Category: "Soccer"

NTSF 110: New challenges on the horizon, the reality of health and sports and more…

The sports world is in another one of those moments in the year where everything begins to crunch together at once for fans in the United States. The NBA joined the NHL this week in starting its regular season. College football enters its stretch drive, while the NFL prepares for its second half of the [...]

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NTSF 109: Shifting allegiances in a digital age, Champions League groups hit halfway point, Olympic medal for sale and more…

Wednesday morning really left me with a lot of time to think, and boy was there plenty to think about. I was up before 4:00 am, waking up to drive my wife to the airport for a week away on business. (Sweetheart that she was, having been up awake all night unable to sleep, she [...]

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Checking on predictions halfway through Champions League group stage

With the conclusion of Wednesday’s games, the UEFA Champions League is officially halfway through its group stage. When the groups were first announced, I made my predictions as to who would be advancing on to the knockout phase of the competition. Ranking every group 1-4, I pretty much laid it all out there on the [...]

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NTSF 108: Uncrowded Commonwealth cause for concern, international competition galore and more…

By the time this goes up on the site, I’ll be somewhere en route to California to the Bioneers conference in San Rafael. The coffee company my wife’s family owns and operates needed a few extra bodies to man their trio of locations at the event, and so I was conscripted for active duty. It’s [...]

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NTSF 107: Thoughts on losing versus failing, the Contador saga and more…

My voice is still hoarse five days after the fact. Saturday saw the eyes of the nation turn toward Eugene, and I had the pleasure of being amongst a crowd that numbered just under 60,000 to witness the Oregon Ducks take on Stanford in a matchup with more than just Pac-10 implications. Perched 14 rows [...]

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NTSF 106: Storm clouds over Contador, the value of international competition and more…

   I wasn’t planning on having to write this piece, and I wasn’t planning on having to bring this week’s column to you late. What you’ll read deeper into this week’s edition is the direction I’d hoped to go, discussing hour tournaments like the Olympic hockey spectacle and the Davis Cup and the Ryder Cup are [...]

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NTSF 105: Diversifying your sports portfolio with the Vuelta finale, aging legends and more…

  What is the greatest benefit in having as diverse a range of sporting interests as possible from a fan’s standpoint? There is never an offseason… something is always right in line to take the place of a departing season with a fresh dose of varied live action. It is often said that there really [...]

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NTSF 104: The origins of non-traditional spectatorhood plus news from Spain, Flushing Meadows, Monza and more…

    What makes us enjoy what we enjoy; how do our spectating proclivities develop, and why do we take interest in some events and not in others? It’s one of those things that I keep rolling over again and again in my brain as I find myself overwhelmed at times with the sheer number of events that [...]

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