Let's Help Out Chris Bosh

Chris Bosh of the NBA's Toronto Raptors is in a contest with fellow NBA'er Charlie Villanueva (who recently signed with the Detroit Pistons) to reach 50,000 followers on Twitter the quickest. The winner essentially gets to choose how the other will be embarrassed on video everybody gets to see. As of right now (9:46 PM PT), Bosh trails Villanueva, 48,865 to 49,080.

Now, I can't speak for the entirety of UF (I know Spectator is a Pistons fan), but I think we should throw our support behind Chris Bosh. The lanky basketball player was a recent participant in the Showdown in Chinatown showing himself, while not a natural soccer player, to be a stand-up person and a good sport.

So, if you have a Twitter account and are so inclined, follow Chris Bosh and help him to victory. And tell your friends to follow him too.

Chris Bosh victory celebration after UF support?

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Mike Quarino: Once Twice in a Lifetime

Mike Quarino snuffs out Ryan Babel’s attack.

For the second year in a row UF was astounded by the sheer awesomeness of Showdown in Chinatown and for the second year in a row UF has been lucky enough to have someone who was a part of the awesomeness to answer our questions about the awesomeness of the event. This year we managed to snag ourselves an interview with Marc Stein's Man of the Match, winning goalkeeper for Team Reyna, Mike Quarino, who put up with us last year as well.

Now, on with the awesome.

You do realize you, and Marc Stein, are two of the luckiest soccer players ever, to manage to play in a charity game with NBA and soccer superstars two years in a row, right? Is this something you hold over all of your soccer playing friends' heads at any opportunity?

Oh yeah, we realize it. It was funny, all of the players were on one shuttle heading over to the field. And you look around and just have a feeling like “what am I doing here?” Then you get a little smile on your face and realize just how lucky you are.

Have you played the lottery lately? If not, you should be.

I have not, but I may take your advice…it can’t hurt.

How did you manage to get into this year's game, as well? Do you have incriminating photos of somebody?

At the advice of my attorney I am not allowed to discuss these photos. Kidding, no photos, I guess I played well enough last year to get the call. Claudio reached out to me and asked if I wanted to play again. I answered yes before he finished the question. My motivation this year was to play well enough to get another call next year.

How was this year's event different from last year's? Was the atmosphere different?

It was a little more controlled this year, there was more security and they put up bleachers for the fans so there weren’t any people standing on cars, climbing fences, or hanging from trees. That was probably the best for everyone’s safety.

Were you more nervous?

No, more anxious. Just ready to get out there get playing. We were on the field for about 20 minutes before we started playing. I had Tony Parker warm me up (just saying that is still crazy for me), so I was ready to go from the first whistle. Then a few minutes in Flamini scored a great goal on a volley, and I had a flash back to the volley Nash hit last year. I think you have a picture of that somewhere. [Ed. Note: Yep, third pic down on this post]

Marc Stein said you were the Man of the Match for the winning side. Do you think you had a good game? Any personal highlights from the match? Who was the MoM in your eyes?

I told Marc if he said that I would pass to him every time I get the ball if we are invited back next year. I think I played pretty well, there are a few goals I would like back. Steve had 2 on me that I thought I could have saved…including the PK. I got a piece of it, but not enough to keep it out. Personal highlights, well Davids had a few good chances that I was able to keep out. So not having him score on me was nice. There were back to back saves on Steve and Martin Nash that made me smile on the inside. And Thierry had a semi breakaway on me that I was able to send over the bar. My MoM would probably be Claudio or Tony Parker. Adrian Mutu had a pretty good game as well. A true group effort from Team Reyna.


Now, did you ever think being a GK would come in so handy in your life?

Absolutely not. I could never have imagined this. It’s crazy for me to be on the same field as some of the guys that were on my Champions League fantasy team.

Does Nash recruit you to play keeper in his rumored pickup games in NYC?

No, I don’t think Steve and I have ever played on the same team, we are always against each other. Davide Di Malta, who was the other keeper in last year’s match usually minds the net for Steve’s team. Unfortunately Davide was traveling for this year’s Showdown and could not play. We usually make a couple of trips a year into Chinatown for these rumored games.

I understand you are no longer with NY Red Bull and are now working for the expansion MLS club Philadelphia Union. How are the preparations for the inaugural 2010 season coming along?

That is correct, I came to Philadelphia in October as the Director of Ticket Sales and Fan Services to make sure we are sold out for all of our matches in 2010. The other members of the front office have been great to work with, and we continue to grow and move forward in our plans to make this club a success on and off the field. The fans have been absolutely amazing. They’ve been waiting for a MLS team in this market for a long time, and their support has been very impressive. I am very fortunate to be part of this club and can’t wait for our first match to get here.

When will the stadium be done? How are ticket sales?

Construction is coming along and we are targeting a spring 2010 opening. Let’s all hope for good weather in the northeast. Ticket sales have been tremendous. With a very small staff we have already eclipsed 7,000 season tickets. Our stadium is going to have about 18,500 seats and we will cap season tickets at 15,000, so we have already sold about 50% of our season tickets 9 months before we play a game, and before we have signed any players.

Do you think Philadelphia can match Seattle's impressive opening campaign?

I absolutely think we can, and that is our goal. Not only to match, but to surpass what both Toronto and Seattle have done. Every expansion team coming in should be looking to raise the bar that has been set by the previous expansion clubs. That bar has been set very high because both of those clubs have done a great job promoting their teams and embracing their respective soccer communities. But we are confident in reaching our goals, and as many people know Philadelphia is a very passionate sports town. We are looking forward to having one of the best atmospheres and most intimidating stadiums in Major League Soccer.


How does it feel to have penalties scored on you by Thierry Henry and Steve Nash [see photo above] in successive years?

Not as good as it would have felt to have saved penalties from Henry and Nash in successive years. But that’s not bad company to be connected with. So I have that going for me, which is nice. [Ed. Note: Marc Stein says the Nash penalty was revoked at halftime, so technically Mike did not get scored on by Steve Nash from a PK]

I don't believe I asked this last year, but do you have any souvenirs, autographs, shoes from the players in the matches? Or is it just the memories?

I did get a few last year, I took one of the game balls and had all the guys sign it. Greg Berhalter left the inserts for his boots in my bag. This year Mutu wore my boots since it rained and he did not want to play in flats. That and all the pictures on the internet have been more than enough.

Maybe it was the boots.

Is there any particular moment that stands out for you about this year's event? Or is there a particularly interesting story we might be interested in? I ask because Marc Stein tweeted that on the bus ride over Grant Hill was talking to Ryan Babel about Johan Cruyff playing in the NASL. It seems like that would have incredibly surreal to hear/see.

Having Tony Parker warm me up, he was a very cool guy. Grant Hill megging Chris Bosh. Having Reggie Bush drop in at the hotel before the game (he just happened to be staying in the same hotel as us). Mathieu Flamini unleashing a rocket past me for Team Nash’s first goal of the game. Those were some of this year’s highlights. Grant is a big soccer fan, he was talking about the Washington Diplomats and Baltimore Blast, it was pretty surreal.

Two Goal Scorer, Tony Parker

Who was the best player of the non-soccer-playing-professional-athletes this year?

That’s a tough one this year. I would say that Grant Hill and Tony Parker were both pretty good. Tony got our first two goals so I would have to give him the nod. But Grant did get one past as well. It should be noted that this was Chris Bosh’s first time ever playing soccer, he was a great sport about it and had a great time. He was this year’s Baron Davis. I have a lot of respect for these guys coming out and playing against world class players in a sport that they have no experience in. To come out and pretty much know there’s a good chance you’re going to embarrass yourself for charity says a lot about their character. Kudos to both of those guys.

Fan fave Chris Bosh celebrates.

