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#1 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 29 January 2009 - 03:14 PM

I decided to open this thread to put in all the miscellaneous information that often doesn't fit anywhere else and that generally results in new threads that last 5 posts before they die out.

News from the official website, the blog, or other outlets, interviews with players, coaching staff or that ass-hat Leiwke, and other generic information pertaining to the team may be included here.

WARNING: Information on this thread may include results on Galaxy games that you have not yet watched. My advice, finish watching whatever you have on TiVo before you go browsing this thread.

With that said...

#2 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 29 January 2009 - 03:17 PM

Buddle feels healthy, ready for encore

Source: LAGalaxy.com


CARSON, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Galaxy's Edson Buddle had one of his best seasons in 2008 with 15 goals, third in MLS behind Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan and FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper. Buddle said he feels ready for an encore in 2009.

The reason for his enthusiasm has to do with the fact he's feeling injury-free, which is a major improvement from his history of foot problems. He has spent much of the last six years battling sore Achilles tendons, and he thinks he finally found the solution late last year.

Buddle, who turns 28 on May 21, underwent a blood therapy called PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma). The plasma was injected directly into both of his tendons to facilitate healing and improved blood flow, and Buddle said he's already noticed a difference.

"It's good," he said. "I got through the first week, and I want to get through this one. I could tell the difference a week or so after I had it done. This should be a year when it's probably 90 percent better."

Buddle said he originally injured both Achilles in 2003 while training for the U.S. Olympic team at The Home Depot Center. The accumulation of two-a-day practices eventually proved to be too much, he said, and he's had problems ever since.

He did score 15 goals (second to Donovan's league-high 20) and had three assists in 26 starts last season but, true to form, his feet started to give him trouble late in the regular season.

"It's been the same every year," he said. "Toward the end of the year it bothers me and picks up. It's like it has a mind of its own ... some days it's good while other days it's not so good. I've tried to capitalize on those times it's feeling great. When it's feeling bad, I try to ice it and just stay on top of it."

Buddle laughed when asked if his feet bother him more on cold days -- "Fortunately, we don't have many of those here in Los Angeles," he said -- but he said it often took him anywhere from 20-30 minutes before he could get going in the morning.

He tried various other suggestions -- hydrating, stretching and keeping the tendons lengthened as much as possible -- but they often went to no avail. He decided last November to undergo the PRP, something he'd never heard of before, because he was close to feeling desperate. The fact that the procedure might have cost him a possible call-up to the U.S. national team for a recent friendly against Sweden was of no concern to him.

But his feet were.

"I've tried just about everything else," he said of undergoing the procedure in early November. "I wanted to give it a shot."

He finally was cleared by doctors on Dec. 19 to resume workouts, and Buddle took it easy during his first week of training camp. Now that he got through it in one piece, he's getting a little anxious to starting pushing it. He feels he's ready to have an even bigger season than what he had in 2008, thanks to his improved feet.

"I'd like to have another good year, and I think I can," he said. "Last year was a good one for me, but it was bittersweet because the team struggled. Collectively, you always want to do well.

"I'm looking forward to this season. With all of the new players in here, I think we can jell. We'll see what happens."



#3 ramsessalmeron

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Posted 29 January 2009 - 04:12 PM

Holy shit! the guy 15 goals on fucked up feet!?!?!?!?! and now hes getting better?!?!? landon who?

#4 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 30 January 2009 - 06:36 PM

Galaxy get bigger, stronger -- better?

Source: LAGalaxy.com

CARSON, Calif. -- It is no stretch of the imagination to say the Los Angeles Galaxy could reach new heights this season.

There are those who might argue the Galaxy have only one direction to go after a 2008 season in which they led MLS in goals scored (55) and allowed (62). A look at their roster, which has undergone a substantial makeover during the offseason, reflects an emphasis on size, something that was sorely lacking a year ago.

The defense could feature, among others, 6-foot-4 Jamaican international Donovan Ricketts in goal -- that's if 6-3 Steve Cronin doesn't start in his place -- 6-5 rookie Omar Gonzalez, 6-3 Leo Bautista (on trial from FC Caracas) and 6-2 Tony Sanneh (trying to make a comeback at age 37) on the back line. The forwards also have size in, among others, 6-3 Alan Gordon, 6-1 Stefani Miglioranzi, 6-1 Jovan Kirovski, 6-1 Chris Klein and 6-1 Edson Buddle to offset the likes of Landon Donovan, who stands just 5-8.

