Green Bay Packers tackle Mark Tauscher was put on injured reserve last week after the Packers decided he wouldn’t be able to fully recover from a shoulder injury. Tauscher has been out since the injury occurred in week four and although he’s been progressing, he would have had to play with a harness if he [...]
We’re nearing the time when one of the biggest decisions for the future of the United States Men’s National Team will take place. I will now state my case, and let the hate wash over me.
Landon Donovan should stay here, and finish out his career for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Now, quit shaking your head. OF COURSE, if Landon were to go to Everton (or whatever side he chose in England) I would fully support him and continue to hope for the best for both he and the USMNT. So why am I staying he should stay here in America? I’ll explain.
Landon needs to stay with the Galaxy for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that now that we’re out of the World Cup qualifying cycle, he needs a rest. Donovan has good matches and bad matches, just like every other player. I’ve kept an eye on the Galaxy as best as I could this year, and actually saw them play in person when they came to PPL in August. What I have seen is a Landon Donovan who is clearly off his pace from last year, one who looks a bit bereft of speed and ideas, and one who, in my view, needs some time off.
If you were to look at the fixtures that Landon’s played in over the last two seasons, you’d be staggered at the shear number of matches he’s played in. He’s enjoyed a fairly remarkable run of health, for which I’m betting he is very grateful. He enjoyed a solid World Cup, scoring the highlight goal for the USA, that ripped screamer that almost tore the Slovenian keeper’s head clean off. He was the emotional and physical leader of the effort in South Africa, and he carried the banner for the USA proudly.
MLS would do well to make sure that Landon stays here with the Galaxy. In my opinion, he’s much more important to the long-term success of MLS than players such as Thierry Henry, David Beckham and Rafa Marquez. There will always be fans who buy tickets to see players of that ilk when they come to town, without a doubt. But take it from someone who saw the reaction first-hand when Landon’s name was called in pre-match introductions: Landon is a star. He’s THE American star player still playing in this country. I would imagine that Deuce Dempsey might get such a reaction if he were playing for DC United or someone like that, but Landon is THE GUY right now. Trust me when I tell you that Edson Buddle, who also repped the country in South Africa, got HALF the reaction that Landon got. There were a ton of Donovan USA and Galaxy jerseys at PPL the day they came.
So, okay, that’s point one, he’s a star and it would be good for MLS to make sure that they have an American star in their league. But is it what’s best for Donovan? I say yes, and here’s why. Landon’s now 28 years old, and he’ll be 32 when Brazil ’14 rolls around. I still expect him to be the lead American for that World Cup, with it being his last true hurrah along with some of the other major USA players over the last 6-8 years. He needs to stay fit as best he can. Now, I know he can handle himself, and I know that David Moyes put him at right wing and told him specifically to not get into the mess by cutting in too much, I don’t like his chances to stay healthy in England. The English pitches, especially in some of the Cup competitions, are below par. Even some of the major ones are not top-choice. There’s also the idea that he would be playing in the Winter and against a much more physical set of players. Would anyone take a run at him? I don’t know, you never know what a player is going to do, and of course, someone could do it while he plies his trade for Los Angeles. I am saying that I think his speed translates to being able to avoid harsh tackles here much better than it would in England, and that those pitches, especially the hard winter ones, would do his legs no favors.
So there are two reasons, his health and the fact that he’s the biggest American star MLS has and should be maximized in that regard. Okay, you’re saying, but come on. He was so good at Everton last year, it can’t do anything but help him to go play against that competition. You might be right, but there’s another factor here, as well. There’s a perception, still, that soccer is just a cyclical event in this country, and that people only really get into it on the World Cup cycle (what I like to call the “Curling Month” when everyone gets into curling for the month of the Winter Olympics, and then promptly forgets about it).
Say Landon stays at Galaxy and they rip off three titles in a row. There would be a certain cache built up where people would pay money to see them because they want to see them lose. Beckham could be the major villain, the one they all come to boo. He enjoys that role, anyway. Donovan could be the great USA player that everyone would stand and applaud after the match was over as the Galaxy marched merrily on. Now, while I would personally hate a dynasty surrounding David Beckham, again, it might be what’s best for the league, and I don’t think they can achieve it with Landon on Merseyside.
I’d like to hear your opinions on this subject, because I’d bet it becomes a decent-sized story once the MLS playoffs are over. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at the television and internet items available for viewing today. All times Eastern, as usual.
