Category — general

Live the Pitch profiles Jason Longshore of Atlanta-based Soccer in the Streets, who truly embodies that organization’s objectives to help young people live better lives. His unselfish passion for the game, and those youngsters who benefit from his time and effects, also have a reciprocal effect:

“I can see the benefit it has for the kids that I work with but I don’t think they necessarily see how much it benefits me. I love it. My job motivates me to get up every day. I have worked jobs that I did not enjoy, dread going in, dread getting up, you just don’t enjoy your life. Doing something like this, no matter how much work it is or how hard it is, I am motivated by the fact that I am making a difference. A lot of these kids just need somebody to talk to that cares, that’s the most important thing, I mean I think of them like they are my little brothers.”

It’s such a rare and precious thing to know this in your heart and soul, and to be able to live it.

On Sunday Soccer in the Streets will hold its 20th anniversary celebration at the Park Tavern at Monroe and 10th in Midtown Atlanta.

You can purchase tickets online here for $50 per adult, and $15 per child age 12 and under. It features a black-tie celebrity game at nearby Piedmont Park, followed by a barbecue dinner, auctions, raffles and a concert.

Like most everything else SITS does, the proceeds will go toward its programs to help underprivileged children.

On Friday, Comcast Sports Southeast (Channel 45 on Comcast) will interview SITS executive director Jill Robbins about the event during its “SportsNite” program. That show airs at 6 p.m.

Atlanta Fútbol’s Scott Moran, whose group was heavily involved in getting this summer’s matches at the Georgia Dome and is part of the city’s World Cup venue bid, has penned a guest column over at the Global Atlanta site, which is devoted to the international business community in the city.

“The Business of Fútbol” delves into the nomenclature of what to call the game, a good topic for introductory purposes. It’s a funny old polyglot name game, is it not?

“Americans, being the endearing xenophobes that we are, chose our own path.  We took rugby, changed the rules a bit, donned leather helmets, and called the whole thing football.  But what of that oddly-foreign concoction that the European immigrants on our shores called football?  Those Yanks must’ve scratched their heads until some Englishman passing by kicking his round ball may’ve helpfully called out ‘we also call it soccer.’ Let’s buy that Brit a pint for triggering the drawn-out soap opera that is soccer vs. football.”

In any part of the U.S., them’s fightin’ words, probably no more so in the South, where another kind of football rules. And we’re going to have the College Football Hall of Fame coming here to prove it. And so?

“Finally, for my fellow Americans who will still demand I call it soccer because to not do so is an insult to US-football, I’ll tell them that I played full-pads, full-contact American football for 20 years (with the scars to prove it) and love BOTH sports, so I’ll call them whatever the heck I want.”

He promises to get down to the business of the business of fútbol in future installments, and specifically why that business has been such a difficult one in America.

If the U.S. should get either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup events, the soccer business in America might get a whole lot better.

In the Southeast, the business of bidding for a World Cup venue is heating up, especially for Atlanta’s rivals on the gridiron. Notice how they dovetail with cities in the NFC South Division, save New Orleans, which is out of the running:

• Soccer officials tour Tampa for possible U.S. World Cup bid (Tampa Tribune)

• Does Charlotte have shot at World Cup? (Charlotte Observer)

I don’t have to explain to many of you in Atlanta about the impact Soccer in the Streets has had on the lives of kids who’ve needed the special attention that organization has provided.

As the Atlanta-based group gets ready to celebrate its 20th anniversary, it’s asking its supporters and others to make a pledge to help disadvantaged youths in a novel way. And after so many years of finding creative approaches to address a persisting, pressing need, that’s saying something.

Here’s a link to a video and the outline of the sponsorship program designed to help kids attend the life skills program at SITS, purchase equipment and gear for them to play soccer and to help fund community outreach programs.

Here’s more on the upcoming anniversary fundraising gala on Oct. 4 at the Park Tavern.

Despite the recent euphoria from soccer’s boosters, bloggers, executives and others, how much progress has the sport really made in the public imagination in this ballyhooed “Summer of Soccer?”

Not much, according to Jonathan Zopf of the Gainesville Times, who speaks to soccer aficionadoes local and beyond in painting a gloomier picture than what’s been touted elsewhere.

Indeed, to most Americans, soccer remains “a beautiful bore,” and National Soccer Hall of Fame historian Roger Allaway sums it up thusly:

“People talk about ‘have we turned the corner.’ In my mind, there is no corner; it’s a curve and we keep going further around it.”

Zopf examines the American player development system — youth associations organized unlike anywhere else in the world — as a source of the problem, and this is not a new suggestion.

Neither is the problem of getting Americans to watch their own domestic leagues when the most glamorous club teams and national teams are criss-crossing our shores. Says Woodstock soccer fan Travis Dexter:

“I don’t even watch the MLS and I live in this country. I’d rather watch the overseas clubs. Soccer is never going to grow where we watch the MLS.”

There are other critics of the “Summer of Soccer” meme as well.

And here’s a sobering fact about the Rose Bowl throng of 93,137 that watched Barcelona defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in a friendly on Friday night: Not only is it the biggest soccer crowd in America since the 1994 World Cup, it also had more far more people watching than the other six MLS weekend games combined.

Would a greater eye toward style help?

I’ve posted some new items over at Beyond The Touchline as another extremely busy week of soccer in America comes to a close:

• The CONCACAF Gold Cup and the World Football Challenge both reach their culminations this weekend. Are events like these overloading an already gluttonous soccer schedule on these shores? One leading American soccer writer, who really, really loves the game, thinks so.