I was expecting another question about the capris. This year I wore them by choice. I would like to give a shout out to Calle, they were one of the sponsors of the event and it was their gear that all the players were wearing. They have a hot soccer clothing line out there. You can check it it out at callerepublic.com


UF would like to thank Mike once again for indulging us and we hope he will be there next year as well.

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Freestyle Soccer hits Chinatown.

Last week, at the Showdown In Chinatown, I met Steve Elias, ball juggling extraordinaire. Steve works for Freestyle Soccer Inc based out of Canada. Steve and his team of Freestylers travel the globe wowing crowds with some amazing tricks and fancy footwork. See for yourself...



So if you see Steve and his friends performing at a game you are at, tell em you saw them on UF and give him a big thumbs up. If you want to find out more, click here.

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Showdown in Chinatown 2009: The Recap

Steve Nash in flight

You've already seen the pictures and read our impressions. You've watched the video.

Now, after the hop, get a full recap of the match itself from our kid, the Likely Lad.

Blue - Team Reyna
Claudio Reyna
Adrian Mutu
Salomon Kalou
Quincy Owusu Abeyie (Spartak Moscow)
Javier Zanetti
Tony Parker
Ivan Cordoba
Javier Zanetti
Marc Stein
Thierry Henry (second half intro)
Mike Quarino (GK)


White - Team Nash
Steve Nash
Grant Hill
Chris Bosh
Mathieu Flamini
Edgar Davids
Martin Nash (Steve’s bro, who plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps)
Francesco Santoro (GK)

Showdown in Chinatown: The Rematch
Chris Bosh is tall, popular in New York City

by The Likely Lad

New York City-- Tony Parker came to play. We know because he told us. UF asked for a comment ten minutes before the game began and Parker declined, saying he "did press already." As far as I can tell that meant signing a couple footballs, taking a few pictures with the kids, then twisting his face in agony whenever Thierry Henry strayed from his side. It lasted all of ten minutes.

There's no karma in Tony Parker's world -- that is, we're still waiting -- he's won three NBA titles, is married to an equally vapid but especially beautiful television actress, and scored a fantastic goal not five minutes into Wednesday evening's Second Annual Showdown in Chinatown. His side, Team Reyna, would go on to win 8-5 at Nike Field on Chrystie Street.

Parker's piece of accidental magic capped off a sequence that began when teammate Chris Bosh played a neat one-two with himself. He's that tall; his legs are that long. The NBA star played the "Eddie the Eagle" card and ended the evening as the fan favorite. The Frenchman, though, rode his unending luck, skipping and redirecting a low, hard pass through his legs, turning the Team Nash goalie sideways for the opener.

He would come close again minutes later, but an aggressive slide from the same keeper stole out his feet and opened ten minutes of muted play -- nerves? Probably more to do with the surface, which was still wet from the late afternoon thundershowers. The rain fell until just minutes before gametime.

The play soon reached a comfortable speed -- looked like about 200 mph from where we stood, behind the Team Reyna bench -- and just in time for Arsenal defector Mathieu Flamini to level with the game's most pulsating strike. Team Captain Nash had fed Ryan Babel (who played with a bit of mean streak) into the box with a bouncing pass. Babel collected, then juggled in and around a passive defense before skipping the ball to Flamini, who connected on a full volley. The velocity was, as I recall, simply terrifying.

It was game on from there, as the Rossoneri Frenchman tried his luck again just moments later. The juices were flowing. Everyone wanted a piece now.

The strongest nose for goal belonged to Team Reyna's Adrian Mutu. The Romanian, playing to his considerable rooting section, was sniffing out opportunities at every turn. Cutting and tweaking through the Nash team's defense, he found Bosh alone in front, where the hoops giant had camped out all alone, just in time to bend one like Bent... and nearly skull a spectator.

Bosh was more efficient in front of his own keeper, where his shambolic clearance attempt -- he fouled it off, for lack of a better term -- led to an own goal, and a 2-1 lead for Nash's white side.

Bosh played a nominal left back position, though the purist may have preferred he'd been left home. As for the rest, he was a sensation. Completely lost in every situation, he was particularly befuddled by the "kicking of the ball." His aerial game was similarly ...emm ...distracted.

Teammate Salomon Kalou had no such difficulties. As Norwich City youth squad coach John Revell noted, Kalou plays the ball, not the other way around, and all of his considerable trickery comes in context. No wonder then his considerable work led to the tying goal, which, shock!, was credited to Tony Parker.

"It was no classic," Revell said, apparently unimpressed by Parker's last touch.

The score stayed tied as the first half progressed and Mutu continued to distinguish himself with skillful hard work. That, or he was just sweating one off.

The Romanian would eventually break the deadlock, but not before Grant Hill, playing sprightly for Nash's white team, executed the move of the game, nutmegging a hopeless Bosh during an Alves-esque drive down the right flank. It was going to happen eventually, but leave it to the Duke guy to pick on the least experienced player on the field. Ten thousand ugly co-eds cheering him and Hill might have had a flashback to Cameron Indoor.

Edgar Davids, the most obvious of the Dutch assembly (along with Babel), followed in close kind with a tittering display of ball skill. It amounted to nothing as the humorless Ivan Cordoba dispossessed him with a clean snap. Davids was masterful in his role of Dutch ball hog, and yes, spectators could be heard calling him a "hog."

The half would end just after the referee awarded a PK to Steve Nash. Either T.H. Ovrebo has stepped onto the turf or Nash was getting some preferential treatment. The call came after he botch an unmolested attempt on goal via bicycle kick. His effort from the spot was not too much better, but it did find the net, and give his side a one-goal advantage heading into halftime. (Note: the goal would be rescinded at halftime, or so we're told.)

After a quick break, some promotional squawking, and a t-shirt grab, the players resumed their endeavor, but this time with a certain former-Arsenal forward now on the pitch in his Nike high tops. Somewhere, Spectator swooned. It was Henry, and even in his malaise he could have set up or scored five or six goals for Team Nash.

Alas, proving he hasn't totally kicked the Arsenal bug, Titty managed just one, this despite hours of prancing and passing around the box. Mutu was more direct, mainlining ball after ball into the paths of his teammates, and eventually two more past Team Nash's worn out keeper.


Player ratings

Blue - Team Reyna

Claudio Reyna - 7 - Sleek and sharp as ever. And he stayed healthy ALL day.
Adrian Mutu - 8 - Ball moved at his leisure.
Salomon Kalou - 9 - Game MVP. Dribbling, creativity, demeanor... had the whole package. Cool dude.
Quincy Owusu Abeyie (Spartak Moscow) - 5 - Mystery man wasn't much of a factor.
Javier Zanetti- 7 - Part of the solid Inter-based backline. Allowed the others to roam as he and Cordoba shut up shop.
Tony Parker - 6 - Couple lucky goals preceded an impotent second half.
Ivan Cordoba - 7 - Did anyone tell him this was an exhibition? Wasn't violent, but played some serious D.
Marc Stein - 7 - That rating is for his outstanding Twitter performance, including the bit about Grant Hill recalling watching Cruyff play in the NASL.
Thierry Henry (second half intro) - 6 - Didn't do much, but clearly the most awe-inspiring presence. Didn't think we'd see him due to injury.

White - Team Nash

Steve Nash - 7 - Clearly the point guard. In the Cruyff role, if only cos he was surrounded by so many Dutchmen.
Grant Hill - 6 - Another b-baller who more than held his own. The nutmegging of Bosh was special.
Chris Bosh - 1 - The Hero, still.
Mathieu Flamini - 5 - Mostly invisible, save for that horrifying volleyed blast into upper right of Reyna's goal.
Edgar Davids - 6 - A fifth place finish, if you get my drift.
Martin Nash (Steve’s bro, who for the Vancouver Whitecaps) - 5 - Nooot bad, not bad at all. Stayed 3/4 serious and held his own.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst - 3 - Rumors of his appearance have been greatly exaggerated.

