Falling down on the job

No, I’m not talking about the U.S. attackers in World Cup qualifying; I’m talking about myself and the lack of posting recently.  There have been games that I watched and meant to write match reports for — Columbus’s impressive win over the Revs and the U.S.’s less than impressive win over Cuba — and weekly predictions that I’d meant to make.  Nonetheless, motivation has been flagging recently as worked has picked up.  Of course, that’s no excuse, but all I can do is promise to do better in the future.  I’ll do my best.

MLS Week 21 PowerScore ™ predictions

I skipped Week 20; so sue me.  I guess that I could claim that I spent the week of rejiggering my formula, but I didn’t.  I spent it watching the Olympics and working.  But, I’m back now and ready to give it a go.  My record on predictions so far is 1-4.  There’s almost nowhere to go but up.  Here’s hoping that I don’t find that down.

And one more thing…

I was pleased to have my humble PowerScore ranking included in this compilation of power rankings over at BigSoccer.  I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve it, but I appreciate being given an equal vote with, say, Luis Bueno, and all of the Soccernet experts.

Noonan not Ohio bound?

Well, Sports Illustrated is reporting that Pat Noonan is close to resigning with the Revolution.  Recall that just a few weeks ago, Noonan was linked with a move to Columbus, but that deal appeared to be stymied because the contract being offered to Noonan was too high, even though it was the same deal that MLS had offered him prior to his move to Norway.  Now, it appears that the same deal is on the table for a move back to New England.  Obviously, there could be a good explanation for this (Noonan’s preference, Columbus’s inability to work out a deal with New England, which may still have some rights to Noonan, etc.), but I find it a little shady that Columbus wasn’t allowed to sign Noonan for what looks like the same deal that might get him to New England.  While I understand that the closed league structure of MLS kept it afloat for the first few years, at some point the league is going to have to open up and become a more transparent if it ever wants to be considered legitimate.

Adu to play in France (at least half the time)

Freddy Adu will play in Ligue 1 next season for (non-French) team Monaco.  This means that he’ll be surrounded by the super-rich who use Monaco as a tax haven.  Not that I can blame them; it’s awfully pretty there.  Oh, and hopefully this means he’s get some playing time after blowing the world away at the Olympics.  The latter part of that sentence is awfully optimistic, I know, but I do think he’ll play well.  Also, note that Monaco has the option of purchasing his contract at the end of the season.

Crew v. RSL thoughts

So, I was out of town this past weekend and didn’t see the match, which I wouldn’t have been able to see anyway because of MLS’s bizarre contract with HDNet.  Not that I minded missing the match, since the Crew lost 2-0, but you knew that.  However, I did finally get around to watching the goals from the match (on ESPN’s ever-helpful, if sometimes incomplete, Goals of the Week feature), and I had a couple thoughts on them:

No More Crew on MLS All-Star team

The reserves for the MLS All-Star Game (Match?) have been announced and, unsurprisingly, no Crew players were named.

Most respectably, Steve Nicol didn’t name any of his players as reserves.  I still say Chad Marshall deserved a call-up, though.

Olympic Team Roster

So, who should be on the U.S. Olympic team roster?  Brazil announced theirs, which includes some high-powered overage players in Ronaldinho, Robinho, and Thiago Silva.  But, who’s going to be on the U.S. roster?  And when is Petr Novak going to make the call?

I have no idea.  But this is a blog, which means that I get to speculate with impunity, so speculate I shall!

A couple of thoughts on being a Crew fan

1)  Crew fans are representative of Ohio sports fan generally, in my experience — no matter how well our team may be doing, we generally believe that the eventual end is near.  “The Drive.”  Kimo “the knee-breaker” von Oelhoffen.  The loss to the Mets in the one-game playoff in 2000.  People who have lived in Ohio longer than me could on, I’m sure.  And the feeling I get at Crew games is like that: no one seems to believe that at the end of the season, the Crew is going to be a real contender.  Personally, I’ve caught Ohio fandom, too.  They just don’t look good enough to me to compete when the rubber meets the road.  I hope I’m wrong.

2)  The fact that the Crew’s Power Score ranking is as good as it is gives me some hope, though.  Compared to the competition, they have a solid record in their last five games, and they’re doing pretty decently on the road, all things considered.  Let’s home math beats history in this case.

MLS Power Score (TM) Ranking — Week 15

Alright, so it’s time to unveil my initial Power Score (TM) ranking.  How did I come up with it?  Well, it’s a combination of home points per game, road points per game, and points per game over the last five games.  Road PPG is weighted more heavily than Home PPG and ultimately is weighted equally with recent PPG.  I’ve still not settled on the formula, but the rankings are close enough to those that can be found on more reputable sites to give some indication that they are not wholly inaccurate, but different enough to be interesting.  That all being said, I’m not entirely happy with them, because they don’t yet include strength-of-schedule (calcuting opponent’s PPG is currently too time-consuming a task for me).  Nevertheless, here are the rankings: