NFL FanHouse

Do The Glazers Disrespect Veteran Players?

David J. Warner — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Buccaneers, NFC South, Soccer, Tampa Bay, Premier League

Our old pal MJD had some interesting things to say about Jeff Garcia's retirement threat. The 38-year-old quarterback, who is due to make a $2 million base salary in 2008, has been asking for a raise after leading the Bucs to the playoffs last season.

My first reaction was that Garcia had a point but didn't have much leverage. The more I think about it, though, the more I wonder if this is part of a growing trend in Tampa for owner Malcolm Glazer and GM Bruce Allen. They tend to kick to the curb veterans who, in their opinion, have outlived their usefulness. Witness the cutting of Simeon Rice last summer, which many Bucs players didn't appreciate. Warren Sapp was not re-signed by the team in 2004, either, even though he still had some gas left in the tank.

The end result is that the Bucs have tons of room under the salary cap. They could afford to give Garcia a good-faith raise, which they gave B.J. Askew. Askew, however, is only 27. Does age play a role in these decisions?

Or can Glazer simply not afford it right now? I know I keep bringing up the fact that Glazer's other team, Manchester United, just posted a £58 million loss. You can certainly argue that they're separate entities, but nothing happens in a vacuum, and dropping $114 million with one team might make Glazer hesitant to spend on another team. Maybe if Garcia gets his raise a week after Cristiano Ronaldo gets sold to Real Madrid, we'll know just how connected those two franchises really are.

Do The Glazers Disrespect Veteran Players? originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Didier Drogba REALLY Wants Out of Chelsea

David J. Warner — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: NY Giants, NFL Media Watch, New York, Soccer, Premier League

On the one hand, he looks a little like Plaxico Burress. On the other hand, he whines a lot like Tiki Barber.

Of course, the Chelsea striker isn't actually joining the New York Giants. He's just doing his part to promote the Giants-Dolphins game in Wembley Stadium on Sunday -- as is Chelsea, which is hosting Giants practices this week. If nothing else, Drogba in a Giants uniform is probably a better promotional tool than that giant Jason Taylor statue.

Didier Drogba REALLY Wants Out of Chelsea originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Abramovich Combines Worst Elements of Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder

David J. Warner — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:40:00 EST

Filed under: NFL Real Talk, Soccer, Premier League

If you're looking for the most meddlesome team owner in sports, you may want to step outside the country, let alone the NFC East, and take a look at Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

With all the drama coming out of Stamford Bridge in the last week -- Jose Mourinho fought with John Terry! Frank Lampard wants to bolt for Italy! Avram Grant isn't properly licensed by UEFA! -- there was one aspect of the story that some people have overlooked. It seems that after the debacle against Rosenborg last week, Abramovich stopped by the locker room and started giving instructions on passing to Michael Essien while Mourinho was doing his post-game press conference.

This came on top of the Russian billionaire's insistence that Mourinho play Andriy Shevchenko more, which was one of the primary bones of contention between the owner and now-sacked manager.

Abramovich had been very hands-off with his club prior to this. Has he suddenly decided that only he can manage Chelsea properly? He already has a reputation for overspending on players who may not be worth it, like Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. Does he now want control over all aspects of the club like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who made himself general manager just after buying the team?

Of course, the difference between Jones and Snyder is that Jones knows a great deal about his brand of football. Jones played at Arkansas, and as GM of the Cowboys, he put together three Super Bowl teams. Rarely have the Cowboys missed the playoffs under his watch. By comparison, Snyder's bad luck with high-priced free agents and high-profile coaches is legendary.

It took Jones three years to build a winner. At this point, it looks like Abramovich will have to dismantle his current roster -- which, by the way, won two Premier League titles, two Carling Cups and one FA Cup in three years under Mourinho -- and rebuild it. Is he capable of building a winner in that much time? Or is Chelsea doomed to struggle like the Snyder-era Redskins? Time will tell, but after that loss to Manchester United yesterday, it looks like it will be a bumpy ride.