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Showdown in Chinatown 2009: Impressions of the Game

Flamini looks on as Zanetti and Reyna celebrate a Parker goal

Well, yet another Showdown in Chinatown in the books. It briefly looked like it mightn't happen this year thanks to the Biblical rains that New York has been suffering through lately. Then, like a crack of lightening, the announcer said, "Here are the players!" And sure enough, there they were, jogging on to the field to a scrum of kids, "media" and people who had snuck inside the fence.

The event still had a magical Dr. J at Rucker Park feel to it. Steve Nash, Claudio Reyna and the rest of the organizers have done exactly the right thing by keeping the game at the small Nike field. It's intimate, with players literally falling into the crowd on several occasions. And I can only guess what the event looks like to people walking past on their way home from work - "What's going on here? Who? Playing soccer??"

We've spent the past couple days collecting our thoughts, sorting through photographs and editing video (if you haven't watched it yet, do so here).

After the hop, words by Ian and photos by Spectator.

We were all on a high after watching the shocking win over Spain, and despite my continued erroneous iPhone weather updates (“The blob looks like its moving through”), we spent the next hour or so huddled four or five deep under a tiny umbrella as a rather tall Englishman laughed at our Yank grumbling about the rain.

Titi was very much the center of attention

The rain mercifully let up before 6pm or so, and then suddenly the players appeared from one corner of the pitch. They were soon mobbed by the “media” (lets just say that there were lots of people with media badges that were wearing Prada shoes).

Our buddy Marc Stein ponders his second foray into George Plimpton territory

We were able to talk with Babel, Kalou, Mutu, and others, who were great, although the NBA players were much more standoffish. Henry was mobbed, as was Steve Nash. In general though it was great access that you wouldn't normally get as a humble blogger.

Pre-game announcements

About 15 minutes later, the call came for everyone to clear the field, and eventually it was just the players doing warmups. Finally, at around 6:30, the arbitro blew the whistle and we were off.

Chris Bosh made Peter Crouch look graceful

Let it be said for the record that of the NBA players, the skills hierarchy was Nash>Parker>Hill>Bosh. I don’t think Bosh had ever played before, and it looked like it. Awkward 6-11" man loping down the right wing with horrible touch.

Bosh earns the biggest applause of the day after he completes a pass

By the end of the match the crowd was practically begging for a goal from the big man, and he nearly connected on a perfectly set up header down at the far end of the pitch. He also took a bit of heckling, at one point yelling “Don't boo me man!”

Grant Hill eyes the action

Grant Hill, on the other hand, who isn’t much shorter than Bosh, looked very good, even executing a ridiculous stepover move and generally showing great touch.

Tony Parker... He's French, bitch

One of the few times that Steve Nash wasn't running

Tony Parker managed to bag a few goals, but Steve Nash looked like he could be slotted into the midfield for a professional side. By the end of the match he was soaked with sweat, and was definitely taking the game seriously.

Cordoba cracks a rare smile

Zanetti keeps an eye on Babel

The Inter Milan backline of Ivan Cordoba and Javier Zannetti looked pretty solid in the match, although there wasn't much in the way of tackling going on. The running joke was that Cordoba didn't know it was a kick around because he looked pretty intense patrolling the back.

Claudio Reyna, ever the captain

Thierry Henry

Babel looked dangerous but his touch was a bit suspect, while Reyna looked pretty slow. Titi came on in the second half but due to a knee injury was only at like 50% speed compared to everyone else. He spent much of the game back on defense.

Solomon Kalou takes the shot

Mutu powers the ball into the net

Salomon Kalou was easily the fastest man on the field. The best soccer player to my eye was Adrian Mutu, who despite wearing an arm brace bagged himself an, er, brace, and looked very skilled even on a questionable and wet plastic pitch.

Babel jumps over Mike Quarino

The key is to look good even when you let in a goal

Also a special shout out to the goalkeepers, who got in front of some pretty hard shots and single-handedly kept the scoreline in the single digits. Marc Stein also came on for a brief cameo, and he didn’t look that bad, and even had a chance to bag a goal himself.

Davids was difficult to recognize without his trademark goggles

Edgar Davids spent much of the match dribbling and showboating. But it was hard to blame him. Even though he's retired, it looked like he could start tomorrow for the New York Red Bulls (hint hint).

The sun makes a brief cameo appearance in the treetops

Despite the rain, the sideline was packed, although the vibe wasn't very underground. Lots of groupies, hangers on, posses, clueless suits and extravagantly dressed women. I think they were handing out VIP passes by the cartload. ESPN was there, along with Fox Soccer, although the level of soccer knowledge amongst the TV people was pretty dismal. Let's hope the weather cooperates for next year, and we get a few more surprise stars – especially from the NBA – to play in the game.

A game well-played

That all said, it was a hell of a way to spend an afternoon. We can't wait until next year.

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Showdown In Chinatown Video

Happy Friday people. Lets kick off a day of 'Showdown in Chinatown' coverage with a video. Yes, you read that right. A video! I hope you feel the love, this is just for you people. It's a first for UF and something we may start to do more of in future. Enjoy.

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Now For Act II Of Today's Fun

The above is a cell phone picture from the field where the Showdown in Chinatown will take place in approximately one hour. The weather does not look as nice as last year, but who really cares? It's the footy we are interested in.

UPDATE: Spectator says it's pissing rain and wonders if the players will risk it.

UPDATE II: Marc Stein reports he will be playing again and has lineups.

Team Nash (white): Steve, Martin Nash, Thierry Henry, Mathieu Flamini, Ryan Babel, Edgar Davids, Grant Hill and Francesco Santoro in goal

Team Reyna (blue): Claudio, J. Zanetti, R. Cordoba, Adrian Mutu, Salomon Kalou, Chris Bosh, Tony Parker, Me (gulp) and Mike Quarino in goal

Stein also reports that the game will go on despite rain.



Looks like former UF interviewee Mike Quarino gets to play in the game of a lifetime two years in a row.

UPDATE III, 5:56 ET: It appears our boys are busy at work, but Stein delivers with a nice little tidbit about Grant Hill telling Ryan Babel about watching Johan Cruyff.

Bigus Dickus and Spectator's vantage point behind the goal. Looks like Flamini in white, with Chris Bosh the lanky fellow in the bank, Tony Parker, Reyna, unrecognizable and Steve Nash.



Also, note the fellow in blue sitting on the bench looking down at something...I presume that's Marc Stein live twittering.

Another pic from Bigus...Reyna, Nash, ???, ???, ???, Tony Parker, Flamini?.



Chris Bosh...you think stringbean Peter Crouch on the pitch is unusual? Try 7 foot Chris Bosh. He's playing in just sneakers, apparently has never played before, and is having a good time. Awesome.

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Well, That Was Fun

The US beating the number one ranked team in the world, Spain, two-nil to reach its first final of a major international FIFA senior tournament is about as awesome as it can get for a US soccer fan. However, that "Do You Care?" poll on the ESPN frontpage (above) is not so awesome.

There's an unsubstantiated rumor out there that Bob Bradley had the following statment after the game:

"I'm happy to announce that I have agreed a lifetime contract with USMNT."

I'm kidding, only slightly though. This win will paper over a lot of the flaws exposed earlier in the Confederations Cup tournament. Spain also did not do itself any favors by not watching the Egypt game tape. You can count on Bradley maintaining a firm grasp on the coaching seat through at least the 2010 WC and probably beyond.

Let's not dwell in the negative. Rather, let us bask in the glorious golden shine of victory. This was epic. I only wish I could have watched it rather than just follow along online.

However, things will get a little bit awesomer this evening during the Showdown in Chinatown. UF has several people on the scene and hopes to have some updates throughout the day with plenty of coverage to come in the days following.

