My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to [...] No related posts.]]>

Exactly one year ago, I decided to start the Sports Opinionated blog over on Blogger.com.  The goal was to give myself a creative outlet to express my many views on sports, whether misguided or fact-based. 

My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to keep it up for at least a year.  That way, I could find my writing niche and ensure I still liked writing after committing to it for that long.  Obviously I wanted to pick up some readers and contacts with other writers along the way, which has turned out better than I had hoped for.

We didn’t exactly celebrate with cake and champagne here at S-O headquarters (aka my house) but we did hit up a beer and barbeque some sausage, which is much more appropriate anyway.

At this point, I can honestly say that writing about sports is something that feels natural to me.  Maybe it’s because I’m just a loud-mouthed former jock who needs to feel like a couch-GM or possibly I’m such a sports-obsessed fan that it further fuels my biggest hobby.  It’s probably both.

Regardless, I can say at this point that writing about hockey, football and soccer are all in my wheelhouse and I’ll definitely keep it up.  That said, there may be a few changes coming here at S-O to help the readers find only the genre of sports they like most, since I realize that it’s a bit of a scattered approach right now.

At the end of this post, I’ve listed my favorite articles from each month the blog has been running.  Hopefully you enjoy reading them as much as I liked writing them.

I also wanted to thank a couple people that have really helped me out in the last year.

Peter Aiello – an author on S-O at times and my co-caster on the Pink Shirt Wise Guys: Italian Soccer podcast.  He’s also the guy I text back and forth with on every major sporting event and helps shape a lot of my sports opinions for better or worse.  Plus, he’s great at ranting, just tune in to the podcast to hear!

Timo Seppa – an author on Puck Prospectus who has personally helped me with articles, understanding hockey stats and has given me some great recommendations to help get my work seen.  Thanks for all the help Timo, especially since our correspondence started just by me liking one of your articles, and emailing you out of the blue.  Timo also has his own blog called Ice Hockey Metrics.

Giancarlo Rinaldi - another established writer who has helped me out and been open to new, less-established contacts.  Giancarlo writes for Football Italia and has his own blog as well.  Hopefully we can have him on as a guest podcaster soon.

Andrew Rothstein - the main editor over at Puck Prospectus.  He was kind enough to accept Timo’s advice and let me post on PP.  He’s let me pick my own topics and has thankfully published everything I’ve sent his way.  Puck Prospectus is the hockey site I most wanted to write for from Day 1 and now I’m getting the chance, which is absolutely awesome.

Gabe Desjardins - runs the statistical hockey blog Behind The Net.  Gabe has been kind enough to answer every email I’ve ever thrown his way about some of the stats tables on BehindTheNet.ca and even posted one of my articles (about Nicklas Backstrom’s contract) on his main blog several months ago.

FOF Crew – The team of guys over at Front Office Fans and Project Franchise has been really fun for me.  I love that they’re trying to get a fan-owned team and support them all the way.  They have a great group of authors and Grant Cohen was gracious enough to let me write over at FOF, even if I haven’t posted much lately.  I better get my butt in gear!

Marty Borotsik - Marty has been a fantastic NFL author hear on S-O and co-hosts the Ultimate Football Talk podcast covering all kinds of NFL-related subjects.  He’s let me join a few times which has been a blast.

My Favorite Articles from the past year on S-O

July 2009 – Part 1 of my NFL Season Preview Series

August 2009 – Part 3 of my NFL Season Preview Series (go ahead, laugh at some of those predictions) and a post about why I’m a soccer fan

September 2009 – My thoughts on the NFL’s Wildcat Offense and also a premature rant about Ronaldinho’s Demise

October 2009 – Liverpool’s use of a 3-man defense and one of my weekly NFL posts.

November 2009 - I thought the Colts should Cut Bob Sanders , Pete writes about Placenta Cures and my post about Thierry Henry’s Hand Ball that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup.

December 2009 – Jason Campbell Love, Frank Gore, NFL Rookie-of-the-Year picks and When Hockey Season Starts for me as a fan.

January 2010 -  Marty wrote a great column about the Phaneuf Trade and I wrote a letter to Jim Caldwell and we kicked off the Dignity Bowl where me, Pete and Marty picked NFL games vs our moms….

February 2010 – My Superbowl Analysis, a rant about “O Canada” and The IOC Being Sexist.

March 2010 – Hockey Gold for Canada and a Statistical Look at the Calgary Flames

April 2010 – Did the Caps Choke or the Habs Step It Up, an in-depth look at Darryl Sutter as Flames GM and Inter Milan’s importance to Italian Soccer

May 2010 – My stat on Attack Rate for Soccer Players, a Tribute to An Italian World Cup Hero and my evaluation of Nicklas Backstrom’s contract extension

June 2010 – My praise for Tim Howard in USA vs Algeria,  my (eventually correct) point that Defoe was better than Heskey for England, Tomas Plekanec’s contract and The Most Intriguing NHL Free Agents

July 2010 – Flames Free Agent Moves and The Potential Departure of Ronaldinho from Milan

Keep visiting and definitely let me know if there are topics you’d like me to write about, suggestions for changes to the site or any other correspondence.  Just email me Ryan@Sports-Opinionated.com or leave a comment on this post.

