A Sad Day For The Columbus Crew

Looks like the Columbus Crew declined to pick up the options on Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Frankie Hejduk and Gino Padula among others. These guys were the heart and soul of the 2008 MLS Championship team. It's not unexpected, but still a little sad. I loved watching Schelotto orchestrate play from his attacking midfield play, and Hejduk's energy making runs from the right back position.

Here is a link to a great article on Schelotto's place in Columbus Sports lore:

Bob Hunter, Columbus Dispatch

Also, an article supporting bringing Schelotto back:

Mike Arace, Columbus Dispatch

My DVR List

Thought I'd share the TV shows I currently DVR and actually watch:

Boardwalk Empire
Modern Family
The Walking Dead
ESPN College Gameday
Major League Soccer Playoffs
Survivor: Nicaragua
Eastbound and Down
Real Time With Bill Maher
Friday Night Lights

Now the books I have recently read:

I also just read (on my Kindle) "The Last Boy" (the new Mickey Mantle Biography) by Jane Leavy and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S. Thompson.

Finally the movies I just saw:

The Social Network (outstanding) and Up In The Air (very good)

A Great Weekend!

What a great weekend! My wife and I were able to go to Columbus and meet our great friends Beth and Jon McIntyre for the Ohio State/Penn State football game.

A little background. Jon and I graduated from Lakota High School in West Chester Ohio in 1981. Tammy, my wife, and Beth graduated from the same High School in 1982. Tammy and Beth graduated from Ohio State together, while Jon and I went to different schools.

Both of us got married in 1986. We have stayed friends ever since! It's hard to get together as much as we used to, with all of our kids being older (we each have three). In addition, we live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, while Jon and Beth have recently moved to Connecticut.

Living so far apart is what made getting together this weekend so special! We all arrived Friday afternoon, had dinner at Haiku (in the Short North area of Columbus) and then went to the Big Bang Piano Bar and Gordon Biersch (where my daughter, Mallory, a senior at Ohio State met up with us and brought along her friends).

Saturday was breakfast and off to campus to check out ESPN Gameday and then to the game.

Of course, Ohio State won (not without a battle in the first half from Penn State). After the game we went to Rubino's Pizza in Bexley, and had a little carry out desert from Mitchell's Steakhouse.

It was such a nice weekend. We were able to catch up on our kids, our jobs, quotes from our favorite movies ("that's a YP, not an MP" guess the movie), and our families.

It is great to have friends like Beth and Jon! Just wish we could get together more often!

Go Bucks!

The Walking Dead!

AMC Channel has hit another home run! I have been a huge fan of Mad Men ever since it's premier in July of 2007. I didn't think another show could live up to the outstanding writing and the great characters in the show.

Now comes The Walking Dead.  Based on the graphic novels/comics of the same name and written by Robert Kirkman, this show follows several characters in a post apocalyptic world where zombies rule. Just two shows have aired and I am hooked. Oh, and by the way, I have subscribed to the comics via the Image Comics App on my Ipad, and I highly recommend them too!

AMC 10pm EST on Sunday nights!

Major League Soccer Can Improve It's Product!

Yesterday I had a great time attending the second leg of the Columbus Crew/Colorado Rockie Eastern Conference semi-final.  The Crew were down one goal after the first leg in Colorado, won the second leg 2-1, making the aggregate 2-2. After 30 minutes of overtime, the game went into penalty kicks, with Colorado ultimately winning 5-4 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The match was exciting, the Crew Supporters Group (Nordecke) was in full force and although the result was disappointing to me as a Crew fan, I still had a great time.

I woke up this morning thinking that the MLS needs to make some fundamental changes next season to capitalize on it's recent success. Vancouver and Portland expansion teams will be added to the league next season, there will be a 34 game regular season, and the product on the field has improved dramatically!

But here's the thing. It's time to get in line with the rest of the World regarding the make-up of the league table, the importance of the playoffs and the MLS Cup, and the fixture congestion that happens in September and October for many of the clubs:

1) Two of the best clubs in the regular season were upset in the Conference semi-finals, the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake. What do these two teams have in common? They both prioritized success in the Concacaf Champions League, and advanced out of their respective groups to make it to the knock-out stage beginning in February 2011. Each team not only played a full slate of MLS matches in September and October, but also played six Concacaf Champions League matches. Both teams looked tired in the MLS playoffs and lost to fresher teams.  Neither team now has a chance to qualify for the 2011-2012 Concacaf Champions League.

