Norwich City meets SB San Siro

Graham Yallop, a Norwich City supporter that now lives in Napa, CA, has hit YouTube by storm with his Earthquakes videos focused on Hucks. He received the shirt of Hucks' back right after the KC Wizards game. Nice touch.

I've enjoyed Mr. Yallop's video journaling. Totally "home video" quality - they are the best! Keep it up Graham - you are not only providing your friends back home with updates, but you are entertaining thousands of Quakes fans here in America! Go Quakes! Go Hucks!

Oh Huckerby...Hucker - Hucker - Hucker - By

YES! I just finished watching the Quakes vs Wizards game on MLStv and it was a great game. 2-1 final with the Quakes again getting goals from the new members of the team - Alvarez and Hucks. Huckerby's header to break the 1-1 tie late in the second half was fantastic! He is a fan favorite - especially over there in the corner of the Ultras! We moved up the standings with our 25 points (tied with LA!). Only a win away from possibly moving further up. Next game is a friendly against the Seattle Sounders and then a home match against DC United. The South Bay San Siro was rockin'!

(note: I missed going to the Quakes game because I was in Berkeley at the Cal/Michigan State game. Cal squeeked by with a 38-31 victory. Kevin Riley is IN as QB(Longshore appears long gone...)

Big game tonight

The Quakes are taking on the KC Wizards tonight at the SB San Siro. This is a big game for both teams since they are fighting for an outside shot at making the playoffs.

Playoff system in the MLS: I have not seen any other football league that uses the playoff system. Is it an "American" sport phenomenon? I am not sure which system I prefer. The playoff systen certainly helps the "bubble" teams as they get a 2nd season. On the other hand, using a single league table and winning the championship by being on top at the end of the season rewards the most consistent team of the year. Hmmmmmm. I guess it depends - this year I'll vote for the playoff system - it helps keep the Quakes season alive!!!

What is the greatest rivalry on the pitch currently?

Man U vs. Chelsea? Liverpool? Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona? AC Milan vs Inter? World Cup? Champions League?

None of the above.

It's Adidas vs. Nike for commercial supremacy in worldwide football.

Adidas Vs. Nike: Battle Of The Soccer Ads (from Business Week)

Their Vivid Commercials May Be Remembered Longer Than The Best Plays Of The Euro 2008. But Will They Sell More Merchandise?

