OSU Alumni Bryan Jordan Playing with Beckham
Former OSU forward Bryan Jordan was signed by the LA Galaxy after joining them on their tour of Asia. The speedy Jordan joins fellow OSU alumni Alan Gordon, the face of U.S. soccer Landon Donovan and the global superstar David Beckham at LA. This is a pretty big break for Jordan. He spent much of his time at OSU appearing as a substitute or injured. After OSU he put in his time with the Portland Timbers before impressing the right people and signing with the Galaxy.
Here he is enjoying the new spotlight:
The Upper Deck (at the Corvallis Sports Park) is hosting a PlayStation 2 FIFA 2008 tournament on April 15 and 16 from 6:00 PM to Midnight. The games will be played on the big screen TV for everyone to watch. The format is 2 vs 2 and the cost to enter is $10. All teams will receive a free beverage.
I got to watch the last tournament they did and it looked like a lot of fun, even if you aren't that good at the game. If you do have some skills though, Seth and Rube are the team to beat. . The New Belgium Brewing Company is providing some prizes. Sign up at the Corvallis Sports Park.AYSO Scheduling
Any press is good press right? Well maybe not. Brooks Hatch, who covers sports for the Corvallis Gazette Times has mentioned local soccer twice now on his blog. But Corvallis AYSO had to get on his $%!# list for it to happen. Back is August, Hatch was angry because his son's AYSO schedule conflicted heavily with the afternoon Beaver football games. He pointed out that the AYSO games for girls were held in the morning.
It looks like AYSO got Hatch again this spring. His son's afternoon games interfere with OSU baseball. Again he points out that the girls play in the mornings. At least some of the issue comes from the limited field situation that AYSO has been dealing with. Hopefully that is resolved by next fall. My word of advice to AYSO, don't schedule any games that conflict with OSU football at all. That's like one step below scheduling games on Christmas morning.
The Bully List
I warned you guys I would continue to call you out. Here is a list of teams that are bullying their opponents in the recreational and intermediate leagues. My message to these teams: stop stealing wheelchairs and move to a more competitive division. You will enjoy it more.Mid Valley Engraving (Coed Rec)
Cold Strat (Coed Rec)
Thundercats (Mens Rec)
Ogrenauts (Mens Intermediate)
Lincoln K-8 School Fundraiser Tournament
The Lincoln PTA is putting on a recreational adult soccer tournament to help raise money for the Lincoln K-8 School. The games will be played on Friday evening, May 9 and all day Saturday, May 10. All games will be played at the school. On Saturday there will also be plenty of food and activities for children and parents. Eight teams are expected to participate. Registration is $125. For information about participating or volunteering for the tournament email corvallissoccer@yahoo.com.
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In my defense, I wanted to put my team in the next league up but the park wouldn't allow it. I have two kids on the team that are 13 and the park rules wouldn't move us up. I can't control what the park won't support for requests. All but two of the players on the team are family members and the other two are friends. We do our best to funnel the goals throught he 13 year olds. What should I have done?
Mid Valley Engraving
Just checking to see if you were reading the blog!
I thought about your circumstances when I listed you. At the time I decided it was best to be fair and list you without exception.
Now that Mid-Valley is a known "bully" the Park might get enough complaints and will let you move up which is what everyone wants anyways.
You have to love it when rules prevent people from making good decisions.
Ogrenauts seemed to have two very good players for a while which elevated them higher than usual.
As both were missing yesterday (and I hear one is gone permanently), they lost and it makes the division a bit more interesting with two other teams catching them on points last night.
Otherwise, I don't think they are necessarily in the wrong division or "bullies". Maybe the tag applies to teams that do this season after season but as a one-off, it seems a little harsh.
Before yesterday the Ogrenauts were 6-0 and had a goal differential of +24. I don't make the numbers up. Smells like a bully to me.
What did the Ogrenauts have in mind when they picked up their two "ringers"?
I'm all for teams wanting to be more competitive. But when you do it in a league labeled Intermediate or Recreational it is inappropriate.
I also hold the two "ringers" responsible for playing in the wrong league. Maybe they can sneak into the seniors bowling league too. Pathetic.
What about people that play in both intermediate and competitive or premier leagues? (Like you do and I do for that matter?)
Should we not? Should we just stick with one game a week in our designated leauge? Should the sports park be denied more of our money that we pay to play more games per week?
Obviously we can't play in two competitive or premier teams so the next best thing is to find a team in another division (likely a lower league) to play on.
Personally, I liked the challenge of playing against the Ogrenauts "ringers" in our game with them this season. They beat us, sure but it was a decent challenge. The ringers can't play every minute of the game so the other guys in their team did something right too.
As for goal difference, I think the two teams equal on points are not that far off Ogrenauts either.
It's as if there needs to be another league between Intermediate and Competitive - Competitive Intermediate for instance. I can accept that Recreational is NOT the league to play to win in but Intermediate seems to be a catch-all league for kids, decent players that want to play more games per week and rec level players that should be down a league. With that sort of mix, there are going to be some mis-matches.
Thanks for reading and commenting Pilgrim. Your comments really help make the blog interesting.
If you are playing on a Premier and Competitive team and you want to play more I feel for you. But you are a single person. The people who signed up to play Intermediate did so because they did not want to play against players of a strong caliber. We should respect that.