2) Although the MLS Cup has traditionally been the trophy to win in MLS, it now seems as though more emphasis should be placed on winning the Supporter's Shield, given to the team who has the most points in MLS play at the end of the season (Los Angeles Galaxy this year). The rest of the World, with the exception of Mexico recognizes the regular season winner as Champion-time for MLS to do the same.

3) Of course, how does it work out that Colorado and San Jose are competing for the Eastern Conference championship, yet neither is located East of the Mississippi?

I propose:

1) A single table format for MLS. The regular season champion will be given the Supporter's Shield and be recognized as League Champion.

2) The MLS Cup will be played as an end of season tournament, with the top eight teams qualifying and playing. The first two rounds will be two leg aggregate goal knockout rounds (1st vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th, 4th vs 5th etc) with a single game MLS Cup Championship Match played at a neutral site.

3) MLS will lift the restriction on charter planes for travel to away matches in the Concacaf Champions League.

4) Expand rosters.

5) To emphasize the importance of winning the regular season Championship, the first and second place teams will automatically qualify for the Concacaf Group Stage. The MLS Cup end of season tournament winner and US Open Cup winner will be put into the Concacaf qualifying stage.

6) Place emphasis on local rivalry trophies, like the Trillium Cup and the Rocky Mountain Cup. Add a cup for the regular season points leader for the Pacific Northwest Teams (Seattle, Portland, Vancouver) and a little cash prize to go with them for the players.

The changes above won't change the fact that there will be a lot of games in September and October for those teams that qualify for the group stage of the Concacaf Champions league, but those same teams will be able to manage their season to prioritize winning the Champions League and the MLS regular season (and the rewards that go with it), rather than coming into the late October/November MLS Cup worn out, with less of a chance than weaker teams who didn't play so many games.

Commissioner Garber, what do you think?

Opening Day Haiku's!

Cincinnati Reds
Opening Day. Father and
Son, Living a Dream!

A Parade With Grand
Marshall, Johnny Bench. Driving
In Style Down Race Street!

Pete Rose, Where Are You?
Cincinnati Has Left Seats
at Will Call For You!

The Harangotang
Striking Out Pujols, For An
Opening Day Win!

And This One Belongs
To The Reds! Another Win
Broadcast by Marty!

Pete, Ken, Joe, Johnny,
Tony, George, Davy, Cesar.
Best Line-Up Ever!

My Favorite Fable

I haven't blogged in several months, but thought I would start again, but lead off with my favorite fable.

http://www.briansell.com/post/331337506/boy-owl

What do you think?

Fun and Games at the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles

True Story:

Took son #2 to get his temps a couple of months ago. He had just turned 15 1/2. After he passed his written test we needed to get his temporary card.

Ohio DMV Lady: "Ok, we are going to need two forms of ID for your son."

Me: "I have his passport and his birth certificate."

Ohio DMV Lady: (After inspecting the documents) "You are lucky that you brought your son's passport, as his Indiana birth certificate doesn't show his gender, so it wouldn't have worked for us."

Me: (Admittedly this was no big deal, and it's true that Indiana birth certificates issued in Lake County did not show his gender, but I just had to bite on this one.) 'Wow, I didn't even realize that. Well, it was good enough to get a passport for my son, so I was wondering, why do you need to know a person's gender to give them a driver's license?" By the way, son #2 sees this one coming.

Ohio DMV Lady: A little perplexed. "Well my computer requires this information."

Me: "He's male. Still don't know why it really matters. You get a picture, eye color, and hair color so it shouldn't matter. We could just tell you if he is male or female."

Ohio DMV Lady: "Well, we just can't issue a license to someone without knowing if they are male or female."

Me: Perplexed and quite frankly the enjoyment of this argument is wearing off. "Hmmm. Might have to think about one. Is the next step going to be visual verification?"

With that we finished the paperwork and received son #2's temps.

So if in Ohio, be aware. Sounds like it really matters to them what your gender is as a qualification for driving.

Signing off........Jiresell

A Strange Week

Sitting in my living room watching the pre-game analysis of the Confederations Cup Final between the US and Brazil National teams and began to think about what a strange week this has been. First we hear of the passing of Ed McMahon. I was a big fan of Johnny Carson, and of course Ed McMahon was a major part of the Tonight Show. Don't know if Ed ever said AAAYOW, but it was a good urban myth anyway.

