Insomniac's Lounge

The game is on! Tonight is the season opener for the Austin Aztex v Minnesota Thunder. It should be a good one so come on out.

Aztexan has a decent write-up of the match.

Nelson Field at 7:30pm

Chantico's Army will be there early. There's chant practice from 3-5pm in the parking lot (and tailgating).
And, then we head over to Nomad bar for a quick "pre-game".

At 6:45PM we arrive back at the stadium to march in. With all our drums and other loud nose makers.

Come join the fun. No cost to join our group.

I probably shouldn't say this. BUT. If you can't make it to the match, you can watch it on USLLive.com tonight : USLLive.com

Vancouver gets awarded the next MLS franchise.
Portland should be next (maybe announced this weekend?).
Tonight is the first game for another new team: Seattle Sounders FC vs Red Bulls.

And with Vancouver comes the Steve Nash story.
It has been said that Steve is good enough to play in the MLS but has been an NBA player of some repute for some years now.
His little brother plays for Vancouver. Oh yeah. Vancouver is not a new team.
The Whitecaps are being promoted to the MLS from USL-1, the same league that the Austin Aztex play in.
So, Austin will get to play Vancouver and Steve Nash's brother this season and the next. Vancouver starts MLS play in 2011.

A great commercial with Steve Nash.


Could Steve do a Michael Jordan and play 2 sports? Or switch?

Finally, Michael Bradley moves on. He has signed with Borussia Mönchengladbach after a very successful spell with SC Heerenveen. Michael was a bit of a goal machine (as a midfielder) for Heerenveen nearly helping them finish towards the top of the table. They finished 5th, still very respectable. And, he tied for goal scoring leader with 15 goals from 30 appearances. Did I mention he's a midfielder? I like the Eredivisie. I wish I could see some games on the tube.

The Bundesliga is going to be far better for him as a player to develop and see good competition. He is the second Yank to play for Mönchengladbach. The last one was our very good Kasey Keller. Mönchengladbach is returning to the top level after being relegated for a year. But, don't worry. This isn't the German equvalent of a Fulham. This is a club that has won the top title 5 times in the past. Who knows? They may see mid-table status this year. I'll have to do my research. Hopefully they can qualify for a Euro spot or something.

Go Yanks! More at Yanks-Abroad.

I just like saying Mönchengladbach. Rolls off the tongue.

Hopefully our good friend Nuwanda can catch a match since he lives not so far away in Geilenkirchen.

The Austin Aztex qualified for the U.S. Open Cup tonight. They did that by starting out as a new franchise and not losing their first 4 games. And, they still haven't been scored on yet. Way to go. From my days back when I got to see the old Lone Stars team, I knew there would come a day when there would be a stable professional franchise in Austin. It is well on its way. And, the USL team doesn't even start until next year! The U.S. Open Cup is very prestigious by the way. Read all about it. It dates back to 1914.

They host New Orleans tomorrow out at Dragon Stadium. Will someone go and tape it for me? :-) I will watch from Brooklyn later.

OK. That's 2 Austin soccer posts in a row. Gonna have to post some Brooklyn stuff now. I have photos. I promise.

Austin Aztex's PDL (u-23) squad won their home opener against Houston 2-0 in front of what is estimated at 1200-2000 people. Good job. It sounds like this was a great idea, to have 2 squads and start this year in the PDL. This gives them a full year to get their back office straight and get the name out in the community before unleashing a full blown USL side.

You can catch Austin Aztex news on their home page. But, I also found one of their players has a blog with more personal info about the organization and going's on. I'm subscribing to it. Soccer watch at the Austin Chronicle also seems to be covering them.

One other interesting note: With this win and last week's tie, this not only puts them at the top of their own divisional table but at the top of the qualification table for the U.S. Open Cup. That's REALLY great news. If they can qualify for the U.S. Open Cup (in their 1st year!!) they might get the chance to play an MLS club. That would mean big big publicity for the team. Good luck there.

With their parent club Stoke City winning promotion to the England's Premiership, Austin's new club should continue getting good press in the next year. Cheers!

So last week we finally ALMOST won or almost got a point depending on your perspective. We continue to score goals and are starting to let fewer in. At some point the tide will turn enough to give us a point or 2. This game was a 3-2 loss. Oh we are sooo close. However, I scored again. Both of our goals came from corner kicks. Our big man in middle Max lofted up two beauties. On mine, I went up (I don't jump very high but did this time for some reason) above the guy defending me who was in front of me and headed the ball home. What a great feeling. 2 goals in like 4(or 5?) games. I normally never score more than that in a season because I usually play defender. This season I'm all over the left midfield. We'll see if that gets me fit. I'm so out of shape now and still recovering that knee. We played that match at our new home field in Forte Greene. It's nice to be able to walk to your soccer game.

