The State of MLS

This is my first blog on the american soccer league, Major League Soccer, and will be quite a long one, dealing with many of the problems and changes facing not only MLS, but the USL 1 as well.

First off, the quaility of play in MLS is regarded as poor compared to the rest of the world. Here I'll look at a few solutions to fix the problem of average league play and disappointing international appearences. 

The First Solution. Raise the salary cap. Do not get rid of it altogether. The league is still to young and financially unstable to do away with a salary cap, but please, raise it! Right now, the 2.9 million dollar salary cap is barely good enough for teams to field a winning starting eleven. But when competitions like Superliga and the CONCACAF Champions League start, the salary cap doesn't allow clubs enough money to field a team with enough quality reserves to actually win. 28 players is a good enough roster size, but 2.9 million is not enough. Its so low we can't even keep our own stars, let alone attract young stars from Europe! A good raise would be to anywhere from 4 to 3.5 million. No lower, maybe higher.

Second. Count less money from the Designated Player slot against the salary. 500,000 is to much for such a low budget. Lower it to atleast 3oo,ooo. Also, instead of teams having to trade for another DP slot, let them buy one with a maximum of three per team for 500,000, with each slot counting for 300,000 against the overall team salary. The cost of buying a DP slot would also hopefully be enough to make teams stop and seriously consider the best canidate for a DP slot, instead of spending them on someone who had a good year that they don't want to lose.

Third. Fix the youth system. Let each team train and sign its own players from its own youth academies instead of waiting for them to graduate college at 21, 22. Letting them develop and sigh their own players would give teams a chance to give a player league play experience for 5 to 6 years before he's 22 like all the European teams have a chance to do. 

Recap. Raise Salary Cap to anywhere from 3.5 to 4 million. Lower the amount of DP slot money that counts against team salary from 5oo,ooo to 3oo,ooo, and let teams buy extra DP slots with a maximum of 3 per team. Fix the youth system. Let teams sign as many kids from their youth academies as they want and let them start playing.

Also, fix the refs. Please, for the love of all holy, fix the refs. Lets allow skills to show and a smarter use of physicality. When the players can show their skills without feat of getting hammered and fouled with no calls, then the level of play will improve.
Now as for international and local tournaments. More advertising and better incentives. For petes sake, the US Open Cup tournamnet is the oldest, most prestigious tournament we have, and its barely even mentioned or advertised. Get bigger name sponsors for it, and add some kind of incentive outside of CONCACAF Champions Leaugue slot. Money draws intrest from teams. Better promotion draws more fans which generates more revenue. Same thing needs to be done with the CONCACAF Champions League so that it benefits every team involved. The Superliga really only needs better promotion. The sponsors are there, and so is the cash prize. It just needs promotion.
If MLS does these things, I honestly believe it will improve the quality of play, the amount of American star power that stays and the age of stars coming in. It should also see a significant increase in revenue and bigger intrest levels not only in league play, but tournament play as well. Go MLS, and conquer the soccer world.

Humilty and Faith

As you know, the last blog I wrote was some reflections on Mark. I'm now in Luke. Chapter 7, to be exact. Some quick refrences, Luke 7:1-10, 7:36-50.

The first part of Luke 7 tells of a centurion and his sick servant. Now, the centurion sends some religious leaders to ask Jesus to come heal his servant instead of coming himself. Odd. Later on, however, we find out why. He sends some friends to Jesus to tell him to not bother coming, because he is not worthy to have Jesus under his roof. This centurion recognizes his lowliness before Christ, and admits it! He also says that with a word, he knows Jesus can heal his servant. Jesus is amazed at this Gentiles faith, and even says to the crowd following Him that He has not seen such faith in Israel. When the friends return to the house, they find the servant healed.  If we admitted or own lowliness and lack of worthiness before Christ, how much better and easier might our walk with Christ be?

In the second refrence to Luke 7, Jesus is dining at a religious teachers house when a 'woman in the town who was sinner,' came to the house with a jar of fragrant oil. She stands behine Him, at His feet, weeping, and washes His feet with her tears before drying them with her own hair and annointing them with the oil. Jesus then procedes to speak with the Pharisee and Simon, before telling the woman 'Your sins are forgiven you.' If we showed our humility towards Christ in our actions, what rewards might be reaped for the kingdom of heaven?

The faith and humility in the words and actions of the centurion leads to the healing of his servant. The faith and humility in the actions of the woman lead to forgivness. This is a picture of humility and faith in action. Let us strive to live like these examples. Humility in admitting our lowliness and our brokenness. Faith that Christ has the power to heal and to forgive.

Mark

I recently finished reading the book of Mark last week. One theme really stood out to me through the whole book. Hard Heartedness. The Pharisees and the people were so stupid! They were so wrapped up in themselves they could not see Jesus for who He was! How many times do we get so wrapped up in ourselves that we can't see what God is trying to tell us in our daily lives? I know it happens quite often for me. I would like to say that this is something all of us should pay much more attention to in our lives. Not just self absorbtion, but self reliance. Watch yourselves. You never know when love of self might make you miss what God has to say.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, o man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: But to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Lord.

James 4:7

Humble yourself before God. Resist the Devil and He will flee from you.

Reflections On An Un-likely Sermon

Over the weekend I had the privlege of attending a wedding in Warsaw. Besides the good food, and the wondering about what my sister's wedding will be like, I heard a most unlikely sermon. The Preacher and The Translator gave a very eloquent message on what Marriage really is. It is not just a union of two people for there whole lives, but a union of two people, broken sinners, who will fail without Christ. The charges to the Bride and Groom were something worth considering. 

The Bride was reminded to be submissive to her husband in all things. The groom was reminded that he is to love his wife like Christ loves us. He is to forget himself, and love her more then he loves himself. Both of them were reminded that without turning to Christ in everything, they will fail.

Now, I feel that this can also apply to those of us who are still single. Be submissive to those in authority. Love those around with self sacraficing love. There is no reason we should wait till our wedding day to put these things into practice. We should start right now, with those around us. With our relationship to Christ. If we can practice that submission and love in our walk with Christ, how much easier will it be in marriage? 

And now the Final Reflection. I can already see that my sister's fiance, though he is already putting these points into practice, took them to heart and was inspired to do even better so he will be the best he can be when there time comes. I feel that when the time comes for them to be together, these points will be clearly seen to everyone around them, an example of Christ's love in living, breathing action.

A Plea From One To Another

I've been looking around at the world lately, mainly the state of people in my generation, and I must say, I am saddend. Not just by their behavior, but by ours. Our generation is drowning in sin. It is a sickend generation, devoid of hope. Yet we, those who have the key to Hope, to Eternal Life, sit by silent. People are married on days like today, 8,8,08, because the numbers are symbolic of prosperity and good fortune. How sad! If they only knew the true source! They might not be prosperous and have good fortune by the worlds standards in the end, but they would be by Christ's! We should not be afraid of this world, we already have the victory! Let us share the hope that is in within us. Let us all, myself included, no longer be afraid to spread the Gospel. Let us not be afraid of what this world might do to us, we have eternal life! May we all go out and make a difference for God in this, our generation.