Abramovich Combines Worst Elements of Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Belichick Would Feel Right at Home as China's Coach in Women's World Cup

Michael David Smith — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:50:00 EST

Filed under: Patriots, Boston, Soccer, Women's Sports

It turns out that Patriotgate isn't the only example of a team accused of stealing signs. The Chinese women's national soccer team is facing accusations of its own.

The day before their match with China, Denmark team officials found two men with video cameras sitting behind a two-way mirror in the hotel conference room where the team was about to hold a strategy meeting.

"It's like a spy movie," Danish team press officer Pia Schou Nielsen said Thursday. She said the men were Chinese, although Denmark coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller told reporters he did not know their nationalities.

Somehow I think this one is going to get a bit less attention in the media than the Bill Belichick scandal, mostly because I think the average American sports fan cares just a little bit more about the NFL than the Women's World Cup.

But while I find the "everybody does it" defense that some Patriots fans have offered rather unconvincing, it is interesting that we've learned just today that both women's soccer and Formula One have spying scandals of their own. I don't think everyone does it, but I think spying in sports is a lot more prevalent than I realized three days ago.

Bill Belichick Would Feel Right at Home as China's Coach in Women's World Cup originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reggie Bush Tells David Beckham 'It's a Man's Game'; Beckham Says 'F--- That Hurt'

Michael David Smith — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:19:00 EST

Filed under: Saints, Soccer

The Futbol Meets Football ad campaign gave Reggie Bush and David Beckham a chance to try each other's sports, and they seemed to enjoy each other's company. In this outtake, however, Bush delivers a hit and talks a little smack:

That was Bush telling Beckham "This is a man's game," and Beckham replying, "F--- that hurt."

Hat tip: Blown Coverage.

Reggie Bush Tells David Beckham 'It's a Man's Game'; Beckham Says 'F--- That Hurt' originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reggie Bush Will Be in the Booth When David Beckham Makes His MLS Debut

Michael David Smith — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Saints, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Soccer

By far the most annoying thing ESPN does with its NFL coverage is invite people who know nothing about football into the booth during Monday Night Football games. Hearing the announcers ignore the game on the field so they can talk on and on and on (and on) with Jamie Foxx about his latest movie is unbearable.

Now ESPN is going the other way, planning to put a football player in the booth while its viewers are trying to watch another sport. On July 21, when ESPN broadcasts David Beckham's first match with the LA Galaxy (against the English team Chelsea), Saints running back Reggie Bush will be in the booth.

Bush will discuss adidas' ad campaign featuring Bush and Beckham playing each others' football games. Because whether it's football or futbol, it's all about the marketing, not the game on the field.

Reggie Bush Will Be in the Booth When David Beckham Makes His MLS Debut originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Look: Futbol Meets Football

David J. Warner — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:55:00 EST

Filed under: Saints, NFC South, NFL Media Watch, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Soccer

Fellow FanHouser Tom Mantzouranis wrote yesterday about adidas' new ad campaign featuring Reggie Bush and David Beckham playing each others' football games. The Futbol Meets Football web site has now gone live. Here's the video. To my surprise, it actually does resemble a similar adidas campaign a few years back that featured Beckham and rugby star Jonny Wilkinson.

Beckham's spiral may not be all that tight, but he's probably still a better option for the Saints than Aaron Brooks. The fact that he hit a route-running Bush in the hands with a kicked soccer ball ought to make his future L.A. Galaxy teammates smile, too.

First Look: Futbol Meets Football originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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David Beckham and Reggie Bush Spend a Day in Each Other's Adidas Shoes

Tom Mantzouranis — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:03:00 EST

Filed under: Saints, NFC South, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Soccer

Adidas, it appears, knows how to market. As they gear up for David Beckham's MLS arrival, the company has decided to pair him with Reggie Bush for an online campaign titled "Futbol Meets Football."

Starting this week, users will be able to watch Beckham and Bush match their skills at www.futbolmeetsfootball.com. On a field marked half for football and half for soccer, the video shows Beckham teaching Bush how to kick a soccer ball with the curve that inspired the movie Bend It Like Beckham.