The Galaxy certainly shouldn't be confused with a collection of redwoods in cleats, but they definitely look bigger and stronger this season.

"I think that's one thing Bruce wanted to do," Cronin said of head coach/general manager Bruce Arena's offseason rebuilding strategy, "to bring in more size, especially on defense. An extra couple of inches never hurts."

Klein in particular, is pleased with the new physical makeup of the team.

"It was no secret that Bruce felt that we got not pushed around ... but pushed around," he said with a laugh. "Defensively, we weren't that big in the middle. And in set pieces, we were hurting. We had a guy like David (Beckham) serving the ball, and I don't think we scored a goal off a corner kick all season. More size definitely was one need we addressed in the offseason.

"When you're going through the season, you don't realize that soccer is a very democratic sport where you can be 5-6 and dominate. Size in itself does not carry the game, but in certain aspects it definitely helps."

Arena, who took over the Galaxy last Aug. 18, said he wasn't simply looking for more size on defense. He mostly was looking for improvement, and it just so happened many of the new players he has brought into camp by either trades, the draft or on trial are taller and more athletic.

It was no secret the Galaxy had a major weakness last year in defending set pieces and corner kicks. Their center backs, for example, often consisted of Troy Roberts and Sean Franklin, who are generously listed as 5-11 and 5-10, respectively.

"You'd have to be a complete idiot not to think we had to improve there," Arena said of the makeup of his defense. "When you give up 62 goals, that ain't right. If it's broken, you fix it.

"Getting bigger is part of it, too. The notion that this game is a game of all sizes and shapes is accurate. But if all your sizes and shapes tend to be small, when all things are equal the bigger, stronger athlete wins in every sport. We need to have our share of those as well.

"Even though we could probably live with 11 Landon Donovans."



#5 USfootballFAN

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Posted 30 January 2009 - 06:47 PM

Galaxy get bigger, stronger -- better?

Source: LAGalaxy.com

New heights?!! That's fucking hilarious.

#6 Zero Cool

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Posted 31 January 2009 - 01:48 PM

Hi-jinks.

BmcD taped over Bryan Jordan's locker space in retaliation for BJ stealing all of Brandon's left football cleats ahead of practice. According to the Blogspot the "Ball is in BJ's Court". I disagree, this was weaksauce and Brandon needs to REALLY get BJ back.
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Isaac: So when I told you guys we were on it, I meant to say we're on the motherfucker, go back in there and relax...

#7 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 02:39 PM

A Triple for you this morning... 1 about Beckham, 1 about Franklin, and the other about MLS' performance given the current economy....

Sidelined Franklin eager to return
from: MLSnet.com

CARSON, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Galaxy's Sean Franklin has been making his way around the lockerroom, meeting his new teammates and trying to get to know their names. There at least 12 of them he's had to learn.

Unfortunately, that's about all he can do.

Franklin can't kick a ball, run or jump and has been relegated to watching training camp from the sideline as he recovers from sports hernia surgery. Last year's MLS Rookie of the Year recently returned from Munich, Germany, where he underwent the hour-long procedure and admitted he's getting a little anxious to get back on the playing field.

But he knows better.

At this point he's confined to riding an exercise bicycle until he's cleared to start running. Franklin, who turns 24 in March, said he feels great, but he keeps telling himself to take things slowly. And that's the hard part.

"I mess around with the trainers all the time," he said. "I ask them to let me go out there and run, to let me do some stuff, but I know I can't. They're taking good care of me."

Franklin, the fourth overall pick in last year's SuperDraft out of Cal State Northridge, made 26 starts in 27 appearances in 2008 and was one of the few positive developments in an otherwise dreary Galaxy season. The 5-foot-10, 155-pounder, who played primarily at right back, was so impressive he was called up to the U.S. men's national team for a World Cup qualifier against Guatemala but did not play. He was in camp again last month with the national team for a recent friendly against Sweden, but it wasn't long before he started to feel pain in his lower abdomen.

Actually, the pain had been bothering him for some time, he said.

"It was an ongoing thing at the end of the season," he pointed out. "Then with the U.S. team in early January, I could tell it was getting worse. I went to doctors and told them everything, and I realized it was something serious."

