DWTS - Second Night

Double elimination jeopardy! 

And Drew and Cheryl are safe right off the bat! Way to vote, Sounders fans! Oh, and they're dancing first this time. Ok, a short night of blogging for me. 

Drew is happy about not being eliminated. Cheryl is also cool with dancing first. Drew actually picks the jive first. Yikes. That's a fast dance for a not-young guy. He's frustrated in the dance rehearsals.

Drew jumps off the stage and tears his jacket off! Faster foot flicks, Drew. He gets off-beat a couple of times, too, but he's smiling and jiving through the dance.
Len congratulates the content, tells Drew to work on footwork and posture. Bruno calls Drew a "stage animal". He doesn't add that he means, "dancing bear". Adds that Drew covered the mistakes well.
Carrie Ann commends Drew's courage in tackling the jive. She's nicely telling him he shouldn't have done it, basically. Anyway, she also says that he might be "surprised" by the scoring. Drew looks slightly worried.
Erin in her interview comments how comfortable Drew is in front of live audiences. The judges score 7-7-7 = 21. Pretty generous, considering the mistakes.
Ok, Drew's done.
Billie Dee and Emma are safe? Really? Crazy. I thought for sure he was gone. Meryl and Max are safe. Good. Danica and Val are safe, too. They're dancing next.
In the practice reel, Val is unhappy with their 8 scores, since Candace got a nine. Danica's not so bent out of shape about it. Val is pushing her, though. She's nervous and upset. First tears. Val apologizes and tries to loosen up a bit.
Now the dance. Danica's all in gold - doesn't have the freewheeling attitude of a samba dancer, but she's trying. The nerves stiffen her up, though. She does show more confidence in certain parts. Tom B. calls her a "sexy mathmetician" Bruno calls out her lack of details on the transition elements. Carrie Ann uses the word "sexy" three times - also "flawless".  Len tells her to keep keeping on. Fantastico. Danica looks happy, but still nervous. Loosen up, lady. Erin uses the word, "sexy" in her commentary, too. 8-8-8 - 24 - Val looks a little miffed, but tries not to show it to Danica, who says she had "fun" with the dance.

Tom is doing his best, but this new trick of calling people out as safe or not throughout the program kind of interrupts stuff. I guess they want to keep the audience members on the edge of their seats.

Billie Dee's not buying Emma's logic of "the last shall be first". Billy is doing the tango and saying he is old. His back hurts. Emma is trying to keep his spirits up. Emma brings in extra ladies to the tango dance. Billy quotes William Earnest Henley "I am the master of my fate".

In the dance, he is playing a tango pimp. That's an original approach. It works, of course, because the original tango dancers were ladies of the night. It also allows Billy to do less dancing and more waving his arms about with style. I guess that's a type of dancing. Carrie Ann gives him pointers, but basically says more content was needed. Len needs less ivy, more attack. Bruno says, "Stylized, minimal approach", but agrees there needs to be more actual dance involved. Erin leans on Billy Dee (bad! he's got back and hip issues) 5-5-5 =15

Meryl and Maks! In the practice clips, Meryl chooses swing and says she isn't nervous. Maks, however, is nervous about the lifts. He isn't used to throwing - and it's taking a toll. He says he's old. Dude, talk to Billy Dee. Meryl is dancing to a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy classic - in a bra, basically. The skirt is cute, but really, a bra? She more than keeps up with the speed of the dance, which gets to Maks a little bit. Len, "that swing had wings". Bruno thought the level of difficulty was great, but noticed the timing was off at times. Maks take issue - Maks always gets onery. Carrie points out how hard Maks had to work, commends Meryl's athleticism. Maks grumps at Erin about the score, but 8-9-8 - Maks cheers up at Len's nine, wishes Val a happy birthday.

Amy and Derek are safe. Candace and Mark are, too. Diane and Henry are going home. They don't even get to dance. I didn't see her last week. She is very kind about the elimination, compliments her partner. She still gets to dance, though, and she wants to do so. Cha, cha. She is stiff, but she smiles a lot. Certainly more dancing there than Billy Dee. Tom calls her a "good sport" and she is.

Jeremy Miller politically says that he is rooting for both Candace and Danica. Candace is nervous about the rhumba with Mark - due to her religious beliefs, she wants to be sensual, not sexual. Semantics, Candace.

But they're dancing to "Say Something", which is just a sad song. So yeah, not too sexy. Total breakup song. Lots of back arching. Carrie Ann wanted to see more rhumba steps, less contemporary lifts and stuff. Maybe Candace should have let Mark take his shirt off. 7 -7-7 Fair.

Ok, that's all for me, night folks. Drew will dance another day! Remember to vote, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sounders - Herediano, CCL Running Blog

TFC pulled off the win over Tauro FC, so lets see what Seattle can do in their CONCACAF Champions League clash versus Herediano. It should be a tougher test. 

