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Around SBN: Rob Ryan Talks About The Cowboys' Secondary

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agtk

Jan 30, 2010 Jun 01, 2012 43 1616

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Sounder At Heart A League of Roleplayers

Brad Evans using his subtle influence to ensure the talk about Brek Shea continues to focus on his hair. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Perhaps you have heard of the popular, free to play, online game called League of Legends. Perhaps not. Maybe you have played its progenitor Defense of the Ancients; maybe not. Or you might be acquainted with Storm of the Imperial Sanctum, though, if you said no to the above, probably not. Whether you have or haven't, hopefully you will enjoy the interesting parallels we might draw between these Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games and our beloved sport of soccer.

First, a primer. MOBAs are team-based games where each player controls a "hero" and attempts to destroy the other team's base first. Each team has a set of areas to defend and little computer-controlled minions who will help them in the process of defense and attack. But where these games shine is in the structure of the competition between the teams of player-controlled heroes. The heroes fight each other, neutral monsters, and the enemy's minions and towers while they gain experience to level up and money to purchase upgrades. They are incredibly diverse, though at the same time there are a few basic roles and types they follow. There are mages, hand-to-hand fighters, stealthy assassins, damage absorbers, and ranged damage dealers. More importantly, they each fill vital roles.

The three main roles in any MOBA are "support," "tank," and "carry." Supports do what their name suggests: they use their tools and skills to empower their team or hinder their enemy while avoiding being the focus of a battle (or attempting to, at least). They might do this by harassing the enemy, shielding an ally, or providing the team with a tactical advantage (see Lulu). A tank is what you might imagine it would be: a big target that is meant to soak up damage and, to a lesser extent, deal it out in kind. A good tank can take a lot of damage and can resist some damage, but can also cause the other team enough havoc that they must be dealt with (see Volibear). A carry is the person who "carries" your team to victory later in the game. When properly used, a carry can decimate the other team at will, meaning each team will protect their own or kill the other carry at all costs (seeAshe). There are, of course, many subtleties to each game, with plenty of ways to build your hero as a hybrid or to end up having your tank win it all alone, but these roles define the game at a basic level.

These roles also roughly translate onto the soccer pitch.

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35 comments  |  2 recs | 

Charles Boehm reports for The Soccer Wire that the USL is set to put together a professional women's league, the "W-PRO" (homepage with a little animation).

This is obviously fantastic news for us Sounders fans, as Seattle has become home to seemingly half the U.S. National Team (Seattle must be one of those "other places around the globe" Boehm refers to). However, there does not appear to be any indication of which teams exactly would be joining the W-PRO, though the W-League website is advertising franchising opportunities. Hopefully, from the ashes of the WPS we can finally have the strong women's league that our players and fans deserve.

21 days ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 4 comments

Sounder At Heart The Emerald City: An Embarrassment of Riches

Celebrate the good times. You never know when they'll be gone. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Right now, The Emerald City is more than rich in Rave Green baubles. Jeremiah said it well: "There really isn't much reason to complain when your team is pulling out results and playing basically every three days." The Sounders have a pair of shutout victories to show for last week's games, having won the two games prior as well. Having recently watched and read a good deal about the Sonics' departure, I wanted to reflect about just how awesome soccer in The Emerald City is right now and how we should treasure it.


May is one of the most jam-packed months of the season. We have already had 6 home games, plus a CCL game at home and another preseason game at home against Mexican competition. The Sounders still have 6 more games to go this month, one of which is the first match of this year's Cascadia Cup. We get to see our team match up against the likes of Landon Donovan, Fredy Adu, Brek Shea, Javier Morales, Sebastien Le Toux, Chad Marshall and Dan Kennedy, all in one month. The schedule is absolutely stuffed, and, as an MLS fan, that is excellent news.

But it's not just the number of games that we can cherish.

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54 comments  |  6 recs | 

Sounder At Heart Do Luck And Griffin III Mean Anything For Soccer?

RGII has been sculpted as a quarterback for nearly a decade already and is expected to compete at the top level immediately. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III were selected 1-2 in the NFL Draft Thursday night. They are the prototype of the new era NFL quarterbacks, as Chris Brown of Grantland writes. They are the product of a system that identifies young athletes and instills in them, from an early age, the type of mentality and intelligence that will be required of an NFL quarterback. Brown writes that anyone from the future looking back will laugh at Tebowmania, because why would anyone want an athlete as a quarterback when every quarterback is an athletic quarterback? The new techniques used to develop young players make this possible in the NFL. But the NFL is not the only place where this happens.

