Author: Scott Adamson

NASL loses another franchise

By Scott Adamson
Adamsonmedia.com

“Black Friday” had a different meaning for the North American Soccer league this year.

FC Edmonton folded earlier today, leaving the embattled league with just five franchises from its 2017 season and no assurances any of them will be playing in 2018.

Unless the NASL is allowed to retain second division status – that determination will be made by a court on Dec. 15 – it could go out of business altogether.

The folding of Edmonton comes just days after the San Francisco Deltas won the league’s 2017 championship and then closed up shop.

North Carolina FC announced its move from the NASL to the USL on Nov. 16.

“Although we believed in and have supported the NASL business model, our franchise has proven to be unsustainable in the Edmonton market. Our decision today is further reinforced by the continuous uncertainty being forced upon the NASL by the United States Soccer Federation,” FC Edmonton co-owner Tom Fath said in a statement. “We sincerely hope the road to long-term stability can be found for the NASL as the NASL pursues the lawsuit against the USSF in the US courts.”

Edmonton is one of the founding franchises of the NASL, which launched in 2009.

Rishi Sehgal, interim commissioner of the NASL, released a statement on Friday following the announcements made by FC Edmonton and the San Francisco:

“As we anticipate what we hope will be a favorable outcome in the U.S. Court of Appeals, we have been working diligently to build a strong foundation for the 2018 season. We are looking at making a number of changes to our business structure, and we are encouraged by the amount of expansion candidates that are ready to join the NASL.

During this time of change, two of our clubs, FC Edmonton and the San Francisco Deltas, will be departing the league.

“We are very appreciative of FC Edmonton’s contribution to the NASL as a founding member. As the club’s owner, Tom Fath was a tremendous ambassador for the league and his genuine passion for the community did so much for the fans and the people of Edmonton.

“In San Francisco, it’s unfortunate that the Deltas’ business plans did not materialize in the way they had hoped. We remain a big believer in the market, as evidenced by the atmosphere and crowd at the championship final earlier this month, and we still believe that the city deserves a professional soccer team. We are in active discussions with potential ownership groups and we aim to keep professional soccer in San Francisco in the future.

“We appreciate the support of the soccer community as we continue our plans for the 2018 season, and we remain confident ahead of our appeal hearing on December 15.”

The USSF has denied the NASL second division status for 2018 due to its small geographical footprint, and a court upheld that decision earlier this month after the league filed suit. The appeal will be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

This season the league fielded franchises in Brooklyn, Miami, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Puerto Rico (Bayamón), North Carolina (Cary) and Edmonton.

San Diego and Fullerton are being eyed for NASL expansion should the circuit go forward.

Soccer notebook: Sounders win, USL honors its best

By Scott Adamson
Adamsonmedia.com

The first leg of the conference finals are complete in Major League Soccer, and only the Seattle Sounders took a major step toward the MLS Cup.

The Sounders, who claimed the league title last season, defeated Houston 2-0 on Tuesday in the Western Conference championship.

In the Eastern Conference, Toronto FC and Columbus played to a 0-0 draw.

Seattle will try to secure its spot in the 2017 MLS Cup when it hosts Houston on Nov. 30, while FC and the Crew will settle the issue a day earlier in Toronto.

The MLS Cup is set for Dec. 9 at the site of the finalist with the best record.

In Seattle’s win, Gustav Svensson tallied the game-winner in the 11th minute and Will Bruin added insurance in the 42nd minute.

Houston was forced to play a man down from the 27th minute on when Dynamo right back Jalil Anibaba pulled down Joevin Jones in the penalty box and was sent off.

Tyler Miller had three saves in the shutout.

United Soccer League awards

Nine days after Louisville FC claimed the league title, the USL has handed out the last of its awards for the 2017 season.

Reno 1868 FC’s Dane Kelly on Wednesday was named the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Scoring 18 goals for the expansion club, Kelly entered the season as the USL’s modern-era leader with 48 regular-season goals. The Jamaican now has 66 regular-season goals in his professional career.

“A player like me, who has been playing in the league for such a long time, to be awarded the Golden Boot earlier in the season and then get the MVP award, it means so much to me,” said Kelly, who joined the USL in 2012. “I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of my Reno 1868 FC family, so I have to say kudos to them for helping me have such a good season.”

Real Monarchs SLC’s Mark Briggs is Coach of the Year, getting 41 percent of the vote to Louisville City FC’s James O’Connor’s 31 percent.
“It hasn’t really hit home because I’m preparing for next year where we’re already trying to bring in the players we want for next year and planning for another successful year,” Briggs said. “I loved every minute of this season, but I love what I do, I’m passionate about what I do and hopefully I can do it for a long time.”

San Antonio FC goalkeeper Diego Restrepo is the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year.

