Stateside magazine

ST TESIDE July 2014

www.stateside.co.uk

THE UK’S ONLY MAGAZINE FOR US MAJOR LEAGUE SPORTS

One On One with Kenny Cooper

Issue I

IN S WTICKET

NBA O2 THE AT

We quiz the Seattle Sounders striker

WHAT MAKES A Super bowl winning team?

Inside the heads of the New York Giants

JETER retires

face off: lebron vs jordan

two legends compared

£3.50

A Tribute to a NEW YORK YANKEES legend

CONTENTS AME R I C AN FO OTB A LL 12

18

22

26

COVER STORY The G-Men Big hits, game changing turnovers and a little bit of luck: How the New York Giants defied the odds to win Super Bowl XLVI It’s all in your head The controversy surrounding head injuries in the NFL It’s goodbye to the Stick Stateside look at iconic sporting arenas from around the USA Malcolm Glazer: Life of a winner From humble beginnings to Super Bowl winner

BASKE T B ALL 30

32

Lebron James v Michael Jordan Two legends of the game, but who will come out on top?

The best and worst of the NBA From the high of Jason Collins to the low of Donald Sterling

SO C C E R 36 Last chance for women’s soccer?

The previous failings of women’s

professional soccer leagues means

the NWSL is under pressure to

succeed 41 Kenny Cooper

One on one with the Seattle

Sounders hitman 44 World Cup ‘94 in pictures

A look back through time on the

biggest stage of them all 49 The new Giants of New York

How will New York City FC adapt to

life in the MLS?

I CE H O C KEY 56

58

The Canadian Curse Why can’t the Great White North end their 21-year wait for a Stanley Cup triumph?

A remarkable season The numbers posted by Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins

BASE B A LL 60

67

72

77

Derek Jeter’s curtain call The captain’s 20-year career is coming to an end this season. We take a look back at one of the best Yankee players of all time Red hot: John W. Henry How has Henry transformed the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool?

Dominican Republic The country that provides the most overseas MLB players Moneyball Billy Beane: Taking on baseball’s financial giants

4 June 2014 Stateside

CONTENTS

ICONIC STADIUMS p22

LEBRON JAMES V MICHAEL JORDAN: WHO IS THE GREATEST? p30

INSIDE THE HEADS OF A SUPER BOWL WINNING TEAM p12 Stateside June 2014 5

ST TESIDE Staff Benjamin Wier Editor

Phil Hammond Deputy editor

Kristian Johnson Features editor

Will Rook Production editor

Sam Brownsword Art editor

Jamie Kightley Web editor

Ben Topliss Brand director

TO SUBSCRIBE OR FOR ANY ENQUIRES ABOUT YOUR SUBSCRIPTION, CALL 0844 456 0645 On the web Our website www.stateside.co.uk contains match reports, opinion, in-game statistics and analysis, and photo galleries - plus much more.

ABOUT US

WELCOME from the team So here it is: the first ever issue of Stateside.

First of all, we’d like to give a massive welcome to all of you reading this.

We’re confident that we have created a unique publication that has enough to satisfy passionate and avid sports fans by covering the big five leagues from across the pond: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. We’ve been spoilt for choice in regards to topics and issues to write about.

With the build-up to the new NFL season in full flow, now is the perfect time to take a look at the biggest prize in US sport: the Super Bowl.

We talk to defensive co-ordinator Perry Fewell and two-time Pro Bowler Chris Snee, two instrumental figures from the New York Giants’ Super Bowl XLVI winning team.

They relive that historic winning campaign and its key moments by attempting to put into words just what it means and what it takes to win the Vince Lombardi trophy.

We also take an in-depth look at life after the NFL, and the mental health issues that divide players and officials.

Seattle Sounders striker Kenny Cooper joins us for a one-on-one interview, shedding light on his youth career at Manchester United through to his MLS career, which includes partnering Thierry Henry in New York.

This year, baseball will say farewell to a legend. We take a look back at the career of New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter, who will close the curtains on his 20-year career at the end of the current MLB season.

As well as this, we look at the state of baseball in the Dominican Republic and the controversial presence of MLB on the island. This includes the sacrifices which have to be taken for those who play.

We’ll be surprised if you’re left feeling short-changed as the team have worked tirelessly to feed your need for all your favourite Stateside sports.

Here’s to many more editions.

The Stateside Team

Where to find us Editorial Minalloy House, 18-22 Regent St, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 3NJ Tel 020 4959 5289 Email editorial@stateside.co.uk To advertise in Stateside Mary Topliss Tel 020 4959 5290 Email advertising@stateside.co.uk Subscriptions

Stateside, Minalloy House, 18-22 Regent St, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 3NJ

Tel 020 4959 5290 Email subscription@stateside.co.uk Stateside June 2014 7

READER’S LETTERS Frank Lampard is reportedly set for a move to the MLS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

RACISM AND THE NHL

Only in it for the money

The recent departure of Frank Lampard, 35, from Chelsea to the MLS is an all too familiar occurrence, with a number of English players in their thirties moving across the pond.

Other Englishmen like David Beckham and Jermain Defoe have also cashed in on the USA’s soccer league, but why?

Why would such decorated and well regarded English internationals want to finish in, quite bluntly, a league of failed athletes and Sunday leaguers?

I really don’t think it’s the ‘challenge’ of a new league these old chaps desire.

I believe they simply want to let the American sun tan their balding, grey heads.

It’s been reported that Beckham earned a whopping $250m (£148m) at LA Galaxy, and to do what? Kick a ball about with some amateurs? These past-it footballers run about on a ‘soccer pitch’, with American football markings slightly faded on the grass, purely because their pockets are heavy with money that’s undeserved and stinks of American spectators disappointment.

Sam Stedman, Lincolnshire

Pressure on prospects

The NFL Draft is a massive event and it is getting bigger year after year.

As a fan of an NFL franchise it can be an enthralling event. However, it’s more than just an entertaining spectacle in the NFL calendar.

The livelihoods of many young athletes are at stake. Which is why some of the over-the-top media and scouting analysis of the prospects is going too far, especially in regards to the Pro Day, 8 June 2014 Stateside

where we have quarterbacks coming out and making a few throws unopposed.

Take Teddy Bridgewater, drafted by the Minnesota Vikings. A smart, humble kid and a great quarterback for the University of Louisville. He had good numbers as a Cardinal and led the team to a famous Sugar Bowl win in 2013.

For most of the 2014 college season and beyond most were adamant he’d be the first quarterback selected.

Yet, the hours and hours of gamefilm of Bridgewater available were seemingly disregarded after his Pro Day, where he admittedly didn’t have the best of times.

The fact that this led some to question whether he’s of the calibre to start in the NFL is mad. As is the amount of criticism that followed. Negative analysis of Bridgewater spiralled to the extent that one scout disregarded him due to the fact he had ‘skinny knees’.

Luckily for Bridgewater he still got drafted in the first round. However, is it possible that the rumour mill could unfairly mark the card of a player further down the draft which could result in him not being selected.

Jack Presswell, Taunton

It’s a shame to see racism still alive in the NHL community during the recent Bruins Canadiens playoff series.

Despite there only being a handful of black players in the entire league it is still surprising to see hateful views expressed on Twitter towards Pernell Karl Subban from a small minority of the Boston fanbase. Here’s hoping the NHL take strong action against this small group of idiots as a way of preventing further abuse, as this kind of behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated in any other sport.

Perhaps Canadiens knocking the Bruins out in game 7 could be considered karma!

Dave Kostiuk, Sheffield Thanks for the letter, Dave.

We certainly agree that there is no place for racism in the NHL, or any other sport for that matter.