There are 15 Competitive teams and just 5 Premier teams. What that means is people playing Comptitive are choosing to go down rather than up to play on an additional team. I don't make the numbers up.
I could not disagree more about a new league between Competitive and Intermediate. A 4 team league stinks. anything more than a 9 team league is redundant because you only play 8 opponents. As long as the Premier league consistently is starved for teams while the lower leagues have well over 9 teams I can't see the sense of creating another lower end division.
Soon the divisions will be called Appalling, Horrendous, Shocking, and Recreational. The Recreational division will be the highest league and have former club, varsity and college players in it.
What do you think Pilgrim?
That's pretty funny :-) I've never watched recreational league so I don't really know how bad it is for players who should be playing much higher.
I wouldn't ever entertain the thought of playing rec anything. I understand your irritation when you see players that stand out by far.
I just don't see it quite as clear cut as you suggest. If one player on a team is really good but those are his friends, should he be banished because of his skill level when the rest of the team are not that good?
I agree if the entire team or majority are too good - that would completely suck and should be discouraged.
I have never and probably will never play premier league. There appears to be skill, sure but I tend to notice more aggression, fouling and not the beautiful game I grew up playing. Competitive seems to be Premier without quite as much hacking and cheating. You probably have a better take on it than me as you play in both leagues. I'd love the challenge of Premier but a) doubt any teams would have me at that level (too old and not enough technique) and b) would be concerned about some clogger taking me out and the medical issues to follow. Not that you can't get that in any game in any league but it just seems a bit more controlled in the other leagues, for the most part.
Maybe I am looking for stricter, better officiating at the Premier level. What do you think about it, as someone who plays at that level?
"If one player on a team is really good but those are his friends, should he be banished because of his skill level when the rest of the team are not that good?"
You tell me. What is the impact of just one or two really good players? I think you pointed out that the Ogrenauts have just a couple of ringers. What did it do for them?
Should their opponents pick up a couple of ringers to even it out? Or maybe 3 ringers to get that extra edge? Do you see the arms race happening? I think the arms race has been happening for a few years now actually.
The really good player/friend should show up to his friends games, cheer very loudly from the balcony and then have some beers with them after the game.
Alternatively, the team should look for a few more really good players that will enable them to play in the higher division.
Do you see the Push versus Pull approach?
I should never play on my mother's womens soccer team...even if I am her only son. I dont belong there.
I can say with absolute certainty that I get kicked more in the Competitve division than in the Premier league. The general level of body control and defensive technique is better. Sure it looks faster and wilder from upstairs. Who would you rather ride shotgun with? Dale Earnhardt Jr at 100mph or the average American at 65mph?
The officiating can always be better at every level. But players need to be responsible for their actions. If I kick a guy, the referee didn't make me do it. It was me. Knuckleheads are knuckleheads before the referee even starts the game.
I definitely take your point re: push vs. pull. I just think teams should be given some leeway to figure that "hey, we made a mistake and are better than this." If they don't move up after the "good" season, then you are correct - they are bullies.
Regarding officiating and premier, I guess I am looking more for the stamp of authority that was introduced in professional soccer refereeing. It's not always on display but you can see the referees that have a take charge attitude and make it clear in no uncertain terms that cheating means cards and then dismissal. Often at the sports park, I have seen things allowed to escalate and the red card comes out at the end, when either a very dangerous tackle has come in or a fist fight.
I agree that players must also take responsibility for their actions but so often I see a somewhat childish attitude - even when dismissed for their own misconduct - almost like "How can you do this to ME?" Perhaps it is linked to the current controversy in the professional game, where players are not showing the level of respect referees deserve?
"The really good player/friend should show up to his friends games, cheer very loudly from the balcony and then have some beers with them after the game."
I don't know if I agree with this one. I think it depends on how that really good player plays on the rec or intermediate team. A really good player is a bully if they are dribbling up everyone and scoring all the time. I have seen some really good players playing in the lower leagues with there buddies or families and they are playing down to that level. They are passing to the weaker players and not really tackling the weaker players on the other teams. This I think is good and everyone can have a good time. I think if a strong player wants to do this, it is their choice. If a strong player wants to play in the lower league to score goals and look like a superstar then that is the problem and the referees should point this out.
I think that any team that wins a league should have to move up a league the next season. I also think that the park should move a team up if they consistantly finish in the top 2 or 3 in their league 2-3 seasons in a row. If a team is less than 500, then they should be allowed to move down. The park knows what teams are good and should do something about it. If they didn't know what was going on, then they wouldn't be able to split the coed intermediate into upper and lower.
Just my opinion.
Mid Valley Engraving.
Last night I watched Spaeth Lumber play the Speedbumps. Spaeth's had a couple of guys that play Men's Competitive. I didnt see them score any goals. But it was a wipeout. The score was 8-0 with plenty of time left when I went inside (disgusted). One og those guys played defense the whole time and did an outstanding job because the Speedbumps didnt score one goal all game.
To the Spaeths Lumber team, you are bullies.
To the two guys that dominated, you should be embarassed.
To CSP, this is bad for business.
To the Speedbumps, I don't fault you for shopping at Home Depot.
There are always exceptionsm. But I am having a hard time finding them.
We need more competitive teams!Wrecked-em and Minute Men are easily the number one and two in the league, and it should be interesting to see who wins it at the end!
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