He received an injection to relieve the discomfort, but it didn't help. His next option was surgery, which was performed just under two weeks ago.

Franklin thinks he'll be able to do some light running later this week and then what he called "straightforward stuff," but the ill-timed inactivity hasn't kept him from feeling confident he can be ready to go by the start of the regular season on March 22 against D.C. United.

He said he won't even try to go until "I feel it's 100 percent" and he can run without any pain. Franklin said he isn't worried that he's dropping behind as his teammates adjust to the first training camp under coach/general manager Bruce Arena.

"Do I feel left out? Not really," he said. "It hasn't bothered me. I don't feel like everyone else is going to be much farther along. I want everyone to do well and work hard, and when I get my chance to get back out there I'll work just as hard.

"At times it's frustrating, sure, because I do want to get out there. I want to run and I want to put on the spikes. I want to be with everybody, and hopefully I can pick up where I left off last year."

And if he can do little more at this point except listen and watch, so be it.

"All I want to do is get out there and play with the guys," he said. "But I know my time will come."



#8 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 02:41 PM

Los Angeles Galaxy vs. AC Milan tiff over David Beckham helps legitimize U.S. Soccer
from: The GameFace Blog

By Andrew Keh
Special to amNewYork

Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena fired a stern warning this week to AC Milan after several members of the club’s top brass publicly expressed their desire to acquire Galaxy captain David Beckham, currently on loan with the Italian side until March 8, on a permanent basis.

In doing so, Arena may have unknowingly advanced Major League Soccer another baby-step toward global legitimacy.

Arena, the former Red Bulls coach, conveyed some amount of exasperation on Monday when he said, “I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for club officials at the biggest clubs in the world to be making comments without having contact with us.”

Milan’s coach Carlo Ancelotti hit back the next day with some passive-aggressive comments of his own, saying, “Milan is a serious club, a very serious club,” before lathering Beckham, an Englishman, with unabashed adoration.

International rhubarbs between club coaches have a long and glorious history on the other side of the Atlantic. Verbal slighting of this kind is an art, and Europeans, as with many other arts, are its original masters.

Consider Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson, who, when faced with yet another inquiry last month about the possible sale of star winger Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, declared, “Would I get into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance. I wouldn’t sell them a virus.”

Such tiffs are a weekly banality in Europe, but they have generally not found their way to the United States.

Clearly, the press has made more of Arena’s exchange than necessary. By the lofty standards of such garrulous masters as Inter Milan’s Jose Mourinho, the run-in was downright polite.

But its occurrence, in all seriousness, is a real byproduct of American soccer’s recent maturation. American players, now more than ever, are desirable commodities for European clubs.

Some prospects, such as Wake Forest’s Marcus Tracy, who eschewed the M.L.S draft to sign with a Danish club, are jumping straight to Europe. Others, such as Chivas USA’s Sacha Kljestan, who scored a hat-trick for the U.S. this weekend against Sweden, are transfer targets for major clubs.

Arena himself is in the unenviable position of having his two top players, Beckham and Landon Donovan, away on loan, with near-constant speculation that one or both will not return.

The business of moving players can get ugly; that American coaches would one day have to get down and dirty and join in the transfer window tug-of-wars of international soccer was a forgone conclusion.

But for discerning soccer fans in America — who, by nature, I think, crave acceptance — Arena’s little spat should mark a noteworthy moment in the country’s continued emergence.



#9 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 02:45 PM

MLS Ticket Renewals Bucking The Economy
From: SportsBuisnessJournal.com

By TRIPP MICKLE
Staff writer
Published February 02, 2009 : Page 03

Less than two months before the start of the MLS season, the league’s clubs are reporting that ticket sales are keeping pace despite the economic downturn.

Business executives at 10 of the league’s 15 clubs who could be reached for comment reported that season-ticket renewals were flat or ahead of last year. Only the Houston Dynamo reported being behind compared with renewals at the same time in 2008, while several clubs reported being ahead, including the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake.

“We’re cautiously optimistic because I believe there will be a flight to value and we offer value,” said Jeff Plush, Rapids managing director. “That’s important in times like these.”

Like Major League Baseball, MLS will be one of the first leagues to have its gate revenue tested by the recession. The majority of ticket sales for the current NBA and NHL seasons were completed before the markets collapsed last fall.