Look at this matchup: 19-year-old left back David Alaba takes the first PK for Bayern Munich, while international superstar Christiano Ronaldo takes the first for Real Madrid. We all know how it worked out in the end. Perhaps Alaba's youth worked for him, as there was far less to know about how he would take the PK, but the pressure to perform in that situation is intense and can make any player wither (See: Ramos, Sergio). Alaba's calm and calculated PK evidences a confidence beyond his years. A 19-year-old hardly has any business being the deciding factor in a Champions League semi-final, and yet his success where Ronaldo failed may just have been the upset that tipped the scales in Bayern's favor.

The NBA is also familiar with young superstars. Just look at King James' coronation upon joining the league. The "1 year" rule has cut back on this a bit, but it is still significant. The NBA has been in the game of developing young players for years--the elite leagues, traveling AAU teams, expert youth coaches, etc. The NFL does not have these young superstars, but there is no question that the college game has been elevated to a level previously unimaginable. And it is partially due to the sea change in how youth quarterbacks are developed.

Expert young players like Alaba are not new to soccer. Christiano has been a sensation for a long time. If you felt like Rooney has been playing for a decade, you'd almost be right. But he's just 26, only 3 weeks older than Osvaldo Alonso. Messi is just 24 -- David Estrada is older.

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13 comments  | 

Kzatv

I found Ramos's attempt

about 1 month ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 0 comments 4 recs

156539_lalt

Sounders Women!

about 1 month ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 8 comments 3 recs

This show sounds awful, but I would still be very entertained to see Joe Roth send a group of Sounders players to the show.

2 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 0 comments

From Matt Gaschk, Ianni reports that a major part of his offseason regimen was... seeing a sports psychologist?

It has indeed paid off so far, as Ianni has been an integral part of the Sounders' last two wins. This is the flip-side to Parke's frustration, and the three-way CB battle this year looks like it will be even more heated than last year.

2 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 1 comment

It's the 20th minute, but no score yet. Matt Gaschk is providing the live blog. Follow along there and here.

2 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 14 comments

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Turf. See more at goalWA.net or even more at their Facebook page.

3 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 1 comment 1 recs

Steve Kelley takes, in my opinion, a very accurate perspective of what the Sounders are doing, and just how big of a gamble this is. It's not about Fucito v. Montero, it's about Fucito & Montero et al. v. Eddie & Montero et al.

"In their three seasons here, the Sounders really have had only two players who consistently were willing to make runs for Montero — Fucito and Nate Jaqua. Both are gone.

When they made those runs, Jaqua and Fucito pulled centerbacks away from the goal and created space for Montero to work his magic. With space, Montero is as lethal as any player in the league.

But will Johnson be as willing to run for Montero as Jaqua and Fucito were, or in his quest to impress national coach Jurgen Klinsmann, will he be all about goal scoring? Will he come to Seattle because he wants to win games, or because he wants to win a spot on the national team?"

3 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 6 comments 1 recs

Video from Eddie Johnson's first day at training. A few key takeaways that seem to be constantly overlooked: Ezra Hendrickson (assistant coach) played with EJ with FC Dallas and Chris Henderson (technical director) and David Tenney (fitness coach) both coached EJ in Kansas City. Eddie was far from unknown to this coaching staff. And he seems fit already, scoring at least two goals in short scrimmages today. Just keep all that in mind while continuing to evaluate this trade.

3 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 4 comments

It appears someone missed the memo.

EDIT: Now in comments.

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 32 comments 1 recs

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Flaco, that is not your position!

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 1 comment

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From Sarah Arlens on Tumblr

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 1 comment 7 recs

Game will be three periods, with two 45 minute "halves" and a 30 minute additional period.

Reportedly Zak will be making an appearance, though he is not starting. Follow along with Matt Gaschk through the link. This is not really a gamethread, though feel free to discuss here.

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 68 comments

This truly is a must read. Zakuani is such an amazingly good person, I can't even believe it. I also find it very comforting that Mullan regrets what he said after the game and has understandingly been haunted by the tackle. He will rightly get the boos that he deserves when he plays here, but hopefully there will be less malice directed towards him. If Steve can get past it, so can I.

