New Blogs, Magazines and Books
Starting this week I will be highlighting my favorite new blogs, magazines, newspapers and other great soccer writing that I've found. They're good enough to go into my RSS feed, pay for a subscription, or pay for a copy of the book. They may not be new to the writing world at large, but they're new to me as I've just now stumbled upon them. I can't promise new finds every week (the limits of my RSS feed and reading time constrain me), but when I do make new finds I will post them here.
- The Blizzard: If you enjoy the format of The Atlantic (sorry EPL Talk, I am a lifelong subscriber and can't help ripping you off) and the quality of writing you find at the Guardian, The Tomkins Times, or Zonal Marking this magazine is for you. It's going to be released on a quarterly basis, and clock in between 150 to 200 pages. It's like a fine drink - enjoyed slowly over an extended period of time as opposed to the rushed consumption of a blog. Issue 0 is out now, and if you enjoy it Issue 1 will be coming out this summer. Pay your three quid or more (it's a pay-what-you-like plan), and judge the content for yourself.
- Overlapping Run: I've been reading content from this blog when its Take Me Out To The Ballgame series of posts would show up on the MLS Talk blog. It seems now that the author has brought those posts back to his blog exclusively, and will keep all content exclusive to his site. Great MLS attendance analysis, great comparisons between the leagues, and great quick posts. A must have for the US soccer fan.
Favorite Links of the Week
- TwoHundredPercent makes the case for England going back to stadiums that have a significant portion of standing room terraces. As someone who stands for a full 90 minutes every Sounders match, the concept of sitting at all during a match is totally foreign to me but I do get understand the concepts embodied in the Taylor Report. My politics would have me leaning in the diretion of TwoHundredPercent's analysis, which is to say that much of the recommendation for moving English stadia to all-seaters in the top divisions of the game was more about money and less about safety (especially nowadays).
- On Footy analyzes the potential impact of the Sounders partnering with Groupon to sell a few remaining seats for this Friday's match. I get the feeling that the honeymoon phase the city has with our team is over, especially after another potentially slow start. We'll have to see how attendance does when we get into the Saturday/Sunday schedule in the coming weeks, but the fact that the team is having trouble selling out the stadium on a Friday night indicates that the casual fans may be falling by the wayside.
- Speaking of attendance, OverLapping Run looks at First Kick's attendance figures and MLS fans will like what they see.
- The NY Times' Goal blog notes that the NY Red Bulls want to "play the game the right way", while Socceronomist notes that Real Salt Lake want to play like Barcelona. What's wrong with just playing American soccer? What's with all the Europhilia?
- Climbing the Ladder considers what NFL history would look like if they had employed promotion and relegation starting with the AFL/NFL merger. Quite an interesting analysis.
- 7AM Kickoff confirms and denies your worst suspicions regarding Arsenal player statistics.
- John Terry returned to England's captaincy in preparation for this weekend's match with Wales. TwoFootedTackle questions what a national team captain actually brings to the table, while Narrow The Angle asks what kind of example Fabio Capello's actions have set?
- The Goal blog has great coverage of Charlie Davies' awesome comeback last weekend. The US Men's National Team missed Davies at last year's World Cup, and his path back after such an awful accident has been a long and hard road. Here's hoping he can maintain the great form he showed last weekend.
- 5 Added Minutes looks at which of the top teams in the EPL respond the best to pressure when kickoffs are not aligned throughout the weekend. The £1M question: is it statistically significant?
Enjoy the soccer-filled weekend! I'll be watching my Sounders live on Friday night, and will try to squeeze in the US Men's National Team match on Saturday afternoon before I go out to dinner. See you on the backside...
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