Slam Dunked By Snow News

Very important announcement from US Soccer: U.S. Soccer’s membership elected long-time U.S. Soccer executive Sunil Gulati as President of the U.S. Soccer Federation by unanimous consent on Saturday at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Gulati succeeds Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia, stepping down after two successful four-year terms. Gulati, who ran unopposed in the election, has served as U.S. Soccer’s vice president since 2000. In his acceptance speech, Gulati touched on several new initiatives to be outlined in the next 100 days, including an international relations program, further initiatives in diversity, event hosting and a complete review of all U.S. Soccer technical areas.
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Andrew Hush of Soccer New England has a Q & A with Gulati.
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Also from US Soccer - the three games for Team USA right before they head to Germany are all set: The U.S. Men’s National Team’s three-game Send-Off Series prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup will begin at The Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn., on May 23, before continuing to Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, presented by Budweiser and concluding at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., on May 28. The three U.S. opponents will be Morocco, Venezuela and Latvia, respectively, with all three matches kicking off at 6pm central live on ESPN2.
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Andrea Canales remembers Doug Hamilton as a great person, for Soccernet.
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Jeff Rusnack of the South Florida Sun Sentinel does the same with genuine fondness.
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Peter Wilt had a pretty eloquent quote about the loss of Hamilton to the world of soccer: We must all work that much harder the rest of the way, for now we are playing a man down.
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Brian McBride signed a one year contract extension with Fulham!
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If you thought my tirade last week on New Jersey Sports dude George Zoffinger was harsh, read with Dan at MetroFanatic had to say to old Georgie! It's brilliant! The picture of Georgie is also incredible.
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Sao Paulo beat Corinthians 2-1 in the Sao Paulo derby on Sunday, and immediately afterwards Corinthians coach Antonio Lopes quit the team. I don't get it, he led them to the league title in December and now he is done?
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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald previews the season for new club Miami FC who will play in the First Division. They have signed a ton of players with "names", like Onandi Lowe, but will they be any good?
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Do you remember Brian West? He was that right winger with blazing speed who played for Columbus then split for Norway's Fredrickstad a couple years ago. He started off really well, until the injuries bogged him down. He is now ready to roam again. Soccernet gets in touch with him.
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A huge 2nd leg match from the Champions League will happen tomorrow, with the winner hosting Villareal in the first leg of the quarter finals in 2 weeks.
Inter v Ajax (2-2 from first leg)
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Kyle McCarthy of the US Players Assoc gives us his 10 MLS must see matches of the first half of the season.
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Big Euro matches - did ya see any of em?
Chelsea some how squeaked one out over Totenham in a London derby, 2-1, with an amazing William Gallas goal just minutes from the end.
Juve v Milan - was a sad typically cliched Italian 0-0 affair. Really pathetic performances from 2 of the supposed best.
Birmingham 1-1 West Brom - like that neutral drop you pulled off, in your families 1979 Ford Grand Fairlane station wagon with Mom in the back with the little ones and Dad sitting shotgun, when you left the family reunion picnic. Glorious, but useless.
Ajax 0-0 PSV - PSV maintain their near perfect season with a 7 point lead over second place Feyenoord who drew 1-1 with Waalwijk. Only 6 league matches remain!!
Valencia 0-0 Real Madrid - Ronaldo missed a PK and both team threw away their best chance to close any significant distance on Barca who lost 2-1. The lead sits at 9 points, with 11 matches to go.
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ESPN's Soccernet have begun their season previews for the 2006 MLS season that kicks off in just 19 days! FC Dallas is up first, by Dallas Morning News soccer writer Steve Davis. In the middle of the preview is an incredible quote from Eric Wynalda that sheds some fairly ugly light on the team as a whole: "I think Colin Clarke almost lost the group halfway through last season. They had to do some reshuffling to their thinking. They had a couple of instances there with curfew issues. Then they had some veteran players there just getting a little bit stupid in the middle of the season about the way the coach was handling things. I think we saw last year with Dallas, as the middle of the season came around, that some of those guys lost their focus. We'll see how that group works itself out."
The next team previewed is Houston Dynamo, by Jeff Carlisle.
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Paul Le Guen, the man who delivered Lyon to 4 straight French titles will take over Rangers for next season.
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Phil Ball on Spain's bottom of the barrel: Relegation roller-coaster
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Defender Rusty Pierce has signed with Columbus. I didn't realize Coach Sigmund was that desperate.
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Big Apple has a hot & hilarious chunk of juicy news on Lothar (of the Hill People) Matthaus. He just took over Brazilian club Paranaense and has already gotten a one month suspension from the league!
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Who will start up top for Brazil at the WC? Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune weighs the candidates (all puns intended): Adriano scores in race with Ronaldo
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on one of MLS's greatest unsung heroes, Ronald Cerritos.
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Chelsea crazed-spending-machine Jose Mourinho wants to put Frank Lampard together with Michael Ballack to form his "dream partnership". I guess that means Lampard & Michael Essien are not so dreamy! Too bad they paid a frickin fortune for Essien isn't it. If they had a paid a realistic price to begin with, then this wouldn't look quite so stupid now would it.