Enough of James Harden

20:20 hindsight can obviously be a useful tool for the media, I get that, but can we please give up on the James Harden trade chat already? Obviously if OKC were presented with the option to reverse the trade now they’d take it, but that’s not the point, you can only judge the decision based on the information they had at the time.

PK Subban was racially abused on Twitter

READER’S LETTERS Were people outside Oklahoma genuinely expecting Harden to become the best 2-guard in the NBA? No. Were they expecting the salary cap to leap up and up like it has? No. This puts OKC back in the tough position they were in at the time, choosing between committing themselves to pay punitive salary cap taxes every year, or make the tough call on whether to keep Ibaka or Harden.

Once you see it in that context, you still take Ibaka every time on a team that already has two of the league’s best scorers, and one that fell apart against San Antonio as soon as Ibaka was hurt, killing their interior defence (something Harden would be less than no help in fixing).

It’s always easy to criticise a trade two years after they happen. In fact it’s almost impossible to think of one that looks balanced two years later. One team almost always eventually ends up better off due to unexpected player development or injury, but that doesn’t mean the other side made the wrong call. Sometimes shit just happens.

Ben Ingle, London

London deserves franchise

Chris Bosh (left), Dwayne Wade (centre) and LeBron James (right) have all contributed to a successful season for the Miami Heat

Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, seems to support the possibility of the 2015 season having four home games at Wembley, and a European franchise, fingers crossed, may be next round the corner.

Jonners Baker, London

London has been the heart of European gridiron for several years now and the game has seen a huge increase in popularity on this side of the pond.

Heat the best team ever?

There are now set to be three games The Miami Heat are now one of the alltaking place at Wembley stadium in time great NBA franchises. This season 2014, the most ever held there. they have surpassed what many Possibly due to this increase other great teams have done in demand, there has been by reaching their fourth much talk about the consecutive NBA finals. future possibility of a The naysayers and NFL franchise moving doubters to Lebron facebook.com/stateside to London, with Arthur James, Dwayne Wade

GET IN TOUCH

Blank (owner of the and Chris Bosh’s brilletters@stateside.com Atlanta Falcons) most liance can now (I hope) recently stating that be silenced. twitter.com/stateside London could be home to Whilst people will contin“more than one” franchise ue to refute their domiin the coming years. nance I think we should all However, most fans have reactaccept that we are witnessing one ed angrily to this, with many disagreeof the best teams catapult a franchise ing that an NFL franchise in London from one time champions to a dynasty would be a good idea. Problems such that will be spoken about in the same as jet lagged players, increased ticket breath as the Lakers, Bulls and Celtics. prices, and large cities in America that This is a squad that has already won themselves lack franchises (such as Los two championships and had the Angeles) weigh heavily on the fan’s second longest regular season winning minds. As well as this, it is believed that streak in league history, not to mention a London-based franchise wouldn’t be the championship rings spreading able to fill a stadium week-in weekacross their fingers. out in a regular 8-week home game People need to start believing the season, regardless of the growth seen hype! We are blessed to be witnessing in Europe. this side play the game.

Nevertheless, I believe that at the Alfie Reynolds, Bristol heart of it the NFL is a business and it Great letter, Alfie! We at Stateside makes huge economic sense to move have tried to decide whether LeBron the richest sport in the world into one James is greater than Michael Jordan. of the richest cities in the world. Roger Flick to page 30 for our verdict.

NFL: the best is yet to come

What makes a truly great season?

Numerous league records? A pulsating title game? The emergence of a hero?

Well, last season the NFL witnessed all of the above. Yet somehow, this year could be even better.

Continuity defines greatness. There’s Peyton Manning and Tom Brady still holding on at the precipice of the Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks.

There’s Richard Sherman, still looking to suffocate any wide receiver that dares tread near his territory. There’s Calvin Johnson who consistently makes raking in receiving yards look easy. There’s Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who is still the villain in every franchise’s season-long pantomime.