Sounders lineup: GK Keller, D Scott, D Ianni, D Hurtado, D Gonzalez, M Carrasco, M Sanyang, M Neagle, M Levesque, F Jaqua, F Noonan.  

Herediano: GK Cambronero, D Montero, D Sanchez, D Calvo, D Obando, D Salazar, M Cordero, M Arias, M Alvarado, F Barbosa, F Andrade

No cohost for FSC's Rogondino? Get Chris Henderson in there. Who cares if he's not impartial? At least he knows the game.

1 - Kickoff. My eyes! They're already bleeding at the sight of the Sounders' glowing neon uniforms.

3 - Rogo seems befuddled at the absence of a color man. He's giving a bunch of side info and ignoring the actual match.

4 - Herediano have a corner. It's played short and then fed in, but Keller catches it.

6 - Rogo's actually calling the game now. There's not much going on, to be fair, though Seattle are probing for chances.

7  - Foul on Neagle gives Seattle a FK. Herediano GK catches that.

9 - I gave up on Rogo. I'm watching the Spanish broadcast of the match. Suddenly it's much more exciting.

11 - Have I mentioned how much I hate artificial turf? It's hard to tell that the pro players are at a high level when the ball keeps rolling long on that stuff. Ruins the game.

13 - Not to say that chewed up grass is a better playing surface, but at least it looks terrible, so it's honest. Plastic grass is a weird cheat - it looks fine, especially from a distance or on television, but it just doesn't play right or true to the game.

14 - Off the post! What a weird play. The Sounders stood around like they expected a teammate to cover the run, and in the end, the ball was in the box and past Keller, but it came off the post. Barbosa with the chance.

16 - Neagle sees yellow for a clip from behind. I think the Herediano player is legitimately hurt - rug burn from his forced slide into the turf.

21 - Leo Gonzalez with a shot/cross - the game is picking up pace.

22 - Nate Jaqua shanks a ball from point-blank range. I'd be surprised, but I saw him do that plenty in person as a Galaxy player back in the day.

23 - Actually, Nate has a legit gripe - his shot appeared to deflect off a defender, but the ref missed it. Bad break.
25 - GOAL! Off a freekick, Herediano's Josemar Arias bends it perfectly into the corner. Nicely done. Seattle are stunned at home. CR teams are no joke. It's a little country, but they take their soccer very seriously. 0-1, Herediano leads.
 27 - What a difference a goal makes - Herediano passing the ball around better now, looking lively.
31 - Seattle appear out of sorts.
32 - Herediano players are falling over now. It's kind of early for the delaying tactic.
35 - Herediano's Cordero earns a yellow. Freekick for Seattle.
 38 - Seattle don't appear creative at all at this point.

42 - Corner for Herediano, but Seattle are able to clear.
45 - Herediano seriously look more likely to score again than the Sounders do to notch an equalizer.
Halftime.
46 - We're back and already Herediano have the first chance of the half. This result, if it stands, will really shake up the CCL group.
51 - Freekick for Herediano. Seattle defense deal with it just fine. They've looked solid, mostly. It's the attacking end that is a shambles at present.
53 - Seattle finally mount an attack, but Noonan isn't able to get a shot off.
54 - Seattle charge in again for a  bit of sustained pressure - oh, that didn't last.
56 - Here come Seattle's cavalry - Freddy Montero and Osvaldo Alonso.
65 - It seems too late for Seattle's supermen (aka, regular starters) to save the day. They haven't really been able to get anything going yet.
68 - Herediano holding on strong.
74 - Herediano even looking more likely to score. Oh, and Sammy Ochoa is the last sub for the Sounders. I miss his old curly hair style.
81 - A Montero shot leads to a Seattle corner.
82 - Which leads to a Jaqua header on goal, though it's saved.  Game might have a goal in in for the Sounders yet.
88 - Or not. After than flurry, nothing credible since.
89 - WOW - What a save to rob Ochoa of a Sounders goal. Ochoa pounded a header on goal, but the stop was made one-handed. Herediano's goalkeeper, Cambronero, was the hero there.
90 - He timewastes on the ensuing corner, though, wasting the goodwill he just built up with his play.
92 - Neagle shoots high from a corner - not a great try, but volleys are hard.
94 - Jaqua finally gets a decent cross, but hits the header high. 
95 - I love the announcer's sarcasm. "Well, we are playing on, due to added time from Cambonero's muscular problem, as he apparently had a problem with his muscles." Yeah, he was wasting time.
Final whistle! Sounders put forth a sorry starting lineup and paid for it. 

Real Influential

Remember when MLS teams couldn't buy a win in Mexico?

Way back in like 2010 and before, MLS teams did pretty bad south of the border. It was a little sad to see MLS teams go there, knowing that no matter what they did, it would not be good enough for a win. Heck, a draw would have been seen as an accomplishment.

But those days are gone. Not gone in the sense that MLS teams won't lose in Mexico or anything, but the time when Mexico meant an automatic loss for an MLS side certainly has disappeared.

