playoffs? you wanna talk about playoffs?

[luckiey-starrz.livejournal.com]

It seems like forever since the last time I made an MLS post here! So long, in fact, that the regular season is over now!


The Columbus Crew won the Supporters Shield for the second season in a row for ending the regular season with the most points.


Needless to say, Robbie and Steven were very excited about it.

The 8 best teams in the league are now in the playoffs for the MLS Cup, which start tonight! The top two teams from each conference, along with the next four best teams from any conference, compete first in a two-legged aggregate conference semifinal, then a one-off conference final. The winners of each conference final compete in the MLS Cup final, which this year will take place at Qwest Stadium in Seattle. If you want to know anything more detailed, MLS has put together a 188-page PDF complete with info on all the teams, the entire history of the playoffs and the MLS Cup, season recaps, everything.

All right, so the conference semifinal schedule:

Western Conference

• Houston @ Seattle, tonight, 10 PM EST, ESPN2/HD; Seattle @ Houston, Sunday, November 8th, 3 PM EST, Telefutura, Direct Kick/Match Center


• LA @ Chivas, Sunday, November 1st, ESPN2/HD; Chivas @ LA, Sunday, November 8th, 7:30 PM EST, ESPN2/HD

Eastern Conference

• Columbus @ RSL, Saturday, 7:30 PM EST, Direct Kick/Match Center; RSL @ Columbus, Thursday, November 5th, 8 PM EST, ESPN2/HD


• Chicago @ New England, Sunday, 2 PM EST, FSC; New England @ Chicago, Saturday, November 7th, 8:30 PM EST, FSC

In the words of Robbie Rogers, Emilio Renteria, and Steven Lenhart...

JOIN US FOR THE PLAYOFFS! :D we'll be LR-ing at omg_yanks!

Comments

[lurkurheartout.livejournal.com]

i was tempted to go to the playoff match for Chicago, but sickness from the last Chicago match has left me not even capable to breathe indoors. :(

[2ndcitysophia.livejournal.com]

en Fuego!!!

[teenny.livejournal.com]

Woo Hoo!!!! Go Houston! I'll join you laddies later.



GO SPURS GO!

[nha-chi.livejournal.com]

GO SPURS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[makemeeperfect.livejournal.com]

[sarahjevo.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha that last gif!

[nha-chi.livejournal.com]

Anyone going to the LA playoff matches???

[whatsername104.livejournal.com]

i want to. i want the free shirt they're giving out on the 8th lol

[nha-chi.livejournal.com]

me too, but i'm hesitating, i need more money :(

[sistahmidnight.livejournal.com]

wait, MLS playoffs coincide with the World Series? Do they even want the league to succeed?
Not trying to be a hater, I'm just asking, what logistical sense does this make?

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

when else are they supposed to do it?
and, what, the world series ends when? next week? the cup final's 11/22 if i'm correct.

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

that comes off as bitchy idek?
also: it makes a lot of logistical sense when the nfl teams need some of the stadiums back. and competing with the nfl is a deathwish.

[sistahmidnight.livejournal.com]

yeah, game 7 would be next wednesday. and competing with MLB is a safe choice? I'm personally a bigger football fan, but MLB makes more money. ARod's contract is for 252 mil for example.
I guess some people would be hype just to see the final alone, but if you support multiple sports, how are you supposed to watch these games? even the Eagles pushed their game up because of the World Series (so nationwide there's no conflicts this week.) If the NFL can make an effort not step on anyone's toes, MLS sure as hell can.
And as far as the bitchiness goes, I think its necessary criticism. national soccer leagues continuously fail in our country, and crafting a playoffs schedule with no regard for MLB is not helping its case.

