Major League Soccer's dilemma has finally been solved.
The long drama on where the 20th MLS franchise finally ends, with the location most originally thought would be the prime place, as New York City has been named as the place where it will be based.
The intrigue isn't where it is going to be placed, but who has control over it.
The new franchise, entitled New York City FC, will be mainly owned by Manchester City. So yes, Sheikh Mansour and the ruling Emirati family that built themselves on petrodollars is controlling this operation. To help out with running the team, they enlisted the help of a local, that local being the New York Yankees, who in this working agreement with regards to NYCFC, will have Randy Levine as the head of the ownership group.
In other words, a Yankee operation with the Manchester City financial muscle that will start play in 2015.
Integrated within the deal for NYCFC will the eventual concept of having a stadium in New York City. There have been plans to have a soccer stadium in the Flushing Meadows area of Queens, but that does not preclude other possible sites within the five boroughs. Having the Yankees around certainly helps build a positive cache on the eventuality of having that stadium deal happening. And having them on board in the 2015 season, with the TV contracts ending in 2014 is an interesting ploy that possibly could benefit the league in the long run.
Manchester City, who finished second in the Premiership this just concluded season will be playing at Yankee Stadium this weekend against newly-minted UEFA Europa League winners Chelsea.
P.S. For those nostalgic about bringing back the New York Cosmos? Well, they will start play this August in the second-tier NASL.
Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of The Morning After.
It's already the second half of the 2012. Hope the reader has had a productive first half of 2012. It has been an interesting stretch for everyone and hope the remainder of the year makes it even better.
Meanwhile, the NBA season may have concluded on the court, the mantra of the swoosh remains true and legitimate. Basketball Never Stops.
The NCAA already has commenced action last week. The big buzz was naturally, how 5 rookies and a sophomore beat a veteran squad. The rival league UAAP already is making preparations for its campaign, which will begin on July 14. They even have a "Call Me Maybe" meme ready.
In the pros, the quest for a semifinal seat will need a playoff. One of the teams involved has Mario West as their reinforcement. And coming soon, a Legend gets his jersey retired.
The NBA Draft just ended, and Summer League beckons. Of course, there's the drama of free agency. And the quest for Olympic Gold. Being a basketball fan in the Motherland is just blissful.
Here forth are the links after the jump. Kings of Europe. Again. (c/o Sports Illustrated)
How did Spain unleash its demolition of the catenaccio. (c/o Zonal Marking)
No Becks in the Olympics. Or maybe he will be in it, after all. (c/o Herald Sun and Fox Sports)
Hello and Welcome to the latest edition of The Morning After (which has somewhat morphed into some kind of a weekly thing).
So, there was a fight this Saturday / Sunday. A long awaited fight. Featuring two pound-for-pound greats. One from Mexico, the other, the Philippines. Much has been said before, during and after the match. Lot of debate whether Dinamita won, or should it be a draw, but one thing for sure, come Cinco de Mayo 2012, the Fighting Congressman will be facing someone.
Here forth are the links after the jump to stuff you may not necessarily have missed during the weekend. The Miami Marlins have arrived. (c/o Call To The Pen)
Cards go back to an old reliable of theirs to retain the essence of Larussa. (c/o STL Today)
How do people deal with Pujols anxiety. (c/o Viva El Birdos)
He's safe and sound now. (c/o Yahoo!'s Big League Stew)
Welcome to the special Memorial Day edition to The Victory Formation.
Just to remind everyone, Memorial Day is an American Federal Holiday that they observe yearly at the last Monday of May, in which this year falls on the 30th. This commemorates all those who died while serving in the United States military.
Like most of the people in the United States, I am also getting the day off. To all my Stateside friends, I hope you get to do the right thing and honor the ones who gave their lives to defend your country from threats known or unknown.
It has been a while since I got the weekend off, and I really need it to get some rest, relaxation and time to stay at home. Unfortunately, most of my family got the chance to go out and frolic. At least, I get to do some more editing of photos and finish some blogs that I really need to go and write about, I hope.
