Election day links

Happy election day folks.

Is it me or are Canadians paying way more attention to Obama vs. McCain than they paid to the federal election north of the border last month?

Anyway, I'm hoping you guys can navigate away from MSNBC and Fox News long enough to enjoy a few interesting MLS related links.

First, the Sports Business Journal is reporting that MLS attendance and TV ratings both dipped during year two of the Beckham Experiment.

Next, we check in on former New York Red Bulls phenom Jozy Altidore, who scored in the 90th minute of Villareal's 4-1 win over Atletico Bilbao, making him the first American to score a goal in Spain's top division. Nevertheless, it still looks like Villareal is looking to loan him in the new year.

And finally, Steven Goff of the Washington Post urges you to Rock the Vote, MLS style.

OK.

You can go back to tracking the election now.

I know I am.

-- Morgan Campbell

All-Stars, all the time

A few hours ago Major League Soccer unveiled it's First XI for the all-star game against West Ham United at BMO Field later this month.

Team lines up as follows:

Goalkeeper: Matt Reis (NE)
Defenders: Jimmy Conrad (KC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus), Michael Parkhurst (NE)
Midfielders: David Beckham (LA), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago), Shalrie Joseph (NE), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus)
Forwards: Kenny Cooper  (FCD), Landon Donovan (LA)

You guys notice anything missing?

If you didn't, let me point out that the MLS First XI, chosen by voting from fans, coaches, players and (of course) the media contains NO representation from Toronto FC.

Some of you are probably wondering how this happened, given that TFC fans voted early and often (the MLS website allowed up to 10 votes per person, per day), and vaulted several TFC players to the top of early fan voting lists.

Here's how: Media, coach and player votes were more heavily weighted than fan votes. So while TFC's rabid fan base propelled hometown players to an early lead, that advantage disappeared when everyone else filed their ballots.

Now I understand a lot of TFC fans are probably upset about the shutout, but before they flood the commissioner's office with angry emails they need to remember a couple of things:

1. The team isn't complete yet. These are just the first 11 guys named to an 18-man roster. On July 15 all-star coach Steve Nicol will choose five more players, and after that the commissioner will select two more. That's real good news for Toronto fans, because....

2. One of those seven additions will definitely come from TFC. Speaking at a news conference this morning MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis made a point of praising Toronto's passionate fans, and realizes that fielding a TFC-free team July 24 would be just plain dumb. He suggested as much when speaking to the media a few minutes later. He didn't use the word "dumb," but did say the league would include at least one hometown player in the roster.

So relax, guys. Someone from TFC will dress for the game against West Ham United.

But who?

I'm not a gambling man, but my money's on Marvell Wynne.

Before we continue, let me remind you guys for the 88th time that the rules of journalism dictate that I'm not responsible for predictions that don't pan out, but receive credit for the ones that do.

So yeah, if I've got to select on TFC player to add to the team, it's Wynne. In my very, very VERY humble opinion he's the team's best player this season, and his numerous "Man-of-the-match" trophies bear that out. He's the one constant on an inconsistent team, and a relentless, hustling defender who's a lot of fun to watch.

I'd suit him up, but we'll see what the league does.

ON LOMBARDO

It's true. TFC officially waived him earlier today.

It's not a surprise, given that he'd gone from a part-time starter last season to a full time reserve in 2008.

-- Morgan Campbell

It's all about the media... isn't it?

Toronto FC held its annual media day today, and if you're a reporter the news was all good.

Today we picked up our stadium passes, got reacquainted with people we hadn't seen since last season (not everyone has the budget/desire to cover games in South Carolina and L.A.), and learn about this year's pre- and post-game protocol.

Most of the changes don't affect day-to-day coverage, so I won't bore you with them here, but the team has added something to its post-game routine that all of us will notice.

Exercise bikes.

If you've been watching sports highlight shows the last few years then you've probably grown used to seeing an Ottawa Senators post-game ritual that's part press conference and part spinning class. Instead of meeting the media in the locker room after hitting the showers, players would conduct interviews in the exercise room, pedalling stationary bikes.

I don't know if the practice caught on around the league, but clearly Brendan Shanahan wasn't a big fan.

Haven't seen the Sens on the bikes in a while, which makes me think they've abandoned the practice.

We all know how that worked out.

Anyway, this year TFC's picking up where the Sens left off, moving post-game player interviews to the stationary bikes in the strength and conditioning room.

Great news for those of us in the newspaper business.

As we discussed earlier this week, an athlete who loves a long shower or a post-game, pre-interview rubdown can wreak havoc with deadlines. Sometimes the one player you want to talk to after the game is the one guy you can't find because he either leaves early or arrives late.

