I didn't have time to join a pool this year, so here are my World Cup picks for no reason at all. Group winner is first.
Group Stage:
GROUP A: Uruguay, Egypt
GROUP B: Spain, Portugal
GROUP C: France, Peru
GROUP D: Argentina, Croatia
GROUP E: Brazil, Costa Rica
GROUP F: Germany, Mexico
GROUP G: Belgium, England
GROUP H: Colombia, Senegal
Knockout Stage:
First round: Portugal over Uruguay, France over Croatia, Brazil over Mexico, Belgium over Senegal, Spain over Egypt, Argentina over Peru, Germany over Costa Rica, England over Colombia
Second round: France over Portugal, Brazil over Belgium, Argentina over Spain, Germany over England
Semifinals: Brazil over France, Germany over Argentina
Those of you who have followed my social media presences know that over the last year I've begun watching domestic soccer with more than just a passing interest. About two years ago what was at one point the biggest club in the US, the New York Cosmos, returned to the second-division NASL, the spiritual successor to the original North American Soccer League, which was the top division in the pre-MLS days of American soccer. After going to a handful of games in their first two seasons, going to viewing parties, and watching plenty more on One World Sports, I took the plunge and became a season ticket holder this year. Tonight, on the heels of winning the NASL spring championship last weekend (the NASL uses a split season similar to the Apertura and Clausura format used in Mexico and South America), the Cosmos play what is easily their most important game of this calendar year so far, a US Open Cup match with new MLS club NYCFC in what is being called the East River Derby.
Had things been different, I might have been an MLS fan. I never formed much of an attachment to the Metrostars when MLS debuted, but took issue with the rebranding of the team as Red Bull New York in 2006. So when it looked like the Cosmos might be the second MLS team in New York I was excited. But for a variety of reasons, it never came to pass. MLS instead looked to the Yankees and City Football Group (the oil-rich owners of Manchester City FC), and thus NYCFC was born. As a Mets fan and a Liverpool fan, I couldn't bring myself to support a team associated with the Steinbrenners and Sheikh Mansour, but I at least hoped they would pursue a uniquely New York identity. Then NYCFC unveiled home jerseys that are largely indistinguishable from those of their parent club. So I stuck with the Cosmos, and my fandom has been rewarded with a team that is a perennial contender in the NASL. They won the 2013 Soccer Bowl, came close in 2014, and have yet to lose a league or cup game in 2015.
While NYCFC has had its share of growing pains on the diamond at Yankee Stadium (a 10-game winless streak has helped put them dead last out of 20 teams in MLS), they are playing to large crowds happy to support a new team, and that support will likely carry over to the game tonight. The Cosmos have seen a hefty bump in attendance this year themselves thanks in part to signing Spanish legend Raúl, but play in a much smaller stadium on the campus of Hofstra University (they are trying to get a bigger place). So the Baby Blues will have a vocal presence tonight. But so did the Red Bulls in last year's Open Cup, and the Cosmos thrashed them. With news that NYCFC's own Spanish superstar David Villa may not play tonight, and the perception of MLS's general apathy towards the early stages of this tournament, it feels like the Cosmos have more than a puncher's chance of winning.
For the Cosmos, the Open Cup is just as important as their league campaign. The Open Cup is the oldest tournament in American soccer, and the winner gets an automatic berth into the CONCACAF Champions League. Since US Soccer awards its other three berth to MLS teams, this is the only shot a US team outside of MLS has of getting into serious international play. And the management of the Cosmos has repeatedly stated that they want to remain a global team. The reputation they built in the 1970's on the backs of legendary players like Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia is one they want to get back, but playing in the second tier of American soccer with no hope for promotion makes it difficult for them. That said, the name "New York Cosmos" still carries some cachet abroad, since it was them, not an MLS team, that became the first US pro sports team since 1998 to play a game in Cuba earlier this month. And while the CONCACAF Champions League isn't exactly the most prestigious tournament in the world, it's a step towards an even larger international footprint.
Ultimately, though, soccer is still small potatoes in New York. With the Mets and Yankees both at or near first place and NFL training camps starting soon, neither the Red Bulls, NYCFC or Cosmos are going to get a lot of press, and not for a mid-season tournament over league play. One World Sports is broadcasting today's game; YES Network, NYCFC's TV partner, has a Yankees game to show. MSG didn't bother televising yesterday's Open Cup game between the Red Bulls and Atlanta. But for the Cosmos and their fans, it means so much more. It means bragging rights. After beating the Red Bulls last year, it means a legitimate claim to being the best team in New York. And it means another step towards becoming the first NASL team to win the Open Cup.
