Random thoughts while watching MLS

First of all, this has been a very entertaining game so far. After a full slate of soccer games today (Villareal v. Everton and Barcelona v. Juventus), tonight’s San Jose v. Los Angeles was the one of was least looking forward to. As the first half comes to a close, it’s actually been the most fun to watch by far. Why? The pace is face and there’s a palpable tension in the air. Landon Donovan left San Jose to play in Germany, then his girlfriend started pissing and moaning for him to come back stateside and his vagina was already hurt from not being a starter in Leverkusen (though in all fairness to him he’s surely got more going for him than Robson Ponte) so he returned to the MLS. For the L.A. Galaxy, not San Jose. Well, since tonight’s game is being played in San Jose, Donovan is getting it from the crowd and the interaction between the players is more heated than usual. It certainly makes for a fun game to watch. The highlight for me so far was the Donovan goal to tie the game at 1-1. Though I’m actually rooting for the Earthquakes, Donovan was on the receiving end of a pretty chicken-shit shove from Danny Califf that probably should have earned Califf a yellow card. A motivated Landon Donovan is a dangerous Landon Donovan. After scoring a pretty sweet goal, he put his fingers to lips to shush the San Jose crowd and then tapped the Galaxy logo on his chest. It was funny enough to make me laugh out loud. Nicely done Landon. Now if he can remember the piece of crap Mexican player that told him he would find Donovan’s mother and kill her and use that as motivation to do some damage to that shithole of a country next Saturday, I’ll be a happy man.

Something else that brings a smile to my face during MLS broadcasts is hearing Brandi Chastain’s commentary. She is so god awful that I can’t help it. While it’s nice that she has credibility as an ex-player, one might think that having even the most basic grasp of the English language would be a prerequisite for a broadcast position. Apparently that’s not the case. I remember an English teacher I had at the U of A. He was Chinese. And had only been in the United States nine days prior to the start of classes. I personally thought that the university could have sprung for a more qualified instructor but it seems Brandi thought well enough of his credentials to hire him as her tutor.

Last thought: at what point does advertising become counter-productive? I mean, when do your advertising efforts start to hurt your products sales? Sierra Mist is an MLS sponsor and of course they want to plug their beverage. The problem is that soccer is a non-stop game which leaves no time for official commercial breaks. So in order to get their supporter’s money’s worth, MLS has created a side-by-side advertising system where the game’s soundtrack is muted and the game itself is put in a separate window and minimized while a Sierra Mist commercial interrupts and takes precedence. Radio Shack and Budweiser are also perpetrators of this advertising terror.

While Sierra Mist has succeeding in raising my awareness of their product, they have also turned me steadfastly against their beverage. The side-by-side commercial is so obnoxious and intrusive that I am staging a one man boycott. Budweiser isn’t affected as much because Bud is shit anyway and I’ll only buy it if I’m broke and desperate for beer anyway. Radio Shack is also given a bit of a pass because I buy my electronics at Best Buy and rarely at that. But Sierra Mist is something I might have been tempted to try if not for the advertising war they are waging against MLS fans. Pepsi (their parent company) may get my money from other sources but never from Sierra Mist. You suck Sierra Mist!