wolf stansson

Yeah Bulls.

You can't keep me down for long.

I agree with both these statements, which leaves me confused where I slot the Blues. They dominated Colorado and got dominated by Minnesota.

Probably means a GM is soon to follow. I wonder if it's a coincidence this came the day after the Indians season ended?

Freddy is doin it to it. http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=3471

I like the fact that, aside from Clint, Szetela, Adu and Bradley all seem to be pretty edgy. We need players that defer less to the opponents and take none of their crap. I also enjoyed Clint's chug-my-arms-while-walking move when he got subbed in injury time. That was hilarious. Findley is chomping at the bit to get on for his first cap and Clint's milking the clock and grinning at him.

I wasn't sure I saw that move because the announcers didn't say anything. I'm glad to hear I wasn't imagining the behind the back touch. That was sweet.

Ives says New Castle interested in Eddie Johnson and possibly Jozy. http://njmg.typepad.com/sbi/2007/10/newcastle-unite.html#more Eddie working with a quality manager, striker and team would be good things, good things.

Seriously. Bradley is going to have to get creative with his lineups to get as many of these guys on the field. I really liked Edu as well and think he needs some consideration as well. Barring injury, those 8 need to be called up to every major international competition. I'm pretty excited for our olympic squad. I really would like to see a 3-5-2. That gets our 8 best on the field. Not to mention gets Onyewu off the field; which is nice. We're going to have to develop a legit right back to make it work well.

Seriously. Bradley is going to have to get creative with his lineups to get as many of these guys on the field. I really liked Edu as well and think he needs some consideration as well. Barring injury, those 8 need to be called up to every major international competition. I'm pretty excited for our olympic squad.

They rebounded, but early my Blues were skating circles around them. Too many bad turnovers in transition; not strong enough on the puck. Our d pretty much dominated. Granted our D is excellent, but still.

NO!! THEY NEVER JOG. NEVER! They run around the bases in twenty seconds. One time they showed that Scott Rolen's regular home run trot was actually faster than some crappy catcher's inside the park home run sprint. That, kids, is how a true gamer handles his business.

Much like the gas station attendant in Tommy Boy, I sense your sarcasm.

Disclaimer - the post you're about to read is probably way more glowing than deserved, but dammit I enjoyed the hell out of the last 20 minutes! Vindication! Finally the glaring proof that guys like Szetela, Adu and Edu need to be on the team over guys like Lewis, Mastro, Wolff, Twellmen, etc. Before Freddy came on in the 75th, this game was a snooze. The good: Carlos Bocanegra - Man of the match for me. He was everywhere stopping chances and putting out fires. Physical, smart and the leadership is always there. Maurice Edu - Came on much earlier than he probably expected for Beasley's injury. Showed great speed, smarts, physicality and made some good passes. Freed the ball to Szetela that set up the goal. Deuce - Didn't do much early. Hard to say it was his fault because the Swiss had the midfield locked down and nobody was getting any good chances for him. Once the midfield opened up (see below) Clint did an awesome job of playing balls to the young guys and setting up Bradley's goal. The quick glimpse of the chemistry between him and Adu was freakin sweet. Last but not least the incredibly bad ass new kicks. I like the blue. Freddy - Told Ghana to stop calling and got his first definite cap and nearly INSTANTLY after coming on for Twellman, his speed and instincts for finding space opened up the midfield which, up until then, had been harder to break through than one of the Swiss bank vaults. His touch, creativity and ball skills are unparalleled on the squad and have never before been seen in an American player other than maybe the ever improving Deuce. Michael Bradley - Physically assertive as ever, made a few good passes and teamed with Feilhaber to shut down the midfield just as effectively as the Swiss except we did it all game. The goal was vintage Bradley from the u-20's. Charging on net like a bull and putting in the loose balls. Feilhaber - Moved out wide and made some excellent crosses, won balls, shut down the midfield. Solid game. Danny Szetela - Told Poland to stop calling got cap 1. Only played about 10 minutes, but his ten minutes had me laughing they were so good. I didn't really know what to expect out of Danny playing with the big boys. I thought there would need to be more adjusting and granted the Swiss team was probably tired, but he came in and immediately showed he belonged. His long cross from the right into Clint was pure class and made the winning goal possible. Right into the box, right on target and right on time. Brad Guzan - His performance wasn't anything special, coming on for the second half. I'm just happy because it is yet another capable body between Casey Keller and more caps. I love Casey, but he needs to stop. From what I've seen from Guzan at Chivas and today, he has good athleticism, good leadership and communication, good positioning and looks better than Hahnemann for the number two goalie job. I look forward to his tenure at Arsenal or wherever he ends up going. His playing the ball before the bounce at the edge of the box that led to a free kick was ill-advised in the wet conditions, but he made a very nice stop on the kick to redeem himself. Steve Cherundolo - Played very well today. Solid defending, solid crossing, made no mistakes, showed some excellent speed and got forward well. The bad: All old guys - Twellmen was as ineffective as ever, Lewis was okay but I'd much rather have a young gun like Szetela in the games going forward. Pearce - Gave up too much space in his own zone. If not for the superb midfield play I have no doubt he would have gotten exposed more. Also did nothing good worth noting. Danny Califf - Shows some definite signs of stifftitude. Slow, fouling machine, etc. Meh: Gooch - Really wasn't that bad. Like Pearce, benefitted from the Bradley/Feilhaber choke hold in the mid and didn't really have much chance to be bad. Once again he was involved in a dumb one-on-one scuffle with his mark. The yellow he got was a terrible call and not his fault. If the right call was made I would be praising his ability to draw the worst out of his opponents.

I would love to see Beasley wide left and Zizzo on the right. He showed some great speed and crossing in the U-20's.

If Eddie Lewis sees significant time, I'm going to be upset.

Anybody who gambles online needs to get on this: The NHL over/under for sportsbook.com has been at 5 all year. The over percentage has been ridiculous. I love it.

BTW: David Eckstein + Grit = 16000 hits Theriot = 425 Manny Ramirez = 16,900 hits Obviously overall fame still skews, but not as much.

64,700 for Theriot 75,200 for Fontenot 196,000 for Eckstein 418,000 for Manny Ramirez Does not quite work Well Manny Ramirez is much more famous than those guys and would thusly inflate results. Also all those could say Manny Ramirez is a player who does not play the game the right way. I think imb's google/outside praise stat is going to be kind of like defensive metrics. We know they are important we just don't have a reliably accurate one. Dudes like Adam Everett pass the eyeball test for defense. Dudes like Eckstein pass the ear test because we all hear how gritty, hard working and what talent maximizers they are.

Heh, I have to deliver a proposal for work and I have a feeling that my lunch break and the traffic back to the office will be suspiciously long. My boss is gone though, so it's okay.

I like where your head is. We're going to need a G.R.I.T.F.actor+. I'm not sure if the Eckstein model works, but something along those lines seems plausible. Somebody would have to calculate GRITFactor for the whole league to come up with a league average 100+ GRIT

Suck on that, Jake.

this doesn't mean anything, but he doesn't have the canadian accent that most of the schmoes on the fox soccer report have. abooot. i think jeremy st. louis is secretly in love with bobby mcmahon, he's just to ashamed to admit it to him. McMahon is definitely the top in that situation.

I think we could make it G.R.I.T.F.actor - You compare all players grittiness to Eckstein's and then give them a minus number for grittiness. Eckstein's grit factor is 100. Dustin Pedroia's is 87 and Manny Ramirez is 10. Thusly Pedroia's GRIT- is -13 and Man Ram is -90.

Is he Canadian? I know most of the FSC guys are. It would explain a lot.