The Groundsman’s Shed

For the past couple of years, there’s been an MLS and Univision fueled program called “Sueno MLS” where boys and young men compete for a chance to be on an MLS squad.  It’s a lot like walk-on recruiting in American college football– with just a tad more pressure from the lads families and friends to succeed.  The program is pretty low-budget, and focused mainly on the skills of the ballers in question and not on their on-camera abilities.  Also, many of the players come from areas that make Clint Dempsey’s fairly modest upbringing in Texas look like something out of MTV’s Cribs, so you truly want the lads to succeed.

Now, Asia’s getting in on the action… Does this sound like it will be cheesy and embarrassing?  Or the new wave of savvy global sports marketing?  Even more importantly- if a show like this were to broadcast in your country, would you watch?

SINGAPORE (AFP) - A new reality television show along the lines of hit singing series American Idol is to be launched to find the next global football superstar.

Titled “SportStar Football,” the show will be a worldwide hunt for the next big thing in soccer, organisers said Thursday.

The concept is the brainchild of David Edwards, who was behind “RockStar: INXS,” the search for a new lead singer for the Australian band whose former frontman Michael Hutchence committed suicide.

ESPN STAR Sports and Imagine OmniMedia will work together to develop, produce and broadcast what they tout as the first reality-based football entertainment series in Asia.

“We are committed to serving our fans by providing them unique opportunities to engage with their favourite sports across platforms,” said ESPN STAR Sports managing director Manu Sawhney.

“With this interactive and entertaining initiative, football fans will have a lot more to look forward to in days to come.”

No details of a launch date, nor how the series would be structured, were announced.

Real Madrid have 31 league titles to their name after today, despite some shaky performances.  We don’t really keep up with the Spanish leagues over here in The Shed, but after watching Barca in the Champions League (”pretty pass, pretty pass, pretty pass, d’oh!”), and seeing Villareal play, it does seem as though there isn’t a lot of meat to the top league in Spain.  Those of you who watch that league week in and week out– is Real Madrid really that much better than the rest? 

Grounds Clippings:

-David Beckham scored twice in the Galaxy’s 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake on Sunday.  The match report says Beckham’s goals were the only shots on goal in first half for Los Angeles.  Wow.  That team is really, really terrible.  I mean really terrible.  Good Lord.

-Movin’ on Up! West Brom and Stoke are going up to the Premier League!  I had a whole article written about what Stoke would bring to the Premiership, but I haven’t gotten around to editing it.  Fulham is a step closer to staying in the Premiership, while today’s opponents Birmingham City could go down right back down to the Championship if Reading and Fulham both win their matches.

-Will Hersey over at The Observer is shaking his fist in the general direction of these Top Ten Worst Football Managers.  Agree? Disagree? 

-You can win a date with Patick Vieira.  Seriously.  If you’re not into a former Arsenal man, you can always have some referee (Anders Frisk).

[AP/Bernat Armangue]

(Atlanta 0, Seattle 2)

I just got back from  the Atlanta Silverbacks v. Seattle Sounders match here in Atlanta- and I have to say I have never attended a quieter sporting event in my life.  The crowd seemed hesistant to be demonstrative in any way, and more specifically, the people around me weren’t entirely sure who was the home team.

That said, I still bought a replica shirt and plan to attend more USL matches.  It’s going to take time to build atmosphere- especially in a town where there are 3 top level, traditional sporting teams (The Braves, The Falcons, and The Hawks) and lower level soccer has to compete with those events for patrons.  I think there’s enthusiasm and knowledge to be had in the crowd, it’s just a matter of drawing it out, and not letting soccer become “the s-word”. 

College Guy Sitting on My Row: “I have no idea why this is the most popular sport around the world.  I really, really don’t.”

With more crowd involvement, I think he’ll understand why soccer is a beautiful thing.

It’s just going to take a bit more time.

The more beloved the manager, the more plentiful the videos (usually set to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”) that are made in his honor and posted on youtube. 

After watching this “Save Our Sven” video sent to me this morning from the one Man City fan who doesn’t think I was slagging off their fans/club in an earlier post meant for celebrating Sven and noting the ever changing opines of the sports pages (still clearly a bit frustrated about that, but letting it go),  I decided to take a look at some quality tribute videos. 

-As expected, Jose Mourinho has plenty of digital eulogies floating around in his honor.  Most are mournful, some are oddly gleeful, others are angry messages of hate, and far too many either incorporate terrible soul music, somewhat odd screamo selections, or the inevitable Sinatra.  However, there are more than a few videos out there that are genuinely quite good.  I picked just two:

This video (originally made by “diksior”?) appears to be an actual fan-made video  and not a BBC montage with different music dubbed on to it- but I could be mistaken. 

This one is clearly from Sky Sports, and it’s shorter but still meaningful for the Jose fans. 