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This particular article definitely made me lose my cool. I [...] No related posts.]]> The other day I was reading an article in the National Post on the first weekend of the Serie A season in Italy, and it struck me. It’s extremely difficult to become a fan of soccer here in North America, and it’s really too bad.

This particular article definitely made me lose my cool. I consider myself a reasonably knowledgeable fan given that I scan 2 or 3 soccer websites a day and like to watch 1 or 2 games per weekend. The article had some decent insights but also included a few ridiculous errors. The article states early on that Jose Mourinho is the coach of Juventus (he actually coaches Inter) which is the equivalent of me stating that Bill Belichick coaches the Colts. If a Canadian paper had made that error about an NHL team, the writer or the editor would be fired in a heartbeat. It’s an indication of where soccer fits in the pecking order, which is hard for us true fans to comprehend.

As a quick side note, I refer to the game as “soccer” despite the rest of the world calling it football. It’s not that I have no respect for the rest of the world, but it would be pretty confusing here in North America since I also like to write about North American football.

Unfortunately, with the low media coverage and the lack of hype for the big games, most of us sports fans in North America never get exposed to soccer. I am 32 years old, an absolute sports fanatic and really never followed soccer seriously until 4 years ago. I was converted by a couple special experiences.

In 2004, while in Portugal, my wife and I got a chance to watch a Portugal vs Estonia match for World Cup qualification in a small neighborhood pub in Oporto. Portugal won 4-0, but it was scoreless until the 75th minute. The crowd in the pub was more nervous than a mailman delivering to Mike Vick’s house. If they suffered a draw versus Estonia, they might miss the big dance. Then, a young Cristiano Ronaldo erupted with a towering headed goal. The place went nuts. Ronaldo to Portugal was like Sidney Crosby is to Canadians, a hope for glory.

Later in the game, he terrorized the right wing with dribbles and faints, that left the Estonia left back in disarray, before unleashing a pinpoint cross into the box for another Portugal goal. The win was in the books. That game made me a soccer fan. Not because it was an epic clash between two titanic teams, but because I got to experience the intensity of a match with the fans it meant something to. Not only that, but Ronaldo was only 19 years old and not starting regularly for Man U, so I feel like I witnessed one of the formative performances of the best player in the world.

Given that my in-laws are originally from Italy, I have definitely had the inclination to follow the Italian Serie A. Talking soccer (it’s called calcio in Italy) with people who have watched it their whole life gives a different perspective entirely.

Following the 2006 World Cup and cheering for Italy was absolutely exhilarating. Every game was tight, the Final came down to penalty kicks and the Italians pulled it off. I couldn’t ask for a better introduction to my first time cheering for a specific team and being completely invested in them. Fabio Grosso even earned the nickname “The Iceman” in our circle for his ability to draw the winning penalty versus Australia, to score the OT winner versus Germany and to finish off France with the final penalty for the title.

And finally, in 2007, I attended my first live European soccer match. It was in Berlin, at the Olympiastadion, where the 2006 World Cup final was played. I saw a match between Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen. The experience was surreal and I recommend it to anyone. Fans sing and chant all game, they don’t need to be prompted by a jumbotron and the atmosphere is electric. Unfortunately for my experience, Hertha got pummeled, but I’m now a Hertha fan for life, despite the fact they’ve never won a title. The only sporting events I’ve ever attended with that type of atmosphere were both World Junior Hockey Championship games. The first was in Red Deer in 1995 pitting Canada versus Sweden and we had already clinched the Gold.  Team Canada was playing for the first perfect record ever in the WJHC.  The second game was in 2005 at the semi-finals versus the Czech Republic. Both of those games had ~10,000 people in attendance, the Hertha game had ~60,000. They’re not even on the same scale.

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The Bundesliga season officially kicked off with a matchup of defending champions, Wolfsburg, and 2007 champions, Stuttgart. To me, the Bundesliga is the most enjoyable major league in Europe. Their average attendance was 41,900 last [...] No related posts.]]> Yesterday I sat down to watch the first soccer game of the year that actually meant something, in my mind anyway.

The Bundesliga season officially kicked off with a matchup of defending champions, Wolfsburg, and 2007 champions, Stuttgart. To me, the Bundesliga is the most enjoyable major league in Europe. Their average attendance was 41,900 last year, which is the 7th consecutive season it has increased and they have more goals per game than the big 4 leagues every year since 1989. Not only that, but from a supporters point of view, there are a number of clubs who can challenge for the title every year, unlike Spain, England, Italy and France who realistically have 2-3 clubs each year with a shot. The Bundesliga has had 5 different champions in the last 8 years. I still watch a lot of Serie A and EPL, but the Bundesliga is the best total package in my mind. Now on to the game…

Wolfsburg spent the offseason holding on to their attacking trio of Edin Dzeko, Grafite and Zvjezdan Misimovic. They also managed to add Obafemi Martins to their forward line from Newcastle and Karim Ziani from Marseille to their midfield.