Bush tutors Beckham on kicking, throwing and catching an American football. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player shows he has the makings of a placekicker or punter, but he heaves a wounded duck when attempting to throw a pass. "You sure you're right-handed?" Bush kids.

In Beckham's defense, there's no shame in heaving mallards -- Chad Pennington has made a very successful career out of it. Anyway, the pairing and cross-promotion of Bush and Beckham is more significant than it might seem. Beckham is seen as the tipping point MLS needs to get going. Bush has the on-field ability and personality to become the company's leading spokesman. This campaign acknowledges the two as Adidas' big money-makers for the forseeable future.

I don't think Bush or Beckham brought the requisite cross-sport skills to challenge the other seriously (unlike Kim Kardashian vs. Victoria Beckham, which is a legitimate competition). Still, it's got to be more entertaining than watching Bush take on a vending machine.

David Beckham and Reggie Bush Spend a Day in Each Other's Adidas Shoes originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:03:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Soccer Player Drills Fan, Rivals Colts' Mike Curtis

Michael David Smith — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:32:00 EST

Filed under: Colts, Soccer, Baltimore

The former Baltimore Colts linebacker Mike Curtis was a four-time Pro Bowler, but to fans younger than 40 or so, he's known almost entirely for a tackle that didn't count in the statistics. When a fan ran on the field during a game, Curtis leveled him with a vicious hit, knocking the fan sprawling. The title of Curtis's autobiography, Keep Off My Turf, is a reference to that moment.

But check out this soccer player, who delivers a hit to a fan on the field that rivals Curtis's shot:

According to The Offside, that's Kobi Mossa of Maccabi Tel Aviv during a game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. I agree with The Offside: It's a good thing Israeli TV doesn't follow the American practice of taking the cameras off fans who run on the field. If it did, we would have been deprived of some great video.

Soccer Player Drills Fan, Rivals Colts' Mike Curtis originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 31 May 2007 09:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MLS Does the Right Thing, Strikes Deal with YouTube

David J. Warner — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: NFL Media Watch, Soccer, NHL Media Watch

It's so rare to see a sports league that knows how to use existing Internet tools effectively. Most of them just scream bloody murder about copyright violations and file lawsuits -- especially when it comes to YouTube, big media's favorite whipping boy. The NFL cracked down on YouTube clips. The English Premier League filed a lawsuit against YouTube earlier this month. Even the Australian Football League and the New Zealand Rugby Union are getting into the act. It's as if you're not a real sports league unless you're throwing lawyers at the Google subsidiary over "unauthorized" video clips.

That's why it's a breath of fresh air to see a sports league actually embrace the online video site. Major League Soccer announced yesterday that it has struck a revenue sharing deal with YouTube. The site will host an MLS Channel that features highlights, interviews and clips of Alexi Lalas lovingly kissing the butts of league investors. (Well, maybe not that last part...)

This deal is exactly what MLS needs right now. Soccer gets more run on YouTube than just about any other sport, so putting MLS front and center in that slipstream will only help the league increase its publicity and perhaps get a few more people out to games to watch players not named Beckham. Soccer is still growing as a pro sport in America, and anything that helps MLS reach out to fans will only boost the league's popularity in the long run.

What a shame that only marginalized leagues like the NHL and MLS recognize YouTube for the promotional vehicle it can be. I guess that's what happens when you don't have big-money TV contracts that you think need protecting...

(Hat tip: The Offside.)

Previously at the FanHouse:
As Premier League Sues YouTube, Fans Will Lose
Football Fans Lose as NFL, Viacom, YouTube Can't Get Along
NFL Crackdown on YouTube Begins

MLS Does the Right Thing, Strikes Deal with YouTube originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 31 May 2007 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Dangers of Heckling

mjd — Tue, 08 May 2007 23:38:00 EST

Filed under: NFL Fans, NBA Fans, MLB Fans, Soccer, NHL Fans

Not everyone is as clever or expressive as Vernon Wells. SLAM! Sports goes through a list today of the greatest fan/athlete altercations of all time. Most are pretty recent, but they dig back into the archives, too. It goes from Michael Ray Richardson and his "big-time" Jew lawyers, all the way back to Ty Cobb in 1912.

