Sporting Madness

Tonight's going to be very important for both Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps. First, at 8:30, Toronto take on the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Park. Both teams will be eager to pick up full points, as they both sit in third place in their respective conferences. TFC have a 4-3-4 record and 16 points, five behind the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Fire, while Houston are 4-2-3 and have 15 points, nine behind Western Conference leaders Chivas USA. The big story in this one is the return of former Dynamo players Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux . Both were key parts of Houston's 2006 MLS Cup title campaign. Serioux was selected by Toronto FC in the MLS expansion draft, but dealt to FC Dallas for Ronnie O'Brien , while De Rosario stayed in Houston until this season. They were expensive acquisitions for TFC, with Serioux traded for a first-round pick and allocation money and De Rosario picked up for Julius James and allocation money, but both have come through s...

It's time for the crucial fourth game of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, featuring the Vancouver Whitecaps against the Montreal Impact. If Vancouver wins, they're in good position to challenge Toronto FC; any other result and TFC looks good to go through. Join in the live blog below! Vancouver Whitecaps - Montreal Impact

It's going to be an epic clash of countries at Toronto's BMO Field tonight as the Canadian women take on the top-ranked Americans in head coach Carolina Morace 's home debut. It's the 44th match between the sides (the U.S. is 37-3-4 against Canada), but only the fifth match between them on Canadian soil. Canada has never beaten the American senior team at home, losing three times and pulling off one draw. We'll find out if that will change tonight. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Eastern, and the game will be televised live on all four regions of Rogers Sportsnet. Come join me here then for the live blog! You can also check out my full match preview here . Canada - USA women's soccer

We can't all be serious all the time, as that would be no fun. The guys over at the excellent Style Points are rarely serious, but exceptionally funny. However, the humour value of their site may be about to go in the tank, as they asked me to write a guest post for them. After much deliberation, I figured their site would be the perfect place to present a long-held theory of mine: Uglyball, the key to winning at soccer. As most people know, Manchester United continued their Premier League dominance this year, picking up yet another title. Many different reasons have been floated for their success, including Sir Alex Ferguson 's managerial skills, their financial strength and their depth. However, detailed analysis by Oxbridge professor Louis Michael (no relation at all to Michael Lewis ) has confirmed my suspicions that there's something else at play here. The real key to victory is finding the ugliest strikers possible and unleashing them, which Ferguson has proven rem...

Tomorrow's going to be a big day for Canadian women's soccer; it's new head coach Carolina Morace 's first home match in charge of the team against the most feared side in the world, the top-ranked Americans. The U.S. is 37-3-4 against Canada all time, but recent results between the sides have been close, so it should be a good match. I have a full match preview posted over at Out of Left Field and will be live-blogging the match here and at The 24th Minute tomorrow night. The game is at BMO Field and will be broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Eastern time; come by for the live blog then!

Toronto FC return to action today at BMO Field against the New England Revolution. The teams are only one spot apart in the Eastern Conference table; Toronto's fourth with 13 points, while New England sit in fifth with 10. The logjam at the top means TFC could take the conference lead with a win and some favourable results in other matches, though. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. The game will be televised on CBC and streamed at cbc.ca . Come join in the live blog below! Toronto FC - New England live blog

Our society is becoming more cynical and jaded all the time. Nothing is pure any more. You can't enjoy food without thinking about its calories and trans fats, you can't wholeheartedly support any political party when you're aware of their scandals and betrayals, and you can't even buy a coffee or a shirt without thinking about where it came from and who made it for you. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; after all, it tends to allow us to see the shades of grey I'm so big on and consider the consequences of our actions. Still, it makes it tough to feel sheer elation and exhilaration about anything. This transition from a shining ideological paradise to the dirty and grubby world of realpolitik has also happened in sports. Perhaps the best example is baseball's steroid era and the resulting Mitchell Report, the final illusion-shattering document I wrote about here . It's why people were so incensed about steroid use in baseball but willing to tolerate...