Euro 2008, the European football championship, produced some sublime moments of play even before the teams reached the quarterfinals. Think of Michael Ballack's arching free kick into the corner of the Austrian goal to give Germany the game, or Turkey's comeback from a two-goal deficit in the final 16 minutes to beat the Czech Republic. But when it's all over and the fans have scrubbed the last traces of national-color face paint from their cheeks, what will they really remember? The commercials, of course. Like every international soccer event, Euro 2008 is also a fierce marketing duel between the two giants of soccer apparel, Adidas and Nike. Bavaria-based Adidas (ADSG.DE) and Portland [Ore.]-based Nike (NKE) have taken radically different approaches to their advertising. Both companies tap the celebrity appeal of soccer gods like David Beckham or Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. Nike's spot, though, has video-game-like intensity, while Adidas' campaign is deliberately slow-paced and almost old-fashioned. Beyond AdvertisingNike hired film director and Madonna spouse Guy Ritchie to shoot its spot, which compresses a pro soccer career into two breathless minutes seen from the point of view of a player. [Check it out here.] The Adidas campaign, which includes nearly an hour of film broken into 12 episodes, focuses on local teams of kids in backwaters of Europe such as the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall. [Check it out here.] Famous players arrive unexpectedly to kick around balls and offer coaching tips. The campaign by agency 180 Amsterdam is less a commercial than a documentary. Adidas clothes and soccer boots play a discreet role. Although there's no overt sales pitch, the theme feeds into Adidas' "Impossible is Nothing" slogan. "The idea we were trying to get across is that just because you come from a less well-known part of Europe doesn't mean you can't be successful," says 180 Executive Creative Director Richard Bullock. "That distance from here to there is accessible." While Adidas brings the soccer gods to earth, the Nike spot lets viewers hang out at Mt. Olympus. The commercial, by Ritchie and Los Angeles/Amsterdam-based ad agency 72andSunny, is shot through a player's eyes, giving viewers the illusion that they are experiencing the life of a footballer, from the day a famous coach discovers him in the boondocks to his debut on the national team. Becoming a Soccer GodThe spot opens in the regional leagues, as we arch a free kick over the heads of some defenders and into goal. As our view swivels to the sidelines, we see Arsne Wenger, coach of Britain's Arsenal soccer club, watching from the sidelines. Our eyes meet. Next we are collecting our Arsenal uniform, and then Wenger is subbing us into the game -- where an opponent powers by us to score. But then a teammate boots a hard pass across the field. We slam the ball into the goal. We're on our way to stardom. The scenes that follow are frenetic yet coherent. We step out of a limo with our supermodel girlfriend into a crowd of screaming fans. We see the girlfriend's cold stare as we autograph a female fan's cleavage. We train so hard we vomit on our soccer boots -- making Nike probably the first company in Madison Ave. history to sell its products by barfing on them. In a game against Barcelona we watch helplessly as Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho dribbles past. The spot ends where it began, as we set up to take a free kick in front of the goal -- only this time we're wearing Holland's national colors in front of thousands of fans. Fade to the Nike tag line, "Take it to the Next Level." Adidas' campaign has a completely different feel, but it too mines the desire of every young footballer to share a pitch with the idols of the sport. Adidas and 180 made three short films, on the Isles of Scilly and in the tiny European principalities of Andorra and San Marino. The Pros Drop InThe films begin by introducing a team of young, real-life local players, who weren't told what would happen. On the Isles of Scilly, the kids are mute with awe when Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard shows up at practice. He's only the first pro to pay a surprise visit. Liverpool striker Andriy Voronin drops from the sky in a small plane. Germany team captain Michael Ballack appears from behind a hedge. By the time Beckham climbs out of a local resident's pickup truck, the kids bust out laughing -- the whole thing is just too amazing. Beckham shows the young players how to use a certain spot on the inside of the foot to shoot one of his lethal free kicks. Gerrard later sleeps on the couch at one kid's home, asking: "Are you sure your parents are okay with me stayin' over?" "My friends stay over all the time," the boy replies. The mini-documentaries are a gamble for Adidas in a world where most marketers assume young viewers don't have an attention span of more than a few minutes. In fact, vignettes from the films will be spliced down to TV spots as short as 15 seconds. [A film for the U.S. market focuses on Beckham because of his high name recognition [BusinessWeek.com, 7/13/07] there.] But Adidas is betting that football-obsessed youngsters can't get enough of their favorite stars, especially when the stars offer practical advice. Both the Adidas and Nike campaigns are immensely entertaining, but are they selling merchandise? It's too early to tell. Adidas says its share of the European football market edged up to 40% in 2007, vs. 38% in 2006, and that Euro 2008 is shaping up to be even more lucrative than the last European championship four years ago. Online AttentionBut those numbers reflect sales before the campaign launched on June 16. In any event, advertising is just one part of a much larger marketing campaign, including giant likenesses of Adidas-sponsored athletes at locations such as the Zurich train station. However, in one indication that the Dream Big campaign is working, Adidas says the time people spend on its Web site has doubled since the short films went online. That's good for sales because the site directs people to more detailed product information. Nike -- which claims to be the global leader in soccer apparel -- says the Next Level spot has been viewed 9 million times on the company's soccer Web site as well as on YouTube (GOOG) and other outlets. [Shorter versions are also running on European TV.] One lesson of both campaigns is that Internet video has made advertising a pull rather than a push business. To draw viewers, marketers have to show them a good time and go easy on the sales pitch. "We pay a lot of attention to how the products line up, but the sell is very loose," says 180 creative director Bullock. "We're making pure entertainment."

2nd post of the Day? Football Roots

I was just dwelling on how much football draws my attention today and how different it is compared to just a few years ago. I blame it all on Howard. My cousin grew up playing footall and I didn’t. In 2005, we started to go to a few SJ Quakes games down at Spartan Stadium. For someone who didn’t care much about football, the enthusiasm of the supporters (which I think continues to be what I love the most about this sport) really draws you in. I am not a soccer fan – I am a FOOTBALL fan.

And then there is the realization that this is the world’s sport. So many people on this globe play football at such a high level – with national leagues in every corner of the earth. The language of international football has no need for translation. I am sad to admit that I was part of the ignorant American sports fan population that laughed off "soccer". Not any more. The continuous play is great (unlike the stop-and-go of that “other” game that is mis-named as football).

