The Aztexan

There's been lots of ink & pixels spilled about Thierry Henry's handball. Let me add to the clamor a little bit. I mean, why have a blog, if you can't spout off whenever you feel like it?

This Twohundredpercent piece, Trying To Dissect The Thierry Henry Handball, sums up the rational, measured response. His main point, repeated several times, boils down to: "to expect anything but win-at-all-costs behavior from a pro footballer is foolish". He dismissively summarizes it here:

So, there we go. Thierry Henry handled the ball and that decision may or may not have knocked Ireland out of the World Cup. He could have come clean but, hey, he’s a footballer. What he did is what they do if it gives them a chance of a result and it’s what they’ve been doing for years – for decades even beyond Diego Maradona. He could have apologised. He could even have refused to celebrate the goal, but the fact that he did neither is hardly a surprise, except to those in the media that had placed him upon a pedestal some years ago."

Fine, it's not a surprise. But you know what? It still sucks.

Forget pedestals for individual players. I don't care if it's "the aesthete’s footballer", as Twohundredpercent dubs Henry, or a neanderthal thug like Kyle Beckerman.

How about this. Here's a guideline for you. How about: all mega-rich global superstars, who earn their astoundingly pampered living playing a game with a ball at their feet, have to at least play by the damned rules.

So while I may not expect the star striker of the French national team to admit that his crucial goal in a World Cup qualifier should be disallowed, I can still be mad that he didn't. I'm a fan; that's my right. I'm a part, however infinitesimal, of the ridiculous spectacle that is 21st-century pro soccer.

And I think cheaters suck.

Labels: deep thoughts

Allow me to introduce, if you don't know it already, the very worthy Free Beer Movement. The goals and tactics of this movement are simple, but profound:

The success of soccer in the United States depends on a larger and more supportive network of fans that attend games, watch them on TV, and spread their love and knowledge of the game to others.

Most everyone that likes beer likes free beer even more. Combine that love of free beer with an open mind towards the beautiful game of soccer and maybe, just maybe, win over a few converts.

Invite your friends to see a soccer match and buy them a beer.

The movement's slogan, Imbibo Patefacio Ianua, translates from the Latin as "Drinks Open Doors".

Get started with FBM's handy beer conversion chart, which will help you determine the right number of beers for the given level of play you're sharing with your potential converts. The scale varies from just one beer for a World Cup match, all the way up to "7, or more" for youth and high school matches.

Taking a friend to a USL-1 match, such as our own Austin Aztex, would be a 5-beer event, for example. In fact, the movement's leader is Austin's own Dan Wiersema, who was seen personally free-beering(™) many fresh-faced fans-to-be at this year's Aztex home games.

In addition to his own personal evangelical work, Dan is working hard to advance the Movement. He's printed tons of FBM stickers (yours free for simply sharing your free beer outreach story) and he's working to get Columbus Crew/USMNT defender Frankie Hejduk as the Movement's spokesperson. Last, and certainly not least, the FBM website is becoming a pretty darn good blog in its own right.

So how do you join? You can follow FBM on Facebook or Twitter, or fill out the form. But it really just boils down to committing to give it a shot. "Want to get some beer and go to/watch the game this weekend? I'm buying!", and you're in.

You could try it this weekend, in fact, with the MLS Cup. It's on ESPN this Sunday, 7:30 PM CT.

Labels: supporters

The Wikimedia Foundation has kicked off their annual fundraising campaign:

Lots of people love Wikipedia, but surprisingly few know it’s run by a non-profit, the Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation has just one purpose: to support the free and open sharing of knowledge. We don’t sell information and we don’t accept advertising. Your donation is what makes Wikipedia possible.

I have a simple guideline for subscribing, donating to, or otherwise financially supporting websites: if I'd really miss it if it went away, then I support it. Wikipedia is not just in that category, it defines it (no pun intended).

Think about it: Wikipedia is frickin' magic. The very idea of it is just crazy, really. Yet against all odds and every shred of common sense, it works. And not just works, but works fantastically. Wikipedia is a modern-day miracle, high-tech, yet human-powered.

I just donated to help keep Wikipedia running now and forever. I encourage you to do the same. And if you're hesitant to chip in, then I give you this challenge: for the next couple of weeks, the rest of November, keep count of how many times you reference Wikipedia. At the end of the month, look at that number, and consider again whether keeping Wikipedia running isn't worth a few bucks.

