Keepin' it Real

Where RSL fans come to keep it real.

Archive for January, 2010

Happy No-Lockout Day!

Jan 31

Posted by kirsoccer in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

With it nearly being the dreaded date of February 1st, I would like to be the first to wish everyone a “Happy No-Lockout Day”!

Hopefully the two sides will be able to come to a full agreement soon, and allow the league to move on with preparations for the upcoming season.  My suspicion is that we’ll have a resolution within the next couple of weeks.  If the situation lingers beyond that, it will have an impact on teams trying to finalize their rosters in late February/early March before First Kick on March 25th.

On another note, farewell to Kartik Krishnaiyer as he departs Major League Soccer Talk.  His voice will be missed in our league.  Good luck to him in his new position with the NASL!

MLS Cup Tour of Utah

Jan 30

Posted by kirsoccer in MLS Cup | 1 Comment

I’m sure that you have all heard about the MLS Cup Tour of Utah which starts tomorrow night on Talkin Sports.  So if you didn’t get a chance to see the cup at Rio Tinto Stadium for the Cup Celebration in November, make sure you track it down when it’s closest to you.  Here is the schedule for the first week:

courtesy of Behind the Shield

WEEK ONE

Sunday, Jan. 31: Appearance on KUTV 2′s Talkin’ Sports (10:35 p.m. MT)

Monday, Feb. 1: Kickoff in Salt Lake City @ KUTV 2News Studios; then to Manila (Daggett County) and Vernal (Uintah County)

Tuesday, Feb. 2: Duchesne (Duchesne County) and Price (Carbon County)

Wednesday, Feb. 3: Castle Dale (Emery County) and Moab (Grand County)

Thursday, Feb. 4: Monticello (San Juan County) and Kanab (Kane County)

Fri./Sat., Feb. 5-6: St. George (Washington County)

Sunday, Feb. 7: Off day

Steve Ralston a fit for RSL?

Jan 29

Posted by kirsoccer in Rumors & Speculation | 3 Comments

photo courtesy of Boston.com

With the news of Steve Ralston not coming back to the Revs for the 2010 season due to a salary impasse, I’m wondering – would RSL be a good fit?  He can score goals – pencil him in for 5 or 6 goals at a minimum during the season.  He can pass the ball – he is the all-time assist leader in MLS with 135.

Ralston was also the Revs captain, and would add another solid leader for RSL.  Some speculated that the poor road performance for RSL last season was due to the lack of strong on-the-field leadership.  Ralston would definitely help with that.

But what really separates Ralston from the crowd are the intangibles.  I”ve always felt that no matter how much credit Ralston and Brad Davis get, it’s never enough.  When the chips are down, both players are guys who somehow always manage to provide what’s needed.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?  Well, not so fast.  Ralston is a 35-year old player.  He is traditionally an ironman, but missed 10 games last season with a torn ACL.  Real Salt Lake recently traded away 33-year old Clint Mathis, and some applauded the move as opening up a chance for some of the younger midfielders on the team.

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New RSL TV ad

Jan 29

Posted by kirsoccer in Real Salt Lake, Video | 5 Comments

So a couple of days ago we questioned what RSL was doing to capitalize on their MLS Cup Championship from a marketing perspective.  Here is at least a partial response.  Expect this TV ad to hit the airwaves soon:

Real Salt Lake Roster/Salaries

Jan 29

Posted by kirsoccer in Preseason, Real Salt Lake | 1 Comment

There are 3 potentially significant issues that will come out of the current CBA negotiations that will affect the compositions of this year’s roster for Real Salt Lake (and the other teams in the league).  The first is roster size.  The current roster size allows for 20 senior rosters spots plus 4 developmental roster spots.  The second issue is minimum salaries for both senior roster and developmental roster players.  The final issue is the amount of the salary cap (around $2.3M in 2009).

So let’s take a look at where we currently stand, and assume that the 2009 salary cap and roster size remain in place.