I love pop culture. I'm 46 years old, so when I heard on Thursday that Farrah Fawcett had died, I couldn't help but think of the poster that I'm guessing that every teenager/college student had hanging in their rooms. I know I did, and Charlie's Angels was must-see tv!

Then, of course the big shocker Thursday afternoon was the death of Michael Jackson. 50 years-old, a pop-music icon. This morning I went to I-Tunes to put some Michael Jackson playlists on my I-Touch and saw that with the exception of the Black-Eyed-Peas new single and album the top ten downloaded singles and albums were Michael Jackson's. I was a fan-and was trying to figure out my favorite songs-Ben, Black or White, Billy Jean, Thriller, Pretty Young Thing. My most vivid memory of a Michael Jackson song was when my wife and I went to Las Vegas with some friends in December of 1988 (she was 5 months pregnant with our daughter) and hearing "The Way You Make Me Feel" over and over again. Michael Jackson became a very troubled individual later in life and his weirdness will be over-analyzed by the media in the coming days, but there is no denying he was one of the greatest and most influential artists of his time.

And then today I found out that Billy Mays has died. Certainly not on the same scale as Ed, Farrah and Michael, but still a surprise!

One quick note: I had an opportunity to travel to a seminar on United Way Community Impact held in Madison, Wisconsin this past week. It was hosted by the Dane County, Wisconsin United Way. I travelled with volunteers and staff from the Butler County, Ohio United Way.

The United Way in Madison, Wisconsin is doing some of the best Community Impact work in the entire country! They have been able to rally the community and it's resources to make a real difference, with results they can track and measure (graduation rates, school preparation, decreasing homelessness, access to health care etc.) They do it through faithful implementation of their process, and it's working. We plan to do the same for Butler County. Check it out http://www.unitedwaydanecounty.org

FYI-CLINT DEMPSEY JUST SCORED FOR THE US AGAINST BRAZIL! 3:45pm EST

Signing off USA USA USA.......Jiresell

Random Thoughts, Soccer, my Son etc......

I haven't blogged in a while, but have been making notes on some random thoughts I wanted to comment on:

Ohio Elite's graduating seniors-The season is over for Ohio Elite's US Soccer Development Academy teams. Most of the U18 team has graduated and are moving along to college. These young men should be very proud of their accomplishments and Ohio Elite should be proud of the development of these players. I'm looking forward to watching these players in college. Go to http://www.ohioelite.com/ and check out the team page for U18 Development Academy for a list of where these young men will be going to school.

By the way, also check out the team pages for the Ohio Elite U18 Girls Academy and U18 Girls' Gold for a listing of the graduating Ohio Elite girls who will be playing college soccer-amazing! Congratulations to the entire coaching staff and the players. http://www.ohioelite.com

US Soccer Development Academy-As a charter member, Ohio Elite just completed it's second season as a member of the US Soccer Development Academy. Player development is the goal of this program, and if one measure of development is the number of players continuing their careers in college, than Ohio Elite's 2nd year in the program would have to be considered a resounding success. And despite other clubs' in the Cincinnati area spreading misinformation about Ohio Elite (see Ohio Elite's coaches' blog), tryouts have been a resounding success, with more players than ever before coming out to play in the program. In addition, Ohio Elite continues to add to the best coaching staff in Southern Ohio, as Dave Schureck, Head men's soccer coach at Xavier University in Cincinnati and Director of Advanced Youth at Northern Warren County Alliance Soccer Club has been added as the head coach of next year's U15/U16 Development Academy team. The young men will now take their summer breaks, and join their high school teams for the Fall. I am anticipating another great season in the Development Academy next year.

I still love Twitter-If you are on twitter, and you are a soccer fan, follow these tweeters: DallasCup, ussoccer, topdrawersoccer, tweetmls, thesoccerdon, americanoutlaws, mlsinsider, mlsrumors. My favorite tweeter is obxlaw, just random tweets from a pretty funny guy. Also check out celebrity tweeters like the_real_shaq, johncmayer, miacarruthers, rainnwilson, pennjillette, andersoncooper. Oh, and don't forget to follow me, jiresell and my son, brianjsell.

Stanley Cup-Pens Win! Wow, and on Hockey Town's home ice!

Finally, my middle son (son #1) graduated high school last weekend. Congratulations! He is a writer, music lover and technology fan. He has decided to travel to Europe by himself this summer, backpack and Eurail pass in hand. I think we are going to see a Jack Kerouac "On the Road" style book come of this adventure!

Jiresell.....signing off!