VOTE!!!

Everyone please vote in my new poll (on the right, in the sidebar) for your player of the 1st half of the 2009 season. I have my own ideas, but I'm curious who everyone out in RSL-land thinks has been the cream of the crop so far this year. Results will be posted once the poll closes. Thanks again for coming by and thanks for voting!

AGAIN

So we've been having computer issues at the ol' homestead once again, meaning I am way WAY behind on everything Review related. I'm going to try and get the site back up to date as soon as possible, but we're a ways out I think. In the meantime, here's my player grades from the latest last minute RSL meltdown...

RSL vs. Houston Grades:
Nick Rimando-8 Saved a (questionable) PK, played well.
Tony Beltran-4 Attacks constantly came from his side, gave way too much space for the tying cross
Nat Borchers-6 Played well until falling asleep on the goal
Jamison Olave-3 Horrific. Played the lazy, careless game he can be known for, then gets tossed for dissent. Well done.
Chris Wingert-6 Meh.
Kyle Beckerman-5 Also asleep at the wheel on the goal.
Will Johnson-6 Active, but not especially useful
Javier Morales-6 Too much time diving, but ok otherwise
Clint Mathis-6 OK but needs to do more
(Tino Nunez 76)-6 Not really given a chance, came in with RSL a man down
Yura Movsisyan-5 Nice on the assist but otherwise useless. Needs to learn to win something in the air (and put a shot on frame and....)
(Ned Grabavoy 82)-6 Not a lot of time to do much.
Fabian Espindola-6 Solid goal, some good effort at times, but needs to impose himself on the game more.
(Robbie Russell 63)-6 Decent in trying to hold off the Houston onslaught.

Coach grade (Kreis)-6 New formation seems to suit team, needs to get Olave a crowbar to help him remove his head from his ass.
Ref grade (Maruffo)-3 Another MLS game that devolved into UFC-lite. Cards were also a bit one-sided and the PK call was a bit weak for my tastes. Plus, a 2 minute water break in the middle of the game? Really?

RSL Man of the Match: Nick Rimando
Singlehandedly kept his team in the game. Earned RSL 1 point as opposed to 0.

Douchebag of the Day: Jamison Olave
You should never, ever, EVER be dumb enough to pick up two straight cards for dissent like that. Dude, take a xanax and back away...

Uh Oh Spaghetti-O's

Crap. Missed all the fanfare around the Ben Cup second leg as my computer has been out with...a computer version of swine flu? I'm not feeling too creative at the moment, can you tell? Anyway, congrats to RSL on a big (and surprising, given recent form) road tie that keeps the cup in Utah for another year. So craziness at home and at work here lately, but I hope to have the site back up to date and fully going again in the next couple weeks (that's not to say I won't possibly get some occasional posts in between now and then). As always, thanks for coming by!

And in honor of the win, here is the beloved cup itself:

Peaceness, kids.

Updates coming soon

So I have grades ready for the Colorado game, but haven't yet watched the LA game. The plan is to watch it and the KC game this weekend and then get all caught up hopefully by Monday. Famous last words, I know, but the Review will keep plugging away and, as always, thanks for coming by!

Quick Update

Ah yes, MLS 2009 has begun, and our (well, at least my) hometown Real Salt Lake take to the field starting this Saturday! I'm hoping to have a short game preview (no promises) later this week. I do promise, however, to get my final 2008 grades up BEFORE RSL takes the field this weekend. I've got one more game to rewatch and then it is done. Anyway, it should be an interesting season; I can honestly see RSL anywhere from 1st or 2nd in the West down to 5th or 6th. I think we'll learn a lot this weekend. Also, I hope to get my predictions back up and running, but after the embarrassment of last week's results on mfls.com, that remains to be seen!

Two To Go

So I'm finally almost caught up with grades for this season, I only have 2 games left to watch:
-The River opener against the energy bovines, which I was at, so I just need to watch it to refresh the memory.
-The ESPN2 Houston game which I watched in bits and pieces, but need to watch the whole thing to grade fairly.
After I get that done I will have season-long grades for all the RSLers (with much thanks to Jim G. and Dadof6 for their help with the San Jose affair on the station that must not be named).
But for now, the rest of the site is up to date and ready to go (the team leaders/stats section is updated). And once RSL's season is over, say...November 23rd (with the Cup of course), I will have an end-of-season recap and the Royal Awards (better name coming depending on my brain-ha!). Thanks for coming by and GO RSL!

