New Women's Pro League!

I’d heard that Abby Wambach had suffered a concussion in a game a couple of weeks ago and that she was eventually held out of action so she could attempt to recover from her concussion symptoms.

But it wasn’t until I read a Slate article that that I learned of the ignorance and arrogance of the referee and coaches involved in that incident.

Wambach was struck in the head by a ball traveling at about 50 or 60 miles per hour that had been kicked from about 6 yards away. She collapsed lifelessly to the ground then rolled into the fetal position, grabbing her head. The referee, a World Cup and Olympic veteran named Kari Seitz, raised her right palm to stop a trainer from coming on the field. After Wambach finally stood and took two off-balance steps, play resumed.

What kind of league is the NWSL that allows its refs to prevent trainers and medical staff from examining an athlete who was on the ground clutching her head and obviously dazed?

It happened in the 90th minute of a tie game. Wambach played the next four minutes and headed the ball on the game’s last play. When the final whistle blew, she went to her knees, the trainer rushed on, and Wambach needed help getting off the field. The goalkeeper for the other team said Wambach was mumbling, and that she told her she was “out of it.” After the game her coach said she wasn’t doing too well, but she was still required to board a bus for the long ride home from Washington to Rochester, N.Y., for god’s sake.

Replays of the incident showed Wambach displayed at least four and possibly all five of the symptoms of a concussion that are part of normal athletic injury guidelines: 1. She was slow to get up, 2. She had an unsteady gait, 3. She fell to the ground grabbing/clutching her head, and 4. She was dazed and confused and had blank or vacant look. Judging by the way she fell limply to the ground, it’s even possible she displayed the 5th sign, losing consciousness.

It was a full four days later before she was finally fully examined by a physician for a concussion….and missed the next week’s game due to her symptoms.

The lack of immediate on-field medical care during such a frightening situation dangerously compromised Wambach’s long and short term health and the credibility of the NWSL. With the current emphasis on head injuries at all levels of sports, it seems odd and out of touch that a referee, a coaching staff and a professional league could have acted with such arrogance and ignorance.

The odd thing is that Seitz is the top rated referee in USSoccer, along with Veronica Perez, and was working her way up to one of the top two or three in FIFA.


Some had her pegged for a World Cup final if the USA weren't involved. The next cup will be her last chance, after which she will be over 45 and beyond FIFA retirement age.

I know they are trained in recognizing concussion injuries.

I don't think you can fault the team staff or coaches. She was checked out immediately when a trainer was allowed to see her, they tested her before and after her shower, and she was checked out by the team doctor, who OK'd her trip back to Rochester under supervision of a trainer for further evaluation. She flunked her tests until four days later. Protocol is you keep a player out at least a week after a passed test, and they did.

I opened up the NYT this morning to see this :
A new way to care for young brains

....I hope many had the opportunity to watch the segement on the Invisible Wounds of War on 60 Minutes last evening. LINK

We all learned a lot in recent years about the dangers of head injuries from contact sports like football. We now know that a hard hit can cause brain damage that only becomes apparent after an athlete's playing days are over. Football is violent, no doubt, but it's nothing compared to war. And just as the National Football League has struggled to come to grips with head injuries so has the military - but on a much vaster scale.

An estimated quarter million servicemen and women have suffered concussions over the past decade of war. Tens of thousands -- no one knows the precise number -- are dealing with lasting brain damage. The Pentagon, which did not recognize the problem until the war in Iraq was almost over, is now scrambling to treat these invisible wounds. And soldiers suffering from them sometimes end up wishing they had a wound people could see.

A release from the Thorns:

Portland Thorns FC forward Christine Sinclair was named the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Player of the Month for April, it was announced today.

Sinclair, 29, earned at least a point in three straight games during the month of April, helping guide Thorns FC to an undefeated 2-0-1 record during the opening month of the inaugural 2013 NWSL season. The Canadian international recorded the first goal in Thorns FC history, converting a game-tying penalty kick on April 13 in a 1-1 draw against FC Kansas City in the league’s inaugural match.

