May 6, 2009
Quick Hits - USLLive, Open Cup, U23s & More
Coming off a bye week, the Aztex have a big home game this Friday night against Puerto Rico. This will be Austin's premiere national TV appearance on Fox Soccer Channel (FSC). More on that later this week; for now, here are some quick hits.
- Last Thursday's Timbers Match on USLLive
I've been watching a good number of other teams' matches on USLLive.com (it's free, in case you haven't heard ;-). As mentioned here and elsewhere, the video and audio production quality varies a lot from game to game. And I'm not going to pretend that my own team has it all figured out quite yet, either.
But this game last week, Portland's home opener against the Carolina Railhawks, showed how good it could be. It was produced by FSN, a Fox Sports affiliate, and the professional quality was fantastic. I don't know what kind of money and effort it takes to achieve that level, but if the USL and the teams could get anywhere near it on a consistent basis, it would be a huge win for improving the image of the league. It was the April 30th game, if you want to check it out on USLLive.com (I'd link it directly, but their web UI is a fancy Flash control that makes that impossible).
I also couldn't help but notice the Portland MLS 2011 banners all around the field. Apparently, despite what the Atlanta Silverbacks claimed when they folded last year, the specter of impending MLS doom doesn't instantly kill the USL-1 franchise. Portland's attendance at that game — a Thursday night — was over 8,500. - Swine Flu non-cancellation
Just a quick note, in case you're wondering: despite cancellations of some events in Texas and Mexico, Friday night's 7:00 PM match with the Puerto Rico Islanders is very much still on. - 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Structure Finalized — ussoccer.com
Want to see a bad case of schedule congestion? Check out what June looks like for the Aztex (and other USL-1 teams, presumably). This assumes, of course, that they'll advance through qualifying. Which they will.- 5th (Fri.) vs. Charleston Battery @ home
- 7th (Sun.) vs. Charleston Battery @ home
- 9th (Tue.) Open Cup First Round
- 12th (Fri.) vs. Puerto Rico Islanders @ Puerto Rico
- 14th (Sun.) vs. Miami FC @ Miami
- 16th (Tue.) Open Cup Second Round
- 19th (Fri.) vs. Carolina Railhawks @ home
- 21st (Sun.) vs. Rochester Rhinos @ Rochester
- 27th (Sat.) vs. Cleveland City Stars @ Cleveland
- 30th (Tue.) Open Cup Third Round
- July 3rd (Fri.) vs. Cleveland City Stars @ Cleveland
- Electronic Arts FIFA petition for USL-1
If you've ever played one of Electronic Arts' annual FIFA soccer video games, you'll know that the teams you play with in the game are real teams from leagues across the world, all the way down to the players on the roster. This petition seeks to have Electronic Arts include USL-1 teams in future editions. - Aztex U23 schedule — AustinAztex.com
The PDL season is getting underway, and starts for the Aztex U23s this Thursday against rivals Laredo Heat, in Laredo.
The first home game, technically, is against the DFW Tornados on Wednesday, May 13. But it will be played at Baylor University in Waco, so the first home game that will actually be here in town will be against the El Paso Patriots on Friday, May 22. Note that the U23 home games will be played at Dragon Stadium in Round Rock, not at Nelson Field, like the USL-1 games.
It's clear that the Aztex club will be focussing their promotion efforts on the USL-1 team, so you may not hear as much about this team. If you're confused about these 2 different Aztex teams and how they relate to each other, this post explains it in detail. - Women's Pro Soccer
The WPS season is also well underway, and if you haven't been following any of the action, you're missing out. This is shaping up as the place to be for all the best women players in the world. The attendance numbers I've seen have been in the solid 5,000+ neighborhood. Between the economy and this being a brand new league, that seems pretty good to me. Unfortunately my team, St. Louis Athletica, is not doing too well. Already tied for last place, they just lost their Brazilian star Daniela "indefinitely" to a knee injury.
The next televised game is Sunday, May 10 on Fox Soccer Channel: Chicago Red Stars host New Jersey's Sky Blue FC; kickoff is 5:00 PM CT.
Labels: media, U-23, U.S. Open Cup, USL-1, WPS
// posted by Chris @ 8:26 AM 
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Hey Chris, Evidently you didn't check out the MN Thunder v Vancouver match on USL Live last Saturday. The Thunder are now using a suburban cable companies local cable access that has been doing games for years. The PBP and color are still the Thunders long time talent, Chris Lidholm and legend Buzz Lagos who are about as good as they get, but the staff for the production is outstanding as well. I will be doing a story on it this weekend.
Check it out and watch the graphics between the cuts, lots of replays in almost real time and they really seemed to know what cameras to cut to and when. On top of that they mic'd the supporters group and the crowd so the PBP didn't sound isolated. A really excellent job. I was very impressed.
Check it out and watch the graphics between the cuts, lots of replays in almost real time and they really seemed to know what cameras to cut to and when. On top of that they mic'd the supporters group and the crowd so the PBP didn't sound isolated. A really excellent job. I was very impressed.
Brian, actually I think I did see some of that game. I remember noticing the slick Thunder shield & lightning bolts graphic between cuts. I must not have been paying full attention -- sometimes I'll have games going in the background -- but you're right, it was clearly a cut above.
That's fantastic, your team continues to set a prime example of how to run a first-class show. I hope it helps raise the standard across the league!
Apologies for not mentioning it; I had taken a few notes during the Timbers game, and by the time I finally got around to writing the piece, I'd forgotten about the Thunder game. :-)
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That's fantastic, your team continues to set a prime example of how to run a first-class show. I hope it helps raise the standard across the league!
Apologies for not mentioning it; I had taken a few notes during the Timbers game, and by the time I finally got around to writing the piece, I'd forgotten about the Thunder game. :-)
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