Clubs’ ability to keep renewals flat so far hasn’t stopped them from looking for ways to add value to tickets in order to drum up new sales and retain season-ticket holders.

D.C. United, which averaged 19,835 fans last season, has an 82 percent renewal rate right now, slightly behind the same period last year, said Stephen Zack, executive vice president. As season-ticket holders decline to renew, the club plans to reach out to them on a game-by-game basis throughout the season to encourage them to buy individual tickets.

“We believe people who can’t afford season tickets are still fans and will want to attend games,” Zack said. “We’re hopeful that will help us get through this economic downturn.”

The New England Revolution, which sells a 20-game season-ticket package for $375 to $400, has increased its season-ticket base with new sales and is renewing at a 70 percent rate, said Chief Operating Officer Brian Bilello. To improve its value proposition, it has developed deferred payment plans for the first time and a formal ticket exchange policy that allows season-ticket holders to turn in tickets to a game they can’t attend in exchange for tickets for a game they can attend.

The San Jose Earthquakes are working the youth soccer ranks and the Hispanic community to unearth new season-ticket sales. The club is working with hundreds of youth soccer clubs to sell tickets in exchange for a percentage of the sales, and it partnered with local Hispanic grocery stores to have them sell season and group tickets, as well as a Mexico match to which the franchise is playing host.

The Chicago Fire’s effort to drive new ticket sales relies heavily on a $99 season ticket that gives fans general admission seating in the upper level of the stadium for 15 games. And the Los Angeles Galaxy has begun giving discounts to season-ticket holders who provide a lead for new season-ticket prospects.

Three MLS clubs are weathering the recession without any problems. Toronto FC, which sold out its first two seasons in MLS, renewed 95 percent of season-ticket holders by October and sold 5 percent of remaining inventory in December. Expansion franchise Seattle Sounders FC has sold more than 18,000 season tickets. Real Salt Lake, which opened its new stadium with just two games left last season, also is weathering the recession. The interest in its new stadium has put its renewal rate at 83 percent and new business ahead of last season, President Bill Manning said.

Executives at Chivas USA and FC Dallas didn’t return calls for comment. Spokespersons for the Kansas City Wizards and New York Red Bulls declined to comment.

“It’s harder now,” said Chris Canetti, Houston Dynamo chief operating officer. “I’m not sure if it’s an excuse or a reality, but what I’m sensing is people are doing less or waiting a lot longer to make a decision.”



lol...

Executives at Chivas USA and FC Dallas didn’t return calls for comment. Spokespersons for the Kansas City Wizards and New York Red Bulls declined to comment.

I wonder why...

#10 Dude Love

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 02:48 PM

Is it just me, or are reporters actively not asking Arena specifically whether Landon is coming back or not?

Everyone is willing to go on the record about Beckham coming back, including (as of the last I read) Beckham himself. But no one's asked Bruce a direct question on Landon? Either that, or these are sloppily edited articles.

#11 Legion Norge

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 04:46 PM

This is fucking retarded, not to mention ugly as hell. We get a shitty, plain, stupid looking scarf, and SJ gets one that talks crap about us.
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#12 Dude Love

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 04:52 PM

This is fucking retarded, not to mention ugly as hell. We get a shitty, plain, stupid looking scarf, and SJ gets one that talks crap about us.
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Putting the Crew's chant (well, adopted chant) on Toronto's scarf would frost me. Although Columbus has it coming for stealing a slogan everyone uses, it's still kinda weak to plop generic Euroslogans onto MLS scarves.

At this point, ours should be

LOS ANGELES GALAXY
YEAH, WELL, FUCK YOU TOO

#13 MattJack

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 05:06 PM

Putting the Crew's chant (well, adopted chant) on Toronto's scarf would frost me. Although Columbus has it coming for stealing a slogan everyone uses, it's still kinda weak to plop generic Euroslogans onto MLS scarves.

At this point, ours should be

LOS ANGELES GALAXY
YEAH, WELL, FUCK YOU TOO


"LA till I Die" would suffice..

#14 projectx

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 05:32 PM

"LA till I Die" would suffice..

That's what Toronto's and Columbus' say. If anything it should be Veni, Imbibi, Vici or Never Rest Easy

#15 Caasi Gohd

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Posted 02 February 2009 - 05:41 PM

Veni, Imbibi, Vici it should be, as it mentions NOTHING about 'I chanted'

;)




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