This week we play "away". But, it's still nearby. It's at the Metropolitan Oval. This is the oldest field in continuous use in the US. How's that for a little soccer history. It was built in 1925. It won't be grass but field turf as it was renovated a few years ago. The oval is just on this side (to me) of Queens, in Maspeth.

I played on grass today. We played Shamrock FC out at Floyd Bennett field. It's basically an old abandoned airport complex out near the edge of Brooklyn (not too far from JFK/Coney Island). For me, playing on grass was nice. Though my team didn't like it. Guess they prefer the field turf to a bumpy old grass field. We got hammered, 6-0. It's not that they outplayed us as much as we didn't get any rhythm going. Not sure why. We'll have to work that out.

Anyway, it was an interesting start to the match as the other team requested a moment of silence before the game. It seems they lost one of their teammates to cancer recently. It was a nice thing to do. We lined up at midfield, then marched out to the center circle and gave a moment of silence. A fitting tribute to any player. That's why I love this game. The other team were all gentleman. I made sure to give my condolences after the match. It hits home a little more now.

I played my first match for my new team on Sunday. My team is RTG SC, a new team in the Cosmopolitan League, over 30 second division. The Cosmo league is the oldest amateur league in the US and is very competitive even in over 30. This league is Men's full field. I haven't played 11v11 since I moved here. Instead, I had been playing 7v7, usually co-ed or pickup soccer in the park. It was great to get back in the flow.

My team's first games were in the Fall. They didn't fair so well and are in dead last with an awful goal differential. But, the Spring is a new season and we have some people back from injury (including me). And the've been practicing. Watch out.

As for locations of games, we play everywhere. Each team has a home field. You actually have to get a field permit as a team. It's hard as hell to get one and we are in a weird spot in that our home field is Kaiser Field over near Coney Island. Apparently there is a VERY long waiting list for getting on a field closer than that (like Prospect Park or Red Hook). So, we'll play half our games there and the other half at other team's home fields. Yuk. I pretty much have to get a ride from the guys to get to Kaiser. The alternative is a long subway ride then a not so nice bus ride. No, it must be by car :-)

Sunday's game was against Argo Silver at Pier 40. Perfect location, easy to get to. But cold as hell. The game was at 9PM and it was probably hovering around 30 degrees with a 20 mile per hour cross wind right up against the Hudson river. We started well, controlling the flow of play. For a team not very familiar with itself, we were playing very well. Pretty soon, out of nowhere, we scored. Our strikers were fast and poked in 2 before I knew it. It was 2-0. Sweet! The game stayed even in play then towards halftime, I think fitness got the better of us and we started letting in goals like a leaky sieve. At half, we were down 4-2. In the second half I scored. W00t! I had a nice pass from one our players and I slid it from 18 yards off the inner right post. Best goal I think I ever scored. Do they realize I'm a defender? Anyway, I played left midfield this game and will probably stay there. 4-3. But, we were having trouble keeping up. The midfield (including me) was exhausted. The knee seems to be doing OK though I am sore all over today. At that point in the game, we were starting to cramp up. We only had 1 sub. They got a penalty and scored. Then found the back of our net twice more. Yuk. 7-3 (the website has it backwards). It was a spanking. But, in the end it was positive. That's the most goals they scored in a game all season. That's an improvement. Now we need to get fit and fix the defensive side of things and make sure we have subs. That's just chemistry and fitness. Time to go hop on my bicycle.

Our next match on March 30 against NY Greek American Atlas Over 30.

The Standings (it ain't pretty)

Oh, apparently RTG stands for Ready To Go. A lot of the guys on my team are artists. And, Ready to Go is an expression as in that order is ready to go. Yeah. Funny, right? ;-)

What a great story for Austin. I wonder if they know about it yet? You now have a new team called the Austin Aztex!

Over the years, they've never really had any sort of pro sports. I guess you could call lower level hockey (Ice Bats) and baseball (Round Rock) entertainment. If that's your thing, then sure. But, the town's entertainment dollar has been held hostage over the years by the large university planted in downtown. Again, nothing wrong with that if you are an alumni (I'm not).

The soccer community in Austin is great. There are so many adults playing recreational soccer there that they have several divisions of over-30 and now even over-40 leagues. That's great news for old men like me who want to keep playing. But, where to go to watch soccer? Alas, it's been a mixed bag. A semi-pro (D2?) team used to play in House Park. In subsequent seasons they were moved to a high school on the south east side that barely qualifies as "Austin". No one wants to drive 20-30 miles to go a game!

