Rut

Nice one - cheers.

I watched quite a bit of MLS this season. Only on TV as my 2 closest teams (Chicago Fire & Columbus Crew (Champions!!)) are both around 200 miles away. Anyway the thing I most noticed is how much more time they have on the ball before getting closed down. If a player has only played in the MLS it would be a big adjustment to play in the top English leagues. I'm not saying they couldn't adjust but I think it would be a bit of a shock for them to suddenly not have 'half an hour' on the ball before getting tackled. Seeing some of the games I reckon AFC Totton (currently top of the Southern League) would have half a chance of beating them! If Saints could tie-in their academy with a USA one under some sort of agreement like 'Saints will take one player a year' then that might have some milage. England is a mystical, wonderful place in a lot of American kid's eyes - to have the chance to live there whilst playing soccer (yeah, yeah) would be a great incentive to them. Saints could give them a year to prove that they can make it. If they fall flat then back to the USA they would come. Nothing ventured - nothing gained.... You'd need a good legal team to sort out the paperwork though. Otherwise Saints find them, train them for a year & then they p***ss off to some 'better' English club. Of course if this were to happen it would be important for Saints to come over here and play some games. Somewhere central-ish - like Indiana. Thinking about it - sod all this 'academy stuff' - Saints should just come over here and play. Bring a bunch of Replica Shirts to sell and the trip would almost be free.

Hey Lard! You wouldn't really want a Cider here (USA). That would get you an apple juice (no alcohol). You have to ask for Hard Cider & a lot of bars don't have that. That said 2 bars where I am do have Strongbow on draught - let me do the talking and you'll be fine. Jack Daniels - no worries there. With or without ice and/or mixer?

Cheers Saint_Lard for that excellent streaming link. Much appreciated. If pints existed where I live I'd buy you a couple!

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1826658/ No sound - but better than nothing. The bloke that James gave the ball to took the chance well didn't he?

Not sure what all this Thanksgiving lark is really about but it's a 4 day weekend so I'm pretty thankful. Some parade in New York (not a patch on Totton carnival) followed by 3 NFL games. Best spark a beer I guess - shame it's normal work day in the UK ey?

Thanks for the link Stockbridge. After installing yet another plug-in (Veetle) that stream is working ok. Sure you lose it sometimes but it comes back and is excellent quality (even in full-screen mode). Good that is an English commentary as well. Sure a Chinese commentary is better than nothing but it ain't quite the same. If Time Warner Cable would carry Setanta then I wouldn't have to go thru this sh** each time there is a TV game! No such problems on Sunday. The big game is live on TV: http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1620740