7:45 am – ESPN2/ESPN3.com – Aston Villa vs. Manchester United
9:30 am – ESPN3.com – Schalke 04 vs. Wolfsburg
9:30 am – GolTV – Stuttgart vs. Werder Bremen
10:00 am – Fox Soccer Channel – Manchester City vs. Birmingham City
10:00 am – FoxSoccer.tv – Newcastle vs. Fulham
10:00 am – FoxSoccer.tv/Fox Soccer Plus – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Blackburn
10:00 am – FoxSoccer.tv – West Ham vs. Blackpool
10:00 am – FoxSoccer.tv – Wigan vs. West Bromwich Albion
10:00 am – FoxSoccer.tv – Wolverhampton vs. Bolton
12:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv/Fox Soccer Plus – Fiorentina vs. Cessena
12:00 pm – DirecTV – Athletic Bilbao vs. Almeria
12:20 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Reading vs. Norwich City
12:30 pm – Fox Soccer Channel – Liverpool vs. Stoke City
1:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Bordeaux vs. Nancy
1:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Brest vs. Sochaux
1:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Marseillve vs. Lens
1:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Monaco vs. Arles
1:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Montpellier vs. Toulouse
1:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Valenciennes vs. St. Etienne
2:00 pm – GolTV – Atletico Madrid vs. Osasuna
2:45 pm – ESPN3.com/Fox Soccer Channel – Juventus vs. Roma
3:00 pm – FoxSoccer.tv – Caen vs. Lille
4:00 pm – ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes – Barcelona vs. Villarreal
4:00 pm – GolTV – Corinthians vs. Cruziero
5:00 pm – Fox Soccer Channel – Newcastle vs. Fulham (delayed)
6:00 pm – Fox Soccer Plus – Wigan vs. West Bromwich Albion (delayed)
6:20 pm – GolTV – Santa Fe Bogota vs. Atletico Huila
7:00 pm – Fox Sports Deportes – Cruz Azul vs. San Luis
8:00 pm – Telefutura – Santos Laguna vs. Estudiantes Tecos
9:30 pm – Fox Soccer Channel – Colorado Rapids vs. San Jose Earthquakes
9:45 pm – Telemundo – Atlas vs. Tigres UANL
So as you can see, that’s a full rich day of footy action right there. MLS playoffs as a capper, as well. Enjoy your Saturdays and enjoy the matches. Let me know what you think about Landon staying/going in comments. And as always, thanks so much for your clicks and comments, they are truly appreciated.
PRESS RELEASE / FRESNO, Calif. (Oct. 23, 2010) – On an exhilarating evening that featured action fights highlighted by crowd-pleasing victories by Fresno fan-favorites Lavar Johnson and Billy Evangelista, Bobby Voelker (23-8) evened the score with previously undefeated Roger Bowling (8-1) of Cincinnati with a second-round TKO (punches) in the main event Friday on “Strikeforce [...]
Five Ounces of Pain
Brett Lorenzo Favre is likely going to stay retired this time, so I feel confident in writing about his legacy. Favre played in the NFL for two decades and set the record for consecutive starts by starting at QB for 297 games in a row (321 games, if you include playoff appearances). The streak extended from the fourth game of the 1992 season until his final game with Minnesota (including a detour as the Jets QB and off the field infamy) in week 15 of the 2010 season. Favre holds the NFL QB records in practically everything (including negative plays) due to his opportunity to play so many snaps. Such a thing could only happen in the NFL. I wanted to call Favre “the Timmy Chang of the NFL.” However, that would be an insult to Chang and by extension, his coach June Jones. Despite raw similarities in tons of yards, attempts, TDs and INTs, Chang would not have played very long if he had taken sacks and lost fumbles like Favre did. Not coincidentally, Jones was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons when Favre was drafted. Favre was traded to Green Bay by the Falcons after his rookie season which consisted of four incomplete passes, 2 INTs and a sack. Favre’s first pass in the league was a pick six. Jerry Glanville, head coach of the Falcons at the time, said he had to trade Favre because “I could not sober him up.”
Favre Wasn’t Chang, He Was Something Else
Back to the point about Chang: like Favre, Chang is an all-time leader in career INTs despite throwing an INT on 3.3% of his collegiate attempts at Hawaii. You can only throw an INT on an incompletion, so the fact that both Favre and Chang both threw an INT on 3.3% of their total attempts is interesting, but not the whole story. Favre threw an INT on 8.8% of his incompletions whereas Chang was picked off on 7.6% of his incompletions. Further, Favre was almost as likely to take a sack as produce a TD: 561-567. Chang was sacked 71 times and produced 123 TDs. Of Favre’s 177 career fumbles, he lost 78 of them (44%). Chang lost six of his 16 fumbles (37.5%). Favre lost fumbles on 11.9% of his rushing attempts (if sacks are counted as rushes, the number falls to 6.4%) while Chang lost a fumble on 4% of his rushes. As the Passer Rating is vastly different for the NCAA and NFL, I used the Positive Impact Factor (PIF-hear a podcast about it here) to compare Favre and Chang’s careers (I fully understand the difference in competition level, the comparison is for demonstrative purposes). Favre’s career PIF was a 21.2 vs. Chang’s 37.7. Even adjusting for Favre’s sacks as rushing attempts, his PIF only is raised to a 33.9. So if Favre wasn’t an NFL Timmy Chang, was he comparable to NFL QBs with similar career passer ratings (Favre’s replacement in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers, is the current all-time leader so that’s not very useful)?
Favre PIF Comparison
Again, the Positive Impact Factor will be used to demonstrate how misleading the Passer Rating is when thinking about the total impact of a QB on his team. Favre’s Passer Rating was an 86.0 (good enough for 17th all-time with Trent Green). I compared Favre’s career with Trent Green (86.0), Jeff Garcia (87.5), Rich Gannon (84.7), Donovan McNabb (85.7), and Dan Marino (86.4)–Marino, by the way, is another QB in need of a legacy reevaluation. You might guess that Marino would be the best among this group as he’s in the Hall of Fame…he’s not.
