Um, you should probably read this, especially if you have any interest in US Soccer or Major League Soccer. Basically, former USMNT player and Fox Soccer analyst Eric Wynalda gets all out of character and speaks his mind and pulls his punches at the recent NSCAA Convention in a lecture cleverly titled “Why Not US.” Go ahead. Don’t be embarrassed. As you’ll soon see, he isn’t.
If you love perms or Didier Drogba, you’ll love the Les Éléphants shirt …
Spain is trying to conquer the world again. This time, they might succeed.
Didier Drogba joins his buddies from Magic System once again. This time the guys take it to the Skyrock studios in Paris. If you can’t get enough of this, try on the full Magic System video featuring Drogba and his Ivorian teammates. You are sure to recognize a few faces. Continue Reading »
If you happened to miss the Republican Primary debate two nights ago, you’ll be forgiven, especially if you were watching the epic New England Revolution-Philadelphia Union 4-4 extravaganza.
One of the special moments during the GOP debate centered around a Governor Rick Perry (R -TX) sermon on his state’s death penalty proficiency and his own sensitivity.
When Gov. Perry was asked by NBC anchor Brian Williams to defend his state’s record of executing 234 inmates, and specifically whether he lost any sleep over the possibility of executing innocent people, Perry said: Continue Reading »
“This idea that you throw everything away and you start over again. And I thought, when you’re done telling jokes about airplanes and dogs and you throw those away, what do you have left? You can only dig deeper and start talking about your feelings and who you are. And then you do those jokes and they’re gone. You gotta dig deeper. So then you start thinking about your fears and your nightmares and doing jokes about that, and then they’re gone. And then you start going into weird shit and eventually get to your balls. It’s a process that I’ve watched him do my whole life and I started to try to do it, and I started to think, he says whatever he wants, what am I trying to say?”
- Louis CK
More: Media | Outside the Lines
Latinos offer three unique ingredients: 1. Latino kids have superior ball skills and are more comfortable in tight spaces. That seems to be taken as gospel now by the soccer cognoscenti. 2. Latino kids “need” the game to bring them opportunity. 3. Those same kids often play — are even given no option but to play — “unstructured” soccer where they develop a confidence and style that elevates their game — much like African-American kids playing on inner-city blacktops changed basketball and the NBA.
The Latino skill and hunger combined with the athleticism and power of the traditional Anglo affiliated and college player blended by a special national team coach is the recipe we should be after.
– Brad Rothenberg on the value of Latino talent in the U.S. (via Soccer America)
****
If we assume that Rothenberg’s characterization of Latino players is correct, why are Latino kids blessed with superior ball skills and more comfortable in tight spaces? The broad diversity of hues and hairs within the Latino community suggests that it has nothing to do with DNA. So if nothing intrinsically makes a player great from birth, what is it about our method of development in the United States that supposedly creates definable skill sets compartmentalized by ethnicity or race?
Perhaps it has more to do with our regimented way of thinking than it has to do with ethnicity or race. Continue Reading »
More: Player & League Development | The Game
Every now and again, you are rewarded for carrying around video recording capability.
Photographer and designer Paul Octavious was taking a stroll through the park. Unsurprisingly, there was a soccer game going on. So he decided to record. Turns out, he later found out that the team he was taping was the Ghanaian National Team. Continue Reading »
More: Art & Photography | Culture
Receive news & updates by email.
We promise not to abuse the privilege.
Football for Change is a feature in which Nutmeg Radio highlights work being done by organizations across the globe using soccer to promote development.
Nutmeg Radio
Copyright 2009