Soccer fans in Atlanta and Baltimore who have been starved for these events to come to our cities may beg to differ.

• Is an American soccer TV star in the making? I’ve linked to a profile of Fox Soccer Channel’s Christopher Sullivan, who’s truly a worldly observer of the game. If you’ve wondered about the source of his distinctive speaking style, you’re in for an interesting surprise.

• And finally, I round up the David Beckham brouhaha by posing this suggestion — and I’m not quite sure of the answer yet — maybe “The Beckham Experiment” is working after all. In some very unexpected ways.

Visit Beyond The Touchline for more on these stories and the game of soccer around the world.

The motion had barely been seconded when all five green bulbs lit up at once: Kennesaw State University’s ambitious plans for a $20 million soccer complex were given the unanimous approval of the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The 5-0 vote Tuesday morning rezoned nearly 90 acres of KSU Foundation-owned land off George Busbee Parkway, Busbee Drive and Big Shanty Road for a facility that includes an 8,500-seat stadium, six other soccer fields, walking trails and picnic areas.

The stadium location has been mentioned as a possible home for the newly revived Atlanta Beat, who will begin play next spring in the Women’s Professional Soccer League.

The commissioners approved the rezoning request without comment — their action was expected following a similar vote by the Cobb planning commission.

But the Beat still has not commented except to say that no decision has been made about a venue. The team did not have a representative at the zoning meeting.

“Where are we going to play? We don’t know yet is the official answer,” Beat general manager Shawn McGee told youth coaches at a Saturday meeting of the Georgia State Soccer Association. “It’s not a big secret that there have been talks with Kennesaw State, but we’re still looking at other options.”

Beat owner T. Fitz Johnson, a Cobb resident, has said he wants his team to play in Cobb, which is among the youth soccer hotbeds in metro Atlanta. Neither he nor McGee has elaborated on any other possibilities.

KSU is expected to begin construction later this year with the intention of having the facility ready for the spring. The complex will also be the home to the school’s women’s soccer program.

Take a gander at the Atlanta-based “Who Ate All the Cupcakes?” which is alive with new material after a hiatus.

There’s lots of sharp observation here, mostly about American soccer.

A post from earlier this week is about Santino Quaranta, yet another American former teenage wunderkund who nearly disappeared from the sport.

I don’t know whether Quaranta can ever become the player he was projected. But I’m glad he’s making a comeback.

Just like Cupcakes. I hope they both stick around for a long time.

Crunch time for two of Atlanta’s three developmental level soccer teams comes this weekend as the Atlanta Blackhawks and the Atlanta Silverbacks play their regular season home finales.

The Atlanta Blackhawks of the Professional Developmental League play host to the Missisippi Brilla Friday at 7 p.m. at Alpharetta High School. The Blackhawks are 2-8-1 with 12 points in the Southeast Division of the PDL, which is in the United Soccer Leagues umbrella.

Atlanta knocked off division-leading Bradenton last weekend and has the chance to play the role of spoiler again with Mississippi chasing a post-season berth.

After the game fans are invited to join team members and coaches at Jeffrey’s Sports Bar and Grill, 11585 Jones Bridge Road, Alpharetta.

Also on Friday, the Silverbacks women of the USL’s W-League will attempt to secure the Atlantic Division crown against the Charlotte Lady Eagles. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Silverbacks Park. The Silverbacks are 9-8-1 with 24 points, four clear of Tampa Bay, with three regular season games remaining.

On Saturday, Atlanta FC of the National Premier Soccer League plays at Pumas FC.

Like PDL, the NPSL is a developmental circuit that is affiliated with the U.S. Adult Soccer Association. Atlanta FC and Pumas are locked in a three-way battle for second place in the Southeast Division with Chattanooga FC.

My former AJC colleague (and soccer aficionado) Mark Bradley wrote yesterday about the unusual and respectable across-the-board showing of Atlanta pro sports teams and how this might mean (jokingly) that “I might not have a job much longer.”

If a sports columnist doesn’t have a bad team to rip, what’s he good for?

Tucked away among the reader rants about Bobby Cox, Georgia Tech football, et al, was this reminder from a soul with the online handle of “All I’m Saying Is . . .:”

“No one paid any attention to the one championship team we did have which was the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League.”

That was the extent of the comment. In 1968, the first year of the NASL, the league crowned the Atlanta Chiefs, coached by Phil Woosnam, who later became the NASL commissioner. It would be nearly three decades before the Atlanta Braves won their only World Series title.

From georgiaencyclopedia.org, courtesy of Phil Woosnam

I just saw Phil a couple weeks ago at the Atlanta Beat announcement. After living many years in New York, he returned to Atlanta to marshal the Olympic soccer venue in Athens and now resides in Marietta. He provided the photo to the right of the victorious Chiefs for the Georgia Encyclopedia.

He probably didn’t see this comment on Bradley’s blog, but I’m sure if he had, it would have brought that wry Welsh smile to his face.

Last fall Decatur resident John Turnbull penned this piece on Chiefs star Ron Newman, who had a long coaching career in the United States, including with the Kansas City Wizards at the birth of Major League Soccer.

One of the key members of that Chiefs title team, Kaizer Motaung, returned to his native South Africa in 1970 and founded the Kaizer Chiefs, one of the most popular clubs in the country that will play host to next year’s World Cup. He’s still in charge of the club, which is based in Soweto.

He’s been gone from Atlanta for a long time, as have the Chiefs, but the rich memories live on.