-This video shows a few of the reasons why Newcastle gave Sam Allardyce the sack,  but also shows some of the nicer goals from the beginning of the season.  It’s not really a tribute video, and the song “Thanks for the Memories” by Fall Out Boy sums up the tone nicely. 

-Oh Tottenham.  The “I Love Martin Jol” song is great- so no complaints there.  This video just happened to have the best montage and use of sound from the big man.

 No videos devoted to Sammy Lee or Lawrie Sanchez (well, for his time at Fulham) were found during my Youtube search.  Find one?  Feel free to share it in the comments section.

-How can the MLS become a world class league?  Quality starts from root to tip, so player development practices in the U.S. are on the armchair pundit’s list of grievances (and have been for some time now).  Sideline Views takes a look at some of the steps taken to get younger players involved in a higher level of training, and some of the challenges facing youth academies in this country.

-In Argentina, the hunt is on for a  wealthy, ice throwing fan after a linesman was hit by a particularly large cube.  The incident happened at a recent Boca Juniors match.  I quite like the quote from the official which says a lot about the luxury seats at that ground:

 ”‘We know it came from this area because you don’t find ice cubes of that size in other parts of the stadium.”

-Somewhat Shameless Self Promo: This is my latest review of a tried and true footie book on ESPN.com.  Do check out some of the other (mine and others) reviews, and help make the section a bit more involved with your own contributions!

-Andrea at Sideline Views says there’s a bit more to the story of a ticket office worker playing in an LA Galaxy reserve game because the team was shorthanded- and she also includes a response from Ruud Gullit.

-Feel a bit dirty buying FHM? … well, we’ll discuss that issue later, but in the meantime you can read STT’s breakdown of Theo Walcott’s WAG’s female-empowering interview, and a pic from her female-degrading photoshoot.

Sporting Fandom is a truly wonderous thing.

Before, during, and after World Cup 2006- Sven Goran Eriksson was burned in effigy ’round England because he was too “foreign” to manage the team, he didn’t “inspire the Golden Generation”, and despite a record as a good club manager and his ability to make something from a medicore group of overhyped pretty boys, he said to be the cause for the poor yet lucky showing by the England team during the World Cup competition. 

Let’s fast forward to 2008, where Eriksson is currently being held up as a martyr in the mold of Mourinho’s forced(?) exit from Chelsea, albeit even a bit more elegant and far more subdued.  It’s already gotten incredibly out of control.  The Manchester Evening News says 97% of Manchester City fans oppose Thaksin Shinawatra’s treatment of Eriksson, and the players are said to have planned a walk out in protest of the club owner’s decision to sack the Swede- but Sven calmly told them not to jeopardise their own careers.  

As a neutral in nearly every sense (I’m sorry, but it’s difficult to overlook Shinawatra’s appalling record as a person, much less a football club owner) I do feel bad for Eriksson getting the boot- but I felt far worse for Big Sam, or Lawrie Sanchez, who are blokes who may not see the Premiership (or the EPL’s level of money) for a long, long time.  Sven will be back, just as Mourinho will be back.  The fact that Noel Gallagher of Oasis was on the BBC, plaintively calling for Eriksson to remain, shows just how quickly things can go from the standard irrational backroom firing, to the hysterical black armband wearing frenzy that may be brewing.  The team captain could even pack his bags over this- though the fact that his contract is ending soon kind of takes the spice out of that statement- but believe me Joe Rudd, the press really enjoys your statement of support- if only because it adds to the air of impending doom.

[Photo: AP/Jon Super]

Remember when there was only one Ronaldo in the football world?  Remember when Cristiano Ronaldo came onto the scene and everyone began referring to the petulant Portugese as “no, not THAT one- the legendary one”.

Ah, how the times have changed.  One player hopes to score in the Champions League Final in Moscow as PFA Player of the Year,  while the other is sidelined with a serious injury, said to be too fat to to be match-fit, and now… accused with apparently paying off transvestite prostitutes.

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 28 (Reuters) - Police said on Monday they were investigating allegations by three transvestites that Brazilian soccer star and AC Milan forward Ronaldo threatened to harm them after he took them to a Rio de Janeiro motel.

Police told a news conference they were also looking into an accusation by the 31-year-old player that one of the three men tried to extort 50,000 reais ($29,600) in return for not telling the media about the incident.

Ronaldo, who is back in his hometown recovering from an injury, left a nightclub in the posh Barra da Tijuca neighborhood early on Monday with three call girls, only to find out at the motel they were men, according to authorities.

He then offered each of them 1,000 reais ($592) to wrap up the matter, but only two of them accepted his offer, police said.

“I have to check both sides of the story, the transvestites’ version and Ronaldo’s,” Carlos Augusto Nogueira, chief of the police precinct investigating the incident, told a news conference.

“Ronaldo said he is not good in the head and that he is going through psychological problems because of his recent surgery,” he said.

In a statement, Ronaldo said he was a victim of extortion and would take all possible steps to clear his name, according to the Web site of the Globo television network.

Representatives for Ronaldo were not immediately available for comment.