I posted a version of the following to the Islander Mania message board earlier today.
I am fully prepared for the possibility that the New York Rangers will win this series. They have Lundqvist in net; it could happen. And while I don't want it to happen, I'm at peace with it.
This is different than their run to the conference finals two years ago. At that point, the Lighthouse has gone out. The failed referendum vote for a new Nassau Coliseum was less than a year before, and with the wounds still fresh Kate Murray (the woman largely responsible for killing the Lighthouse Project and setting in motion the events that would lead to the Islanders leaving Long Island) was flapping her gums about how exciting it was having the Rangers go deep in the playoffs. The announcement that the team would move to Barclays Center was still 5 months away. Ownership groups from far flung places like Seattle and Quebec City were getting ready to circle Long Island like vultures. A Rangers Stanley Cup felt like it would've been the death knell for the Islanders.
Today, though, things are different. For all its flaws, we'll have a new arena in 2015 that's still nearby enough that we don't need Center Ice to keep tabs on John Tavares and company. While we don't know if Andrew Barroway will be the white knight this team has needed for the better part of three decades, or if Charles Wang is even willing to sell the Islanders, there are subtle signs that things are changing, including a legit NHL goaltender who is not yet 30 years old under contract, something the Isles haven't had since Rick DiPietro was healthy. In the past these steps forward would always be followed by an equal or greater number of steps back. It's hard not to remember that Wang and Milstein and Spano and Pickett were all seen as saviors, but it's equally hard not to think things will be different, if not better, going forward.
And what if the Rangers do win the Stanley Cup? Yeah, it'll sting for the summer and maybe part of October. And all the crap we've given our Rangers fan friends will probably come back to us threefold. But there's a part of me that feels like there's hope on the horizon for us. Plus we can point out that all the Isles have to do is win one more Stanley Cup before 2059-60 to be just as successful.
After taking a giant leap forward to get into the playoffs last season, the Islanders have taken an equally giant leap backwards this season. For the sixth time in seven seasons, they'll be picking in the Top 5 of the NHL Draft (assuming they keep this year's pick, anyway). It's gotten so bad that fans who are at varying levels of dissatisfaction with the team and its management are sniping at each other.
The Mets come into spring training with their best pitcher out for most of the year while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and gaping holes in the lineup. Their two candidates to take over at 1B are both hurt. The presumed Opening Day SS is batting somewhere around .100 this spring.
The Jets just signed an irredeemable piece of shit to compete with Geno Smith at QB. After undermining Chad Pennington with Brett Favre, and undermining Mark Sanchez with both Smith and Tim Tebow in consecutive seasons, they're now doing the same with Smith.
So last night the Islanders played their first game in what will be their home in 2015, Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets.
The good:
Holy crap, I got goosebumps riding the train, seeing a sea of blue and orange getting on at Jamaica and getting off at Atlantic. (Pro tip: board your LIRR train to Brooklyn at the front in 2015 for a shorter walk along the platform.)
Sat in 212 Row 6 - the "good" corner. And, yes, it was exactly that. Site lines were, to these eyes, the same as the front of 330 in the Coliseum.
Security's wand-down is much more thorough, and the guards have more of a sense of humor: Guard: "Hey, I'm sorry, but there are a lot of Devils fans coming in here." Me (laughing): "You're security. Stop them; it's your job!"
Guard: "I'm trying, but they're sneaky! They bought tickets!"
The sound system in the arena is lightyears beyond the Coliseum's. Could've been the positioning of the speakers relative to where I was, but Isles' PA announcer Roger Luce was loud and clear.
The off-center scoreboard? I took a peek from a friend's seats at Sec. 225, center ice, and you only notice it's off-center if you're looking for a reason to complain that it's off-center. From the corner I was in it looked fine.
The Cuban sandwich I bought was delicious.
I salvaged a bad night of hockey with good company at the Cherry Tree on 4th Ave. for post-game beer and pizza. And it was about the 5th or 6th bar I passed on the way back from the arena.