A former standout at the University of Portland, Sinclair assisted on forward Alex Morgan’s goal in a 2-1 win against Seattle Reign FC on April 21 in Portland’s home opener, becoming the first player in league history to register both a goal and an assist during the season.

Sinclair then scored her second goal of the season in the team’s next game, a 2-0 road win against the Chicago Red Stars on April 27.

Thorns FC conclude a three-game road trip on Sunday at 3 p.m. (Pacific) against the Chicago Red Stars at Benedictine Sports Complex in Lisle, Ill.

The NWSL Player of the Month is selected each month of the regular season by a selection of journalists that cover the league on a consistent basis.

Sophie just scored in the 88th minute on an assist from Kendall to get an apparent win but Chicago's Mautz tied it up in stoppage time.

Final score 1-1,

Most of the game was pretty uninspired soccer.

Accidentally tuned in to Scott Lynn's show on 620 am this afternoon. He was interviewing Christine and then LaBlanc. They were good interviews, unfortunately I couldn't find a replay on the station's website.

OK, here are some stats on NWSL scoring by player college and conference, including "foreign" in each to cover foreign players who did not go to college in the US. This covers scoring through 5/9:

College - Goals - Assists - Points

Portland - 6 - 2 - 14
UCLA - 5 - 3 - 13
Foreign - 4 - 4 - 12
North Carolina - 4 - 3 - 11
Oklahoma - 3 - 0 - 6
California - 3 - 0 - 6
Princeton - 3 - 0 - 6
Penn State - 2 - 0 - 4
Virginia - 1 - 2 - 4
Florida - 1 - 1 - 3
Stanford - 0 - 2 - 2
Texas A&M - 1 - 0 - 2
San Diego - 0 - 2 - 2
Santa Clara - 1 - 0 - 2
Arizona State - 1 - 0 - 2
UC Irvine - 1 - 0 - 2
Florida State - 1 - 0 - 2
Illinois - 0 - 1 - 1
Michigan State - 0 - 1 - 0

Conference - Goals - Assists - Points

Pac 12 - 9 - 5 - 23
West Coast - 7 - 4 - 18
ACC - 6 - 5 - 17
Foreign - 4 - 4 - 12
Big 12 - 3 - 0 - 6
Ivy - 3 - 0 - 6
Big 10 - 2 - 2 - 6
SEC - 2 - 1 - 5
Big West - 1 - 0 - 2

Abby Wambach is the focus for the next ESPN Films’ SEC “Storied” series, set to debut Wednesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. on ESNPU.

my understanding is that there is a brief clip about Clive in the piece.

PurpleGeezer wrote:

Abby Wambach is the focus for the next ESPN Films’ SEC “Storied” series, set to debut Wednesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. on ESNPU.

my understanding is that there is a brief clip about Clive in the piece.

No clip about Clive, just a mention of his name by Abby's Florida coach:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9275410

Looked like a shot of Thorn's coach, Cindy Parlow Cone in the video.
I don't remember much about Abby's college career. How did they do while she was there?

the Gators did OK while she was there.

Florida won four straight SEC championships from 1998-2001 and a National Championship in 1998. They also made the final four in 2001, losing to The champs Santa Clara in the semi that year.

Abby scored 96 goals and got 49 assists in her career.

Watching the stream of the game but is all the stop action in the streaming normal with these? I haven't had this problem with other streams. This is the first chance I've had to watch and now I remember why I wasn't disappointed when Anne Schatz moved on from local TV. She does not know soccer, she talks way too much and she even called a shot that was blocked by a defender ten yards from the goal a shot on goal! Ye gads!

ejjqb wrote:Watching the stream of the game but is all the stop action in the streaming normal with these? I haven't had this problem with other streams. This is the first chance I've had to watch and now I remember why I wasn't disappointed when Anne Schatz moved on from local TV. She does not know soccer, she talks way too much and she even called a shot that was blocked by a defender ten yards from the goal a shot on goal! Ye gads!

Haha. Well, I just got home. I'll watch a replay of the game. Keep in mind a shot that needs to be stopped by an opponent to prevent a goal in is the definition of a shot on goal. It doesnt need to be a keeper making the stop. The defense should also be credited with a save.
And ten yards is inside the penalty spot, so pretty close.


