'Til Death Do Us Part

(Insert Team Name) ‘til I die!
(Insert Team Name) ‘til I die!
I know I am, I’m sure I am
Insert Team Name) ‘til I die!

If you’ve ever been to a soccer game, or perhaps seen one on TV you likely will have heard this chant, or at least one very much like it. But how true is this, do we support our teams ‘til we die no matter what? Are there no limits to our support, can we ever be swayed from our undying devotion to our club?

For me this issue has been particularly relevant over the last six months. If you’re not familiar with the financial crisis surrounding Rangers I won’t go into detail here, the information’s easy enough to find online, but in short the Rangers company is being liquidated and a new company formed in it’s place. There have been shady backroom deals, sickening hatred from supporters and rivals alike, players are abandoning ship right and left, and now no one knows what league, if any, Rangers will be in this season.

So this begs the question; is this even the same club I began following 15 years ago? A saying that I’ve seen show up on Twitter and Facebook a lot lately is; “The Plc is gone, but the club form by four men with a dream will live on forever”.

But what is that club now? The players I followed are gone and the name and crest are owned by a man I cannot trust. So what is left? The fans of course. It is the fans who will carry on the legacy is it not? Together we will stand side by side and never surrender our club.

But....

Then I read things like the thinly veiled threats of violence against Green made by David Leggat. While I know there are many reasonable and rational Rangers fans out there too often I have seen Mr Leggat's sentiments echoed by supporters on forums and twitter. And it leaves me to question If I can in fact stand side by side with these people I would have considered brothers and sisters just a year ago.

And if the only remnant of the club I fell in love with, the fans, is not a group I can consider myself proud to be a part of can I truly say I still support Rangers?

In all honesty I do not know the answer to this question. As an American who has never had the opportunity to be in the stands of Ibrox I certainly will have different views than those born and bread into the blue.

July 4th is the American independence day, it is also the day the SPL will vote on the future of Rangers. I pray that this independence day I will be able to celebrate, not only a victory for Rangers but that we as fans can proudly stand together and follow on.

My fellow Rangers supporters I urge you to convince me my perceptions are wrong and I should be proud to stand by you. Talk me back from the ledge.

Favorites Football Club

Since I gave so much negativity in my last post I'll post my all-time favorite players. Again as with my least favorites I'm only using players I've seen play; so no Maradona, Best, or McCoist. I feel like I should point out a couple of honorable mentions. Barry Ferguson would likely top my list but his life-time ban from Scottish Football keeps him off my list. Similarly Stefan Klos would be my starting keeper if not for his signing may be the start of Rangers overspending which lead to their current financial crisis. So without further ado here is my all-time favorite starting 11.

Goal Keeper-
Tim Howard

Who else could it be? Timmy Howard, few Americans has given us more reason to cheer.


Defender-
Carlos Bocanegra

Captain America, may not be the most talented defender ever but his leadership and passion are unequaled. And then there was this:

David Weir

Davy Weir, a rock on the backline for 20 years.

Roberto Carlos

He had to anchor a back line while Ronaldo and Ronaldihno were doing madness up front. 

And then he did this:

Fabricio Coloccini

Speed and strength, with a dash of leadership and flair. A recipe for a great defender

Midfielder-
Roy Keane

When I first started watching soccer Keane was tearing up the Premeire League on one of the few teams I could regularly catch on TV.

David Beckham

Like Keane Becks was one of the top players during my formative soccer watching days. While he has certainly been over-saturated in the market a few times he has been a far better ambassador for the game then some crazy old South Americans.

Clint Dempsey

From the crazy celebrations of the 2006 WC to the goal scoring machine at Craven Cottage the Duece may just be the best US player of all time. We'll see once he lands at a Champions League team this summer.

Carlos Valderama

First, how can you not love that hair? But more importantly his inclusion in the inaugural MLS season lent some needed legitimacy to the fledgling league. Also he added some much needed star power after the 1994.

Forwards
Peter Lovenkrands

The Great Dane has played for both Rangers and Newcastle. While never a prolific goalscorer his speed and work effort gives defenders all kinds of fits

Brian McBride

Who else could it be? SLU record setter and Fulham great. But this bloody image of him has cemented his place as a hero of American soccer.

Bench
Claudio Cannigia

Speed, skill, and killer hair. But I caught him a little too late in his career for him to break into my starting 11.