It's the third game of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, with the Montreal Impact hosting the Vancouver Whitecaps. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. Both sides really need to go for the win here, as they each lost their first match against Toronto FC. English audio can be found here , and there's a French video webcast here . For match previews, check out this one from Duane and this one from Simon Fudge of whitecapsfc.com . Come join me in the live blog below! Vancouver Whitecaps - Montreal Impact live blog

This is a bit of a continuation of my post on anonymity the other day, focusing on the mainstream media's relationship with the blogosphere. One of the big stories this week was about New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd apparently lifting a paragraph [ Craig Silverman , Regret The Error ] from Talking Points Memo writer Josh Marshall via a shady friend ( Alex Rodriguez 's cousin , perhaps?) and then apologizing for it afterwards. To Dowd's credit, she's been much more apologetic than certain other plagiarists , but her inclusion of a paragraph word-for-word from a friend without any mention that it wasn't her original work is still very troubling. The Dowd situation is just one extreme example of a larger problem, though. One of the things that's troubled me for a long time is the indifference shown by many traditional media outlets towards proper citation of others' work. A particularly egregious recent example comes from that noted bastion of journ...

Much has happened since my initial post last week about the rumours of the Indiana Pacers potentially moving to Vancouver. The story's spread everywhere from CTV to Newsday to the Indianapolis Business Journal , with many sites claiming there's nothing behind it. Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini , the rumoured potential buyer of the team from current owners Herb and Mel Simon , gave a very interesting statement to CTV, though, saying he has "no immediate interest in purchasing an NBA basketball team." That's a pretty weak denial, especially considering the "immediate" part. Prospective owners of sports franchises rarely make their interest known publicly well in advance, particularly when relocation is involved. Moreover, the initial report stated that any deal was at a very early stage, so Aquilini could be telling the complete truth here and still purchase an NBA franchise a month down the road (if he had immediate interest then). As I ...

It's time for some USL action! Join me in the live blog below! Vancouver Whitecaps - Rochester Rhinos live blog

Come join me in the live blog below! Match preview is here ; also remember that I'll be live-blogging the Vancouver - Rochester game tonight at 10 p.m. as well. Toronto FC - Chicago Fire live blog

It's going to be a battle at BMO Field this afternoon as Toronto FC take on the Chicago Fire at 4 p.m. Only one point separates the teams in the table; TFC are second in the Eastern Conference with a 3-2-4 record for 13 points, while the Fire are undefeated so far this year with a 2-0-6 record for 12 points and currently hold third place in the conference. Eastern leaders D.C. United are only one point ahead of Toronto and face the top team so far this season in Chivas USA on the road this evening, so either TFC or Chicago could conceivably vault their way into the top spot with a win. One of the key battles to watch will be Chicago star Cuauhtemoc Blanco against Toronto's skillful holding midfielders. Toronto's been very successful at minimizing other teams' scoring opportunities lately, but they haven't faced an offensive threat of Blanco's calibre for quite some time. There's a great profile on him here from Jose Romero of the Seattle Times . Another i...

Well, Rogers Cable finally came to an agreement [Fadoo.ca] to carry TSN2 shortly before Jaypocalypse Now would have occured next week when the Jays faced the Red Sox in games only available on TSN2 [ Neate Sager , Out of Left Field ]. No specifics have been released yet, but it's a good bet that Rogers caved in the end; TSN had all the leverage in this one thanks to their agreements with every other cable/satellite provider (which demonstrated that their terms can't have been all that unreasonable). Someone at Rogers' baseball division ultimately sold the cable side for 30 pieces of silver with the decision to put Jays-Red Sox on TSN2, as the great Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star noted earlier this week on his blog : "A deal has to be coming because, if it isn't, Rogers call-centre employees will have to show up for work that day with bulletproof vests and industrial-strength earplugs as they try to explain to angry Jays fans that they can watch the game on...

I'm a bit conflicted about the points Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star makes in this column about the anonymity of the blogosphere (found via this post from Deadspin 's A.J. Daulerio ). On the one hand, Kravitz is partly right about how anonymity can lead to a decline in the quality of dialogue; see many sports message boards or the comments on most newspaper pieces for great examples. He goes too far, though, and picks the wrong examples. "My biggest objection is the proliferation of blogs and posts by anonymous weenies -- or pansies, if you will," Kravitz writes. "Everybody is big and brave behind a pseudonym, but confront them face to face, and next thing you know they're changing underwear." The words Kravitz uses are interesting, but counterproductive. The world of sports is too full of ego and testosterone as it is, and it doesn't really accomplish a lot to blast the masculinity of all bloggers who use a pseudonym. Kravitz could have c...