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

nah, i meant my comment came off as bitchy possibly.

i can't find $$$ figures, but the nfl is the most popular league in the country.

and you have to pick. it happens in soccer itself a lot, watch an nt game or watch a crew game. or when it came between watching the cavs in the playoffs vs a crew game, or do i want to watch tennis or basketball etc etc etc.

i bet if the union was playing this year, and they were in the playoffs, they'd make sure their playoff game wasn't on the same day as another huge-ass sporting event in philly. it's not that the eagles are making sure to "not step on the toes" of the mlb, it's so they'll actually make money.

and no offense or anything, but this "mls has a dumb schedule! why don't they change it!" has been whined about, a lot, especially the more legit sister complaint of playing through the world cup. the front office knows. they can't do anything about it (though they are working on the world cup thing). and how is mls failing? because the first week of playoffs coincides with the world series? the nasl would have loved for that to be their problem.

[sistahmidnight.livejournal.com]

i agree on the popularity bit, i was bringing up the money thing to show you can't just brush aside "America's pastime."
To clarify, The eagles moved their game up so that it would be seven hours ahead, so that philly fans wouldn't tear the sports complex down. There is no Sunday night game or games like there are usually, the schedule was made so that nationwide there'd be no conflict. Further, no World Series game is set up to interfere with Monday Night Football. Which is what I meant by week as in week 8 of nfl play.
Obviously plenty of games overlap in international soccer especially, and with a country who supports as many games as we do, there's games everyday to pick from. However, there's something to be said for the cooperation between leagues and sports, not only this sunday and monday being an example of that. I already mentioned in response to someone else that when the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals overlap the games normally don't fall on the same days and if so, rarely ever with the same start time. the NFL won't even schedule regular season games on Saturdays!! The "theres nothing we can do" excuse on their behalf falls flat when bigger more popular leagues go above and beyond solely out of respect. At best, this is laziness. At worst, this is gall. (and in regards to the World Cup, pure stupidity)
As far as the failure goes, I was referring to the history of national soccer leagues in the country. MLS is how old? Because of our ties to mother England, we were the first country to play soccer outside of the British Isles. Given MLS' age that is surely not a success story.
And their decision to coincide with the World Series on a few games, only means that theyre not afraid to cater to a specific nitch of fans, which is just a bad idea for expansion of the league, and further, the popularity of the sport in the country. Just because there is a minority of fans in country in love the sport large enough for them make money, doens't mean that they shouldnt take measures for the fanbase and sport to grow. And honestly, I think it's irresponsible if they don't. Turning soccer in into a niche interest and leaving it for those who essentially "get it" with no regard for those "don't" isn't going to be good for the country in the long run. Especially in regards to international success. I want to see us win a World Cup too, but how will we the premier soccer league in the country holds attitudes like this?

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

do you seriously think the other leagues do it because of "respect?" they do it for tv time and $$$. in the nfl's case, it's cause college football is on saturdays and they don't want to compete with another brand of their product.

i know that last year, the world series was over before the mls playoffs began. things got moved around this year (the main reason was trying to sort shit out with the teams that have shared stadiums, but also international breaks, plus scheduling teams around superliga and ccl) so, yeah, some games coincided with other sporting events. this isn't mls being lazy, nor is it them having GALL (seeing that they have a business partnership with the mlb, it's anything but). having a few games overlap isn't going to halt the league's growth.

failure? go read about the nasl. go read about the nafbl. if mls' slow growth is a failure, those are like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. not many people thought mls would last ten years, let along go beyond that and have teams that turn a profit. the reason it's a slowly expanding league is because they learned form the mistakes of their predecessors, an event that's repeating itself in the women's league.

there are quite a few things i'd really like to see fixed in this league. there are a few teams who have fos that don't quite get it. but saying that this league fails because they had some scheduling issues?

and also, do you know how much the league has grown in even the past two years? i ask because these are the same complaints that people on bigsoccer say when they've watched a game here and there and know x team is good but they have no clue about what happens off the field in the league. nothing against you, but it gets so old.