The bad:
Man, those upper concourses suck! My wife got to Barclays at 7:30 coming from work in Forest Hills; she didn't get to the seats until 7:50, and all she did was stop somewhere for chicken fingers and fries. That, combined with the fact that I was in a group of 8, made coming down to the meetup all but impossible.
In a similar vein, I ended up waiting to meet friends until 6:50 by the oculus. At that point, they told us to go around the back of the arena and enter on the 6th Ave. side because the front entrances were all overwhelmed.
The staff are polite, but, yes, they all need to get the memo about not letting fans through during play. Ours figured it out by the second period, at least.
That Cuban sandwich and a bottle of water? $18!
The ugly:
The offense. OOF! Fucking horrible looking! Like my friend Blair said to me at intermission, putting Pierre-Marc Bouchard on the point is going to lead to a lot of shorthanded goals for the opposition.
They can dress up the west end along the glass as much as they want, but it still looks weird to see that much open space on one end of the rink.
They'll need to work out a better option for players getting onto the ice. It seems kinda rinky-dink (no pun intended) to have one team enter from the side board and one enter from the end boards.
The TBD:
It was fairly loud in the first period, but the team gave us absolutely no reason to make noise after the initial excitement of being in the arena wore off. I'm not going to try and draw any conclusions by comparing the crowd noise at our first home playoff game in 7 years to getting shut out in the preseason.
I got home a little after 12:30am after staying for drinks for about 90 minutes at the Cherry Tree. If I'd gone straight home I might've made the 9:45pm and been home by 10:30pm, or I might have had to wait for the 10:22 which would put me home closer to 11. Easy enough to do on a weekend, but we'll see how it works on a weeknight. 35 minutes from station to station does help, though.
I'd like to get a look at the "bad" end to see just how bad it is, since the opinions range from "not awful" to "worst atrocity committed by mankind".
Cost analysis:
Transportation: already paid for since I was using a 10-trip I'd bought previously, but since a 10-trip off-peak from VS is $66, let's call it $13. Wife took the subway from work and already has a monthly, so that's $2.50.
Food: $18. Not sure how much my wife's dinner cost, but let's assume another $18.
Drinks afterwards: $30
Comparables at NVMC for the coming year:
Transportation: $12 to park plus gas, but I drive a Prius so let's call that negligible. Would be the same amount if I had the wife in the car with me.
Food: The food options at the Coliseum are limited, but dinner for two with soft drinks is far cheaper.
Drinks afterwards: Ha! Not if I'm driving.
So, yes, going to Barclays will cost me a lot more than NVMC.
As for the fan base, I went with my wife (Isles fan), three Rangers fans (two from Deer Park, one from Astoria), two Bruins fans (one from Park Slope, one from Bed-Stuy), and a girl who started the night a Blue Jackets fan but told me she has to buy Islanders gear now. All of them were excited, and all of them will come back when the move is official in 2015, provided tickets don't cost an arm and a leg.
Now I just have to plant a bug with them about splitting a weekend package in two years.
So if you're here, and you've been here before, you've probably noticed more than a few changes to the blog.
I decided to jump over to the warm, welcoming bosom of Google's Blogger from my old self-hosted Wordpress setup. The endless cycle of security holes, bug fixes and patches no longer appeals to me, so it made sense to move off a self-hosted solution. In addition, changes to 1and1's plans have made hosting my website there pricier than I would like. So I decided to go with a free and straightforward option.
Besides, thanks to Twitter and Facebook, it's not like I use this all that often. My whole goal with this blog was a place where I could post about my life and my friends could comment. Social networking solved that problem, even in the midst of creating new ones. But I'll find some use for this.
Know how I know 2012 was a great year for music? I shortlisted about 25 albums for this year's top 10 list, when many times I've had trouble finding 10 albums to fill out a list. And that's without resorting to archival releases like the Peter Gabriel So boxed set, the Pink Floyd Immersion editions, Led Zeppelin's Celebration Day or Steven Wilson's Get All You Deserve.
I'm seriously considering making a Top 15 or Top 20 post, because there are so many deserving albums that are going to be left off the list just because the top 5 all probably would've been Album Of The Year in any other year. It's been an embarrassment of riches the last 12 months, and I for one find myself not at all troubled by it.
I can tell you one album that didn't make the shortlist: The 2nd Law...
I'm also using this teaser to test Jetpack to see if this posts to my Facebook and Twitter feeds, so there's that, too.