FC Dallas shattered that record and Seattle brushed off the remains. Each took a 1-0 win from their respective games against Mexico, by identical 1-0 wins over Pumas and Monterrey, respectively.

Why the big change? What happened from the time when Seattle blew a 2-0 lead at Monterrey by allowing three goals in a four-minute span way back in 2010 to now when MLS teams can suddenly do no wrong in Mexico?

Real Salt Lake.

That's what happened.

RSL's run to the CONCACAF Champions League title came up excruciatingly short but the club's experience rubbed off on a lot of people. Galaxy players I spoke to about the Champions League said RSL's run made them look at the tournament in a different light, that they didn't really see the tournament before the way they see it now.

It makes sense. RSL's run was captivating and the way it ended, with RSL needing a result at home to secure a championship, made many feel as if it was going to happen. Why not? They'd gone down to Saprissa and done quite well, then pulled out a 2-2 draw at Monterrey, so a win at home was not exactly asking for too much.

It did not happen, though, but coming so close to glory probably made MLS players want to experience that for themselves. You don't know what you have until it's gone, right? So when MLS players, who probably jumped on RSL's bandwagon like so many other MLS supporters, felt the title slip away, they may have said the next time they are in position to fight for it themselves, they will do just that.

It's a mentality change that helped fuel MLS teams in Champions League. Aside from FC Dallas' historic win in Mexico, MLS clubs have done quite well for themselves thus far. No MLS team has lost and only Colorado's 1-1 draw at Honduras' Real Espana prevented the league from going a perfect 7-of-7 in CCL play.

Tonight FC Dallas and Toronto FC will meet so we may see the first MLS loss, but since it's coming against another MLS team, perhaps that's a bit of a wash.

Regardless, MLS teams now are making their push towards making their league become more influential in the region, at least on the field.

RSL helped push that door open.

Hole in Seattle

The Seattle Supersonics are no more as the NBA club is moving to Oklahoma City effective immediately. After 41 years of operations, Seattle no longer has a professional basketball team.

Now, the fact that the Sonics are toast isn't quite the reason for this post. I'm not much of an NBA fan these days, though I followed the recent playoffs more closely than I had in the last decade or so.

What I'm wondering is what sort of impact, if any, this will have on the Seattle Sounders when they join MLS in 2009. Asking fans of one sport to begin following another sport altogether is not reasonable. For all we know, the Mariners and Seahawks just gained more fans and attention because of the move. But is there any benefits to the Sounders? Will there be more space for the Sounders in the local papers and the local news broadcasts? Or will that be split up between the Mariners, Seahawks and Huskies athletics?

Maybe I'll hold off Seattle move

It's as predictable as rainbows after rain. Someone writes a "Soccer's going to make it" article and someone has to come back with "No, it's not". Someone always wants the last word.
I don't really care. I'm not much of a prognosticator of popularity, trendiness or what's "in".
I just know what I like.

Seattle sounds good

I like coffee. I like rainy days and green is my favorite color. I even have family living near the city. Why not? It's sounding better and better.

Off to a great start

Seattle Sounders FC haven't yet started playing, but the club scored a major victory this week. Sounders FC will don the sponsor XBox 360 on their front as Microsoft and the club agreed to a sponsorship deal this week worth a reported $20 million over five years.

The jersey looks pretty cool. I like the color scheme. Maybe it's because of the Supersonics or maybe the city's nickname (Emerald City) but I've always associated green with Seattle, so this is perfect. I think this could become a popular jersey as the XBox 360 is a popular game system and might appeal to non-soccer or casual soccer fans.

It's too bad they won't be competitive until 2010.

The Sound of Triumph

Seattle Sounders FC, baby! The fans win another round. Good on ya all.

Finally!

I'll bet Kasey Keller is thinking the same thing as Seattle gets the next MLS franchise. It's probably too far for a road trip (Vegas MLS team, where are you?), but I'm excited nonetheless. That area of the country has produced too many good players to remain a blank on the MLS map.

Another milestone was the ownership announcement of Drew Carey. The last time I was in the pressbox at the Home Depot Center, I discussed this with a couple of reporters. I said the next step for MLS was for a fan to own a team. I pointed out that other top sports in the U.S. had owners who became wealthy and then indulged their love of the game by fulfilling dreams of owning a team in the sport they love.

"Soccer needs some owners who are soccer nuts - who care about the American game passionately, not just as a real estate investment or a venue for events, or an extension of a brand, or part of a portfolio. Of course, those other types of owners are important, but that new blood is needed to take this league to the next level. Someone in the power structure who loves the game for its own sake won't overlook the things true fans want and need from the game."

Voila. Carey comes along. Oh, he's been around for a while, and I'm not sure what this ownership with Seattle means to his long-held loyalty to the Galaxy (he's got his own box at the stadium), but this is involvement from a diehard.

Incidently, what the other reporters and I also discussed that day was how much more affordable it was to become an MLS owner than to try to own any other major sport franchise in the U.S.