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Only One Day Until Showdown in Chinatown!

Yes, we're excited. We're amped. We're geeked. We're... well, you get the idea. In about 24 hours, some of us get to see the second Showdown in Chinatown!! More details after the hop.

If you're in New York, here is the info as we've been given it. Like last year, the match will be at the Nike field in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, south of Houston Street, between Christie and Forsyth. The match itself is supposed to start at 6:00 p.m., although if it is anything like last year it won't exactly happen on time.

The official "roster" likely won't be known until game time, and we fully expect there to be some players who simply show up unannounced (that's what happened last year, at least!). In any case, here's the "official" list as it now stands: Steve Nash, Claudio Reyna, Thierry Henry, Tony Parker, Javier Zanetti, Raja Bell, Adrian Mutu, Chris Bosh, Ivan Cordoba, Grant Hill, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Ryan Babel, Salomon Kalou, Mathieu Flamini and Jason Kidd.

Beforehand, players should be doing interviews (we will be there and will try to ask all the hard-hitting questions that you would expect!). You'll need a pass to get inside the fence for the match, but like last year the public will be able to watch from outside the fence. Our suggestion is to show up early and scope out a good spot.

Also, Bigus and myself will be at Slainte, on Bowery and 1st, in the afternoon to watch at least some of the Spain v. USMNT match. Come say hello -- I'll likely be in an Exeter kit, Bigus will likely be in Norwich green and yellow (natch).

We're aiming to have full coverage posted on Friday, including pictures and video. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a pic or two tomorrow.

Official details below... Stay tuned!

[Official Showdown in Chinatown page]
[Football for Good]
[Calle]

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We'll Admit We're Geeked

The second Showdown in Chinatown is next week. And our nipples might already be hard.

Clearly, given the above Twit from Baron Davis, last year's class clown aims to bring more skills to the Lower East Side for the sequel.

It's almost inconceivable that footie fans in NYC can catch Thierry Henry play what amounts to a pick-up soccer game (with NBA'ers) in the park. Even Henry himself doesn't seem to get how cool it is for US Americans. Here's his quote from last year:

I didn't know it was going to be like a lot of people around the Astroturf. But I guess they wanted to see Steve, Baron and the other guys there. I don't know, I think it was a great environment.

Uh, no. Think they were there to see you (and Fowler, and Kalou, and even Jozy) as much as they were to see the cagers.

It's been a good week (shitty USMNT not withstanding), so thanks for popping in. We especially want to thank everyone for chiming in on the Confederations Cup liveblogs. We're trying to bat 1.000 in covering them, although we might not get both concurrent matches over the weekend. Still, they are fun for us, so we'll try to get them all covered... Yoda be damned.

Anyway, between the rest of the tournament and the second Showdown (Wednesday—and we'll be there to cover it again), next week should be busy as well. I think I speak for all of UF when I say it's been a pretty fun month considering there hasn't been any league play*.

[*MLS exempted]

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BREAKING: SHOWDOWN PLAYERS ANNOUNCED So That's Where Flamini's Been?

The text below the dotted line was my start to a quick throw, but the news just came down about who will be at the Showdown In Chinatown this year on June 24.

Behold from Steve Nash's facebook page:

SHOWDOWN IN CHINATOWN NYC 2009!! Come see THIERRY HENRY of Barcelona, JAVIER ZANETTI and IVAN CORDOBA of Inter Milan, SALOMON KALOU of Chelsea, RYAN BABEL - Liverpool, MATHIEU FLAMINI of AC Milan, ADRIAN MUTU of Fiorentina, and 4x World Cup Captain CLAUDIO REYNA! Along with NBA stars TONY PARKER, JASON KIDD, GRANT HILL, RAJA BELL, CHRIS BOSH and MUCH more surprises to come!

Nice.....I'm sure there are jokes to be had about Mutu, Babel and Grant Hill but none here right now. Just enjoy. Also enjoy the video I started out writing about below. It's fun.

[Also note that Showdown is for charity and you have chance to win a trip if you donate...info here.]
-------------

Mathieu Flamini left Arsenal last summer for AC Milan and thus he kinda dropped off the UF radar. But, UF has found him again. Actually, Steve Nash found him and asked him to play a pickup game in NYC and we are just poaching the information. We don't find anything except ways to waste time at work.

The video is best viewed with the sound on but it is a bit blue so you may want to turn the volume low. Notice that this is the same field where the Showdown in Chinatown took place last year, and we are guessing will be the locale for this year's version that Steve Nash has been quietly pimping.

Read more on "BREAKING: SHOWDOWN PLAYERS ANNOUNCED So That's Where Flamini's Been?"...

Showdown in Chinatown 2009 Date Announced

Titi v. J-Kidd... also pictured: Macca's tuccus
It really would not be an exaggeration to say that Showdown in Chinatown was the highlight of last summer. NBA stars, footy stars, and even ESPN's Marc Stein running around on a small pitch in the Lower East Side in front of hundreds of fans hanging off a chain-link fence. Heaven truly is a playground.

It's with great excitement that we have learned that the game is happening again this year, and that a date has been chosen. Steve Nash launched a new website for the charity Football for Good, wherein Nash included a video announcing that the Showdown will be held on June 24th in New York. There is even a contest where you get airfare and a ticket to the match.

We are also hearing rumors that the roster will be even more fantastic than last year. This video might have some clues... Some really great football players are featured, as well as Joe Cole.

So, if you are in New York, or you can get to New York, better start planning for a sick day.

Read more on "Showdown in Chinatown 2009 Date Announced"...

Mikael Silvestre Had A Week To Forget

Mikael Silvestre has probably had better weeks in his life. Which is why he probably shouldn't be telling Arsene Wenger that he needs to "analyse" the weaknesses of his squad. That's kinda like the farter in sixth grade saying, "Do you smell that? It stinks. Did somebody fart?" It didn't work then and it won't work now.

Over the course of the last week he was shown to be old and slow repeatedly in resounding losses to ManU and Chelsea. I expect that had Arsenal's backline not been so thin he would never have seen the grass, but as it was he was out there and his opponents essentially pulled his pants down, kicked sand in his eyes, and then pointed and laughed at him.

How bad was he? Well, I asked some Gooner fans I know about Silvestre and this was the best and most succinct answer I could find:

Honestly, I would rather have had Senderos all season instead.

Burn.

It couldn't get any worse for Silvestre. Could it?

It could.

Silvestre is the frontman for a charity soccer match, All-Stars for Hope, to be played at Giants Stadium on June 14. It was going to be awesome. There were big stars lined up and everything. Henry, Lampard, Drogba, Rooney, Ronaldo, Anelka, Adebayo, Almunia and PFA Giggs. Pretty awesome, although I wonder if they all would have shown up. Unfortunately, it was announced earlier this week "due to the economic climate" that the event had been cancelled.

This is unfortunate because I think it would have been a success. Maybe these players should just show up for a Showdown in Chinatown II.

[H/T ONTD FB]

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An Interview with Marc Stein: Part II

As promised, herein lies Part Two of our two-part (despite what my friend Lingering Bursitis might have said to the contrary) interview with ESPN's Marc Stein. Part One can be found right here -- or you could just scroll down the page, but that defeats the purpose of hyperlinking, eh?

Again, big thanks to Marc for taking the time to speak with UF!



After the jump, Marc talks about the NBA, blogs and working for ESPN.


Q: One of the interesting contrasts between European football leagues and the NBA is the different systems for player movement from team to team. It seems like each system has its own massive imperfections. In football, you have essentially an unregulated market – no salary caps, with the best players always moving to the best teams for increasingly astronomical sums. In the NBA, the draft and salary caps have done a good job of ensuring parity, but you wind up with lots of purely cap-saving moves (the recent trade involving Marcus Camby being a prime example). Any thoughts about whether the sports can somehow find a happy medium?

