Blog has been moved....

I have moved my operations to another blog and would like to invite you all to join in on my continued discussion of ChivasUSA......

The new blog is hosted at The Offside and will be my main residence for now.


Thank you for all of your support and remember to change your bookmarks.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

http://chivas.theoffside.com

A Study of the LA Sports Scene- The Introduction

Well then here goes nothing. As I stated in a previous post, I am going to be doing a series on the make-up of the LA sports scene and the interaction the media has upon it. Now, I have no clue how this is going to turn out, nor do I know where this will take me, however, what I do know is that this is a subject that is quite fascinating and always evolving. So join me on this journey as we walk down the path of education, knowledge and excitement, you never know where this could take you.

Los Angeles is a unique community, which encompasses numerous cultures, traditions and events, creating a vast melting pot that has become a beacon of light in the United States. Nestled in Southern California, Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the country and is home to numerous sports teams, both amateur and professional. Each team has had a direct impact upon the community and the citizens living within its borders. Any given weekend numerous sporting events occur throughout the city, bringing together people for the love of sport, competition and camaraderie.

And every weekend numerous feats are accomplished that go unheard of. That is the root of the problem and one of the reasons I am going to try and construct this series. For there are numerous teams in the LA area that have done wonderful things, and yet the media does not spend much time detailing them, nor do people even know about them. If a team is not one of the “major” teams, then the chance that they will receive coverage is slim. Couple that with the odd nature of the sports fan in LA and you have a very unique situation. In LA we are more about looking for the next great winner and will bandwagon that team, regardless of its history. Most fans will jump from team to team without any real allegiance to a single team. Just look at when the Angeles won the World Series, all of a sudden thousands of people were filling the stadium and everyone had become an Angeles fan. Where were they when the team was in disarray and constantly loosing? Where were the sold out stadiums? Although that is only one case, this is a widespread problem in LA; most people are lacking an allegiance to a single team, regardless of wins and losses.

What happened to the days when a sports fan would stick with a team, through all the hardships and all the droughts? Those days are seemingly gone. Los Angeles has changed.

So there you have it, the beginning…..Expect Part I of the series in the next few days (or week depending on my schedule). I am hoping this can become a detailed look into the structure of the LA Sports scene.

Till next time,

David.

El Emperador Honored

Another great article at mlsnet.com about a Chivas player being honored, this time its Claudio Suarez.

During his 14-year run with the Mexican national team, Chivas USA defender Claudio Suarez made quite a name for himself.

Dubbed "El Emperador" or "The Emperor," Suarez played every minute of the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and was on El Tricolor's 2006 World Cup squad as well. In all, Suarez appeared in 178 international matches, most ever amongst any Mexican and second-most among men in the world.

Last Sunday, Suarez was honored in Monterrey for his storied career. Before Mexico's friendly against Paraguay, Suarez was presented with a plaque commemorating his status as one of El Tri's most important figures. Mexican national team players - including former Chivas USA star Francisco "Paco" Palencia - carried Suarez around. Suarez even posed with the team for pictures and stood between young goalkeeper Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa and Rafael Marquez, Suarez's successor along Mexico's backline.

Despite his calm demeanor, Suarez said he was flattered by the experience.

"It was touching and very emotional. I did not expect it to be like that," Suarez said after training on Tuesday. "I just thought they were simply going to give me some sort of plaque[...]"

It is awesome to see great players honored for their talents and service. Even though he is in the twilight of his career, Suarez has proven to be quite an asset. And the fact that he is one of the better players in the MLS says a tremendous amount about his talent.

This also brings up an interesting point (that I had also mentioned in an earlier post), that we are seeing a large group of older players succeeding in the MLS. Either the strength of the young talent has yet to be realized, or the MLS has been providing a great workout regimen and atmosphere for these older players. Whatever it may be, its an honor to watch great talent in person and have them in our league.

Wednesday Morning Contemplation....

"You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through."