News and Notes, Thoughts and Opinions

First off, thanks to all who voted in the Royal Review Color poll, the current RSL scheme has won out. However, the black and white scheme did pull enough votes for me to look into viable options for those people. If I get time to try a few things, I will let you know. As for now, enjoy the colors of the homeland! :)

In place of the old color scheme poll I have added a new one. In your eyes, who is RSL's player of the year so far? I took the top 6 (it would have been 5, but two players were tied for 5th) players in my season long player grades and put them on there. I'm just curious to see what the rest of RSL-land (and MLS-land) thinks.

As everyone knows by now, Real Madrid cancelled its 2008 exhibition with RSL, hopefully to the surprise of no one. The "partnership" between the teams has always been shaky at best. The Madrid sponsored youth academy? No where to be found. The loaning of promising young stars? Hasn't happened. The biannual (every two years) friendly in Salt Lake? Well, we got 1 (out of five). So basically, this partnership that was supposed to be so fruitful for RSL has ended with RSL getting 1 friendly, 1 preseason training at Madrid's facilities, and the shaft. And worse yet, RSL doesn't seem upset about it. In the linked article, Lagerwey even admits he doesn't know if RSL will be compensated for the missed friendly. You know, the one specified by a legally binding contract. RSL front office: Grow a pair. Stand up to someone besides your own fans. China's national team doesn't pay your bills. Neither does RM. The fans do. Fight for them (not against them) and for yourselves once in a while, damn.

There's a decent article in the SL Tribune today about Nate Sturgis. It basically reiterates what I said months and months ago, this kid is ALWAYS injured. He is RSL's Mark Prior. I feel bad for him, especially after the article pointed out something I hadn't thought of: if his injury doesn't heal up soon, he won't be fit enough to play in the Olympics. That would be a heartbreaker. For Nathan's sake, I hope he heals up soon and gets to go to Beijing. I mean, seriously, who doesn't dream of being in the Olympics?

Finally, to the Fox Soccer Channel: Please hire me as Max Bretos's pronunciation guide. His mangling of the names of players and places has gotten to be too much. And even better, I come cheap (just ask my current employer!). Yours, Ben.

Finally!

Well, we now have a shiny new computer and working internet access, so things can start getting back to normal in Royal Review country. However, I have decided that since I can't watch the upcoming game against Houston, I will hold off on posting a review on the game. I may post a few thoughts, but I can't in good faith write a review of something I didn't see. This may actually be a good thing in a way as it allows me to focus more on the big upcoming BEN CUP 2007 match on September 12th at RFK. As the official (co-)home of the Ben Cup I will try to do as much coverage as I can, including pictures of the trophy (if I can get it finished in time!). So get excited peoples, the Ben Cup is only a week away and RSL needs only a tie to clinch the title for the second straight year (and only the second year of the rivalry)!!! Oh yeah, and beat Houston again. :) Creeeeeeeeeamsicklesssssssss!

PS-Congrats RSL on the big win at LA. You are now officially not the worst team in MLS.

PPS-Congrats to Willis Forko, Atiba Harris, and big Chris Seitz on their respective national team callups. Well done boys!

PPPS-I hate you HDNet. More than you will ever know.

RR Yellow Card Accumulation

So you may have noticed the distinct lack of posts here on the Review lately. This is because the RR is serving a suspension for too many yellow cards. Or it may be because our computre (typo, but why don't Brits/Canucks spell this word this way?) crapped out on us and so I have a distinct lack of decent internet access. :) Anyway, until we get a new computer (or I get the internet situation reliably figured out on an old fossil computer we have laying around), there will be a shocking lack of RR content. Sorry, but I'll do my best to get something new on here soon! Thanks for coming by! Peaceness

ps-Congrats RSL on the big win over KC!!!