But above all, there’s still the guaranteed game(s) played in snow. The guaranteed Tom Brady fourth quarter comeback. And the obligatory Mark Sanchez nightmare.

There’s Tim Tebow. Still looking for a comeback.

But is it time for change? There’s the youngsters, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick namely, looking to continue and further their quest for greatness.

There’s quarterback Aaron Rodgers looking for redemption and his throne back. There’s Robert Griffin III looking to prove the doubters wrong. There’s the on-going drama series of rookie Johnny Manziel, in possibly one of the best rookie classes ever. There’s the possibility for the league to have the first openly gay player in history. There are new coaches. New players. Even new stadiums. Fasten your seatbelts.

Alex Gordon, Sheffield Stateside June 2014 9

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

ing k a M he

E H T of

N E G-M T

Stateside get inside the minds of a Super Bowl winning defensive co-ordinator, Perry Fewell, and one of the NFL’s most successful guards, Chris Snee, to determine what is needed to claim the ultimate prize in US sport

Chris Snee

Words: Phil Hammond

Perry Fewell

AMERICAN FOOTBALL Quarterback Eli Manning (below) was the MVP in the New York Giants’ historic Superbowl XLVI winning campaign in 2011/12

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

I

t’s a well-known saying that defence wins championships. Yet as the Denver Broncos’ offence set the bar high during the regular season, and quarter-back Peyton Manning continued to break record after record, many started to question the age-old mantra.

The Broncos had produced the most regular-season points in NFL history (606) and Manning, the league MVP, broke the marks for passing touchdowns (55) and yardage (5,477).

But as Super Bowl XLVIII saw the NFL’s top offence battle the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL’s best defence, it was the Seahawks that emerged victorious, producing a defensive display that many heralded as the greatest ever. The 43-8 victory surpassed what the Bears (46-10), Ravens (34-7) and Buccaneers (48-21) did to their Super Bowl opponents.

For all the offensive records they broke this season, the Broncos have nothing to show for it. This year’s Super Bowl is yet another example of the effect a solid defence can have in the pursuit of glory.

Defence is key Just as the New York Giants proved in their 2012 Super Bowl winning campaign, you only need one or two big plays from your defence at key times in order to turn a season around.

Overseeing the all-important defensive unit is no-nonsense coordinator Perry Fewell, who has served as a head coach for the defence since his appointment in 2010. As he reflects on that Super Bowl winning season, he told Stateside: “We started so strongly but faltered mid-season. We had a real fight on our hands to get into the playoffs. Losing the regular season game to the 49ers set the bar for what we needed to do.”

Four defeats in a row meant they went from having one hand on NFC East with a record of 6-2, to staring down the barrel of not making the playoffs. Up next was a road

Defensive co-ordinator Perry Fewell helped guide the New York Giants to the Super Bowl in 2011/12

“All three phases of our team played in harmony and it was magical, absolutely magical” - Perry Fewell game against conference rivals Dallas Cowboys.

“A defeat to Dallas could have been it for our season,” says Fewell.

The Cowboys were leading 34-29 with under three minutes to play. Eli Manning then drove the Giants down field which ended in a Brandon Jacobs one-yard touchdown, followed by a two point conversion by running back Danny Ware, giving the Giants an improbable 37-34 lead with 86 seconds left.

The game was saved as Pro Bowl defensive end Jason PierrePaul blocked a field-goal bound kick by the Cowboys’ Dan Bailey in the dying seconds.

“Pierre-Paul’s block was arguably the most pivotal moment of our season.

We went from strength-to-strength from then on,” says Fewell.

And that they did. They won the last two games of their regular season and claimed the NFC East title, culminating in a record of 9-7 and a trip to the

postseason.

It was during the postseason that Fewell’s defence was at its very best.