There's also Sigi saying that Steve won't really be Steve until next year. That is truly unfortunate for anyone who loves good soccer. Thankfully he is expected back within a few months. I cannot wait until he makes his first appearance back at the Clink -- they will hear us.

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 0 comments

This link includes video of the riots, which look like sheer madness and pandemonium. Truly awful stuff. As Brian Straus of Sporting news said: "In certain climates, it's remains too easy to incite soccer fans to violence." I can't imagine something as completely insane as this happening here, but hopefully we never see this type of violence at a soccer match ever again. Hopefully Bob Bradley can help the national team and the rest of the nation respond positively to this.

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 3 comments

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Happy that my FO doesn't bring in injured/out-of-shape DPs? Sympathy for their fans dealing with injury concerns? Schadenfreude? I'll almost never wish for or take joy in the injury of a player, but early indications are that this was preventable or at least foreseeable.

4 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 1 comment

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Kam likes Hooters.

5 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 0 comments 2 recs

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For future reference, you type æ by using

HTML code: & aelig; (with no space after &)
HTML nums: & #230; (same)
Mac keyboard: option+'
PC keyboard: alt+0230 (using keypad)

Welcome Christan!

5 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 3 comments 3 recs

Beckham scored a goal that would probably win Goal of the Week, and Phil Younghusband beats DeLagarza and Saunders for a very nice goal for the Phillippines. Seriously, Beckham's strike was pretty amazing, you should watch.

The Azkals were missing a few starters who were tied up in Europe (Neil Etheridge, most notably), and it looks like the Azkals used a lot of backups in the second half, leading to a terrible defensive showing. Sounds like a game similar to ours against ManU. In a meeting of two sports superstars, Beckham gave his jersey to Manny Pacquiao. ABS-CBN has the rest of the coverage if you're interested.

6 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 2 comments

A match in Argentina between Estudiantes and Banfield had to be suspended in the 13th minute after Estudiantes's home supporters threw two flares onto the pitch which promptly exploded, causing acoustic trauma to their own keeper. The first flare came at about the 6th minute, and the opposing team scored 3 minutes later. The referee called off the match when the keeper said he could not continue playing and the chief of the police contingent said that the crowd could cause more trouble.

Just as ugly, some fans began climbing fences after the second explosion, and were confronted by angry Estudiantes captain Juan Sebastian Veron, who shouted at them, "Get down... get down or I'll beat you up."

This type of hooliganism is exactly what MLS and FOs throughout the league fear. While I have yet to see any evidence that this type of behavior would occur here, it's not hard to understand why FOs are so neurotic in stamping out any signs of possible hooliganism. They never want to be in the position of Estudiantes's president, Enrique Lombardi, who said that "it seems this is the price we have to pay."

6 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 14 comments 1 recs

I am fairly certain that Alex Morgan could start for an MLS team.

6 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 15 comments

Sounder At Heart On international slots and GA players

There has been some confusion in the Sounders community on how many internationals the Sounders must protect.  While the general consensus is that Rosales will be protected, and many believe that Flaco will also be protected, there is much disagreement over whether a third, most likely Friberg, must also be protected to satisfy the MLS expansion draft rules or if Tetteh actually satisfies that requirement.  Here is my analysis, in which I conclude that Friberg does not have to be protected.

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9 comments  |  3 recs | 

Sounder At Heart Evans's ankle: not for the weak of stomach

It does, however, accurately sum up my feelings after last night: bruised.

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1 comment  | 

March to the match

8 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 1 comment

The SB Nation Seahawks blog Field Gulls is running some Fantasy Football leagues for those interested. I decided to sign up, so if anyone wants to challenge agtk's yachtsmen, I'll be over here sipping on some champagne laughing at those other yachters who don't have yachts big enough for covered decks.

9 months ago Pb-sounders1_tiny agtk 0 comments

Sounder At Heart Ties that bind, ties that break

After being reminded of the head-to-head tiebreaking implications of tomorrow's match, I got interested in what would decide the home field advantage for FCD v. SSFC after we win tomorrow.  Turns out it is Goal Differential, so as long as we win, it doesn't matter how we win besides the obvious advantage of helping our GD and hurting theirs.  If we lose or tie though, total GD becomes irrelevant.

For easy reference, I've posted the whole tiebreaking procedure from the league's website:

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