Category — U.S. Men's National Team

Not a great showing from the boys last night. There were flashes here and there but they rarely looked in control. That said, here are three non-game-related points about last night:

Commenting on the Commentators

While searching for the game, I inadvertently flipped to ESPN instead of ESPN2. Who did I hear doing the play-by-play of the UConn/Syracuse game? Ol’ Dave O’Brien. He seems happy. I said “hello” for you.

JP is definitely the better guy for the job but it still only took about 15 seconds for him to mention that Michael Bradley is the coach’s son and he seemed off all night. I wish John Harkes would consider Tim Magraw’s question, “why you gotta be angry all the time?” Not that there were a lot of positives last night but still, ease up, man!

Alternate Universe

I saw fewer-than-normal projectiles from the Mexican fans and to the best of my knowledge, Tim Howard did not tear open his elbow on a nail before last night’s game. Moreover, the Mexican team did shake hands and exchange shirts last night. I think that means they are just sore losers, not sore draw-ers.

Pigpen

Clint Dempsey has seemingly abandoned all modern social mores concerning personal hygiene. I’m left to wonder if the bulkiness of his hair and the extra 2 millimeters of dirt on his skin was enough to weigh him down and keep him a 1/4 step offside before he schooled four Mexican defenders and placed a beauty past the keeper. We’ll never know.

Can we get a little consistency, please? If I flip to a game, I know immediately if Italy or Brazil are playing just by looking at the uniforms. With the U.S., there is no telling what they might be wearing.

Here’s your chance to be a part of the great video evolution at U.S. Soccer. The Federation is looking for a Manager of Video Production. Here’s what you need to know:

Candidates should have extensive knowledge of and experience with Final Cup Pro, Adobe Photoshop, AfterEffects and multimedia production and video management systems. Candidates should possess a strong knowledge of audio editing software and a basic understanding of compression and formatting standards in the use of flash video, Quicktime and Windows Media.

If this sounds like you (for what it’s worth, it sounds like me, except for the audio editing software), apply here.

Can I tell you how much I love it when readers send me things of interest? It makes my life a lot easier.

• Brian Quarstad interviews the Minnesota Thunder’s new Marketing Director [Blue Sky Soccer via BQ]
• Speaking of USL, Austin gets a team in ‘09 [The Offside Rules via Minor]
• Beckham is being called the world’s “biggest environmental threat,” which, of course, is code for “we want Beckham’s money and this seems like a good way to get it.” [FoxSoccer.com]
• MLS teams can now take charter flights, but only four times per year. In other news, MLS still has no money. [Big Apple Soccer]
• Roy Hodgson says that Eddie Johnson is on his way to “underperform at Fulham offer us another dimension to our attacking play.” [FulhamFC.com]

Agree or disagree?

Here’s a fact, Twellman is 27. Here’s another, he’s scored six goals in 29 international matches… Part of me thinks the suits at the US Soccer Federation so desperately want Twellman to succeed. He’s got everything they need in a poster boy — an alliterative name, goofy smile, blond hair, etc. You know, the guy that can smile and sell cokes. He has the personality that Donovan does not…except he doesn’t have the game. I hate to knock him, since he does work hard, but we’ve all seen enough.

Reminds me a bit of what I said previously about Eddie Johnson. The problem? Brian McBride is retired and we need someone who’ll put the ball in the back of the net. If these guys aren’t going to do the job, who is?

U.S. Soccer has a problem.

Read the first and second parts.

Incentives

So, how does U.S. Soccer ensure that soccer bloggers continue writing about their product? Furthermore, how can they convince other bloggers to promote their product? Almost everything in life is an economic decision; as such, it is as simple as providing incentives.

I should mention that I’ve rewritten this post a few times because I think that the federation has started to figure it out.

For instance, I think that giving bloggers the ability to embed videos is a good incentive. Shortly after the first post in this series, encouraging U.S. Soccer to provide embeddable videos, I received a note from a reader, saying that embedding was allowed on some of the videos posted since I wrote it. A quick check of the YouTube channel reveals mixed results.

Another reason I had to reconsider this post is that I was going to argue that, in addition to handing out annual awards for the best players, best goals, etc., the federation should consider giving an award to the best soccer blog. Of course, I soon learned that they added a new category this year, to be given to the best U.S. soccer blog.

Isn’t that enough?

It’s a great start, that’s for sure; but they can do more.

How about offering a T-Shirt for the best article about a recent game? (It doesn’t have to be SWAG for the sake of SWAG. In fact, if I were the recipient, I’d run a contest to give it away to a reader.)

In the second post in this series, I said that bloggers should be given moderated access to what are traditionally media-only areas. I was clear that any blogger participation should be at the blogger’s expense. That said, wouldn’t it be nice to send one blogger per year to a game?

Why not give a blogger an exclusive e-mail/phone interview with one of the players? There are so many simple, creative options.

So, you want a bribe?

No; I want to give readers the best product possible. If we accept the premise that bloggers aren’t constrained by journalistic ethos and that they are uniquely-positioned to reach a diverse audience, it makes sense for U.S. Soccer to provide bloggers with incentives to promote their product. Those bloggers who hold themselves to a different ethical standard can pass on (or pass along) the incentive.

Wrap it up, already

All of these posts are predicated on the idea that bloggers represent a viable way for U.S. Soccer to increase brand awareness (reasonable people can disagree about that). But if U.S. Soccer is waiting for the traditional media to give them exposure, they’ll continue waiting. Leveraging the power and nimbleness of the of the blogosphere is an alternative to that status quo.

photo by andrewb823