He should have his lack of MVP trophies taken away.

Does this mean hometown discount for the next contract?

Hey, 2011 is also Pujols' walk year, so this is a good sign that he will talk about an extension pretty soon. The P-D had a poll today about what should be done with Albert; the overwhelming favorite was something like "sign him to a lifetime contract immediately, regardless of price." That sounds pretty good to me.

A real MVP would want the real football back!

"sign him to a lifetime contract immediately, regardless of price."

That sounds like an ownership stake. If that's not allowed then a cut of the revenues.

If this keeps Portland from getting a team, I'm going to lose my frickin mind.

This is pretty cool. I saw the CO Rapids play, the first soccer game I've ever seen, including on tv. It was a lot of fun.

How does the MLS compare to European leagues? I assume quality of play is lower; are the styles of play different?

Ah, I remember the old Steamers days. Well, I don't really, other than the team was named the Steamers.

How does the MLS compare to European leagues? I assume quality of play is lower; are the styles of play different?

Quality of play is significantly lower than England, Germany, Spain and Italy, but it has improved a whole hell of a lot in the last five or six years. The money is not nearly as good here, and that's obviously the difference-maker. I'd say that in fifteen or twenty years it won't be out of the question that MLS will rival those leagues for quality of play, maybe sooner.

I haven't paid much attention this year, but my experience is that MLS soccer is heavily influenced by Latin soccer, for obvious reasons. That means that there's an emphasis on agility and quickness; one of the major differences betwen North American and European soccer is that European players tend to be physically much larger and rougher. Back in the bad old days, MLS only attracted guys who were too old or too slow for European and Latin leagues. Nowadays, things are a little different, and there are a lot of guys who would have played in Mexico or Argentina who now play here. The biggest and the best still go to Europe. But the American game is much faster and more exciting than it used to be; no longer is it the province of the aging Jeff Agooses of the world.

Expansion isn't helping in MLS, and the best American players seem even more likely to be overseas these days (Landon Donovan looks like he's going to give Europe one last shot).

There is a danger going forward that the league will soon be second-tier young Americans, 35 year olds of any nationality and a whole bunch of guys in between who aren't really worth much. The salary cap is a hindrance, but if there were any groundswell of support from ownership to spend more they'd raise the cap.

Until the league comes up with some way of translating winning soccer matches with making money, it's going to be awfully hard to compete with even second-tier Euro leagues, much less the big ones. Americans leave the states for Norway and Denmark and the second divisions of England and Germany because those places tend to pay better if you have the talent to succeed there.

I'd say that in fifteen or twenty years it won't be out of the question that MLS will rival those leagues for quality of play, maybe sooner.

Maybe. I have a hard time seeing this happen though. The big problem is money, as Voros and you have pointed out. It's not just foreign players who won't come to the US. Ambitious young American players are going to see that it is in their interest to leave, and play abroad, even if initially they might earn less abroad playing for a small club: better competition which means that they're more likely to improve, and a better chance to get spotted by bigger clubs.

this is st louis, somewhat considered the capital of soccer in the U.S. yet they don't have a team, it's pretty funny to be honest.

of course I'm an indoor soccer fan and find real soccer to be about as boring as basketball, ok not as boring as nba, but definately as boring as college (god I get pissed when I see b-ball fans talk about the fundamentals of college... i think of futurama and the wnba episode...#### fundamentals I want a good skilled game you ####### colllege pussies.

I saw the Rapids play an exhibition vs. Everton. But I had no idea what was happening--was Everton playing starters, were they in shape to deal with the altitude, etc. It ended 2-1 Everton but the Rapids had a good shot at going up 2-1 at one point.

It was fun, I'll try another game next year. They have a park built for the team, so that's a plus.

Quality of play is significantly lower than England, Germany, Spain and Italy, but it has improved a whole hell of a lot in the last five or six years. The money is not nearly as good here, and that's obviously the difference-maker. I'd say that in fifteen or twenty years it won't be out of the question that MLS will rival those leagues for quality of play, maybe sooner.

Zero percent chance of that happening. It's possible, if they run things well, it could be competitive with the second tier of European soccer: Belgium, Turkey, Romania, etc. Maybe France and Portugal though honestly it's hard to imagine that. The very best current MLS teams *might* survive for a season or two in a top European league. Maybe.

There's simply no way that this could change radically for a whole host of reasons. First and foremost, all of the good players are in Europe and there is a substantial positive feedback loop. If you're good, you want Champions League football. Which you can only get at certain clubs. And the Champions League and the top European leagues are incredibly popular because they've got all the big names. Which means they rake in the money. Which means they can afford to pay the big names.

Even if US clubs could intervene at one stage to pick off a few guys, there's simply no broad infrastructure out here. The Messi or Kaka of 2028 is still going to want to compete at the top level, even if MLS clubs have mountains of cash to throw at them.

I think it's pretty hard to compete with even second team European leagues because the players want to be available to be seen by the big clubs. A guy playing at Brugge or Cluj has a chance to play at least in UEFA Cup and occasionally Champions League. This isn't going to change until at least the UEFA Cup gets opened up to non-European clubs. But then you have the time zone differences and distances to worry about.