But no, Anne isn't exactly an expert on soccer, which I guess puts her right about on par with Alexi Lalas and Eric Wynalda. At least she has the excuse that she never played the game.

And she does talk way too much. No argument there. I presume your device has a mute feature.

As far as the stream breaking up, it is in HD, so if you don't have the bandwidth on both ends, it won't keep up. In the case of the Thorns or any Timbers broadcast, i have never had an issue. Some software will filter it and adjust what bandwidth is actually received. Skyfire works on an iPad. Never had a problem.

By halftime I was wondering if the Thorns could hold out for the draw. Sky Blue was better in every area of the field and Portland's existing issues with passing and giving up the ball didn't help.

I definitely agree with the comment above about Anne Schatz talking to much. While the live stream freezing was annoying at times, I actually enjoyed the one segment where they lost the audio, but not the video. At one time, I was wondering if she was also doing the radio play-by-play... Oh well, hope she gets better.

That said, I thought the video work, aside from the freezes, was pretty good. I looked at a couple of other games and at least the cameras looked like they were in a good location.

As far as the playing, SBFC did a great job containing Morgan and Sinclair. I didn't love the constant effort to go over the top with the long ball. But then, I'm not the coach.

keeper wrote: I didn't love the constant effort to go over the top with the long ball. But then, I'm not the coach.

That part drove me nuts....but I don't want to lose Garrett Smith to the Thorns just to see them better coached!!

Yes, that constant long ball stuff seems like desperation rather than organized play.

Ann Schatz was just as bad all season on the Pac 12 network in all sports.

This was the first game that I've been able to watch and must be honest, I was seriously disappointed with the quality of play from the back line and the midfield. There were so many wasted passes with wide open targets that I wasn't sure I was really watching professionals. Maybe they spend so much time focusing on the over the top approach that when they have the chance to play the short passing game they don't know how. It actually reminded me of some early season Pilot game when everyone is trying to figure things out. I can't say that I was inclined to go down and buy a ticket. The gal at left back was totally out of her league much of the game, too.

Watched the thorns again today. Better performance than Thursday, but still pretty North-south and heavily dependent on counters.

Christine clearly decided to take control.

but the crowd was great (12,474). That gives the Thorns an average attendance for the three games of 13,336.


I got to thinking... How does that compare to the MLS squads?


The average attendance in the MLS is 17,053 as of last week ( week 11)

http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com/

the Thorns Average attendance is better than :

ChivasUSA (8,045)
Columbus Crew (12,840)
Chicago Fire (12,108)
NE Revolution (13,072)
San José Earthquakes (10,392)


And it is pretty close to :

Colorado Rapids (13,369)
DC United (13,718)
FC Dallas (14,874)


The Timbers draw 20,674 (capacity)

In the Quakes defense, they are limited attendance wise by playing at Buck Shaw until their stadium gets built, but pretty damn impressive!

Looking around the world a little, most leagues have 20 team first divisions.

The Thorns average attendance is greater than three teams in the Spanish first division and very near a couple others.

They are better than 5 teams in the French first Division and within a thou or two of 3 others.

The Thorns also outdraw 7 teams in the Argentine Primera División and are near 2 more.

and the Thorns average attendance exceeds 11 teams in the Brasil Serie A and is very close to 3 others.

So, is that saying that futbol isn't really that popular around the world, or that Portland fans really really like it? Or maybe it's just that all the young people who have come to Portland to retire have a lot of free time on their hands to drink beer in a stadium.

up7587 wrote:So, is that saying that futbol isn't really that popular around the world, or that Portland fans really really like it? Or maybe it's just that all the young people who have come to Portland to retire have a lot of free time on their hands to drink beer in a stadium.

Haha.

Well I'm pretty sure young kids in those other stadiums drink beer. If you don't think so, I can arrange for you to stand with the Barra Bravas in Argentina.

Bring your own helmet.


But I think it does say something about our concepts in attendance.

Well and in the rest of the world there are teams in nearly every city (And multiple in the major ones)... I suppose it is all a matter of scale.