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More CBA updates, and ESPN World Cup schedule

Jan 27

Posted by kirsoccer in Collective Bargaining Agreement, World Cup | No Comments

Apologies for the heavy dose of Collective Bargaining over the last couple of days, but this seems topical.  Here are two audio interviews that give some good insight:

Interview #1, the second in Major League Soccer Talk’s educational piece on Collective Bargaining and how it relates to Major League Soccer.  This one is heavy on the single entity status of the league.  Some of you may have a good understanding of this, others may find it informative.

Interview #2, a stellar 24 minute interview with Revs star Taylor Twellman.  About 20 minutes of this is on the Collective Bargaining topic.  He is very open about the players position on things.  He also sounds very optimistic about a resolution in the near future.

Also, today ESPN released their TV schedule for the upcoming World Cup (courtesy of our friends at WVHooligan).  Below is the info for the US group stage matchups:

Date Time Network Matchup Location
Sat 6/12 12 p.m. Mountain ABC England vs. USA Rustenburg
Fri 6/18 7:30 a.m. Mountain ESPN/ESPN360.com Slovenia vs. USA Johannesburg
Wed 6/23 7:30 a.m. Mountain ESPN/ESPN360.com USA vs. Algeria Pretoria

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RSL’s Delayed Preseason Training

Jan 27

Posted by kirsoccer in Preseason | 3 Comments

Real Salt Lake are the reigning MLS Cup Champs.  They face a fixture congested season with the built-in mid-season two-week break that MLS has announced for World Cup action, with potential Open Cup matches, and with Concacaf Champions Cup starting in August.  This is new territory for the team.

Two years ago the team was in heavy building mode, and saw a very intensive preseason which began in California, ventured to Argentina and finished in Florida.  Coach Kreis later felt that this schedule was too long to repeat every year.  Last season saw the team start training around Feb 1st with their first regular season match slated for March 28th, with stints in California, Florida, and Charleston.  Once again, the team has scaled back the schedule slicing another 10 days or so off of it.  Kreis shared his thoughts on this with MLSnet,

“First of all, we played fairly late, all the way through to the final, as everyone knows. We recognize that it’s important for these guys to get the proper amount of rest for their joints, muscles and minds,” said Kreis. “The second factor is that after doing this for a few years, we’ve come to the realization that six weeks is the proper amount of time [for training camp], not eight, so we’re going to give that a shot this year and see how it goes.”

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Real Salt Lake Marketing Video

Jan 27

Posted by kirsoccer in Video | 4 Comments

I’m sure that we’ll see this video again as part of a bigger video – either TV ad, or maybe for the home opener.

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Collective Bargaining Updates

Jan 27

Posted by kirsoccer in Collective Bargaining Agreement | No Comments

Just to pass on some news on the collective bargaining front that has come through in the past 24 hours.

First, Freddie Ljungberg’s bizarre situation has led to this bit of news posted on Freddie’s blog.  It seems he’s been led to believe that there will be no lockout.  I don’t want to question his character, and have no knowledge of his situation, but I’m struggling to buy the “miscommunication” line.

Second, Major League Soccer Talk has probably the most in-depth discussion on issues that face the league. This is the first part in a series of interviews that they are holding on collective bargaining. An excellent primer to help you understand the complexities of the situation.

Finally, Soccer America comes through with some coverage of  the discussions.  Not much insight into the nature of the discussions, but we at least have details of the participants and the meeting proceedings.

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Collective Bargaining: Why a deal will get done

Jan 26

Posted by kirsoccer in Collective Bargaining Agreement, Editorials | 1 Comment

As you know the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires about five days from now. Many fans of Major League Soccer are concerned that there will be a lockout, especially since the specter of such was floated by several players, and outside forces trying to put pressure on the league to accept the demands of the players.
We have precious little information about the closed door discussions that have been going on in recent weeks, but late last week there was a sudden about face and a wave of optimism. In general, I would say that this information should be discounted just like the rumored lockout potential, but here is why I believe this optimism is indeed correct:

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