STEIN: It's two completely different worlds. So there's realistically no common ground for a happy medium. You can't really compare a 30-team league governed by a commissioner to the comparative confusion of worldwide football and the constant shuttling of players from country to country to country.

I much prefer the salary-cap system, because it levels the playing field to the point that a team in a market like San Antonio can build an NBA powerhouse, which gives hope to fans everywhere. It’s awfully discouraging for clubs like City, Nash’s Tottenham and so many others knowing before a ball is kicked that we’re playing for fifth place at best. But there's little point talking about instituting a salary cap in the Premiership if La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga don't have the same. And even if the impossible happened and Premiership chairmen agreed to implement a cap, how could there ever be a cap that applies across numerous leagues of all shapes and sizes worldwide? It's almost impossible to fathom.

I will concede, though, that the NBA's salary-cap system will look plenty flawed itself if teams in Europe start consistently outbidding our teams for players. But we're not even close to there yet, with all due respect to the Childress Movement. All the talk about 50-mil-a-year offers for Kobe and LeBron, furthermore, is WAY premature. There's simply no proof yet that teams abroad can pay that kind of money, before we even get into some of the other obstacles . . . like the fact that Greece is a marketing wasteland for basketball players and can't possibly appeal to LeBron. Until we see hard evidence that there will be offers sufficiently rich and sensible for a LeBron or a Kobe or even a borderline All-Star to leave the NBA in their title-contending primes, keep me in the Believe It When I See It camp. I just can't forget how reluctant some guys have been to play in sensational cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Now they're going to flock to Europe for money we don't really know exists?

Q: Another contrast between the NBA and European football is the playoffs v. promotion/relegation system. I love the NBA, but even I will admit that the playoffs have become interminable and the end of the season rendered meaningless, especially for teams trying to gain a better draft pick. On the other hand, the EPL remains competitive throughout the season and relegation battles often take on just as much importance as matches at the top of the table. The playoffs are obviously the NBA's cash cow, especially in terms of TV coverage, but is there any chance that the NBA could emulate football and try to make the regular season more meaningful?

STEIN: Don't think it's a problem exclusive to the NBA. I imagine baseball seasons feel pretty empty when your team is out of it in July. I naturally love the promotion/relegation concept, but the reality, as you know, is that we're again talking about two completely different worlds. England has 92 professional football clubs operating independently and lots of leagues below the four main divisions. We've got nowhere to relegate our teams and no pool of promotion candidates because of the affiliated minor-league systems in major US team sports. They've got us beat on this one. By a mile.

Q: Greg Lalas recently criticized you for not covering football in addition to basketball. Is covering football something that you've ever considered? What about an EPL power rankings column?

STEIN: I read Greg's piece and your recent interview with him and I appreciate the fact that he went back and acknowledged that I'm not some "mainstream sports guy" who had a soccer epiphany. I covered soccer in the mainstream press before his brother ever pulled on a national-team shirt. I covered the US national team extensively from 1987-91 for The Orange County Register, back when my man Paul Caligiuri's goal in Trinidad put US soccer back on the international map . . . and back when the sport was such in this country that a college kid like me could walk into the newsroom of the second-biggest paper in California and talk his way onto the beat of a World Cup-bound team. I didn't get to go to Italia '90 -- don't know that I would have been sent even if I was out of college -- but I did get to cover the '94 World Cup for the Los Angeles Daily News right after my first few months on the NBA beat.

There were simply NO papers in the States back in those pre-MLS days where you could make a living as a full-time soccer guy. (Almost the same held for tennis, which was actually my “first” sport, apart from the New York Times and LA Times.) Some of my closest soccer-writing pals from that era -- like Steve Goff (Washington Post) and Scott French (MLS Magazine and another alumnus from the Cal State Fullerton journalism factory) -- are still going and have my full admiration for putting up with years of snubs from their editors and the countless desk shifts they had to log for the right to occasionally do some soccer to make it to an era where there actually is an MLS beat.

But when I got the chance to cover the Clippers, as a 25-year-old, I could barely contain myself. I think I was the youngest traveling beat writer in the league at the time and it was an absolute dream come true, because the NBA was by far my favorite big-league sport. The NBA, soccer and tennis were my three sporting dreamlands and I was determined from a young age to make it in one of those arenas as a journalist. I was fortunate enough to get an extensive taste of covering the latter two sports while still a student at Fullerton and then got my big break NBA-wise when then-Daily News sports editor Tod Leonard (another soccer sympathizer) did some shuffling and threw me onto the Clips. Some 15 years later, this really feels like what I was born to do. I think I knew it on my very first road trip, too, looking at all the conventioneers in the hotel and thinking: "All these chumps have to sit in some dreadful all-day presentation and I'm going to an NBA game. I am indeed the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

I initially wanted to be a baseball writer like everyone else in my sports-writing generation (and several generations before that) but quickly found that the NBA was where I belonged. Basketball had the more interesting, revealing and unpredictable characters, all playing a game so athletically tasty that me and my high school buddies taped SportsCenter every night so we never missed the highlights, all of which seemed to be within an arm's length from what were often sensational seats on press row, all in a sport that was global like soccer. (One reasonably why Nash is so popular with footballers around the world is that footballers generally LOVE the NBA.)

Most importantly in my case, I fell harder for the NBA after I started covering it and once I started meeting the people. Turns out that I love talking hoops as much as watching hoops. Not sure why, but sports like baseball and boxing, which I inhaled as a kid, didn't work like that for me as a writer. I was a total Strat-O-Matic baseball seamhead by the age of eight, but my interest in baseball now is reduced to taking my sons to the odd game and buying hats and plastic helmets that I liked in the '70s and '80s. Basketball, by contrast, became even more of a religion after I graduated to beat writer.

However . . .

I can't deny that, like Greg did, I have asked myself once or twice if I should have found a way to do more footy along the way. It’s really not even possible any more in this era of specialization, but it is true that mixing in more soccer somehow -- I think covering the U.S. men's and women's teams at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 for The Dallas Morning News was my last extended exposure to footy on a media basis -- would have been a great way for me to give back to the sport I love so much.

Soccer is still (and might always be) struggling for a foothold in this country and needs more journalists who truly love it to help in the fight for exposure. This is obviously not a problem at ESPN, where we have an army of soccer guys. In general, though, there's still only a small handful of American sportswriters championing the beautiful game's cause. And that’s an issue for the sport to deal with just like the struggle to attract the best athletes.

Q: That said, what's the best and worst thing about being an NBA reporter for ESPN?

STEIN: Best thing? How much time do we have? I don't know that I could aptly describe what those four letters have done for me and countless others who left the newspaper world for Bristol. All the different platforms . . . resources . . . audience size . . . creativity . . . access . . . reach . . . our constantly evolving technology . . . my colleagues on ESPN.com's NBA squad. I could go on and on.

There are only two negatives. 1) Time on the road gets harder and harder when you've got two growing little champs in the house who are looking for Daddy. 2) The NBA calendar is as non-stop as any in sports. We go from Oct. 1 through late June, then it's the draft one week after the Finals . . . and then free agency and summer league starting July 1 might be the busiest time of all. One of my favorite GMs has a great saying that he loves to trot out at summer league when we’re all in a gym in July for hours at a time watching summer hoop that isn't always of the highest standard: “Life’s not bad, boys. We’re on expense accounts watching basketball.” I realize that no one who has to go to those hotel conventions with the overhead projectors wants to hear about our “grind,” but I remember a great line Dan LeBatard had in an interview with The Big Lead where he basically said that sports writing, compared to doing TV or radio, does hurt sometimes. Especially when you’re an obsessive freak-show perfectionist like I am. The writers who are good AND fast – Mark Whicker from my hometown OC Register is probably the first who comes to mind in this category – are my absolute idols. This gig would be even greater if I could be more like Whick and less like the guy who spends 10 months at a clip overthinking comma placement.