Some of them don't even count as altercations. Jake Plummer giving the finger to fans, and Davis Love III crying like a little girl. Some are tragic, like Monica Seles getting knifed, and some are sort of bizarrely sad, like the idiot Ligue family attacking a first-base coach. Some, like soccer player Eric Cantona's dropkick of a fan lead to bizarre quotes that I don't even understand.

"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."

I don't have any idea what that means. Really. None. Anyway, here are my two favorites, both of which I'd never heard of before today:

During an on-ice scuffle between the Rangers and Bruins at Madison Square Garden, Boston's Stan Jonathan was sliced open by an object thrown from the stands while Terry O'Reilly was being menaced by a stick-wielding fan. Bruins players climbed into the stands and began scuffling with fans. Mike Milbury actually removed a fan's shoe and beat him with it.

Ty Cobb makes Ron Artest look like a peace activist. In 1912, Cobb waded into the stands to pummel, spike and boot a heckler. "Don't kick him!" fans cried. "He has no hands!" The victim had lost all but two fingers in an industrial accident. "I don't care if he has no feet," snarled Cobb when informed of a suspension.

If either of his remaining fingers was the middle one, I doubt he'd ever show it to Ty Cobb again.

The Dangers of Heckling originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 08 May 2007 23:38:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chad Johnson: 'Soccer Was Always My First Love'

Sportz Assassin — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:44:00 EST

Filed under: Bengals, AFC North, NFL Media Watch, Soccer, Cincinnati

In an interview with ESPN's Soccernet's Jen Chen, Chad Johnson professes his love for the world's sport - soccer. Johnson grew up in Miami, a hotbed for soccer in America. Johnson played soccer at a young age and continued during his school years. However, in high school, he had to choose between football and soccer. As Ocho Cinco says, the choice was financially easy:

"Once I got to high school, it came to a point where I had to choose one which best fit me to make it to the next level. I went with football, but soccer was always my first love."

"Yeah [the decision] was [hard], but I mean it was common sense, it wasn't as big as it needed to be for me to get where I wanted to get. I probably would have had to move across the States or outside the country and I didn't have the means to at the time."

Johnson goes on to talk about how often he watches soccer [international, mainly, not MLS], how he warms up for practice using a soccer ball, his favorite soccer players and some friendships he has in the soccer community.

In Chen's blog, he even wonders a U.S. National team with Chad Johnson-esque athletes:

A Chad Johnson-type athlete playing forward with a Brian Urlacher-type playing D-mid -- assuming they had the requisite skill to go along with their undoubted physical talents -- I think that would scare the hell out of a lot of other countries.

Chad Johnson: 'Soccer Was Always My First Love' originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:44:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bulgarian Fan of Premiership Wants to Be Known as Man U

Ryan Wilson — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:59:00 EST

Filed under: Bears, Colts, Soccer

This is kinda weird, even for Bulgaria:

A Bulgarian football fan wants to change his name to Manchester United. Marin Levidzhev, from Veliko Tarnovo, has spent two years pursuing his case in court and is now legally allowed to call himself Manchester Levidzhev.

Local magistrates stopped him from changing his surname to United, ruling that being an ardent supporter of the English club is not a good enough reason.

Awesome. For some reason, local officials are fine with letting Levidzhev change his first name from Marin to Manchester, but no way in hell are they letting him take United as a surname. I mean, that's just crazy talk. Anyway, ~~Marin~~ Manchester Levidzhev ain't done fighting: "I feel as if I am only at the half-time break. I won't feel right until I get my name changed to Manchester United. I love the club. It's my whole life and I want my name to reflect that." And to prove he's serious, Levidzhev plans to appeal to a higher court.

Meanwhile, in this country, we let stuff like this go on ... and worse, we think it's funny. Maybe Bulgarians aren't the weird ones.

Bulgarian Fan of Premiership Wants to Be Known as Man U originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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