro liveblog (or hell, every post at all) with a picture of random fans wearing as little as possible wasn't irritating. All that does is tell me that you don't care about half of your potential audience. It's a little bit alienating, and it gets old really fast.

That's my soapbox for today. There are a lot of different issues around all this, and I have to say, women not getting mentioned as potential editors isn't my hot button, mostly because I am far too lazy to handle even posting here a lot. But when your entire blog sends the message that I'm not even welcome as a reader? Yeah, I'm not surprised there aren't more women sports bloggers. And we won't even get into the constant disrespect of non-"hot" women athletes. Guess what, chief? Odds are you don't look like Cristiano Ronaldo either. So can we stop evaluating women on their looks for a second?

Also, while I'm asking, I'd like a pony.

Oh, MLS

I guess this is the only way West Ham is going to win the league, though. They've fixed it now, but for a while, West Ham was leading the MLS Western Conference.

(Thanks to Goalscoring Robot.)

Dashed expectations news

So, a combination of Wednesday afternoon classes and being too poor to afford FSC means that the only game I've managed to watch live this week? Chicago Fire - New England Revolution. And I don't even like either of those teams, and the ESPN2 broadcasts aren't the same without Eric Wynalda doing his drunk-uncle routine, but you know, sometimes you go with what's there. It did make me realize that since I don't like Chad Barrett, Justin Mapp, or Can't-Spell-It Blanco, I should probably go all the way and just admit that I don't like the Fire. (This is also how I came to discover I didn't like Inter -- I tried, but I realized I couldn't stand most of the players, so I had to call it.)

I have managed to see highlights of the Champions League games, though, and I think Liverpool are going to be the ones advancing to the semis. If we've learned anything since 2005, it's that Rafa has turned Liverpool into a team that's excellent at getting a 1-0 at home and clinging on for dear life. Since they could advance with a 0-0 at Anfield, I don't expect that game next week to be one for the ages, but honestly, after the rest of the season, I don't care so much about aesthetics as results. (This is why I'm not an Arsenal fan.) It's pretty sad, but if they can finish fourth and get to at least the semis in the Champions League, I think I'll be satisfied with that. And no, I'm not looking forward to another freaking Chelsea-Liverpool semi, but maybe Fenerbahce will take care of that for me.

In other news, I scored three at my rec team's practice the other day. I guess you could say, like John Terry or Ashley Cole, I score a lot for a defender. Except that I don't do it with underage girls. Or throw up after.

This blog is 50% effective

I'm pretty sure he's talking about Liverpool for the stats-obsessed "big team." And yeah. What he said. I don't know a whole lot about baseball (except drinking in the stands is fun), but it seems like positions are a lot more defined there than they are in soccer -- you have strikers making saves and defenders taking shots pretty much all the time in soccer, and I don't think you have shortstops playing right field in baseball. So I'm doubtful about how much the stats really say about a game; doesn't everyone know by now that possession statistics are meaningless? And the team with more shots doesn't always win (As Nate pointed out). So. I'm skeptical. Especially if stats mean Liverpool doesn't start Torres every game. Because, honestly.

...In Spain!

I love Sid Lowe. That's really all I've got today. We're not talking about the Carling Cup. Or the Premiership.

Most pointless blog post ever, I know.

What I've been reading

A few blogs I've been meaning to link, but haven't. Because I'm lame. But I really enjoy making lists in HTML, so here we go.

1. First of all, a newish women's soccer blog, Kickster. British, and seems to be in the Who Ate All the Pies family of blogs. Georgina Turner, who I've missed a lot at The Guardian, is writing there, and so far I really like it. It's one of my perennial resolutions to pay more attention to women's soccer, so I'm definitely going to be reading this one.


2. Another new blog, Dying Midseason, from a friend of mine. Liverpool-focused, but also has some American football and Argentina and Spain, too. I have to say, I don't care about the NFL, but this is good stuff.


3. I already linked the US Women's blog this morning, but I would be remiss if I didn't link the US Men's blog as well. They're both mostly active when the teams are in camp (obviously), but they're pretty great then. I'm always in favor of team blogs, and the USMNT one is particularly cute. It's kind of refreshing to read about a national team where the recreation is Playstation and marathon keep-up, not, you know. Partying with hookers.