Allan McGregor

One of the smartest keepers I've ever seen, but his off the field stupidity keeps him out of the first 11.

Demarcus Beasley

Probably more speed than skill, but always fun to watch

Madjid Boughera

Brilliant defender, but never seemed to fully live up to his potential

Henrik Larsson

Yeah I actually put him on my list. He was one of the most entertaining strikers I've ever seen. If he just hadn't played for that one little club he would've easily made the starting 11.

Least Liked United

This is a starting 11 of my all-time least favorite players. This list is completely subjective and by no means meant to be a list of the worst or even least-likable players, just the ones I don't like. Although as I am almost always correct you will of course agree.

Also I have keep the list to only players how have played in my soccer-watching lifetime, I cannot fairly judge players I was not able to see.

Goalkeeper-
Gianluigi Buffon

No I can't really teal you what I so thoroughly dislike about him, I mean he is only a goalie. But he is an ITALIAN goalie and as such is absolutely insufferable and responsible for the success of Italian teams (both club and national teams) and therefore he is my least favorite keeper of all time

Defender -
Patrice Evra

Evra suffers from similar problems as Buffon; he's French and plays for Man U so any success he has makes him more unlikable. There seems to be a bit of entitlement to Evra as well, he is certainly a very talented defender but his success probably has more to do with his superstar teammates than him.

Matrin Skrtel

Just look at this guy. He looks like kind of douchebag who drives a pimped out Eclipse and would brag about scoring with the ugliest chick at the bar, and your sister.

Joleon Lescott

He left Everton to glory hunt at City, something a classier player wouldn't do and there is just something thoroughly unenjoyable in the way he plays.  

David Luiz

Luiz reminds me of an annoying high school player: you put him on defense but he think to himself "screw this I'm gonna score" and you find him always standing in the other teams 10 yard box with a confused look as to how they just scored.

Midfielders

Franck Ribery

Ribery could be one of my favorite players, he's very talented and plays an aggressive, physical style of soccer. The problem is once he draws said contact he roles around on the ground for 5 minutes like someone cracked him in the knee with a ball-peen hammer. 

Gareth Bale

...on the other hand. Gareth Bale is one of the worst divers I've ever seen, at least Ribery actually waits for contact. What's more frustrating is the level of talent he's wasting on flopping. 

Daniele De Rossi

Do i really need to say why?

but just in case you wanted to relive the rage: 

Scott Brown

Few players in the game today symbolize the Old Firm hate as much as Brown. And you can tell me that if a guy did that to you in a bar you wouldn't slap him in the face.

Forwards

Peter Crouch

Is there a more overrated player in the history of the game? A little bit of talent and a whole lot of tall. 

Nicolas Anelka

Generally insufferable French striker and leader of the Second French Revolution

Also I don't have particullary warm feelings for his brother. 

Reserves

Artur Boruc 

overrated, physically gifted but dumb as rocks

Georgios Samaras

I couldn't find a picture where he looked less in need of a bath

Marco Materazzi

I'm sure Zidane still doesn't regret the headbutt.

John Hartson

despite clearly being the inspiration for Shrek, Hartson was little more than a talentless goon. His only real 'talent' was huge. He's like a less talented, fat version of Crouch

Paolo Di Canio

I got that picture from Stormfront.... there is a whole forum thread devoted to him there. Not debating him, but gushing their love for him. He is of course the most despicable player of my lifetime, but being that he is an insignificant little bigot I can't muster up enough interest in him to put him in the starting 11. 

How to fix college football

12 Ways to fix the world in 2012: Part 1
How to fix college football

Hopefully you enjoyed watching the tide roll over LSU. If you're a Tigers fan don't fret, you can't be blamed for losing, college football is fundamentally flawed. But it's going to be ok, we're going to go ahead and take care of everything now.

The need for a playoff in college football has been addressed time and time again so I won't say much on that subject except to agree. The top four teams, one extra game after finals before Christmas, the winners play for the national championship.
A much more pervasive problem is coaches' salaries in the NCAA. For example Nick Saban, head coach at the University of Alabama make $5.9 million a year. 