This new policy makes life easier for us because it puts all of the players in the same place at the same time. No more deadlines jeopardized by stragglers.

Thank you, TFC strength and conditioning coach Paul Winsper, for looking out for the media.

Strangely, when I asked Winsper about his rationale behind changing the post-game ritual, he rattled on about all this technical stuff that had nothing to do with me or my precious deadlines. He talked about strength, circulation and recovery; crazy stuff like that.

It confused me. As a sportswriter, I know that everything is always about me and my colleagues.

But the more he talked the less he mentioned us.

Instead he said the post game ice bath will constrict players' blood vessels, and a quick switch to warm water will open them back up, causing fresh blood to rush into their muscles and flush out any toxins.

After that, a special carbohydrate drink will quickly restore energy to depleted muscles, and a few minutes on the bike will engorge those muscles again with oxygen-rich blood.

The whole process, he said, is designed to aid recovery. The more thorough the recovery, the fewer injuries and the sooner the players can return to high intensity training.

And the increased media availability?

Just a byproduct.

Kind of like lactic acid, I guess.

But I think he was just saying that.

Deep inside, he knows it all about us.

I mean, it is....isn't it?

-- Morgan Campbell

A Numbers Game

The Major League Soccer players union released its list of player salaries this week. Unfortunately, the figures were updated as of March 31, so the guys, like TFC's Laurent Robert, who signed after Monday aren't listed.

But there's still plenty of interesting info available.

Around here, a lot of the off-season talk was about depth, and how you acquire it. I know a lot of teams feel constrained by the salary cap, and a lot of critics of the league abhor MLS's sub-CFL minimum salaries ($33K for a senior team member).

It might (but shouldn't) surprise you to know that I've thought long and hard about these things, and eventually it occurred to me that the teams with the most depth are the ones that can get the most out of the guys making next to no money. When you've got just over two million bucks to spread amongst roughly 24 guys, only so many players can make six figures. And when those guys get hurt or leave for international matches, the guys replacing them often make significantly less than the guys in the press box.

Granted, it's almost a given that a dramatic dropoff in quality follows the dropoff in salary, but some teams have figured out how to squeeze more production from less money.

Think about it this way.

Last Saturday in Columbus Adam Moffat gave the crew the only goal they would need. He makes all of $17,700 per year, which is less than minimum wage in Ontario (based on a 40-hour week, 52 weeks a year).

In New England's 3-0 win over Houston, the final goal came from a Gambian teenager named Sainey Nyassi, who also makes $17,700. And this wasn't a scrub scoring in garbage time. Nyassi and his minuscule salary started that game.

Now, when is the last time a TFC player scored a goal for that little money?

Answer: never.

Lowest paid player to score last season was Kevin Goldthwaite, who made a little over $30,000.

I'm not saying TFC's mismanaging their salary cap. I'm just saying there's more than one way to find success in this league. And while I'm as curious as TFC fans are eager to see what Laurent Robert will produce for the money TFC will pay him (safe bet that it's a lot more than $33,000), other teams are showing that there's plenty of value at the bottom of the pay scale if you look hard enough for it.

Numbers Game II

Take another look at Laurent Robert's official TFC bio. Note this set of numbers.

Height: 5-foot-8
Weight: 132 pounds

I didn't bring my tape measure to practice yesterday, but I stood next to the man in the post-practice media scrum and I'm pretty sure he's at least two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier. In fact, when I first saw him at practice Tuesday I was tempted to describe him as "kinda tall." Then I get a press release telling me that at 5-foot-8 he's "kinda short."

I guess people understate their size to seem less intimidating on paper and maybe fool opponents into underestimating them. In the UFC, for example, you'll sometimes see middleweight champ Anderson Silva listed at 5-foot-10 in the tale-of-the-tape, only to tower over "taller" opponents when they meet at centre ring. And last summer at the Under-20 World Cup, a look at the advertised heights on team Zambia's roster made you wonder if they were a team of soccer players or jockeys.

And now we have TFC, telling us that their newest player is just a little taller than Spud Webb, and now I don't know who to believe -- the team or my lyin' eyes.

Numbers Game III

Looks like Andrea Lombardo's wearing number 19 these days. At least he was during Thursday's practice. If you're into rumours and conspiracy theories, you could hypothesize that he switched numbers to free up number 20 for an incoming player, and that another fairly big name player is on the way.

If you're into that kind of thing, that is.

I definitely am not.

But if you are, feel free to start speculating now....

-- Morgan Campbell