Luckily for me I have an unbeatable method for getting refueled. Last thing I do before NBA training camps open is to sneak over to England for about a week to pretend I live there and go to a mess of games all over the Northwest of England. There’s no sightseeing or socializing or any of that proper travel nonsense. It’s a 100 percent soccer trip. And September is a great time because there's almost a game every single day between the various leagues and cups. I love going to a little place like, say, Crewe on a Tuesday night for a Carling Cup game and seeing all the strange looks when folks get introduced to this crazy Yank who came to their small stadium in the middle of nowhere on his vacation.

Q: We'd be remiss if we didn't ask you about the supposed controversy between the Mainstream Media(tm) and the Blogosphere(tm). It seems to me, at least, that on a good day the two complement each other quite well. Blogs are more interested in amusing coverage but also directing traffic and holding the MSM somewhat accountable, whereas the MSM has the vast resources to do the actual reporting that's impossible for kids working in their parents' basements . . . although, to be fair, most of us at UF have just recently managed to move out of our parents' houses and some of us even have day jobs! So what do you see as fueling this debate?

STEIN: Arguably no one is more sensitive about being criticized than us paid critics in the media. Therein lies some of the tension. Media types are being called out louder than ever for their mistakes and watched very closely. Too closely in some cases, but like you suggested: We’re being held accountable like never before. Yet I think it's also true that there are a handful of bloggers out there who love telling each other in print how much smarter they are than us old-school fossils whose reporting still supplies much of what is dissected in the blogosphere. So heads naturally butt.

Another source of tension: Good bloggers and fan sites can cover their local NBA franchise in ways that the local papers cannot. They generally don't have the insider access for newsgathering that the papers have, but when it comes to pure coverage of a game they have more eyes, no space limitations, no deadline issues and no traditional "rules" to handcuff them. Team blogs and fan sites are also great at finding every printed word and video clip about their teams, which adds another layer to their coverage. So just speaking from an NBA perspective -- since the blogs I read most are NBA-related -- traditional media types have been steadily forced to raise our games to deliver stuff that reader doesn't already know yet. I see that as a good thing and take it as a personal challenge. Some of my peers apparently don't.

I would classify myself as a fairly voracious reader of a small collection of blogs from the NBA, sports media and footy worlds. I like, as much as anything, how they save me time by finding and linking stuff I might not have otherwise seen and send it right to my RSS reader. One of my favorite things about Henry Abbott’s work at TrueHoop is that he somehow tracks down links and passages that might not have made it onto the daily rumors page at HoopsHype.com, which anyone who has anything to do with the NBA reads every morning. That's impressive . . . and incredibly helpful.

My complaints about the blogosphere are the old standbys. It's disappointing when the coverage gets too personal or spreads wild speculation, but that’s something that the people we cover in pro sports have to deal with on a daily basis. No one ever said that the sports media would be immune to the same treatment.

And I know I wish I would have had the blog outlet when I was a newspaper beat writer. It gives you so many more options. Marc Spears in Boston, Brian Windhorst in Cleveland, Jonathan Feigen and Fran Blinebury in Houston, Ira Winderman in Miami, Ken Berger in New York, Paul Coro in Phoenix, Sam Amick and Scott Howard-Cooper in Sacramento, Doug Smith in Toronto, Ross Siler in Utah . . . those are some newspaper guys just off the top of my head who have a fun blog touch and have made good use of the immediacy advantage that blogs have over papers. My old paper in Dallas has a dedicated Mavs blogger (Tim MacMahon) who, in addition to his own commentary, does a great job of finding anything and everything worth reading about the team and putting it in one easy place to find. My old L.A. pal Tim Kawakami, meanwhile, is a full-time general columnist for the San Jose Mercury News who happens to churn out about 25 blog posts a week. Many of them are Warriors-related and any Dubs fan would tell you they're absolutely must-read.

You hear lots of complaints about how independent blogs don't face the consequences faced by their mainstream counterparts when they're wrong or over the line and how they lack the proper training, contacts and journalistic checks and balances to be treated as an equal. And maybe there are some cases where all that's true. But I don't think it's our place to worry about how the readers classify every blog they encounter. This is a free country and people can start their own website if they have something to say. I’d like to think the audience can generally determine for itself what's what and who's who.

Q: Next to being on the same field with Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Steve Nash and Thierry Henry, was being canonized by the Onion the greatest achievement of your career?

STEIN: I was certainly honored to see ESPN.com's NBA Power Rankings acknowledged by The Onion and more amazed by how many people saw it and e-mailed me about it. This season will be my seventh doing the Power Rankings and the interest in them, knock on wood, only seems to be growing, with John Hollinger’s daily computerized rankings definitely adding to the interest and debate. But with all due respect to the satire press, I can't quite put The Onion in the same sentence as playing with Growler and Macca. Like I said way, way, way too many words ago at the top: I've had far more fun than I deserve over the years, but lining up with legends like that for the Showdown in Chinatown is pretty much in a category unto itself.

Marc Stein writes about the NBA for ESPN.com and also appears on the WWL's television and radio programs. If Man City really do spiral down this season, please think good thoughts about him.

Read more on "An Interview with Marc Stein: Part II"...

An Interview with Marc Stein: Part I

When Lingering Bursitis and I had the honor and the pleasure of attending the Showdown in Chinatown a while back, little did we know the mileage we’d get out of that chance encounter on a warm, summer day. As you may recall, one of those who took part in the game was ESPN’s Marc Stein, by day an NBA reporter, but also a lifelong footy fan. We have to admit that we were a little jealous of Marc, getting the opportunity to run around with Steve Nash, Thierry Henry, Robbie Fowler and the rest. But, it turns out that there couldn’t have been a better representative for us, the fans.



Marc Stein recently took some time out of his hectic schedule covering the NBA to answer some of our questions about football and various other topics as well. A big thanks go his way. Marc is what we, in the business, like to call a real mensch.

Find out why after the jump in Part I of our interview.

Q: You already covered your experience at the Showdown In Chinatown for ESPN.com but how exactly did you get involved in the game. And about how long did it take you to say "yes" to playing?

STEIN: Apologies first of all for the link you've included and foisting so much on the public about this already. But I think anyone who's heard anything about this day of fantasy football can understand why I can't stop talking about it.

How did it happen? Dismayed as I am that one man can be so good at both footy and hoops, I have to give Nash all the credit. It was all his idea (with some encouragement from his trusty Italian sidekick Simone Sandri, no doubt) to let me bring the level down a few (dozen) notches, ensuring that I would be there to chronicle it all but as much because he knew how much it would mean to me to be out there. I've covered Nash at close quarters since he dribbled into Dallas in 1998 and we hit it off largely because of soccer, which is the sport he'd rather talk about 11 times out of 10. He was introduced to Fowler and McManaman years ago, quickly became close friends with them . . . and has since heard ad nauseum from me how those two are two of my absolute, all-time favorites.

Let’s just say that Nash must have realized that he’d lose me forever as his Ahmad Rashad -- when I'm not working as Nowitzki's Ahmad Rashad, of course -- if I wasn't allowed to sneak out there somehow.

Q: Will you be trademarking the term "Plimptonian Power Rankings?" If not, you probably should, even though I'd guess very few readers have any idea what you were talking about.

STEIN: Really? Inhabitants of the modern-day sports blogosphere don't know George Plimpton? A major disappointment, if true.

For the kids out there: Plimpton is the undisputed, legendary father of participatory sports journalism. Please read his Wikipedia page immediately.

[Ed.: I probably should’ve given readers far more credit. As an aside, the first time I heard about George Plimpton was when my Mom told me that he hit on her when she was working at NBC in the 1960s!]