The highest paid university president, on the other hand, makes $2.8 million. While that's still nothing to sneeze at it is less than half of what coach Saban is making. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with coaches being well paid. A successful program brings in a lot of revenue and the coach should be well rewarded. But what message is being sent when a coach is making twice what the president of the university? Why then would we be surprised when they place a higher value on athletics than on education?

The solution is very simple though, do not allow coaches to make any more in total salary than the president of their university makes. Coaches will still be able to earn plenty of money through book sales, endorsement deals, and speaking engagements, but the school simply cannot pay them any more than they pay the head of the university. "But the best coaches will leave for the NFL" you say. Sure Nick Saban and Bob Stoops may go running to the bigger paychecks of professional sports, but let me enlighten you with a little math. There are currently 32 teams in the NFL and 119 in NCCA 1-A football. So even if EVERY team in the NFL fired their coach and hired a college coach 75% of college coaches would still be in place.

So what about the players themselves? For a long time I was a proponent of paying the players, after all why shouldn't they get a piece of the pie they helped bake. And please don't give me the "they are paid, they get a free education." The average total cost for the 2009-2010 school year at a 4-year college was $21,189, that's tuition and room and board. Even if you add up all the players on a 65 man roster that's still less than a third of what Nick Saban is making. Then add in lucrative TV deals earning billions of dollars for the conferences (and no that's not a typo that's billions with a 'B'). Then you add in bowl game payouts and merchandising and suddenly $22,000 for the guys hitting each other on the field does seem a bit unjust.

But I don't think paying them is the answer after all, I think what is needed is an alternative to college. For about 2 ½% of college players college is just an extended tryout for the NFL. For the other 8800 or so it's a chance to get an education that they may not have been able to otherwise afford. For the 200 or so who will go to the NFL, why have them take that scholarship slot that someone else may need to change their station in life. Instead the NFL needs to introduce a developmental league. A league run by the NFL which allows players to enter beginning at 18. They are paid, perhaps it's only $20-$30000 but it is at least cash in hand. The league would be completely run by NFL managers who's primary goal is to prepare these young men for the NFL. During their time NFL coaches and teams have complete access to the players unlike in the NCAA. And after their second year they can declare eligible for the draft, if they don't get drafted that's fine they can always try again next year since there would be no eligibility issues with the developmental league. Yes, that means some top recruits would go into the developmental league instead of the NCAA, but again we're talking about around 2 players per team. This may seem a bit extreme, but apparently I'm not the only one thinking along these lines.

So I've stolen your college's coach and top players what do you get in return? Extended eligibility. One of the burdens of college programs is that just as a player begins to really develop their four years of eligibility runs out. So what if you had a star player who wasn't quite NFL material (if they were they'd probably be in the developmental league) but they're one of the best in the college game. Instead of losing them after their 4th year what if you could keep them 6 or even 8 years? Yes they'd have to continue taking classes and working towards a degree but you could build a generation of a program around 1 or 2 recruiting classes. And those players could be graduating with advanced degrees. Think if instead of entering the draft Akili Smith would have stayed at Oregon for another 4 years; instead of being one of the biggest busts in NFL history Dr. Smith could've lead Oregon to a national title.

So let's go over this one last time:
NCAA playoffs
Cap coaches' salaries
Create developmental league
Lengthen college eligibitliy
That's a lot to get taken care of so you better get started, and I'll see you next week with the second way to make the world a better place in 2012.

12 Ways to make the world better.

Happy New Year everyone!

It's the first Thursday of the year and I've decided to start this year off by making the world better for everyone. As some of you may know I'm pretty knowledgeable about pretty much everything. Until now I've mostly kept my vast amounts of wisdom to myself, working only to make my own life the shining beacon of success it now is. But it is a new year and I've decided that it is time to share my talents with the rest of the world. Why now you ask? Certainly 2012 stands to be an important year in the direction our society will take, of course the world may not makes it to 2013 so why keep this to myself, and my wife no longer even humors me by pretending to listen to my ideas. Mostly she just throws a shoe at me and tells me to "Stoppit". I may have officially traded places with the cat.

So over the next 12 weeks I will be giving you my top 12 ideas to fix the world in 2012. I was going to do one a month but I wanted to be sure you had plenty of time to get these done before December 21st comes and Unicron devours us all.

Running to Stand Still

As someone who wishes they were a runner I was excited to hear about the Rock and Roll Marathon coming to St Louis, and it would even be coming within blocks of my house! Others in the area however, did not share my exuberance for this race. Namely several area churches expressed concern over road closures conflicting with service times.

