Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another wonderful Happy Hour. Just in case anyone cared, and you probably don’t, I finally managed to get that hydride generation atomic fluorescence instrument up and running. I can now finally spend my time doing more important things like sitting at my desk and pretending to read “Chemical and Engineering News”. Enough bullshit about my scientific life, let’s get to the real news of the weekend. The opening round… Read more
The hearsay and conjecture is finally over, and well, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Bob Bradley, Bobbo, Skeletor, or Junior’s Dad if you like, will hold tight to the reigns of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team. Here at Yanks we’re not above delving into fits of über-reactionary blogitude from time to time, but if there ever was a character whose case deserved a measured, reasoned, and tempered response, it’s none other than Bobbo. Hell,… Read more
To the doubters who thought US Soccer would go quietly into the night again after the buzz of the vuvuzela faded slowly into the realm of summer memory and the calendar flipped to autumn, Monday’s announcement by the US Soccer Federation that Bob Bradley had been signed to a four year extension as coach of the US Men’s National Team surely provided a swift retort. If Twitter and Facebook are a measure for the pulse of an event’s impact and weight on… Read more
In the 1970s the U.S. had books that explained the rules. Then came the soccer books filled with coaching tips, diagrams of drills and British verbiage. Next a few biographies–Mia and Brandi. Finally, the United States has enough experience to justify a few books on soccer history between our borders. “Star-Spangled Soccer” helps us understand the roadblocks to Major League Soccer becoming a business run by profit-seeking adults and explains how… Read more
In a culture where we readily deploy American sporting metaphor in everyday conversation, there’s little reason to embrace the English Premier League. It opens, at least in terms of its general reception by the American “sports as sacred” public, with three strikes against it, or at the very least, on fourth and long. Strike one—Americans long for the underdog and all its attendant emotive, heart-string tugging glory. One George Mason makes every… Read more
Blackpool FC,
Chelsea,
English Premier League,
Everton,
John Mayer,
Manchester City,
Manchester United,
Michael Cera,
Sunderland,
West Ham United,
Wigan Athletic
With the 2010 World Cup now behind us, it is now time for the United States Soccer Federation to take a good hard look at the American program, and it’s progress over the past four year cycle. Basically, this is a job report for Bob Bradley, and a way of taking a look at what I think must change, be it with Bob Bradley or a new coach. Arguably, this has been the best four-year World Cup cycle in American soccer history. Under the guidance of Bob… Read more
Fans, lovers, scholars, inmates, brothers, haters, stalkers, and anyone else who sends me fan-mail, welcome to another Happy Hour. I hope your week has been most excellent. While I have been slaving away trying to calibrate my new Hydride Generation Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy instrument, I trust you have been stuck at your jobs doing something similarly frustrating. Fear not loyal readers! The weekend is only a few hours away. Let’s get to… Read more
Prior to CONCACAF Champions League kickoff last night between Cruz Azul and Real Salt Lake in Mexico City, only two things were clear. First, no MLS side had ever come into Mexico City, or any other part of Mexico, for that matter, and left with a victory. The success rate for crossing the border to steal tombstones was higher, though in that case, failure may be the object, as those who steal tombstones in Mexico are nothing if not tragically sentimental…. Read more
Posted by Jon Levy in USMNT
The European club season is just a couple weeks old, but the predominant projection for the next USMNT World Cup squad already looks to be taking hold. Two weeks does not make a season, let alone a four year long body of work, but the theory that the strength of the 2014 Yanks will be the in-its-prime midfield looks solid. The players in question will most certainly age from World Cup to World Cup, by four years exactly in most of their cases, but the coveted… Read more
Raise your hand if you had three 6-0 results this weekend. I had expected, foolishly, that week two would feature some closer match-ups. It was (dis)interesting to see that the 4 letter network featured a pair of games that found the winning sides scoring 9 goals, while their opponents couldn’t find the net. Please don’t put Blackpool on again, sorry Tangerines…just being real. Bolton @ West Ham 8/21/10 Stu Holden played the full 90 for the… Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a guest column and interview from AOL Fanhouse senior soccer writer Brian Straus. Straus had an opportunity to catch up with Sacha Kljestan when he returned to the States for the USMNT friendly against Brazil two weeks ago, and this is the article Brian wrote for AOL Fanhouse, originally run August 18, after his chat with the new Anderlecht man. We enjoyed it and thank Brian for allowing us to use it here. Kljestan, who scored… Read more
Loyal readers, as most of you know, my title here at TYAC is “Token Pop Culture Guru”. While I am honored to possess such a title, I still would like the world to know that I actually have some reporting skills. While I don’t have a Communications or Journalism degree like “Lighting Cup” Levy, or Chancellor Seco, my diligence has paid off. With all USMNT fans awaiting the meeting between Bob Bradley and Sunil Gulati regarding the future of the USMNT… Read more
Posted by Jon Levy in USMNT
U.S. Men’s National Team players may not know who’s going to coach them on October 9th, but the boys know who they’ll be facing. The Poles are coming, the Poles are coming! And in a brilliant marketing move, U.S. Soccer scheduled this one just a sausage’s throw away from their home offices. That’s right; it’s going to be another bipartisan crowd for the Yanks when they face Poland at Soldier Field, right off Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois. For… Read more
First off, who knew that Bobby Thomson was still alive? Second, his home run was legendary, but let’s give credit where it is due when Paul Caligiuri passes away decades from now. Schoolhouse Rock, those Saturday morning mini-cartoons aimed at educating children who watched television instead of read books, had one episode about The Shot Heard ‘Round the World. That episode explained that the phrase was a reference to the musket shot that began the… Read more