The only thing that I think can be improved is the diving that one witnesses on the field. If you are really hurt, fine. But don’t flop around on the ground like you are about to croak to get a penalty call. Popping up magically and continue playing right away blows your cover. JUST PLAY.

UEFA, FIFA, World Cup, Champions League, CONCACAF, Super Liga, MLS Cup, Premier League, Serie A – it is all starting to make sense now (which is scary!) I wonder how much it would cost to make a trip to South Africa for a couple of weeks in 2010?

Predators

I just purchased a pair of Adidas Predators (indoor) on sale over the web. Mostly for just kickin' around in. I was a little worried about how "eye-straining" they might be - I ordered the dark blue/gold trim color combo. Well, they showed up on my doorstep day before yesterday. My daughter immediately said, "Interesting" and "they look like patent leather shoes you wear with tuxedos". They do have quite a rflective sheen" to them. They are very comfortable though. I will just need to kick the ball around a bit and break them in - and then see if they will tone down eventually. If not, I'll make sure they are available for my next formal function.....

I guess 1 Point is Better Than 0

Our Quakes played Chivas USA tonight down at the HDC. No television coverage (only Spanish radio). I looked at the box score and the game appeared pretty even, except that the Q's had a corner kick advantage. Despite that, the game ends nil-nil.

We are still hanging out in the basement of the MLS right now, but we didn't lose ground as many Western Div teams also lost this week. The remaining games on the schedule include a majority of them at the SBSS (South Bay San Siro). The home field support should make a huge difference as we see if we have enough kick left for the final sprint (...too many hours watching the Olympics!).

Next home game is Aug 30th versus the KC Wizards. The dilemma I have is that is also the opening day for Cal Football (vs Michigan State) in Berkeley. Despite my clear preference for "real" football versus American football, the California Golden Bears are my first love in terms of sports. My alma mater is finally showing life as a college football program after years and years of (personal) agony.

Section 108 Percussion: My cousin H and I form the Sec 108 percussion group at the SB San Siro. Sometimes we are joined by T as a third. We are toying with the idea of adding some variety to our cheering with cow bells, etc. We'll see how creative we can be. We also need to practice our "Oh Huckerby" cheer (the one that is on this You Tube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15xlpBjpUP0 )

HUCKERBY!

Huckerby's Initial Weeks in the MLS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15xlpBjpUP0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgSffB04epk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15xlpBjpUP0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAFY0WppxG4&feature=related

Tributes to Darren Huckerby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el3Q0-A9GN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRPGhZfsOI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CypYSJZCgDY&feature=related

Who are these Quakes???

Man, I missed another home game (company picnic). Missed the 4-nil drubbing of the New England Revolution. Ryan Johnson, Ronnie O'Brien (2x), and Scott Sealy scored the goals, but after watching the replay on MLStv, it was obvious to me that Darren Huckerby was the man of the match. His leadership has brought the expansion Quakes to new heights. Their play has truend around completely with the addition of Hucks + Alvarez, Sealy, and Lima. It is a completely different team. We aren't depending on only Ronnie to generate offense. The playoffs are not a pipe dream anymore. GO QUAKES!

We just found out that one of our "bonus" games this year is against the Seattle Sounders (USL). They will be joining the MLS next season as Seattle Sounders FC. It will be a nice addition to the west coast and QWest Field would be a great play to visit for a road game.

Beat LA! Beat LA Beat LA!

I was out of town and missed the Quakes vs Galaxy re-match at McAfee. I was in Reno and couldn't get the people running the sports lounge at the hotel I was staying at to just run one of their 50+ big screen lcds to the Quakes game. "Sorry sir - but this is too big of a baseball day so we can't put the MLS on". Geeeeez. I only missed the best game of the season so far - thanks alot.

2 of the 3 goals were scored by newcomers Huckerby and Alvarez. This new lineup changes the team completely. The guys played with confidence and attacked on the offensive end - something we just haven't seen much of this season. I see Billy Beane's fingerprints all over these recent transactions. What I am curious about is the A's current slump tied to the Quakes making major moves recently? Can't split time between 2 franchises without one taking a hit.

Hmmmmmmmmm.