Well, want no more. You're getting a team, Austin. It's not an MLS team (yet) but it's something. Investors have taken over the former PDL side Austin Stampede (who? exactly!), promoted it to a USL First Division side (one level below MLS!) and re-branded it the Austin Aztex. Yeah, the name's a bit lame. But, that's better than Stampede. Ugh. What's interesting about this transaction is that the new owner Phil Rawlins is local. But, the club will be affiliated with the English Championship club Stoke City. No, it's not Chelsea or Man U. but still not too bad. There's already a similar club like this in Baltimore, Crystal Palace Baltimore. And, so far it's been an interesting experiment. It may be a few years before we know if this was a good idea. But, you might get to see some interesting games. Don't forget that they will be able to play in the US Open Cup. That means if they have a successful run, an MLS team might have to play a game in Austin during the cup. Now, where are the Aztex gonna play?

Homes: Austin Aztex - United Soccer Leagues (USL) - Stoke City
Wikipedia: Austin Aztex - Stoke City

Stoke City has a page on the new Austin team .



Enjoy!

Got more exercise last week as part of my continuing rehab of my knee. Finally met back up with the Prospect Park soccer meetup and had a blast! Unfortunately, I didn't RSVP in time this week and missed out. They cap attendance at 50 people. Sounds like a lot, but you have to understand the setup. They split up into 8 groups of 6-7 people and split the rather large field into 4 playing fields. 6 on 6 for 30 minutes, then rotate to play another team until 2 hours later you've played all teams. Co-ed and a lot of nubes makes for lots of space and plenty of time to just practice passing and stuff.

Listening to a little Stevie Ray Vaughan, a cover of Jimmy Hendrix's Little Wing. Makes me feel like I'm strolling down 6th street. Good timez.

There's a nice copy on YouTube, like a user submitted(?) music video. That's the one with Double Trouble. There's another version of him playing it live. But, I don't like this one as much as the first one.

I managed to get some exercise in over the weekend. On Saturday, I took my soccer ball to Prospect Park and juggled and jogged around a bit. The next day I went back and jogged some more sans ball. I can't explain in words how great it feels to be moving again after 6 months of recovery from knee problems (meniscus tear of right knee with otherwise questionable (but undiagnosed) left knee issues). I'm still not running at full speed yet. But, I'm hoping to get in a game of pick-up soccer soon, with the newbies over at meetup.

Anyway, it was beautiful out there, with all the fall colors. I took some photos with my Treo, not having a better camera handy. But, they don't compare to these.

A Prospect Park slide show from Gowanus Lounge

Well, I've now become a member of a new soccer team.
The club is new, called RTG. Most of the guys on the team are in the art industry and RTG stands for "Ready to Go", like in "Is that ready to go yet?" :-)

The team will play in the Cosmopolitan League, which is the oldest amateur league in the US, formed in 1923 (wiki article).
This brings me back to a full field, 11x11 team. It's over 30, so I can be back to not chasing 19 years old around the field. I was getting tired of playing small side (7x7) soccer on artificial surfaces. Going back to grass is a welcome change (see knee issue below).

We will have a "home" field at Floyd Bennett Field. This works different than most other cities. You play half your games at your home field. And the other at some other place. When I was in Austin, we just pretty much played in the same place, one or 2 different complexes. Interesting huh?
We are overcoming the distance problem by car sharing. Several guys on the team have cars (again, thankfully).

Unfortunately, I can't start playing yet. I'm going on vacation for a bit, and I'm still out of commission with my knee. But, I did (finally) get an MRI last night. So, I'll know within 2 days the extent of the damage and if I'll be able to play soon or not.

This is a great interview from Gothamist with Sarah Vowell, one of my favorite writers.

She plays a major role (prez of the board) with 826NYC, which is only blocks from my new apartment.

While I really digged her comments about Lincoln and the current state of presedentials politics, her little comments kill me:

Gothamist:
Yeah, I think that’s very perceptive. I just have a few more questions.
Sarah:
Okay! Can you think of a question where I don’t sound like a didactic pontificating ass?


By the way, today is my last day as a resident of Manhattan. Tomorrow, I will be a Brooklynite. Is that the right word? Or maybe a Park Sloper in this case.

I can't believe it's freakin' 59 degrees outside. I should have put on a little windbreaker or something.

On another note, I was lucky enough thanks to my lovely spouse to attend the LA vs NY soccer game last weekend. With 66,000+ in attendance, 9 goals and the whole Beckham thing, my weekend was most marvelous.

Would More Parity Be Good For Soccer?

"It is ironic, as The Economist pointed out last month, that the major sports in the United States, the self-declared bastion of free market capitalism, have embraced regulation and redistribution of income far more readily than their European counterparts. Could such centralized control work for the world’s biggest soccer leagues too?..." Read on for more. If you have ever wondered how American leagues stack up against European Leagues regarding parity, salary caps, and the like, this addresses this question a bit.