Labels: deep thoughts, media

If you felt that the 2009 Aztex roster needed a serious shakeup for the team to be a contender next year, you were in good company. At least, management would seem to agree with you. In addition to several international scouting trips, the team just announced that it would not pick up the option on 14 current players.

The announcement made it clear that the team's poor inaugural season performance was the reason for the extensive player cuts.

"Our expectations as a club were to make the playoffs," said head coach Adrian Heath. "We didn’t achieve that and we know that things have to change for next season. Everyone we have let go today has given their all for us and in some cases the decision to release them was very difficult indeed. But we must move on."

Here's the list of guys who won't be returning in red & white next season:

David Sias Gareth Evans Gifton Noel-Williams Jarius Holmes Lyle Adams

Ryan Caugherty Ryan McMahen Sam Reynolds Wes Allen Zack Pope

A.J. Godbolt Josh Alcala Kyle Brown Michael Dello-Russo

A few of those were surprises to me. Gifton Noel-Williams, though out due to injury for much of the season, was originally hailed as the club's marquee player, and was thought to have been a mature, steadying influence on the young Austin squad. On the other hand, he never did quite make the kind of impact on the field that we all hoped for.

The release of Michael Dello-Russo, though the newest Aztex player on the list, was also a surprise. His arrival after being released by FC Dallas had some amount of fanfare, with a reported contract through 2011. So much for that.

It's also sad, as a fan of the club since the first, PDL-only season in 2008, to bid farewell to some players who date from that era: A.J. Godbolt, Zack Pope, Wes Allen & Josh Alcala.

Best of luck to all these fellows.

With these cuts, here's who's left from 2009: Miguel Gallardo, Kieron Bernard, Sullivan Silva, Eddie Johnson, Yordany Alvarez, Michael Callahan, Kevin Sakuda, Nick Noble and Salif Diao-Jimenez.

There's been no word on other players who made guest appearances last season, such as Jeff Harwell, Jean Alexandre and Jamie Watson.

So this squad was already on the small side, and now they've cut more than half the players. There had already been reports that the Aztex would be scouting abroad this off-season, but now we see how much recruiting work there is to do. Here's what coach Heath has to say about their focus:

"We need to add more bite and experience to the squad and more productive in front of goal. Phil and I have talked at length and we know we will need to add a few experienced pros into the mix for next year."

Austin will be scouting soccer talent in Colombia next week, and in Mexico after Thanksgiving. Rawlins, along with director Gary Mellor, has already taken a scouting trip to Senegal:

Accompanied by two national youth coaches from Senegal, in one of the few stadiums in Dakar designed for 15,000 people, they watched five scrimmages between kids ages 15-16 from Dakar, St. Louis and Kedegou.

"The standard of play was very impressive and there were some really talented kids there," Rawlins said after the first day.

And coach Heath made a scouting trip to Haiti:

There is certainly a talent base there. For a country of 10 million and with the athleticism on display, there certainly should be lots of players around the world but I think there are only about 35 at the moment, of which about 20 are in Europe. I can see that changing now because the players who have gone to the U.S. and to Europe have done really well and I’m sure there will be other coaches and scouts going to Haiti just like I did.

Stay tuned for more news from what is sure to be a busy, rebuilding off-season.

Labels: internacional, players, USL-1

Just a quick update on the big USL vs TOA grudge match that none of us bought a ticket for, but are being forced to watch anyway.

Some stuff was said, and then unsaid, bluffs are being made, and called, and everybody's kind of confused, and now they're circling the lawyers, and the league meeting is this week. . .

But there's really only one thing I care about, and that's that there will still be a pro soccer team in Austin next year, and every year after that. When it comes right down to it, I don't really care whether they play teams from Miami, Montreal or Buttscratch, Kentucky.

So you know what? I'm done. To hell with the whole stupid tempest, and the teapot it rode in on, too. If you don't want to miss any drama, more power to you. I recommend the fine coverage at Inside Minnesota Soccer and The Kartik Report. But I'm not going to waste any more of my hard-earned pixels repeating, summarizing, speculating, editorializing or otherwise reporting on it here.

Just tell me how it was, once it's all over. And give me the pre-season schedule when it comes out.

Labels: The League, USL-1