While I do not intend to single out any one church, there is one to which I have extremely close ties which will be affected by the closures. Tower Grove Baptist Church was the church of my youth and served an important formative role in my life. Even today I consider it a church home and family and as such I pray that what I say is taken in the loving admonition that it is intended and with the understanding that I am using TG as merely a symbol of the problems with many other area churches.

When the course was announced Tower Grove realized that the roads would be blocked off all around the church. The initial reaction was anger at the city and race organizers for planning a course that would effectively shut down Sunday morning services. Although I would venture to say that if the same closures were due to the World Series not only would the anger be muted some would be glad to cancel services in order to watch the games, but that is an issue for a different time.

Then the scramble was on to decide what to do, should services be moved to Saturday, moved to Sunday afternoon, or just cancelled altogether as some area churches did? Even these ideas were categorically shot down, staunchly determined to conduct services as normal.

But all of that misses the greater point. The church would literally have 20,000+ people and the attention of the city at its doorstep. Why was this viewed only as an inconvenience instead of an opportunity? How great of a ministry would a church have if they would pass out water or simply cheer on the runners? The church could go out its door, and still be on the front lawn, yet be a positive witness to tens of thousands of people. Instead we are content to sit, fat and happy, in our little cocoons separating ourselves as best we can from the outside world which Jesus COMMANDED us to reach.

So here is my suggestion, my challenge if you will, skip church this Sunday morning. Show up, but instead of going inside park yourself on the grass. If your church isn't along the race route find one that is and join them on the lawn. Together we can be a witness, sharing Christ's love simply with a cheer and a clap.
For some of the runners, hearing an encouraging word from the door of a place where they have only heard condemnation could serve to remove some stones.

* I was glad to hear just before posting this that Tower Grove Christian School  has made a banner that reads "Tower Grove Christian School say 'Go, Go, Go!'" And a few students, teachers, and administrators are planning on displaying the banner on the corner as the runners go by. I hope other members of the school and church will join them. And to Mike Gregory and the others involved in getting this done, good job and thank you.

Why I won't be on the picket line

Most of you have now heard about Operation: Occupy WallStreet, and now those protests have spread to several other cities throughout the country. Initially I didn’t know much about these demonstrations and I remained relatively indifferent. Then I saw a link to We Are the 99%. There are pictures of people holding hand written signs telling their stories. Many of these stories were moving and some hit far too close to home.

Was this what this movement was about? Asking for reform to help those of us who had played by the rules but now found ourselves in crushing debt to a system that couldn’t care less. These seemed to be cries for just a small bit of help, just make it a little bit easier. I’m a firm believer that making it in life shouldn’t be easy, you should have to work hard to get what you want, but it shouldn’t be this hard either. So was this a movement I could get behind, a group I could proudly stand alongside and ask for change? I was beginning to think so.

And then I saw this

If you’re not sure that sign says “DIDN”T WE ABOLISH SLAVERY?” While I think the ways banks treat the people is atrocious, it is far from slavery and to compare the two is irresponsible and dangerous. But this is one nut with one sign; I would expect to agree with everyone in any movement.

But then I saw this picture.

The caption to the picture said: “Cops rolling up to stand on the side of the 1%”

There are no officers here violating anyone’s rights, they are not harassing protestors, in fact only two officer are even in the picture. It could be that downtown St Louis on Tuesday saw these protests, a MLB playoff game, and a visit from the President. So couldn’t it be possible that these officers were there to keep the peace and insure that no incidents occurred.

But this is where I run into problems with many on the far left; while I may agree with your ideas it is your fundamental philosophy that I abhor. It’s the automatic assumption that all authority is evil or that all traditions are wrong. I know I’m biased when it comes to cops, but the vast majority are good people trying to make the world a better place. It is assumptions like these that draw artificial lines where we could be allies.

Cops are not the enemy

Christians are not all closed-minded bigots

The wealthy did not all get there on the broken backs of the poor

When you’ve found a way that we can all truly stand together to fight for a better world, without making unnecessary enemies just to falsely produce a greater sense of oppression, then you will find me standing by your side. Until then, best of luck and I pray that rational minds are able to see past hyperbole and hypocrisy and do what is best for our nation.