TheTank123

We could have a long, drawn out argument about how attendance figures can be misleading (enormous rise in personal income, car usage, number of teams and flat out population numbers). I could point you to links to quotes from Forbes Magazine saying attendance has been in decline since 2007. But forget all that. Just ask yourself this: is baseball really what it used to be? I'm not asking if you still like it, I'm asking if that statement passes the smell test: ESPN doesn't lead with baseball anymore. Yankees/Red Sox, steroids and the playoffs are pretty much all you hear about. The NFL is our current national pastime. I think we can all agree on this. 28% of players in MLB were born outside the US. The only sports with those kind of numbers are soccer and hockey. The difference is they weren't created here. Between 2001 and 2010, the participation in baseball among youths was down FIFTEEN percent. Softball was down even more. Baseball isn't dying, but it certainly isn't healthy.

No, but defensive lineman are some of the most phenomenal athletes in the world.

WTF are you talking about? Did you just make this up?

I played college football only because I got too big in high school to continue playing soccer.

Soccer is a niche sport? Is baseball also a niche sport because according to that graphic its less popular...Soccer is here to stay in a big way. Deal with it.

Do we really have that label? Our out of conference schedule is arguably the toughest in the country, I can't really see anyone dogging us for playing bad teams.

It'd be a nice move. WVU is consistently ranked.

I think we all are. I can only assume those who committed signed their LOI's. The only one I worry about is Koroma. Will also be interesting to see what kind of foreign kids we're looking at.

I have no idea who signed or didn't...

I don't really think our class can be ranked until we actually have a class to rank. I haven't seen any confirmed NLI's anywhere.

Ahhh ok. I wouldn't call that something to worry about...more like something to rejoice!

I'll never understand why people do this. If there is some kind of issue going on, say it, don't hint at it and make everyone guess.

Homegrown contracts for good players are basically Generation Adidas contracts. Speas will definitely not be signing at the 50k mark.

You're forgetting how the MLS works. It is not easy to go from MLS to Europe no matter how much you get scouted.

I'll bet 10 bucks its Charlotte.

We could also be helped by the number of players we now have in the professional ranks. I noticed that Pina is in the Dynamo Academy. I wonder if he's asked Kofi about Akron (like Yedlin with Zakuani). If Pena is as good as his reputation would have us believe it's going to be interesting to see whether he starts over Meves. The kid is supposed to be just ridiculous.

So they did such a crummy job, they've been given a do-over. Now I'm starting to understand the NCAA. And that's scary! Did they do a crummy job? I haven't heard anything, positive or negative, about the venue.

Maybe could have used Speas this year :-)

Literally have no idea how to answer this question...the list is simply a rank...so Will Trapp is the best, Gallego 6th best, and Yedlin 10th best.

Thanks Yaz! These are always good! I requested he add Bobby Wood while in the U-20's over the summer. As my request, Wood was co-host in one of the recordings and supposedly it got deleted somehow. Haha Unfortunately, it appears Bobby Shou Wood, "the next Brian Ching" was deleted from the Florida U23 camp by Coach Porter. Can we ask Zarek to put him back in? Bobby Shou Wood suffered a knee injury a few weeks ago as he was just starting to get back into playing time with 1860 Munich first team. Because of damage to the lateral meniscus in his knee. Expected to be back to training after the winter break. Thanks for da info, Crew8! Hawai'i needs another US international badly. With the growth of Academy League (and impossibility of Hawaii ever having a team in it), the only way we'll get players to the top of the heap is for them to grow elsewhere, as has occured with Wood and the UCLA freshman (forget his name, Grandfather owns a VW dealership!) who left Hawaii (Kailua, Oahu) for Orange County and became a Development Academy League all-star, touring Europe last Summer with Gallego and Yedlin. Reed McKenna.

Via Top Drawer Soccer

And David Mayer. This team will be just fine. I think Mattocks will leave, but he'll be the only non-senior leaving IMO. I think we may see a fair number of this years' freshman who got zero playing time transfer out. I don't think Mayer will return. Based on past history I could see the transfers. There's no point in staying behind someone who plays the full 90. I'm not really sure the mass exodus of freshman is what will happen though. Is a redshirt freshman more likely to transfer than a guy like Brenes? He doesn't really have a defined role yet will already be a junior. He's clearly a very good player but he's stuck behind two future MLS players in central midfield. I don't think Mayer goes though. Just look at his tweets from today.

You can't leave early unless you are signed to a GenAd contract. I really don't think Caldwell will be offered one based on the other candidates and the total they give out each year, nor can I see the Revs signing him to HGP right after a new coach is introduced.

I don't see Meves punting a whole lot during the games. He did boot a far one against SMU that impressed me. The majority of the time, he's throwing the ball down field. His throwing distribution has been very impressive. Am I the only fan here that would be very happy to have Meves as our GK next year? He's no Evan Bush but he's turning into one solid goalkeeper. I was at the NW game and he punted quite a few times. Since I am NOT an expert on soccer...I don't understand the strategy. Why ever punt?? What is Meves supposed to do if there is no one to pass to? Dribble on his 6 until one of his teammates can get open? Punting the ball is a necessary evil. I'm sure the Zips would rather keep the ball in possession, but sometimes its not feasible. Overall I think he's played very well this year. And I've definitely been impressed with Balogun at left back. He's looked extremely calm and competent.

The real change, in my opinion, that has brought this all together is inserting Dagilis as CB and moving Gallego up to CDM. Dagilis is good in the air, can body up larger forwards, and is solid defensively. Gallego brings that ball winning mentality into the midfield that we seemed to lack. It also has the added advantage of essentially giving us 3 CB's to help stop a counter. I would be shocked if this isn't how the team plays next year as well (replace Dagilis with Souders).