Led by Pierre-Paul, who was selected in the Pro Bowl that year for his performances, and defensive ends Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora, the Giants allowed an average of 328.0 yards, 14 points and 18.7 first downs per game – significant improvements over the regular season averages of 376.4 yards, 25 points and 21.1 first downs.

“We knew our defence had to improve if we were to progress,” says Fewell.

“We worked extremely hard on the training ground and it all seemed to come together during the postseason.

All three phases of our team played in harmony and it was magical, absolutely magical.”

Each of the Giants’ four postseason opponents scored fewer points than their regular season average, which is a

AMERICAN FOOTBALL testimony to Fewell’s defence and the turnaround that he orchestrated.

The Giants stormed to a 24-2 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, who entered the game averaging 25.1 points per game. Green Bay scored an NFL-best 35 points a game during a 15-1 regular season, but managed only 20 in a 17-point loss to the Giants. The San Francisco 49ers averaged 23.8 points during the regular season, but scored 17 in an overtime loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game.

These victories were capped off by a 21-17 victory over New England in Super Bowl XLVI, and another instrumental figure throughout was four-time Pro Bowler Chris Snee.

Originally a second round draft choice by the Giants in 2004, Snee, who stands at 6ft 3’ and weighs in at 305lbs, has long been recognised as one of the NFL’s very best guards.

He told Stateside: “It’s been well documented that everything seemed to click with us at the end of our regular season, and especially in week 16 against the Jets. From that moment on, we were all on the same page and we honestly felt invincible throughout the whole playoffs.”

Going into the Super Bowl, the Patriots had averaged 32.1 points a game in the regular season, and 34 points in their two postseason victories.

Fewell’s defence shut them down.

They hit. They didn’t allow yards after the catch, and they forced game-changing turnovers. With 57 seconds left on the clock, they thwarted quarterback Brady one last time, pressuring him into a desperate pass that fell harmlessly to the ground in the final seconds.

And with that, US sport’s ultimate prize was won.

Nothing compares “I felt numb [when we won the Super Bowl]. To realise you are the best in the world at your craft at that moment in time is unique,” says Fewell.

Snee agrees: “After you win a Super Bowl, you have time to reflect. I thought about every leg of the journey, from the lows to the highs.

“But nothing compares to a magical playoff run and holding that trophy aloft. We had two million people flooding the streets, throwing confetti, during our winning parades. It was special and something I dreamt of as a kid.”

Trust and communication between players, coaches, training staff and

Chris Snee Factfile

New York Giants’ guard Chris Snee after the Superbowl XLII final in 2008

Date of birth 18/1/1982 Height 6ft 3 Weight 305 lbs Position Guard Number #76 Place of birth Edison, NJ College Boston Clubs played for 2004-2014 New York Giants 141 games Playing honours Pro Bowl 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 All-Pro 2008, 2009, 2010, Super Bowl Champion XLII, XLVI

front office is something Fewell regards as a vital component for any Super Bowl winning team.

“Establishing that is absolutely vital”, says Fewell.

“But as well as that, the team has to establish an identity. Becoming a successful team means becoming a family, and having an underlying attitude that the game is not about ‘me’ but ‘we’. This is a team game. If you want to be an individual then go and play golf.

“As a team you have to have a single purpose; never lose sight of the ultimate prize.”

“From a coach’s point of view, I like to really know and understand my personnel, know how to tap into them

and get the best out of them. Because of this, I have belief in my players that they will rise to the occasion and perform in the big games.

“As a team, you have to have a single purpose; never lose sight of the ultimate prize. But most of all, you have to have a little bit of luck.”

Snee says without leaders in the dressing room, great coaching can become undone.

“A Super Bowl team must have high character players, guys with real leadership ability who can control a locker room. Without this breed of player, you won’t ever win a Super Bowl.

“When you run out onto that field, you need to fully trust the men you are alongside. If you have that trust and respect, your biggest fear will be letting them down.

“When all members of team are fighting for one another, confidence and performance levels naturally rise.”