The netminder, in his first year with san Antonio, led the USL with 12 shutouts and finished second in the league with a 0.80 goals-against average.
“Obviously, I had a great team in front of me that completely helped me feel very comfortable and get me adjusted very quickly,” Restrepo said. “A lot of credit goes to them, and I knew I had the backing of the coaches and I just took it game by game, minute by minute, and that’s one thing I never take for granted.”

Restrepo teammate Sebastien Ibeagha is Defender of the Year.

Playing 2,700 minutes, Ibeagha was part of defense that allowed only 24 goals in 32 regular-season contests and led the league with 15 shutouts.

“It’s truly an honor to win this award, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention how big of a role the entire team played in this accomplishment,” Ibeagha said. “We had a great group this season, and without them, we would not have had such a great defensive record. I want to thank the USL for giving me this award, and I’m honored to be among the other finalists who had great seasons.”

Finally, Reno 1868 FC’s Chris Wehan is the USL’s Rookie of the Year.

He tied the USL single-season record for assists with 12.

“It was a great year – I think all of the stars aligned for me,” said Wehan. “I was on a really good team, I had a lot of good players around me which helped me personally. I had a chip on my shoulder a little bit after what I’d gone through with the draft and not finding a home at the very start, but I was super-fortunate this year to be part of the group.”

The First Thanksgiving

Funny how you can remember things that happened decades ago but can’t recall what you had for breakfast the day before.

Brain Farce is an alleged humor column written by Scott Adamson. It comes out basically whenever he feels like writing it. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl

This happens to me a lot, especially when my mind wanders back to grammar school.

I can still see Miss Baker’s hairspray-encrusted beehive – the light dancing off it as the sun beamed through the small window in the main door of my first grade classroom.

At that moment, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Matronly, yes, but it worked for her.

Then there was the time I was with my mother at a department store. We saw a janitor walk into the main restroom and quickly scurry back out, shouting, “Who done this? Who done this thing?”

And yet what I remember more clearly than almost anything else is the story of the first Thanksgiving, which I heard from my Uncle Dwight. He was the “funny” uncle, the one that would often show up at our house wearing a muddy, orange jumpsuit with stenciled numbers on the back. Plus, he always drank sodas from a paper bag.

Whatever the case, in keeping with the season, I’d like to share the story with you today. It might not be exactly how I remember it, but it’s how I want to remember it.

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

As you know, Native Americans were already living in what we now call the United States at the time of the first Thanksgiving. Back then, it was just called Native America.

This changed when the Pilgrims, who were tired of living under the tyrannical rule of King LeBron James and Marie Antoinette, decided to leave for the new world, so they loaded up on three ships – the Nina, Pinto and Santa Lucia, and made their way to Plymouth Rock. Once there, and with the help of the Mayflower moving company, they unloaded all their stuff.

The head Pilgrim was John Smith, a soldier, explorer, governor (and later kicker for the New England Patriots). At first he was disliked by some of the Native Americans, and at some point they wanted to kill him because he talked a lot and was boring as hell.

But just as one of the Native American leaders was about to hit him in the head with a lacrosse stick, Pocahontas intervened.

Pocahontas was later portrayed eloquently – and I’ll go so far as to say accurately – in that Disney movie where she hung out with a talking hummingbird and Mel Gibson, who we now know is an asshole.

Not sure what happened next, but the Pilgrims and Native Americans finally started getting along, so much so that Smith and Pocahontas even dated briefly. (Things never got serious, though, and they stayed friends right up until she got married to a guy who dealt in tobacco. His name was, I believe, R.J. Reynolds).

The Pilgrims and Native Americans decided to celebrate their newfound friendship with a feast, and figured they’d hold it on Thursday in late November to coincide with NFL games involving the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.

The menu at the first Thanksgiving featured turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet peas, squash casserole, green beans, mac and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, tater tots, Vienna sausages, cranberry sauce (the good kind from the can), buttermilk biscuits, crescent rolls, Red Lobster-style cheddar biscuits, giblet gravy, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, Pringles and Easy Cheese.

Hot dogs were made available for the children.

(Vegetarians and vegans were out of luck because, in those days, neither the Pilgrims nor Native Americans went for that shit.)

Anyway, this was all held at the pavilion at the Plymouth Rock Community Center, and it was truly a special time for everyone involved. The kids jumped rope and played kickball together, while the adults decided that diversity would be their strength, even though the Native Americans were from Native America, and the Pilgrims were from Pilgrimia.

This ritual was held every year for decades, but lost some of its luster when Wal-Mart began having Black Friday sales on Thursday. And according to the literature, the town’s only Arby’s location was open half a day on Thanksgiving, so a lot of people ate there as a change of pace.

Needless to say, the holiday has changed much in the billions of years since the Pilgrims and Native Americans first broke bread.

But my hope to you and yours is that on this Thanksgiving if you break bread, someone is there to fix it.

Amen.