How did Mike's baseball picks do? And other housekeeping.

First off, there has been a recent influx of spam comments on the blog, mostly on some of our older posts.

The spam comments have been removed and comments have been disabled on this blog.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we cannot tolerate people posting spam on our blog.

Now on to something fun:

At the beginning of the MLB season that's about to wrap up, Mike made his picks:
 
NL East: Washington
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Francisco LA Dodgers
NL Wild Cards: NY Mets, St. Louis Arizona, Colorado

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Cleveland
AL West: Houston
AL Wild Cards: Toronto, Seattle NY Yankees, Minnesota

Since this is a solo, Mike needs 50% to avoid a batsu game.

As of 9/27/2017, Mike is 5/10 - all five of which would be division winners.  The season ends on October 1.

On the subject of batsu games, Mike still needs to get his game of Twilight Imperium scheduled.

Episode 247 - NASL v. USSF Part 4

This is part 4 of a 4-part podcast.

Last week, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.

The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.

Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league, applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.  USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers.  Need I say more?

This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.

Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit.  It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.



Click here to download.

Episode 246 - NASL v. USSF Part 3

This is part 3 of a 4-part podcast.

Last week, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.

The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.

Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league, applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.  USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers.  Need I say more?

This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.

Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit.  It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.



Click here to download.

Episode 245 - NASL v. USSF Part 2

This is part 2 of a 4-part podcast.

Yesterday, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.

The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.

Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league, applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.  USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers.  Need I say more?

This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.

Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit.  It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.



Click here to download.

Episode 244 - NASL v. USSF Part 1

This is part 1 of a 4-part podcast.

Yesterday, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.

The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.

Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league, applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.  USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers.  Need I say more?

This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.

Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit.  It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.



Click here to download.

Episode 243 - 2017-18 UEFA Champions League Picks

The group stage of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League starts this Tuesday, and Mike has his picks in just in time.

Before we start with the picks, here's the fair use stuff used in today's episode:
- three chants that are anti-Man United, anti-Chelsea, and anti-Tottenham
- "Juve Storia de un Grande Amore," the official song of Juventus
- "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Gerry and the Pacemakers, in recognition of Liverpool
- "Lyudi Invalidy" by t.A.T.u. - a Russian group but we use it to talk about a Ukranian team (to demonstrate how similar the two countries' languages are)
- "Manchester United Can All F@#$ Off" - I'm sorry, I don't know who did the song but it is a parody of "No Matter What" by Boyzone

Here are the picks - as always, subject to batsu game:

Group	First Place (Knockout phase)	Second Place (Knockout phase)	Third Place (Europa League)	Fourth Place (They're done)
Group A	Benfica	Basel	CSKA Moscow	Manchester United
Group B	Bayern Munich	Paris Saint-Germain	Celtic	Anderlecht
Group C	Atletico Madrid	Roma	Qarabag	Chelsea
Group D	Barcelona	Juventus	Sporting Portugal	Olympiacos
Group E	Liverpool	Sevilla	Spartak Moscow	Maribor
Group F	Manchester City	Shakhtar Donetsk	Feyenoord	Napoli
Group G	Besiktas	Porto	Monaco	RB Leipzig
Group H	Borussia Dortmund	Real Madrid	APOEL	Tottenham

UCL Final: Barcelona over Manchester City



Click here to download.

There's always an excuse with U.S. men's national soccer team | ESPN FC

Want more proof that USSF is irredeemably corrupt? Exhibit A: our men's national team. This pundit is correct - the US team as presently constituted is not a good team, and a big reason for that is our system. #ProRelForUSA

Episode 242 - USSF is F@#$ing Corrupt!

Earlier today, the US Soccer Federation denied the North American Soccer League its rightful status as a second division league in the North American "pyramid."

Instead, USSF - at this point a completely bought subsidy of MLS - handed D2 status to USL, a league and organization so inept that they really shouldn't exist.

If you're a conspiracy theorist, you could make the argument that this is MLS/USSF attacking NASL, specifically Miami FC and their owner Riccardo Silva - he of the #ProRelForUSA lawsuit that sits before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.  If true, this demonstrates how irredeemably corrupt USSF is.

In his rant today, Mike puts out a call for action: the time has come to boycott MLS and USL and continue to fight for #ProRelForUSA.  This may mean an alternative federation - one more in line with FIFA standards than USSF/MLS is - with NASL, NISA and NPSL that features promotion and relegation.

NASL was a champion for the #ProRelForUSA cause, the upstart NISA is being started with pro/rel in mind, and the amateur NPSL is vocally pro-pro/rel.

Fair use: It's been a while since we "meddled with the primal forces of nature," so we "will atone" with the classic soundbyte from Network.



Click here to download.