-Rosalynn Carter

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This one I could not let go, but Laurie over at one of the galaxy blogs has determined it necessary to start a war with one of her fellow galaxy bloggers. Well its more of a full frontal attack on a blog that has not been updated in quite sometime. What does this say about the state of the gals if they must spend time fighting themselves; maybe the team will knock themselves out leaving a clear path for Chivas to take the crown. The rest of the post is her attempt to claim that Chivas is not a true rival (says this indirectly, and in a comment) and that they should be able to pick and choose who their rival is. Go figure.....

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I think its time that I unveil my first potential project; a multi-part series looking at the state of sports in Los Angeles, and how the news media represents it. This has quite an impact on Chivas, as Los Angeles is a very large sports market, that is quite different then the rest of the country, and as a result, if not correctly addressed could have a detrimental impact upon the success of the team.

More to be updated later.

The Steady Jesse Marsch...

There was a great article posted about Jesse Marsch on mlsnet.com

With D.C. United, Marsch played in just four games and 92 minutes in 1996 but he did score a goal in that short amount of time. He earned his first start in 1997 but did not become a regular until 1998. Since his first season with Chicago, Marsch has played in at least 27 games per year, save for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

In his first season with Chivas USA, Marsch started all 30 games he played in and logged 2,604 minutes - 54 minutes shy of his career high.....

With longevity have come added responsibilities. Marsch is one of Chivas USA's leaders both on and off the field and has honed those skills over the past 11 years. "In terms of what it means this year or next game or whatever, I just try and be a guy that everybody can trust and rely on and be a good teammate and push guys the right way and make sure that our group is going forward just like a coach," Marsch said. "That's what it gets to be like once you're an older guy and you've been around a long time. Those are the qualities I try and bring."

It's great to see a lot of the older players benefit from playing with Chivas, whatever the coaching staff is doing must be right as we have seen a resurgence in the careers of Paco Palencia and Claudio Suarez. I think this also speaks to the great success of the MLS as a whole, for the league is proving itself as more then just a retirement league, but as league filled with competition and great potential.

Keep up the good work Jesse!

A response......and Looking at Chivas

There was an interesting preview post on Chivas' potential for next season (done by a gals fan nonetheless) that has Chivas projected as going 4th in the western conference. TJ Boyce does talk about the addition of Amado Guevara and John Cunliffe as being positives for the team, but contrasts that with the loss of Bradley, Paco, and JPG as being the overbearing factor in a potential mediocre season.

Now I understand that the team will have to adjust to a new manager, and life without JPG and Paco; however, Preki has been with the team for quite sometime and as such, knows the strengths (and weaknesses) of the squad. It also must be noted, that any good manager knows that when taking over a team, you do not make radical changes in the first year, which should not be a problem for Preki as he is coming from within the organization.

Coaching aside, the team itself has been slowly rebuilding. Remember we have added quite a few new players to the roster so as to accommodate the loss of Paco and JPG, while at the same time bolstering our weak spots. Understandably, we do not have a superstar DP to draw attention to the team, but what we do have is a solid squad that will produce on the pitch. The players that were brought in can add immediately to Chivas, and as it stands we have a glut in attacking minded players and a solid midfield. I will have to agree with TJ that the defense might be a question, but that could change if some of our new players step up during the season.

The fact is, the MLS season is very long and much can happen during that period. The team itself has gelled quite well and will progress even that much more under Preki as the season runs. There is a tremendous amount of talent on the team that is still quite young and could prove to be a great asset to the overall performance for Chivas. The fact that Chivas will not succeed without Bradley is ludicrous, as he only spent one season with the team. With Guevara, Razov, Bornstein and Maykel Galindo on the team we can expect great offensive production that will continue the goal scoring that we saw last year.

I think Galindo will prove to be more then just good player, as he is underrated and will score quite a few goals this season.

Overall, Chivas has the potential to be in top echelon of the western division and if everything gels, we might even see a conference championship (we can hope, can't we?)

Tuesday Morning Comparison

The old Guys

“You see what power is -holding
someone else's fear in your hand
and showing it to them!”

– Amy Tan

Vs.

"No garden is without its weeds."
- Thomas Fuller