DanW

Yes, the MLS has a strange structure in that in its early days the league owned all the teams. Or one guy owned all the teams. Or something like that. As the league has grown and established itself it's been trying to turn itself over to a normally operated sports league with individual owners and such but at the moment I believe that the league still negotiates for all transfers (and possibly all salaries). Most leagues in the US have publicly announced salaries - I've never figured out why this should be or shouldn't be. You can easily look up how much every single NBA player makes or, as mentioned above, NFL players. Looking through the posted list it should not be noted how Beckham, Keane, and Henry all make a pretty penny, but rather how many of those guys are making in the neighborhood of $32,000 per year. I legitimately could not live on that little income a year yet these guys do it in the hopes of a future contract that is much better. Or just that they'd rather play footie than have a real job. The MLS wage structure also has a limit on salaries - I think it's $400,000 is the max a player can earn? - with the exception of the "Beckham Rule" which allows for two players per team to be paid more than that. And this exception is transferrable, as well, which is why the bigger clubs have more of those marquee names.

After last night, the Cleveland Indians are 26-19 and in first place. We've been playing great and it looks to be a decent season. However, after the same number of games played last year, the Cleveland Indians were 30-15 and in a commanding lead in first place. They did not even finish last year above .500. I don't know what this means. We've got the worst attendance in all of baseball so far because of the steady disappointment and heartache that seasons like last year bring to the fans. We've got our closer who is blasting the fans for not coming out to the park and supporting the team due to this, which doesn't bode well for the general malaise found around town. I dunno - I guess this is just how it is. Hopefully we will keep winning and the fans will start to show up and start to believe.

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/7859920/source-carl-crawford-boston-red-sox-miss-three-months-rehabbing-elbow Looks like Carl Crawford is out for 3 months. That's a blow to Red Sox Nation. Sorry CD.

Here's something you don't usually see: Baseball's 21st EVER perfect game. Simply amazing.

As the Indians fan around here, I can tell you that I'm lukewarm. The Indians are having a massive problem with getting hits, so maybe he'll help. He can't really hurt, you know? The Indians are rather young, so having him in the clubhouse will help with experience, but I don't think he's there for 'leadership' as you can't bring in a guy half-way through the season and expect him to be leading the guys around. And the report I'm reading says Damon is going to to their Spring Training complex first for a while, and then likely to their AAA squad in Columbus, so he won't actually be on the Indians for a while. Essentially, I think most Indians fans are of the attitude of "hey if he helps then great and if not then who cares?"

I'll probably be at the Legends sports bar with NY Saint (this time...downstairs haha) but I won't be there early as I have something until 2:15 or so. Hope you can make it.

The Cleveland Browns are owned by Randy Lerner who also owns Aston Villa. I wouldn't mind it if the Liebherr's took over the Cleveland Indians to get a little Cleveland/Premier League* double rivalry. It'd be weird but fun. *you know, assuming that SFC is in the Premier League at some point. Not necessarily next year. But eventually. Oh no sir - it's not me saying they will be in the Premier League next year. Not me at all. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Bill Murray's theatrics http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20387509&source=MLB&gid=2012_04_05_wasmlb_chnmlb_1

Actually, you don't need to wait until just before the month is over. You can do it now - just go unsubscribe and it'll let you keep the rest of your month and it'll change the coding for "repeat billing" to "false" so that it won't renew. So just sign up and then unsubscribe. You get the free month..... at least I'm pretty sure that's how it works. I just did it but haven't watched any games obviously.

Gaah! Sorry I lied to you, CrazyDiamond. Yes, as you've found out, baseball's opener was last night in Japan. They play again tonight, too, with Fat Bartolo Colon going up against Jason Vargas.

I'll be there, too, wearing my 2010-2011 red sash shirt.

Your best bet is Nevada Smiths who are definitely showing it, or Legends Sports Bar that NY Saint likes to go to (I've never been...but I just googled it and it came up right away). The game will be at 12:25 pm local time.

