Generations of Wesleyan University soccer players have taken their pre-game meals at O’Rourke’s diner — a famous Middletown, CT landmark. There’s nothing quite like playing on a stack of O’Rourke’s banana pancakes. A little before halftime is when it really hits.
Brian O’Rourke, the diner’s second generation owner and proprietor, is a much-loved, longtime supporter of Wesleyan Soccer. In fact one of the most prestigious awards given each year to a player on the men’s team is the Bernie O’Rourke Award, which is named after Brian’s father.
Why is this all so interesting? A few years ago, O’Rourke’s was ravaged by a gas fire. It happened in the middle of the night, no one was hurt, but the community was stunned. Middletown has experienced a dramatic revitalization in recent years and in that spirit, the community banded together and raised enough money and contributed enough labor to rebuild O’Rourke’s.
Today is the day! O’Rourke’s has reopened. So stop in, try the free cakes that Wesleyan students have been eating at 4 AM since the beginning of time, and try those banana pancakes. Only then will you know what I’m talking about!
I have to give a shout out to the development team at the New York Times. Regardless of where you stand on the issues, you’ve gotta appreciate the new debate analysis tool and transcript analyzer NYTimes.com rolled out this morning. The text of the debate dynamically loads as you scroll over different portions of the debate. The design is straightforward and intuitive, making it easy to see who was talking when and what they said. The full text is searchable and graphically displays who referred to what issues when. So when I type in “college soccer,” for example, I get, uh, no results. Oh well. No less, very cool.
Does it get any better than these Nike videos? But what’s up with the stick figure? That seems more like a spot for Staples paper clips than something that would feature Ronaldinho.
I had a great time at the NSCAA convention this past weekend. Downtown Baltimore was a sea of adidas tracksuits. The presentation line-up was solid: Bill Beswick (a convention regular), Gerard Houllier, and Steve McClaren to name a few. Nothing spices things up like a little controversy. And that was served up in spades by Paul Gardner, whose SoccerAmerica column “NSCAA Blind to the Future” had convention goers buzzing.
Gardner basically argues that there are too many English presenters at the convention, and that this comes at the expense of coaching influences from other parts of the world. As a result, he says that American soccer will continue to emerge in the English model, which has been relatively inept (i.e., not qualifying for Euro 2008), and will not embrace new demographics that are emerging on the American soccer scene. The conclusion that American soccer will evolve in the English model because of the NSCAA convention seems a bit presumptuous. No less, there should clearly be a diverse set of clinicians.
Of course there was tons of whiz-bang stuff in the exhibition hall. The Futboleros (watch the ridiculous video above) were in full effect, wandering nomadically around demonstrating their outrageous tricks. As one would expect, there was a ton of slick new gear from standards like Nike and adidas. But the most interesting apparel display was at a small 10×10 booth sponsored by a company called Calle. I confess that I was initially (and shamelessly) drawn to the booth to say hello to Marcelo Balboa. (I remember exactly where I was when he hit the bicycle kick against Colombia in ‘94.)
It turns out that ‘Celo is a big fan of Calle, which makes some pretty sweet gear for street soccer. It’s sort of like the soccer version of Vans. The Calle guys have a pretty cool pitch that revolves around the notion that Americans need to learn to play soccer in a non-organized fashion — whether that means playing in a parking lot or out in the cul-de-sac. I couldn’t agree more.
I’ve been known to rant and rave about the book Moneyball, and the Oakland A’s statistical approach to evaluating players and building winning teams on an absolute shoe-string budget. What better place to apply that methodology than MLS, where the salary cap is laughably low? Of course, soccer has always been cursed (or blessed, depending on your perspective) by the lack of obvious and meaningful statistics.
People always look at goals and assists, which are obviously important. But what about the guy who consistently makes the tackle at midfield that starts the counterattack which leads to all the goals? It’s difficult to quantify his performance.
No less, it appears that there are a number of people working to solve this problem. Among them: Billy Beane of Moneyball and A’s fame. According to a fascinating story by Jeff Carlisle of ESPN, Beane is an integral player in the reincarnated San Jose Earthquakes. And true to form, Beane has brought his statistical methods to the table, employing Match Analysis, a stats company, and relying heavily on their analysis for expansion draft decisions. (Ivan Guerrero, formerly of the Chicago Fire is an Earthquakes acquisition Carlisle discusses in depth.)
THE MORALITY OF STATISTICS IN SOCCER
Any time I start ranting about the untapped opportunity of applying statistical methods to soccer, I feel compelled to acknowledge that soccer is, at its core, a subjective game that in many ways cannot and should not be quantified. Imagine going to the Guggenheim Museum and trying to quantify all of the Mark Rothko paintings. It is argued that reducing soccer games to numbers undermines what is so cool and so unique about the game. But here’s the flip side: statistics have the potential to reveal unknown dynamics of the game.
What if we looked at a data set collected from 10,000 games and found that positioning a defensive center midfielder 10-15 yards in front of two center backs is highly correlated to scoring 2-3 counterattacks goals a game? That would be pretty powerful stuff that wouldn’t undermine the game. Rather it would deepen our understanding of how things work.
It’s been rather quiet here at the CaptainU blog. Perhaps you chalked this up to the holiday shopping craze, thinking we were out doing our part to help the US economy recover from the housing funk. Not a bad guess, but not so, dear friends. CaptainU is buzzing behind the scenes, and I want to give you quick update on the goings up.