Up until last season, Snee had startStateside June 2014 15

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Brandon Jacobs scores the winning touchdown as the Giants beat the Cowboys 37-34 in December 2011

Giants’ kicker Lawrence Tynes kicks a field goal in the Super Bowl XLVI

Victor Cruz (left) and Hakeem Nicks (right) of the New York Giants lift the Super Bowl XLVI trophy

ed all 138 regular-season games and 11 postseason games in which he had played for the Giants. In a career entering its tenth season, Snee has won the Super Bowl twice with the Giants, once in 2008 and more recently in 2012.

“I feel so fortunate to have won two Super Bowls. There really is no better feeling when it comes to football. Now that I’ve tasted that winning feeling, I want to win more,” says Snee.

But why do teams struggle to defend the Super Bowl title? In the last 30 years, only on four occasions has a team gone on to successfully defend the Super Bowl and it is a record Fewell regrets he couldn’t add to following the Giants’ victory in 2012.

“After you are crowned Super Bowl champion everyone prepares to give you their best performance. This is natural. We did it when we played the Packers on the route to our Super Bowl, we wanted to beat the reigning cham16 June 2014 Stateside

pions and send out a message.

“I think it’s also difficult for everyone on the team to capture that true hunger, desire and mental edge that they had before they became champions. My experience tells me that you have to establish an ‘obsession’ with winning, and if not everyone is on that same page, you won’t defend the title,” says Fewell.

Snee, whose 2013 season was cruelly cut short by a hip injury, points to other reasons.

“This is just such a difficult game with a lot of talented players and teams, there are no easy games.

“Other factors like injuries can derail hopes of a repeat and it’s a shame that not everything clicked the following season. On both occasions I have won it and we weren’t able to regain the Super Bowl,” says Snee.

With the regular NFL season due to start in September, and the free agency

period and the draft over, all focus is now on preseason as the journey to be crowned Super Bowl XLIX champions begins.

Snee, who is on course to return from his injury in time for the season’s start, says: “We are currently hard at work, and everyone is trying to get their bodies into great shape – strong enough to withstand the beating it’s about to take.

“We then meet our new teammates: our new brothers that we are trying to gain trust and respect for.”

And if these brothers, as well as coaches such as Fewell, can get the offense, defence and special teams playing in harmony - just like the Giants did in 2012 - another Super Bowl crown could be just around the corner.

Unearth the stats behind the last 10 Super Bowls on our website stateside.co.uk

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

T

he 911 call came about 9:30am on Wednesday 2nd May, 2012.

Moments earlier, Junior Seau’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Megan Noderer, had returned to the couple’s £1.9m ($3.2m) Oceanside home from a workout. She was expecting to find the former all-pro linebacker where she had left him, in their bedroom.

Instead, Seau was lying on the floor on his back with a gunshot wound to his chest. A .357 Magnum revolver lay next to him. There was no note. Police, paramedics and two lifeguards from the beach all responded to Noderer’s panicked call to emergency services, but within hours Oceanside Police Department publicly announced they were treating Seau’s death as suicide.

Their assertion was made official by the San Diego County medical examiner’s office a day later. Seau was 43 when he died.

“There were a lot of questions,” Seau’s son, Tyler, told ESPN. “A lot of regret. A lot of pain.”

Seau, widely considered an all-time great, amassed 1,526 tackles, 56.5 sacks and 18 interceptions in his career with the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots before retiring in 2011. According to friends, Seau’s repeated head blows and multiple concussions caused him to suffer from insomnia in the years preceding his death. As a result, he often took powerful sleep aids such as Ambien, otherwise known as zolpidem.

“There were a lot of questions. A lot of regret. A lot of pain.”