Wednesday April 4th at 7:00 pm Eastern St. Louis at Miami Although I notice that Miami travels to Cincinnati the next day, so it's a strange one-off Opening Day. A bunch of teams start Thursday and the rest follow on Friday. I don't know what MLB is doing with this schedule - it seems about 6 days later than normal and a strange staggered start. Maybe they are taking hints from the NFL or something, but that would be weird because the NFL got their ideas from MLB. Still...it'll be fun.

Something tells me it's Molly Malone's in... either Newport or Covington. You should drive down there for the game.

Lots of baseball previews and baseball talk popping up these days. Opening Day is next week. I still haven't seen anything that indicates if there is a team who is the favorite, but all of the usual suspects are involved I think. Possibly the Angels, but I think that's more based on the hype of having Pujols than anything else.

Here ya go, washsaint: The Nationals versus the Marlins as favorites for the NL East in 2012.

I would like him to not be in Denver because I don't want him to cause any QB controversies with Tebow. It's not that I care...it's that I don't want to hear about it. If Manning has two bad games that's all the talk is going to be. I'd rather him go to Tennessee or Miami or someplace like that where their backup is so unloved that everyone would rather have a 65% Manning than the 2nd string guy.

When people in baseball do something illegal, it's "colorful." When people in any other facet of life do something illegal, it's "illegal." Spitballs, stealing signs, sneaking into the dugout, etc. I guess there's an unspoken rule that if you can figure something out on the field without the aide of extra equipment (such as video), then its okay but frowned upon. If you're bringing in people to relay signals from the stands or video taping something, then that's a huge no-no. Oh, and gambling, of course, is massively massively illegal.

That game is on a Friday? Then Nevada Smiths in Manhattan will almost certainly be showing it. I'm not an ex-pat but I can likely come out to watch it with you, as I think I will be between jobs that week.

Yeah, I live on a mixture of the BBC website and the ESPN website. Neither are perfect and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. For Saints games that I have to use the "gamecast" feature, ESPN's updates faster than BBC's and it also has more detail. So I usually use that. But I make sure I have them both open.

If I was an NFL owner I'd love to have Manning around for $1 million per year. However, the $20 million he's seeking or whatever it is will be the difference between any old team and the one or two willing to pay it. If you are a team that is in need of a QB, and you're not the 1st or 2nd team drafting this year, then you're stuck with only 2 options in Free Agency: Manning or Matt Flynn. Flynn is unproven and his pricetag will be driven up by a lack of market supply, so whoever signs him will be overpaying. And Manning is a massive risk. So you're stuck... and this is why I'm quite worried about the Browns. I don't like any of the options, including the "just stick it out with McCoy one more year" option.

Spring Training means nothing. Seriously. It is a way to figure out who is going to make the team and work out a few kinks. Your pitcher may have only been throwing curveballs the whole game or something weird like that.

32 and from Cleveland, Ohio. A friend of mine is from Southampton and he got me into the team. I've been following since the last season in the Premier League, but in truth I've only really been following since the Liebherr's took over, as the previous ownership made me sick. Only been to St. Mary's once, last season versus MK Dons. Funny because it was an amazing game and the two biggest heroes of the game, Forte and Barnard, are both out-of-favour with the club. It hasn't even been a year. Oh well. Onwards and upwards!

Re: Bounties. I really think that the culture of American Football is so violent and so foreign to anyone who hasn't played at least at a college level that they can't really comment. That being said... good hits = okay. Injury-inducing hits = not okay. The game is one where injuries will happen and every team needs to have quality depth to handle those injuries, but actually trying to cause them is complete crap. In other subjects, here's an enjoyable piece about how much your team really cares about you. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7654198/the-writer-sh*t-my-dad-says-why-your-team-give-damn-you Chargers fans in particular should read it. Also...I once worked on a project paid for by the Chargers to look for a new stadium site in Chula Vista. We found two good ones, so if they can't work out a stadium plan and that is the reason they leave then something is fishy.

Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu both do very well for the USA national team. Having either of them on Saints would be a wonderful addition, regardless of the fact that we have a deep squad as it is.