[sistahmidnight.livejournal.com]

um, this pretending like the other person isn't smart thing isn't working. we're both intelligent and have brought up good points, so there's no need to take it there. i clearly know about the saturday college football thing. i mean, i live here too. i referenced that intentionally, to show that scheduling cooperation happens across sports and within the same sport since you brought up the world cup thing. im not going to pretend that money isnt a factor, because it clearly is, but youre talking about events that normally have different sponsors and almost always have different broadcasters, so if they wanted to go to the mattresses they easily could. trying to give a television audience more options has an element of respect too, even if it is ultimately to make their pockets larger. We can discuss motivation until the cows come home, but the bottom line is cooperative scheduling welcomes fans, non-cooperative scheduling alienates them. The end.
Clearly I know about the NASL. Clearly I also know about NABFL. Clearly I know about the more recent indoor soccer movements too. I really don't see how it strengthens your point to name leagues that failed. Other than to again, write to me like I am ignorant. the MLB has operating continuously as one league for well over a century, which was the point I was making. The NBA and NFL are also old and even merged with other leagues (which trickles down in NFC AFC breakdown, etc.) to makes themselves stronger along the course of their history.
I am aware how the MLS has grown. Clearly I know about the Union, which is a prime example of that. Clearly I know how the sport has grown in the country. I am a soccer fan too. But speaking realistically, growth notwithstanding, if you think that soccer is not pitifully unpopular on a comparative scale with other sports still, then I have no idea what country we've been talking about the whole time.
The point I was trying to make in the earlier response is that actions like these don't allow MLS to even compete with larger sports here. They are actions to serve a niche market. MLB wouldnt even have to take it as a shaft because the nation doesnt care about soccer enough. This isnt a partnership of titans we're talking about. The games arent even making ESPN.
If you love soccer, don't you want to see it have the popularity it deserves? Why be down with self-satisfaction? Yes, I do see complacency as a cousin of failure. Especially in their case when theyre trying to expand. We may just have to agree to disagree on that one.

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

some early playoff games this year are on at the same time as the world series HOLY SHIT APOCALYPSE RIGHT HERE. if this is making anyone think that mls is not trying to expand out of a niche or whatever, i... don't get it. what would you like to see them do?

and clearly, no. i didn't think anyone who had knowledge of the spectacular failure of nasl or the bureaucratic mess that caused the demise of the naflb (and currently maybe even the usl) or the political bullshit that ruined the asl, so on and so forth, would call a stable, mid-sized for the us league a failure.

no, soccer isn't pitifully unpopular here. could be more popular, yeah, but compared to how it was an underground sport for years and years? mls isn't popular, aside from (some of) the cities with teams. is that the league's fault? to an extent. but for a league that's been in play for 13 years, an average attendance of 16,310 (with a 12000-seater generally filled) isn't bad, nor are various tv contracts worldwide. when the league was founded, they had to pay espn to be aired. there weren't any soccer-specific stadiums. there were no shirt sponsors. there were ten teams, two dropped, but now there's fifteen with three on the way. there hadn't been a top-flight league in the country for 20 years there was such a hole in this country, and only a couple years ago was the league on it's feet to begin winning over new fans in a way that made sense. (they already tried converting the "soccer moms" but i think most of us pretend that never happened.)

[nataliatch.livejournal.com]

it's no different than the stanley cup and nba finals being around the same time.

there's always a million sports on tv on any given day.

[sistahmidnight.livejournal.com]

If they fall on the same day, it's rare that a Stanley Cup match and a game in the NBA will be set to start at the same time. Some of these matches are.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

I'm sleepy, but I'm staying up to watch this west coast match because it's the playoffs. (I feel like I'm talking about basketball...)

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

omg ty for reading my minddddd

[luckiey-starrz.livejournal.com]

it's what i dooooooooooooooo :D

[c0rrine.livejournal.com]

awww robbie

[nataliatch.livejournal.com]

estevan's face in the last gif when he kicks the ball GETS ME EVERYTIME.

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

i read on bs that renteria was hitting up the strip clubs lolol

[luckiey-starrz.livejournal.com]

ahahahahahahahahahahaha oh man.
as long as he's not like buying hookers or whatever, it's his party.

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

i wanna read on bs that eddie gaven went to a strip club
i would die ahahahahahaha

[luckiey-starrz.livejournal.com]

ahahahahaha omg that would be hilarious.

[bunnysayboo.livejournal.com]

Robbie Rogers looks like this dude from my history class last year.

Heheheeee.