Speaking to ESPN, Gina Seau, Junior’s ex-wife, says: “There were so many

IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD: LIFE AFTER THE GRIDIRON Hundreds of former NFL players suffer from mental health problems years after their careers end. Two years on from Junior Seau’s suicide, Stateside looks at the issue that is dividing players and officials nationwide Words: Ben Topliss symptoms that we all witnessed every day. He suffered from mood swings, depression, and terrible insomnia.”

Hundreds of retired NFL players feel similar pain every morning years after ending their playing careers. Unlike the aches and wounds that could be patched up in time for the next game, these less visible injuries can develop mentally, as well as physically.

Brain Research

Mike Webster brought head injuries into the national consciousness

18 June 2014 Stateside

In 2013 five brain specialists from the National Institutes of Health concluded that Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease, in the years preceding his death. Dr. Russell Lonser, chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Ohio State University, led the study of Seau’s brain.

Their research found that the common symptoms of CTE, impulsivity, forgetfulness, depression, and sometimes suicidal ideation, had all affected Seau due to his career in the NFL. A Washington Post survey conducted last year probed into the experiences of more than 500 retired players. It

found that 90% of those asked reported suffering concussions while playing, and nearly 60% reported three or more. Two in three said that they suffer continuing symptoms because of them. Fewer than half of those asked would recommend that children play the sport today.

It was the Kansas City Chiefs’ former centre Michael ‘Iron Mike’ Webster who brought brain injuries into the national consciousness after being diagnosed with CTE following his death in 2002.

Proven to be disabled before retiring from the NFL, Webster suffered from amnesia, dementia, depression, and acute bone and muscle pain during his last years.

Speaking to Stateside, Michael Oriard, who played for the Chiefs during the late 1960s and early 1970s, says: “When CTE was found in Mike Webster’s brain that just changed the game entirely.

Now you’re dealing with the players losing themselves. You think about the depression, the failed marriages and the terrible business decisions and wonder how much of that is attributable to brain damage. These are things we just don’t know about.”

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Former linebacker Seau killed himself in 2012

The league has implemented a number of rule changes in an attempt to protect players, such as preventing the ball carrier from leading with his helmet and requiring that concussed players be examined and cleared by an independent neurologist before returning, but many see this as not enough.

“I think it is more to do with our [the players] attitudes,” says free agent Seth McKinney, speaking to Stateside. “The league has improved how we approach concussions and head trauma but I have known a lot of dazed guys who have played on purely because there is this huge culture of playing through the pain.”

For Oriard, the atmosphere is created by a media that borders on the obsessive. He says: “It is astonishing to me, personally, how much attention is given to sports in America. I actually get depressed when I think about these people spending all day long talking and writing about sports. I remember when there were three stations on the television and there was one NFL game and one college game a week.

“Nowadays, there is a generation

of young kids who are preparing for a life in the limelight in the NFL, on Sportscentre, on ESPN. There’s this whole mindset where you don’t want to let the media and your adoring fans down. It makes these kids push their bodies to an unhealthy level. Obviously these players in the NFL can make their own choices but I don’t think a 24 year old man can know what is like to have dementia in his 40s.

“I played in a completely different atmosphere. When I look at some of

these players and I see how much pressure they’re under, it makes me glad I played in a time where it was ‘only a game’. We know that it is more dangerous for developing brains so kids that are particularly at risk need to be protected.”

This is a sentiment echoed by Dr. Hakeem Shakir, who is in his third year of residency at the University of Buffalo’s Department of Neurosurgery. “Ensuring young athletes come off the field safely and with their lives still ahead

Players who suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) have experienced a number of mental health problems later in life

Stateside June 2014 19

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

The NFL has introduced rule changes in an attempt to protect players

of them,” he told The Buffalo News, “should be the top priority.”

According to Shakir, the NFL should introduce similar ruling to that of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which, through its Sports Medicine Handbook, requires participating institutions to have concussion management plans.

