Wednesday, February 6, 2013

TV Guide, Black-hearted Destrier

It's really great that MLS is making more and more preseason games available online. New traditions are being created right before our eyes in Orlando, Arizona and Charleston with these mini tournaments. Once a little bit of time passes these things might matter and even migrate into the regular season (see Cups and English football). It's pretty exciting to see.

I listed out the games that the Crew will be playing this month over at Massive Report with some preseason notes about what to look out for.

The artwork was driven by the obvious. An old TV Guide seemed a natural fit for Ryan Finley. He's off to a good start in the preseason, looks comfortable up top. There's a classic Madmen look about him and he seems to have a bit of an edge to match it. I'm hoping it sticks around, to be honest.

Iain Macintosh wrote a piece titled: WHY ALL OF ENGLAND SHOULD LOVE ANDY CARROLL yesterday. It's short, but great.

"I’ve always liked Carroll. There is something rather glorious about the sight of him in full flow. When I watch him thundering into the penalty area, his hooves pounding the sludge like a snorting, black-hearted destrier, something deep within me stirs."

Some might say that here in the US we don't have any sort of identity like that in soccer, but I think we do, we just seem to misidentify it. Maybe, in a way, the same way that England likes to hide from Andy Carroll.

Soccer, more than any other sport, takes on the shape of her people and culture. The attitude that shapes the world view of Americans flows through the veins most of us, whether we like it or not. It's best described by someone better than I but the better side of it is one that's found in movies like Saving Private Ryan or, well... from the same time period in both film and historical context - Chicken Run.

Facing death and the impossible with a crooked smile, resourceful intelligence and a live forever confidence. That's the kind of player I would like on my team. The Crew have a few, would like to see more.

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