Mike the wonder programmer has been working overtime to get our full CaptainU site up and running. We’re almost there. If you’re not sure what the “real” CaptainU site is all about, it takes the self-recruiting concept I wrote about in Make the Team to the next level: the Internet (oooh, ahhhh).
We’ve got 500 beta testers lined up to help us work out the kinks in the software and then we’re counting on you to flood the system with player profiles, recruiting requests, and the like. Launch is coming soon, so stay tuned!
What happened to the season? It’s unbelievable how quickly it passes. It’s really an injustice. Things kick off, there are too many games to follow, and then before you know it, it’s sleeting outside and all you have to look forward to is the Premier League holiday session.
You really don’t have to be Rip Van Winkle to miss the college season. It just passes way too quickly. One of the things that has always amazed me about college soccer is how little soccer is actually played. This is particularly striking for first year players who are used to playing 60+ games a year. Finally you get on a college team — which has been your goal for years — but there are only 20 games a year. (Throw in the spring season and you get 30 games if you’re lucky.) Not to mention the fact that there are 30 players on the roster, rather than the 15 or so on a youth team.
As much of a bummer as this is for some people, it has a very cool effect. It makes every game count that much more. For even the most competitive youth teams, there are only a handful of really important games in a given season. But in college, every game is critical. When I was a college player and coach, every game felt like an absolute must win. This sense of urgency is what makes college soccer so great.
14 hours and 57 minutes ago, I set forth to see Northwestern take on the University of Illinois-Chicago in a second round, men’s D1 NCAA game. Northwestern, from the far north side of Chicago against UIC, the team from the Southside — well, if you Chicagoans want to get technical, maybe I am splitting hairs here, but UIC is at 600 South. (here is Google street view of UIC’s stadium.) While I’m noodling around with Google maps, I might as well show Northwestern’s stadium (which was apparently under construction when Larry and Sergey drove by to take this picture.)
Like virtually all NCAA tournament games, last night’s showdown was a riveting affair, even though neither team played to its full potential. There were moments of brilliance, but by and large it was what they call a “midfield battle.” Which is to say the ball was flying all over the place all evening. Still, it was great fun to be in the stands. UIC brought a huge student contingent that was singing and cheering the whole time. The rest of the stands were packed with Northwestern fans.
It was just one of those games where neither team could generate a serious attack. And after a short time it became clear that the game would be decided on some sort of opportunistic goal. Northwestern had the first chance off a sloppy back pass to the goalkeeper that was intercepted by a Northwestern forward. Somehow, and I still can’t figure this out, the UIC player who passed the ball back was able to race back and slide tackle the Northwestern guy on the goal line. Crazy play, but still 0-0.
The big break for UIC came on a corner kick with about 15 minutes to go. Two UIC players headed the ball in a row, which froze the Northwestern defense as the ball found the back of the net. The pace then became frenetic and Northwestern almost scored off a couple well developed opportunities. Finally, with 40 seconds left, Northwestern won a dangerous free kick and brought everyone including the goalkeeper into UIC’s penalty box. UIC cleared ithe ball and one of their players gathered it up about 40 yards out from goal and ran the length of the field and finished it off with a tap in. I honestly don’t remember ever seeing another empty net goal. It was wild, and of course the UIC fans went crazy.
This game was only one big surprise in a night of huge upsets. Notably, UMass knocked off top-ranked Boston College and Bradley beat Indiana. There are a lot of very interesting games to come. Santa Clara — Notre Dame is one of particular interest. Here’s the bracket. Get to a game if you can.
It was hardly surprising to see England crash out of Euro 2008 yesterday — 8 months before the tournament even begins. After all, this is a team that has been spluttering along for the last five years. (Who knows, maybe it’s more like 40?). The only exciting thing about England teams over the last few years has been the names on the roster. Despite the stratospheric quality and international superstardom, these guys get onto the field and play like a men’s league team.
As of this morning, the FA announced that it will sack manager Steve McClaren, which is no surprise but is unlikely to solve the squad’s endemic problems. Everyone had high hopes when McClaren came in — that maybe he could transform England’s losing team culture. His first move, to not recall David Beckham, was very symbolic and indicated that the status quo may not be tolerated any longer. Ironically, when the situation became desperate and it was clear that there was a leadership vacuum, McClaren had no choice but to bring Beckham back into the picture. And Becks has been England’s most consistent player ever since.
Again, substituting Beckham in yesterday at halftime invigorated England, culminating in his assist to Peter Crouch on the spectacular tying goal. Yet in spite of regaining the momentum, England somehow managed to capitulate — they basically found a way to lose.
Replacing the coach may make a difference, but certainly won’t fix everything. Jose Mourinho appears to be the top candidate, but even a charismatic leader may not be enough. The coach is an easy scapegoat, but it’s the players who are ultimately responsible when they get on the field. And the fact of the matter is that this group — which includes the likes of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, John Terry, Michael Owen, etc., etc., etc. – grossly underperforms.
One thing that is never discussed is the insanely intense pressure these guys are under. Every minor mistake is replayed time and again across the country and world, so it’s no wonder that they get out on the field and, like poor Scott Carson yesterday in goal, are incredibly tentative. Anyone who’s ever played tentatively knows that your touch immediately gets bad, gimme goals become near misses over the crossbar, and goalkeeping blunders become the rule.
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