The Canucks may be out of the playoffs, but it may be a busy offseason for owner Francesco Aquilini . Kevin Nesgoda of Bleacher Report writes that rumours are swirling in Indiana regarding Aquilini's potential interest in purchasing the NBA's Pacers and relocating them to Vancouver. Nesgoda's initial report has been cited by some politically connected sites in the area, including Capitol Watchblog and Howey Politics , and the B.C. media are starting to look into it as well; Don Taylor mentioned the idea on Sportsnet Connected 's Pacific edition a few minutes ago. At first, this seems like a somewhat implausible rumour, but upon further reflection, it makes a lot of sense. First off, the NBA was not entirely a failure in Vancouver the first time around. Attendance was bad, but much of that was due to poor on-court performance by the team and ineptitude on the part of the management. The team also wasn't really given much time; they were only in Vancouver for six...

I'll be live-blogging tonight's match between Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact here and at The 24th Minute . It's the second clash of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship; Toronto pulled off a 1-0 home win against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first match, so they'll be in very good shape if they win this one. Montreal enters the tournament as defending champions, but they're probably underdogs heading into this one given their USL struggles so far this year and the intimidating atmosphere of BMO Field won't make it any easier. You can check out Duane's preview here , and for any of the Impact fans looking for bulletin board material, you can't do much better than this piece he reposted from February. The game isn't on television thanks to Rogers Sportsnet deciding to place a baseball game on all four of their channels, but it will be streamed live at Toronto FC's website . Come join me at 8 for the live blog! Toronto FC v. Montreal Impact

This past season in American college football, Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell broke the NCAA record for most touchdown passes thrown in a college career with 134. He completed 442 of 626 passing attempts for an outstanding 70.6 completion percentage, threw for 5,111 yards, completed 45 touchdown passes while only being picked off nine times and became the first NCAA quarterback to record multiple seasons with more than 5,000 yards passing. Despite all that, Harrell wasn't selected in the NFL draft. In the first five picks alone, the Detroit Lions and New York Jets opted to take Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez respectively, despite each accomplishing significantly less than Harrell at the college level. By comparison, Stafford completed only 235 passes on 383 attempts at Georgia last season for 3459 yards and a completion percentage of 61.4 per cent; he also threw 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Sanchez completed 241 of 366 attempts (65.8 per cent) at USC for 320...

I'll be live-blogging tonight's match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Puerto Rico Islanders here and at The 24th Minute . Kickoff is at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific, and the game will be webcast on USL Live . It should be a good one; these are two of the top USL teams, and they met in the USL final last year, so there's a great rivalry there. The Islanders took the last meeting 2-1 at home, so Vancouver will also be out for revenge. Both of these teams are coming off busy and somewhat disappointing weeks as well; Vancouver lost 1-0 to Toronto FC in the first match of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship on the road Wednesday, while the Islanders tied the Austin Aztex 1-1 in Texas on Friday. Neither side's had the start to the year they envisioned, either; Vancouver's 2-1-2 through five games and in fifth place, while Puerto Rico's 2-0-2 in four games and in fourth. There's lots of time left in the USL season, but tonight's match could mark a ...

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Toronto FC match against D.C. United (7:30 p.m. Eastern/4:30 p.m. Pacific, Rogers Sportsnet) here and at The 24th Minute . It should be a good one; D.C. leads the East with 13 points from a 3-1-4 record, while TFC is in second with 12 points from a 3-2-3 record. Thus, the winner of this one will take over or hold on to first place. One question for Toronto is if defender Adrian Serioux will be fit to play ; he suffered a neck injury against Columbus last week and missed the midweek clash against Vancouver. Sam Cronin also missed the Whitecaps game, but is expected to return to face D.C. tonight. Another interesting element is what's going on off the pitch. Everyone knows about D.C. United's stadium struggles, and they've led to threats of relocation if they can't find a new stadium. The D.C. United supporters are going to be marching to the match [ Jason Davis , MLS Daily ] to show their passion for keeping the team in D.C.; Ja...

All right, so this is going to be an unusual post. A while ago, Bill Simmons dubbed Houston Rockets' GM Daryl Morey "Dork Elvis" for his following among MIT grad students and basketball fans of a statistical bent. It got me thinking about comparisons between the rise of sabermetrics and sports blogs and the rise of rock and roll, and led to a great Twitter conversation with MC Bias and Craig Barker , which in turn inspired me to turn the idea into a post. I've already psychoanalyzed the blogosphere , so now it's time to turn it into rock format. Now, obviously all blogs aren't sabermetric-based and not all sabermetricians work on blogs, but the common thread between the two is that they were both ideas traditionally overlooked by the mainstream media that rapidly became popular and (somewhat) adopted by the mainstream. Thus, I've tried to combine the two a bit. My comparisons are below. Of course they're not going to be perfect matches, but I thoug...