He's still better than Dave O'Brien

So, if soccer is on ESPN, I'll pretty much watch it. For most of the good stuff (at least until the Champions League starts), you have to go to FSC or Univision, but I want to encourage ESPN to show soccer, so I watch the random internationals and MLS games.

It's all good, but I've decided my favorite part is the halftime "other soccer news" report that ESPN News does. The value of this isn't really in the news they deliver -- it's usually stuff I already know. The amusement value comes from two things: 1) trying to guess how they'll shoehorn David Beckham in, and 2) waiting for the mispronunciations to begin. In the last two games I've watched (Galaxy/United and US/New Zealand), the poor ESPN newsguy has mispronounced:

• Feilhaber
• Derby
• Hleb
• Birmingham
• Ballack

Somehow he got "Szetela" and "Essien" right, though, both of which I would have thought were more difficult than, you know. Derby. I feel there's a drinking game in the making here, but it needs a little more thought.

In other news, Kristine Lilly continues to be absolutely badass.

*snerk*

United Dong longs to prove critics wrong

The bored Soccernet headline writer strikes again!

And it's better than a camera on Donovan.

This is lame, but odds are I'll watch.

And, really, train a camera on Zidane for an entire game and you've got yourself an art film, so who knows. Let's call it nationally broadcast installation art. Who knew ESPN was so pomo?

Well, and also, I can't mock Chelsea if I don't watch them. So there's two reasons.

Coming soon to a blog near you . . .

So, I was thinking about doing a Champions League final preview over here, and then I realized I'd already done one. Being Sven rounded up some of the best Liverpool bloggers around (and me) to give their thoughts on the season and the upcoming final.

You can read the whole thing here -- I was especially interested to see how much agreement there was between us about some things. Anyway, it's a good read, and it was a lot of fun to do, so y'all should check it out!

And since we're previewing coming attractions here, stay tuned for the second annual end-of-season awards. I'm particularly excited for these; we've introduced a new "Clusterfuck of the Year" award, and that's about the tightest race I have ever seen.

Today in BBC Sport

The actual article isn't that interesting, but I love the picture. Apparently Jose and Sheva have decided to settle things through a stubble contest. First to a full beard gets to stay at Stamford Bridge.

...Hell, I'd like to see it.

Podcast pimping

A short conversation with Being Sven earlier this week reminded me that I've been meaning to post about soccer podcasts for a while now. Even though it's almost the end of the season, there's no time like the present. I listen to three sports podcasts on a regular basis -- I used to listen to World Soccer Daily, but it was just too much. I'm sure there's more out there that I should be listening to, and I'll have an hour drive time to my summer job, so if there's something that I have to start downloading, let me know in comments.

1. Football Weekly, from the Guardian (and the team who brings you the Fiver). This started out as the World Cup Daily podcast and then evolved into its current format. There's a rotating cast of commentators anchored by James Richardson, and honestly, this is the only one of these podcasts I want to go on longer. It focuses mostly on England, with James Richardson covering Italy and Sid Lowe (the best thing about this podcast) covering Spain. (And occasional dips into France, Germany, and South America.) If you like the Fiver, which everyone should, then this is basically the Fiver in audio format. This is my favorite of the podcasts. Highly recommended, and I'm sad they're going off the air for summer break.


2. ESPN Soccernet Extra. This one's more straight news than Football Weekly, and three times a week. It's also Premiership-focused, but a bit more wide-ranging in its coverage of other leagues; they've covered the Dutch and Australian leagues, and even MLS. I didn't love this one at first, but now the commentators are showing a bit more personality and getting used to the format, it seems. Quality stuff, and hopefully they'll continue to improve.


3. BBC Sportsweek. This one is the most hit-or-miss; since it's all sports, sometimes that means five minutes of soccer and forty-five of cricket or swimming or something else. However, the strength of this podcast is that they can get the big names to come on, and they don't hold back in interviewing them. It's pretty awesome to hear (for example) the new owner of West Ham called out. If this were entirely a soccer podcast, it would be incredible.

So, what else should I be listening to?