How does the U.S. Embassy here honor Memorial Day? Recently, the U.S.S. Carl Vinson docked in our shores for a routine port call and then some. That aircraft carrier is the so-called funeral hearse for Osama Bin Laden. Some of my blogger friends luckily were able to go on-board and check the dock out.
Here is a nice picture of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson in Manila before we give way to the links.
Memorial Day weekend is all about racing. Dan Wheldon lucks into a rookie mistake (c/o Los Angeles Times). Kevin Harvick takes advantage of Dale Earnhardt, jr.'s fuel woes (c/o USA Today). In the principality of Monaco, Sebastian Vettel continues his dominance of the Formula 1 circuit (c/o VivaF1).
Danica Patrick might be coming to 2012 to a redneck neighborhood near you. (c/o Post Chronicle)
The beat goes on. Lost in the midst of Novak and his quest to smash McEnroe's streak is the fact that Roger Federer is now in 28 straight quarterfinals on Grand Slams (c/o The Independent).
The Williams siblings will be back in time for World Team Tennis. (c/o MSNBC)
Maryland vs Virginia for Lacrosse dominance by the men. (c/o Streaking the Lawn) Bad sign? Northwestern beat the kids from College Park to seal ladies' lacrosse. (c/o Wall Street Journal)
Jamaican dominance in sprints. Probably not going to go away anytime soon. (c/o BBC Sport) Meanwhile, Usain Bolt comes out just fine. (c/o Jamaican Observer)
It takes Charlie Davies and DC United to finally be the team to beat the Portland Timbers at their turf. (c/o Potomac Soccer Wire)
Congratulations to FC Barcelona, who made mincemeat of whatever Manchester United threw at them (c/o Zonal Marking). Meanwhile, Berbatov did not take kindly to being omitted. (c/o The Sun)
Congratulations to AS Monaco for playing your 2000th Ligue 1 game. Your reward is relegation to Ligue 2. (c/o Yahoo! Eurosport UK)
Sepp Blatter has escaped once again the clutches of nasty allegations. (c/o New York Times) And he probably will be getting a fresh new mandate (c/o Bloomberg).
The Donald is finally on top. (c/o Herald Scotland)
Charl gets membership. For Life. (c/o ProGolf Talk)
Something Annika Sorenstam or Michelle Wie never could do. (c/o Larry Brown Sports)
Greg Paulus as a future college basketball coach? (c/o The Lantern)
No more Cody Green, pressure now on Brion Carnes. (c/o Husker Extra)
Classic case of "OMG, I just threw my school under the bus, I need to be in good graces with them, you know..." (c/o Waiting for Next Year)
Some of the Rams know that sports provide temporary relief from trauma. (c/o STL Sports Minute)
Transforming a sign of negativity into a sign of hope. (c/o National Football Post)
Good news for the Canucks (c/o The Globe and Mail). He's been handy for them off the ice (c/o Orland Kurtenblog).
Hockey is king, because unlike basketball in Chicago, others had to adjust schedule. (c/o Vancouver Sun)
Defending the need for the Atlanta Thrashers to stay. (c/o Matchsticks and Gasoline)
Cavs want BOTH Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams. (c/o ProBasketball Talk)
The John Kuester era in Detroit has reached a merciful end. (c/o The Detroit Sports Site)
Lebron is humbled by the Jordan praise. (c/o King James Gospel)
Welcome to the first Monday edition of the Victory Formation.
This week was the first time I had to reformat my laptop. It finally conked out and I sort of panicked. Had it repaired to the nearest technician and prayed that all of the important stuff gets retained. Honest to goodness, it was secured with everything intact. Yes, my precious pictures, music, videos and documents are still here.
The best thing about having my laptop reformatted is that I decided to dump Windows Vista and go with Windows 7 as my OS. Had to reinstall applications that I use, like Destroy Twitter and Skype.
I presume that we will need a new set of picture logos. I hope they can produce more classics on the way.
Someone posted the video yesterday. Here are some pictures with captioning. The best thing about the clip was that how Rudy gave the Heat bench a death stare.