Unfortunately for Stuttgart, they lost their leading scorer, Mario Gomez, to Bayern but attempted to replace his offense by signing Pavel Pogrebnyak from Zenit and reuniting with Aleksandr Hleb on loan from Barca.

The match started with Wolfsburg playing either a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield or a 4-1-3-2, depending on how much room the flank midfielders were given. Regardless, all play went through Misimovic, given his 20-assist campaign last year. Stuttgart was playing a 4-4-2 with the central mids playing more of a holding role and the wide mids pushing forward in an attempt to keep Wolfsburgs fullbacks from joining the attack.

In the early going, Wolfsburg dominated possession, creating several chances using weaves and overlaps through the middle of the field. Both Grafite and Dzeko had solid chances in the first half that were parried away by Jens Lehman. The VW crew also appeared to be pressuring Stuttgart on the ball, especially high up the field, in order to force quick possession. Stuttgart was forced into a counter-attack game by this tactic, but almost turned it into gold when Sami Khedira put his head on a cross that was narrowly saved at the post by Diego Benaglio.

The first half ended 0-0 but several players had made their mark on the game. Pogrebnyak looked great on the ball for a big man and was much more reliable than his partner Cacau. Khedira had proven to be the source of Stuttgart offense. Both Grafite and Dzeko had picked up where they left off last year and LB Schafer had proven that we was extremely dangerous in attack. Josue and Misimovic had controlled play down the middle and had forced Stuttgart to move the ball up the wings.

In the second half, Stuttgart came out playing very physical defense on the twin tower attackers and it appeared to be extremely effective. The Wolfsburg attackers switch sides and frequently split wide, but still couldn’t find enough space. Stuttgart moved Gebhardt out to the right and Khedira back into central midfield in an attempt to neutralize Schafer. At this point, Stuttgart clearly had the control of play.

In the 55th minute, manager Markus Babbel pulled a largely ineffective Hleb for Jan Simak, who proved to be just as ineffective. In the meantime, Marcel Schafer unleashed a monster shot from the left side that narrowly missed goal.

At the 64 minute mark, Grafite showed some poor sportsmanship and effort by going down at the edge of the box, instead of lunging for a ball he could have retrieved. I hate that. That said, it could have been retaliation for a hapless Ludovic Magnin diving and writhing like he’d been shot by a sniper earlier in the first half.

At this point, Wolfsburg was using Alexander Madlung to unleash a number of long balls from the central defense in an attempt to change the defense. It reminded me of Marco Materazzi doing the same for Italy during the 2006 World Cup.

In the 68th minute, Ciprian Marica was brought on for Cacau who had spent way too much time shooting from poor angles and not enough time looking for open team-mates. In the meantime, Ziani had spent the last 8-10 minutes showing why Wolfsburg had pursued him. While switching sides with Gentner frequently, he had managed to hold possession, create space and find team-mates in dangerous positions. He added an attacking dimension down the right flank to complement Schafer’s runs down the left.

In the 71st minute, the complexion of the game changed. With the RB, Riether holding the ball inside the half, Gentner drifted right of the box to receive the ball and gave a quick pass to the top of the box to find Misimovic in space. With a quick step left to gain his balance, Misimovic unleashed a curling left footer to the left side of goal that left Lehman bewildered after taking only a step. The ball was in from the moment it left Misimovic’s foot and Lehman knew it. 1-0 for the defending champs.

3 minutes later, Stuttgart almost equalized on a redirected corner but it was cleared off the corner post by a defender. This was followed by Gebhardt being subbed off for Elson.

Elson rewarded his managers move by launching a missile shot from well outside the box that forced the save of the match from Benaglio.

In the 78th minute, we learn why most managers will save 1 substitution until the final few minutes. Trasch, the RB, who had been playing a very good game, slid to block a cross and caught one arm underneath him. It appeared that he broke his wrist and had to be removed from the game. With Stuttgart a goal down, they were now a man down as well. Let’s just say that Babbel won’t enjoy speaking to the press after this one.

In the 82nd minute, the game is put away by Grafite. He dances past Magnin on the right wing and has no cover to beat since Stuttgart are a man down. As he stepped into the box, he calmly slotted it past a charging Lehman to ice the game.

In the last few minutes, Wolfsburg brought on 2 young players, Ashkan Dejagah and Alexander Esswein, for Ziani and Grafite, but the game was over.

Wolfsburg start off the season with a solid win against a strong opponent and Stuttgart are left to wonder if they somehow could have equalized had they kept one substitution in reserve in case of injury. Either way, the Bundesliga season is underway and I’m excited.

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