Before I get into some MLS enws, I wanted to take a few seconds to talk football - specifically college football. Wow, what an amazing weekend. First, #2 OK State blew their shot at the title game by losing to Iowa St on Friday night. Then #4 Oklahoma lost to #22 Baylor (Robert griffin III for Heisman!) Saturday night. All of a sudden, the road was open for Oregon to make the title game and amazingly they lost to USC later that night. In all, 4 of the top 10 teams lost over the weekend, meaning that the SEC now has the top 3 teams in the BCS - LSU, Alabama and Arkansas. Next week LSU plays Arkansas while Alabama plays Auburn. Alabama virtually has no shot at winning the SEC West, but being is almost assured to make the title game as long as they beat their rivals. The LSU-Arkansas game then might be for the other birth. Either way, it looks like an all-SEC match-up in the title game (unless my Dawgs get the job done in the SEC Title game).
I think weekends like this remind us all how necessary a playoff is. The BCS works when there are two undefeated teams (ok, two undefeated teams from power conferences), but when there are 1-loss teams to sort from, it just doesn't get the job done. Correct that - it gets a job done, but the reality is that in most years, it will always leave someone out. Yesterday went a long way in helping to sort the title picture out as now Oregon and Oklahoma have two losses, but sitting with 1 loss are OK State, Alabama, Arkansas, Stanford, Boise St and Va Tech. Say what you want about the last two teams, but some believe they deserve a shot too.
Anyway you look at it, I can't help but be reminded how amazing a tournament would be. Some say it might diminish the importance of the regular season, but wins by ISU and Baylor over Ok St and Oklahoma would still mean a heck of a lot to the schools. Fans would still rush the field even if their school didn't effectively ruin the title chances of their foes. If you had a 16-team tournament, the drama would be unparalleled. The football would be amazing. There would be no losers - except for the bowl games themselves.
Ok, now on to MLS.
Some of you may have heard that MLS Cup was yesterday. I unfortunately have to admit that I did not watch the game, but I am happy that the best team won. I am in no way a Galaxy fan, but I am content with their win since they were clearly the best team in the league this year. I respect that a US based league needs to have playoffs, but allowing teams like RSL and Colorado to win championships in the past two years certainly diminished the reputation of the league. Sure, it makes it interesting for fans of mediocre teams knowing that anyone can win, but having a team like the Galaxy, who went 19-5-10 in the regular season and who boast interntional stars like Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan (ok, he is barely known in other areas of the world, but still a damn good player), is the best result.
For other supporters though, the MLS news most on their mind besides expansion lists is the new scheduling and playoff format. We have known for a while that the 2012 MLS schedule was going to be unbalanced (MLS is adding another side, but wanting to keep the number games fixed at 34 for now) and yesterday we finally found out the details.
Focusing solely on the Western Conference which will again have 9 teams, each team will play their conference opponents 3 times and each Eastern Conference opponent once. Of the 8 Western teams that they will play, against 4 of them they will host 2 game and against the other 4 they will be on the road twice. Games against Eastern conference opponents will be split between home and away. Home field will switch year to year.
So what does that mean? Well, from a supporters perspective, this is great great thing. This means that the Sounders will get two home games a year against either Portland or Vancouver (I am assuming MLS will work it so that each Cascadia team has two games against one of their opponents, but then again, that would be a smart thing to do - something MLS is not always known for). This also means more games against LA, RSL and Dallas, which are not a bad thing. Now some are saying that rotating home field advantage from year to year will provide hurt and help some teams, I think it is a necessary evil. As long as the teams know the situation before the season starts (as opposed to being thrown a curveball mid way through the season), then it just comes down to getting the results. Some seasons things don't work out as they should (for example, see 2011 when Seattle and RSL had to play each in the first round even though they were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the league).
As a fan, I can't think of anything better than seeing more games against our local rivals. No offense to NE, Toronto, Columbus and Philly, but they don't exactly do it for me. But here's the thing: they might not be who I want to see, but more games with Philly and DC will undoubtedly be a great thing for NY and vice versa. Attendance is sure to go up. Interest will go up. This is a great thing.
I have been saying it all along - if MLS is going to keep their conferences, then they need to change the schedule. Having a balanced schedule but keeping the conferences means nothing. You could randomly pick conferences and have the same effect. The reason we have conferences is to allow geographic rivals to play each other more often than those on the other side of the country. By having an unbalanced schedule, the league will truly have a team deemed to be the best in the West because they will have played (and beaten) more teams in the West. It means more to be the Western Conference champion if it means you played LA, RSL and the like more often.
The league also got rid of the cross-conference Wild Card system that was just a bad idea. Now 5 teams from each Conference will make the playoffs, with 4 and 5 playing for the right to play #1. This system would have still produced Seattle-RSL in the first round, but at least we would have had nothing to bitch about. There would be no reason to believe in a single table or seeding teams #1-#8 by overall points. Now it is all about Conferences again. To me, that is a great thing. I don't say it much, but....good job MLS.
Ok, expansion lists are due today. I don't know if MLS will release the lists or not this afternoon, but if they do, you know I'll weigh in on them. To remind everyone of the JerseySounder list, it's Montero, Alonso, Rosales, Zakuani, El Flaco, Hurtado, Parke, Neagle, Ochoa, Riley, Fucito.
Enjoy the day!
[Update - I forgot the other reason why LA winning was a good thing...it means the Sounders, get to skip the CONCACAF Champions League play-in games and instead go straight into the group stage. (2 of the US's 4 teams go straight through - normally they are reserved for the Supporters Shield and MLS Cup winners, but since LA won both, it went to the #2 team in MLS. I assume Houston will make it to CCL but will have to win a home-and-home qualifying series to advance to the group stage) That is really positive news, as it means two less games for a team that seems to have continual match congestion. Also, it means I don't have to worry over the humiliating idea of us losing to the likes of San Francisco of Panama or Isidro Metapan of El Salvador being the group stage even begins]
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