He actually did full-length books on his experiences, but I've done OK for myself with probably more dabbles than I deserve in the Plimptonian realm. Besides the two other cameos I described in the article -- playing for a week with indoor soccer's Dallas Sidekicks and trying to return Roscoe Tanner's serve on three different surfaces -- I've also shared some interesting court time with Elgin Baylor and Pete Sampras . . . and was once paraded on the Maine Road pitch before a night match with a City scarf held over my head like a new signing. That was for an article I was invited to write in the Manchester Evening News.

I know, I know: I've actually had WAY more fun than I deserve.

Q: I thought it was interesting that some NBA players who were rumored to be involved in the Nash/Claudio Reyna match (Nate Robinson, David Lee and you mentioned Joakim Noah) weren't there. Did their teams pull the plug or was it more scheduling conflicts?

STEIN: No idea what happened to Nate and D-Lee. All of a sudden they went from available to unavailable. At least with Noah there's a story. Joakim called Nash when he read about the game on Page Six in the New York Post, told Nash he was dying to play and then called shortly before kickoff, apologizing for missing "yesterday's game." He had the wrong day somehow.

Q: I think everyone who was there agreed that Jason Kidd, among the NBA players, was the biggest revelation on the football pitch. Watching Kidd play, I couldn't help but think that he would've been an amazing professional soccer player, with the same athletic skills, vision and playmaking . . . plus at 6-3 he'd actually have a height advantage. What's your take on the argument that the United States would produce more top soccer players if student-athletes didn't gravitate towards other sports?

STEIN: I had to apologize to J-Kidd because I had it totally wrong in my preview story for ESPN.com. Never knew he had a soccer background and I made it sound like he had never kicked a ball in his life.

As for the bigger issue . . .

I don't know that I have anything profound to say beyond than the obvious. Soccer just doesn't have a big enough profile in this country -- and you have to wonder if it ever will -- to consistently attract the Kidd-level athletes. You'd like to believe that a country this big could hook, say, 50 of the best athletes under any circumstances. Or at least 20. But America is just totally unlike almost every other nation around the world, where soccer is generally the runaway No. 1 sport. What's the ceiling for soccer here with so many sports ahead of it in the queue and so many choices? I honestly don't know that soccer has moved up much in my lifetime.

Q: Changing topics slightly, when did you become interested in football, especially your beloved Manchester City? And how closely do you follow the Premier League during the season?

STEIN: Apologies, again, to anyone who has already been subjected to this sad, geeky, long-winded story.

My brother and I are the first generation in our family born in the States, so footy is the sport my father grew up with in Romania and shared with us. I was first exposed to English football when I was 11. We made frequent trips to Israel to see family in my youth and the only sports publication in English that you could find in the Holy Land in those pre-internet, pre-cable times was SHOOT! For those that don’t know, SHOOT! was a famed kiddie soccer mag that had heavy involvement from all the big England stars of the day and was published mostly on a weekly basis for a good 40 years before meeting its tragic demise in June as yet another victim of the unforgiving world of modern publishing. I will always hold it dear because SHOOT! immediately became my bible to get through the summer. I milked every word out of every issue.

Knowing nothing about the geography or the history of the English game, I was going to have to pick a team some other way from all the names and clubs I was suddenly trying to learn on the fly. On the back cover of my first issue, pictured in stunning sky blue, was City defender Tommy Caton doing a Q&A. City's kit had a strong resemblance to the shirt worn by my AYSO team back in Southern California -- except ours was one of those cheapo light blue mesh shirts with all the little holes and a white v-neck – so that’s the glamorous story of how this City fan was born.

The choice obviously stuck. And in what I consider to be a true sign from above, I made this call without even knowing that City had won the FA Cup in 1969 one day after I was born. Once I eventually discovered that bit of trivia, I realized that me and City were meant to be.

But it was pretty tough to follow English football back here in the States, in my experience, until the early 1990s . . . even though my dear Uncle Josef in Israel arranged for me to receive SHOOT! by mail in California through my teens at a ridiculous cost. As a kid, Toby Charles’ unforgettable broadcasts on Soccer Made In Germany and games in Spanish (starting for me with the 1982 World Cup) were the standout international footy programs I remember watching, overshadowing some sporadic coverage from England on similar UHF stations in SoCal. I more clearly remember subscribing to Sports Channel America (which I think is now basically Fox Sports Net) around 1991 or 1992 (for about $10-12 extra monthly on the cable bill) because they had an English footy highlights show every week. Then the Internet arrived and the world amazingly and mercifully started shrinking. Every season it wonderfully gets a little bit smaller, too. Example: Just in the last month I’ve watched both legs of City’s first UEFA Cup qualifying tie against a tiny team from the Faroe Islands and a preseason friendly against AC Milan on internet feeds that come from I don’t know where. I don’t know that you could have done that as recently as two years ago. I love this game!

In adulthood I'm your basic Premiership snob/geek who can't find much time for the MLS, but I also have an equally deep (and disturbing) love for England's lower divisions. I'd rather watch club football than international football any day of the week and I'd rather watch a League Two or Carling Cup match on Setanta than a La Liga game. Don't ask me to rationalize any of this because I know I'm a freak. I guess I just grew up reading so much about English football -- without actually being able to watch what I was reading about -- that even clubs in England's lower leagues have mystical qualities in my twisted world. City also spent three long seasons in England’s second and third tiers in the late '90s before the club started to rebound, which took me to some remote outposts that only cemented my Football League fetish. Sixfields Stadium in Northampton, for example. I've indeed been there to see City in what is now known as League One; it's one of the roughly 40 or so professional football grounds in England that I've been to in the past decade-plus. Like I said . . . total geek.

How closely do I follow the Premiership now? Closer than I want anyone to know. Closer than my family can stand. Let's just say that no one in the United States finds a way to watch more of the three daily helpings of Sky Sports News that we get over here than me.

Q: What do you make about the Thaksin Shinawatra/Sven-Goran Eriksson drama at Man City?

STEIN: It's nothing, sadly, that I didn’t expect back when Frank, as we call him, got the club. I always feared, with all the potential pitfalls attached to Shinawatra’s legal situation, that City could end up worse off than we were before he took over, which was an absolutely excruciating time in the last days of Stuart Pearce's regime. I dearly hope I’m just being my usual paranoid, worst-case-scenario self, but the developments coming out of Eastlands are ominous, to put it charitably. And you get conditioned as a City fan to wonder when the next crisis will hit.

As for Sven specifically, clearly he didn’t deserve to go. The man only had us in the top five for half the season and did the league double over U----d, after City had gone nearly 40 years without beating our neighbors twice in the same season. If I must be honest, I was not a fan of his football, like a lot of City fans, largely because Sven insisted on playing a dour system (only one man up front) even at home. But let's face it: He was absolutely fantastic in his first season, results-wise, getting a team full of new players to gel so quickly. Sven also had an undeniable presence that was even more impressive than the top-10 finish. Not Mourinho-like, obviously, but Sven gave City unmistakable credibility, especially in the area of player recruitment. He could call any player in the world and at least get that player to take his call. Don't know if City has ever had another manager with that kind of juice.

That said, I'm a pretty big admirer of Mark Hughes, in spite of his U----d connections and last week's slip up to whatever the hell that Danish team is called that Danny Califf plays for now. He’s a rare breed (top young British manager) who’s joining the club with the most underrated, on-the-rise youth academy in England (reigning FA Youth Cup champions). So I fall into the camp of City fans who have their fingers crossed that we might have gotten away with one when Frank was able to convince Hughes to come to Eastlands after forcing Sven out prematurely. I think Hughes is good enough to solidify us as a top-six or seven side, but that naturally depends on Shinawatra's troubles going away or someone with money coming in to rescue him.