It's better to be playing in the Championship or Serie B because you're in the same country as the big teams, and you might even play them in the FA Cup or Coppa Italia.

It probably has a better chance of happening than NPB teams getting to compete in the MLB playoffs though.

Americans leave the states for Norway and Denmark and the second divisions of England and Germany because those places tend to pay better if you have the talent to succeed there.

Yes and no. Yes, it happens, but (Adin Brown aside) these are generally not players who would raise the level of play in MLS had they stayed. Bobby Convey's in the second division (excuse me, Coca Cola Championship) in England, but only because Reading got relegated.

The list of overseas Americans playing for second-rate leagues and clubs is really pretty small. The good Americans, the ones who are real talents, are with big-time clubs. Guys like Brian West and Danny Szetela suck anyway. And I say this as a huge Columbus Crew fan...I've seen them both regularly, and they're no big loss.

There was a back page article in my hometown paper about why no one in NY cares about the Red Bulls playing in the MLS Cup. It might've helped if they had put the semifinal win over Salt Lake on local TV, no? (It wasn't even on ESPN; it was only on the Fox Soccer Channel, ferchrissakes. Imagine if last year's NFC title game, Packers-Giants, was only on Versus.)

I think MLS may eventually become a popular niche league, somewhere between Arena Football and the NHL. But it'll never be really big in the large media markets like New York.

Of course it doesn't help they play out in Jerz and are owned by a narcisstic soft-drink company. Soccer-mad marketing executives around the world are facepalming as to why MLS didn't just suck it up and pay off the guy who owns the Cosmos trademark.

How do you expand nothingness?

Anyone else misread the headline as Pujols supporting ALS?

MLS is probably around the level of League 1 at the moment. Where Leeds Utd are. The best teams would be somewhere in the chasing pack for the playoffs in the championship. Not as good as the best, but better than mid table.

And regarding the big european clubs, for the players it's like going hmmm do I play for the Yankees or do I play for the Tuscon Sidewinders. That's the gap.

There was a back page article in my hometown paper about why no one in NY cares about the Red Bulls playing in the MLS Cup. It might've helped if they had put the semifinal win over Salt Lake on local TV, no? (It wasn't even on ESPN; it was only on the Fox Soccer Channel, ferchrissakes. Imagine if last year's NFC title game, Packers-Giants, was only on Versus.)

MLS's national television outlets - ESPN, FSC, HDNet, and Telefutura - all pay rights fees for exclusive national telecasts. Many of the local telecasts are timebuys in which the team pays for the right to air their games, pays for the production facilities, hopes to make as much money as possible from sponsorships, and otherwise looks at it as an infomercial. (I don't know about New York specifically, but I am absolutely certain this happens elsewhere.)

It wouldn't make any sense at all to not have the game on nationally and instead do a timebuy with a local station.

I'm pretty confident that ultimately, MLS doesn't care that New York doesn't care. Sure, it would be nice to have as many fans as you can, but for teams in their own stadium (New York opens theirs next season), they don't need to draw more than about 15,000 fans a game to break even. (This is a guesstimate based on what I know about individual MLS team finances, which isn't a ton...just what has been released publicly about who's making money and who isn't.) There's no chance Red Bull New York won't pull that kind of crowd next year.

They're taking this thing one step at a time: The first goal is to break even or turn a profit in as many markets as possible (DC just isn't going to make money in RFK Stadium), then they'll spend money to make money.

And, c'mon, MLS might eventually be bigger than Arena Football? Really? Who's paying the AFL for TV rights? Where are the MLS teams that are folding this offseason? In what universe is the AFL more popular than MLS? The AFL essentially gave ESPN a chunk of the league in exchange for televising their games. That's desperation.

"In what universe is the AFL more popular than MLS?"

League average attendance is around 16k per game for MLS and around 13k per game for AFL. Neither one is that much to brag about.

Nowadays, things are a little different, and there are a lot of guys who would have played in Mexico or Argentina who now play here.

Really? Like who? Cuathemoc Blanco? Barros Scheloto? Juan Pablo Angel? Sure these guys could conceivably play in those leagues, but they are all on their last legs.

Of course it doesn't help they play out in Jerz and are owned by a narcisstic soft-drink company. Soccer-mad marketing executives around the world are facepalming as to why MLS didn't just suck it up and pay off the guy who owns the Cosmos trademark.

There's talk of reviving the Cosmos and actually having them play in New York (CitiField?), but it won't happen. Red Bull is an incredibly stupid name for a sports team, and, now that I think of it, for a drink, too.

It wouldn't make any sense at all to not have the game on nationally and instead do a timebuy with a local station.

Why not do both? Is it really that hard to put a league semifinal game involving Red Bull on, say, Channel 9 or 11 (MyNetwork and CW affiliates, respectively)? And Fox Soccer Channel is "national" the same way the Bulgarian Faith-Healer's Network is "national" -- just another spot on the satellite dial.

I'm pretty confident that ultimately, MLS doesn't care that New York doesn't care.

Then, ultimately, MLS is run by morons. New York is the largest market in the country; if you don't care about it, why bother putting a team there? Anyone who isn't embarassed by this situation is lying.