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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Adidas reveals adiPower Predator

I couldn't resist posting about this. I am literally drooling at the idea of wearing this shoe and may have to start playing soccer again as an excuse to purchase it.

Adidas has released images of the newest installation to its Predator line: the adiPower. Its initial release will be featured in two colorways (black/white/red and blue/electricty) and is currently up for pre-order at prices ranging from $200-250.

In my opinion, the adiPower brings Adidas back at the forefront of football boots. It is absolutely stunning and I am excited to try the technology out for myself. My only worry is that it is not very durable. Only time will tell.

Read about the details over at Soccer Bible.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Dalglish Signs 3 Year Deal

It is official: Kenny Dalglish is Liverpool FC's new manager.

This is not a surprise as Kenny has led a turnaround at the club, saving the Reds from the bottom half of the table (at one point it seemed possible that we could be relegated) and bringing them up to 5th place. The culture of the club has changed and its nice to see that he can stay and keep it going.

This is probably the biggest "no-brainer" decision that the Fenway Sports Group has had to make since taking over Liverpool. The future is exciting and I look forward to Dalglish taking us to bigger and better things.

Read more about this story at Liverpool FC's official website.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Liverpool to Sign Kit Deal With Warrior

Wait, what? Weird.

Liverpool are going to switch kit suppliers from Adidas to Warrior, an American based company known for its lacrosse gear.
Warrior is a subsidiary of New Balance

The Details of the deal are that Liverpool will sign a £25 million pound deal with Warrior that will start for the 2012-13 season. It is interesting to note that Liverpool have not won a European cup while wearing an Adidas kit, so... maybe this will change our luck!

As a business major, I have to admit that this worries me from a branding and distribution standpoint. Adidas has both strong brand recognition and a worldwide distribution system that helped make Liverpool the fourth highest selling football jersey in the world. I don't know much about Warrior or New Balance, but I think that says a lot about its brand visibility.

I've read comments from Europeans who have never heard of Warrior, so that shows that Warrior doesn't have worldwide brand equity and that they do not sell their product worldwide and don't have the infrastructure to distribute Liverpool jerseys internationally at a low cost.

In the end, I don't think jersey sales have the same impact as £25 million injected directly into the club on a yearly basis, so the benefits outweigh the costs.

Read more about it at the UK's The Daily Mail.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Terp's Head Coach Search: Moving to Plan C, D, and So On

Arizona's Sean Miller, Maryland's number one target in its search for Gary William's replacement, has turned down the opportunity to be the head coach of the Terps. Initially it was being reported that Miller would be revealed as Maryland's new head coach on Monday. This rejection is a major blow to the search process as Maryland's athletic director, Kevin Anderson, had to move onto plan B: Butler's Brad Stevens.

Things went from bad to worse when Butler's coaching prodigy, Brad Stevens, also turned down Maryland to remain in Indiana. Now on to Plan C, D, and probably plan E. This is pathetic.

Not only are we having to settle for a lesser-known coach, everyone knows that we are getting turned down left and right. This makes our basketball program look like a joke.

Plan C is Notre Dame's Mike Brey. He's from Maryland and has found success at Notre Dame, but isn't a bomb hire that Stevens or Miller would have been. This is serious business, because if we don't get a respectable coach we risk losing some of the most talented recruits we've gotten to sign letters of intent in a while.

One has to wonder if Gary Williams was really planning to retire, or is it just a coincidence that we get a new athletic director and instantly the coaches of our revenue sports (that support the other 25 sports that don't bring in any money) are fired or retiring. What a coincidence that is. Only time will tell us if these changes are positive for the program.
Wonder what he is thinking right now...


If these coaching replacements are busts, Kevin Anderson will be affecting more than just football and basketball. He'll be affecting every sport. In the event our two big sports don't bring in as much money as in the past, that revenue lossed means we won't be able to fully support the 25 other sports. Let's keep our fingers crossed that that doesn't happen, even though I've already heard rumors on campus that some varsity sports will be cut next year.

Do I trust Kevin Anderson to make an exciting hire? No. See Randy Edsall. Do I trust Kevin Anderson to make a good hire? To be determined. I'm going to wait to see his new coaches in action over the next several seasons.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Gary Williams to Retire

Gary Williams has announced his retirement from coaching after 22 years as head coach of the University of Maryland's men's basketball team.
Terp's head basketball coach Gary William's signature fist pump

There will be a press conference tomorrow, May 6th, at 1 PM in the Comcast Center. 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Liverpool Return to Form, Dalglish to Thank

Liverpool FC currently occupy fifth place in the English Premier League, which qualifies them for the Euoropa League next season. Early in the season, Liverpool were three points above relegation. What changed?

Two things come to mind: The Fenway Sports Group and Kenny Dalglish.

FSG replaced the previous owners and immediately made changes to the club. The best decision, by far, was the firing of Roy Hogdson and the hiring of Kenny Dalglish - the main topic of my article today.

Photo from the Independent


Dalglish made immediate changes to the club. Primarily, our style of play switch from the long-ball orientation to the short passing style that Liverpool employed during the height of the club's success in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Not only is the short passing more enjoyable to watch, it has proven to be very effective given the players we have at the club. Dalglish recognized that we possess speed in our defensive backs and precision passing in our central midfield.

The long ball approach was taking our talented midfield players of Maxi Rodriguez, Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt, and Lucas out of the game and making them nonfactors in the offensive movements. With the implication of short passing, we got them more involved in the offensive build up and became more threatening in the final third of the field. I think nothing supports this change more than the performances of Dirk Kuyt. Always the hard worker, Kuyt struggled under Hodgson (as did many other players), but as soon as the short passing approach was introduced he seemed to have more of an effect on the final score line.

Dalglish's greatest contribution of all has to be the most intangible: his altering of the atmosphere at the club and improvement of the attitudes of its fans and players.

It is no secret that many were unhappy with good old Roy and that the players looked more than a little disillusioned on the field and fans were getting angrier and more worried by the day. Dalglish's appointment sparked interest and optimism amongst many people.

A key development in the improvement of the team atmosphere is found in the transfer of Fernando Torres. It was obvious by his on-field attitude that he did not like life at Anfield. Many questioned why we would let him go to another club in midseason, let alone those Blue rent boys in London! However, this seems to have been an amazingly good move on the part of the Red management.
Luis Suarez celebrating a goal with Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard

Not only did Dalglish remove the poison from the water, he brought in two footballers that have brought this club to the level it should be in Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. Carroll's move has been hampered by injury, but his few short appearances have been positive. As for Suarez, he has been nothing short of sensational in my book. His energy and attitude have been inspiring and have led to fantastic performances thus far.



To summarize, the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as caretaker manager has been brilliant in every sense of the word and I wish for him to become permanent manager of Liverpool FC. He is taking this club in a great direction and I want him to be able to take us as far as he can.

If Dalglish is made manager,  I will look forward to watching the Reds play next season and will be optimistic of their position in the table this time next year (as if I ever don't look forward to watching them play!).