If the stories are true about Shinawatra wanting or needing to sell the club . . . don't make me think about what happens next. But that’s life as a City fan. It’s a roller coaster that never lets you off. As legendary striker Franny Lee famously said back in the club’s glory days -- and I'm paraphrasing here to Americanize his quote -- City would have an overflowing trophy case if they gave out cups for screw-ups.

Q: Do you think Ronaldinho would have worked out at Man City?

STEIN: Nope. No chance. Ronaldinho surely thinks he’s still too good to go from Barca to City. Factor in the ridiculous money we'd have been risking and it only could have ended in tears.

Part II of our interview with Marc Stein is on its way tomorrow!

Read more on "An Interview with Marc Stein: Part I"...

An Interview: Playing Soccer Against Thierry Henry

As you may know, there was a little event a couple weeks ago, The Showdown in Chinatown, that may be fairly described as the ultimate pickup soccer game. Future NBA Hall of Famers Steve Nash and Jason Kidd slipped on boots along with Thierry Henry, Robbie Fowler, and Salomon Kalou. Thousands watched, scaling the fences, aching to catch a glimpse of some legends.

It was a show for the ages. And some people were lucky enough to lace up in the actual game. Through a winding path of connections, I was able to correspond with one of those lucky bastards, who was on the business end of several Thierry Henry shots. His words are after the jump.

Mike Quarino, an employee of Red Bull New York sat between the sticks in for Team Reyna at The Showdown in Chinatown.

Before I wade into the interview, I'd like to thank UF contributor Spectator for all of the pictures in this post. They were all his work and he did a great job. So, for all you photo borrowers out there, please be sure to credit him and UF has copyrighted all photographs on this blog of The Showdown in Chinatown.

First off, I have to apologize on behalf of Unprofessional Foul for misidentifying you in our initial post about the Showdown in Chinatown. We regret the error. [Ed. Note: We also put Mike on the incorrect team. It's all Lingering Bursitis' fault.]

No worries about that, the fact that I was even mentioned was enough for me. I just didn't want to take credit for the win. That honor goes Davide Di Malta (who was in goal for Team Nash).

You were able to participate in what was probably one of the most unique pickup soccer games of all time playing with all-time great soccer players and some all-time great basketball players. I know I am jealous and so are a lot of others. Can you tell how you came to be involved in the event and what your soccer background is?

A couple of years ago (2006) some members of the Red Bulls front office started playing some pickup games against Steve Nash, Simone Sandri, and some of their friends in Chinatown, so I have known those guys for a couple of years. I have gotten to know Claudio over the last couple of years since he has been here and he knew I played against those guys so when they were looking for a goalkeeper (for target practice) he asked if I wanted to be involved. Originally Ronald Waterreus (RBNY goalkeeper last year) was supposed to start, and I was just going to jump in late in the match, but something happened where Ronald couldn't make it and I got the start. I literally found that out when we were on our way to the field.

I was a late bloomer with soccer, I didn't start playing until High School when I fell in love with the sport. I was the worst field player ever, so I made the transition to goalkeeper pretty quickly. I took to the position and I played through college. I still play in a few competitive leagues and had a few call ups to the Red Bulls reserve team.


Prior to the match did you meet with your teammates to discuss "strategy" or anything else? Or was it more like running out on the field spotting the people in the same color shirt and game on? If there was any pre-game discussion what was covered? What formation did your team use?

There was a little discussion when we got to the field. We had a coach who went over a quick formation and set up the team photo. I think we played a 3-2-2, but it changed throughout the match. It was a pretty free flowing system.


Describe what was going through your mind when the game kicked off? Was it surreal or were you solely focusing on the game?

It's funny, when I heard Henry was going to be playing all I could think about was the Joga Bonito commercial from a few years back, and not getting embarrassed. The atmosphere there was amazing, so I got caught up in that a little bit. I just wanted to get a touch on the ball as soon as possible, lucky for me that touch came early, and there were plenty more to follow. I made a pretty good save on Nash early in the game and there was a big "whoaaaaa" from the crowd. At that point I was pleased with my performance and thought to myself, it is only going to get worse. I wanted to pull a Costanza.... "ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT FOR ME, GOOD NIGHT!"


What was the most memorable part of the match for you? Was it this?


Haha....well played. That was one of them for sure, but I prefer to remember the few saves I made on Henry instead. Funny how I can't find those photos anywhere on the internet. Getting shuttled around in the Escalades wasn't that bad either.


Sorry.

Don't be...I was expecting it at some point.


Since, I brought it up, what were you thinking at the time this photo was taken? It doesn't look like you got very far off your line? Is this something you will be telling your grandkids about?

Well before the game Baron Davis was telling me he wanted to play in goal, so when they called for the PK I asked Baron Davis if he was ready to jump in the net. He declined. Then I just thought that it's me vs Thierry Henry, and there is only 7 yards between us! I was thinking if I save this I would be a legend (at least in my own head). And then he hit it......and all I can say is it sounded fast. If I could have been any further back behind my line I would have. The grandkids are definitely going to hear about this, along with anyone else who will listen!


How about this one? Sorry, we only have pictures you getting scored on.



I see a pattern developing here. Honestly, I did make a few saves during the game. This was the last goal of the game, I was pretty exhausted and my legs didn't have much left in them. McManaman played a good long ball up to Steve who did a great job of taking it off his chest and hitting it with his left. It was a really good finish, but I knew it was coming since it was part of the script and I was told to let Steve score at the final whistle, you know since it was his event. He was supposed to score on a bicycle kick, but I guess we'll just have to settle for the full volley. OK, so that's not true at all, but it makes me feel better about myself.

[Ed. Note: We located a few pics of Mike not getting scored upon. See the pic up top and directly below.]

















Since when did keepers wear Capri pants?


Haha, since Replay started sponsoring pickup soccer matches in Chinatown. I'm not gonna lie, I like them a lot and plan to get a couple more pairs.

Were you impressed by the basketball players' soccer skills? If so, which ones and why?

Absolutely, all of the guys are obviously great athletes, but that doesn't always translate to good soccer skills. Having played against Steve I knew what he could do and he impresses me every time we play. Out of the guys I saw for the first time I would have to say Jason Kidd really impressed me. He has the same style and vision on a soccer field that he does on a basketball court.

Of the soccer players, who were you most impressed with?

Henry put on a show, and I'm just glad I was as close as I was to watch it (refer to that picture above!). Kalou has amazing pace and his feet are incredibly quick. Fowler is just class.

Who was trash talking on the field? Anything good?

There wasn't that much going on. I heard some of the basketball guys having fun with each other. Baron Davis was involved in most of it. He stole the show.

One of the most amazing aspects of the game, I think, is the crowd that was watching. There were a ton of people there. How would you describe the atmosphere? Was it like an "And1" event?

The crowd was great, it was more than everyone expected. I'm just glad no one got hurt. I mean people were on fences, on street poles and in trees. The best part about it was that they were knowledgeable about soccer and applauded all the finer points of the game and not just the goals.
Finally, some quick hitters.

Besides Red Bull New York, your favorite club?

Barcelona and Juventus. But I find myself cheering for the European teams that have U.S. players on them. Everton, Fulham, Reading, 1860 Munich, Hanover, Heerenveen, and now Villareal.

Favorite all-time player?

Roberto Baggio and Diego Maradona

Favorite current player?

Lionel Messi

4-4-2 or 4-5-1?

4-4-2, but my preferred system is 3-5-2.


Thanks for your time.

I'd like to take this opportunity to extend a hearty thank you to Mike Quarino for taking time out of his day to answer my questions and for being such a good sport. I'm sure I can speak for all of the UFers in saying we are incredibly jealous of his experience.

Also, we located a few pics of Marc Stein that I thought we could throw up here for the benefit of Marc.





All photos property of Unprofessional Foul.

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