The league, in response, often decline to comment on the subject, at least officially. Jeff Miller, NFL senior vice president of health and safety policy, said in 2013 that (due to the rule changes) there were 228 diagnosed concussions during that season’s preseason and regular-season practices and games combined, which is a decrease from 261 in 2012.

Regardless, young players can only look forward to an incredibly short career in the NFL. According to research

by CNN, the average NFL career lasts only 3.52 seasons. The average age of retired players is 28, with 75% ending up bankrupt, divorced or unemployed within five years of leaving the league.

Remarkably, NFL players can only expect an average life span of 53-59.

“The problem is reaching your peak of achievement at 20 or 22, and so there is the tremendous emotional and psychological burden of life afterwards being a letdown,” says McKinney. “Even if you do make it, and have a long career, it is going to be over by the time you’re in your early 30’s. You still have to live half of your life. You do have to plan for the future. These things are obvious but whether or not someone will listen to you when you tell them is another question.”

George Koonce was one former player who struggled to adapt to life outside of the game. In 2003 the former NFL linebacker crashed his Chevy Suburban at 75mph in an attempt to end his life. “Whatever happened that day was going to happen. I didn’t really care,” Koonce, speaking to ESPN, said of the incident. “The tunnel vision and unwavering devotion a football career

demanded left me utterly unprepared for anything else.”

Koonce spent most of his life “focusing on the next play, the next quarter, the next half, the next game, the next offseason.” When all of that was suddenly and unceremoniously taken away, a huge hole emerged in his life.

He’d watch entire TV series in a day, just to pass the time. His agent, who had spoken to Koonce at least three times a day since signing out of college, wouldn’t even return his calls.

Help is at hand It is not all doom and gloom, of course, and there are some that thrive after a spell in the NFL. Former Broncos WR Rod Smith opened a coffee business after his 13-year career came to an end and has gone on to generate more than £7.7m ($13m) in sales since 2006.

Smith, who credits his success due to the fact he came into the league as an undrafted free agent, told ESPN: “I never wanted to end up as a homeless guy who once played in the NFL.” There are initiatives in place which help players transition to a ‘normal’ life, such as the Business Entrepreneurial Program, which is held at the world-renowned Wharton School of

Business. There, former players can share stories of depression, denial, financial hardship, loss of self-esteem and loneliness with their peers and are taught skills that will help them set up their own companies. Also available to former players are 12 ‘transition coaches’. These coaches, who used to play themselves, work with retirees from the NFL, covering topics such as career transition, mental health, suicide intervention, conflict resolution and relationship management skills.

“One of the big issues is the emotional attachment you have throughout your years playing football, the locker room camaraderie and environment that is built and developed,” says former linebacker Dwight Hollier, who is now the league’s director of transition and clinical services.

“There’s a natural support system.

When you retire or leave the game, you don’t have that same support system around you. In some ways, this is about trying to recreate that.”

“Dad, are you OK?” Hunter Seau, Junior’s son, asked.

It was 3am and the then 11-yearold had got up to let out Rock, a pit bull-mastiff mix. Noticing his father’s light was still on, Hunter looked into his room. Seau was wide awake and sat staring at the television. The TV, however, wasn’t switched on. Seau was staring at an empty screen.

“Yes son,” he replied. “I’m fine.”

A month later his father would be dead. Had Seau had the right help, his death could have been prevented. The initiatives put in place by the NFL and other authorities aim to prevent such tragic cases as Seau’s happening again.

“He loved the game,” Gina says. “But I know he didn’t love the end of his life.”

Read more about NFL injuries at stateside.co.uk

George Koonce has made $13m (£7.7m) since ending his 13-year playing career

Stateside June 2014 21

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

It’s goodbye Places of worship, joy and sadness – our spiritual homes

R

ewind: it’s December 23rd 2013.

There’s electricity in the air. A palpable anticipation and an indescribable feeling that a small piece of history is about to unfold in front of your very eyes.

Yes, the San Francisco 49ers are about to play their last ever game at one of the most iconic and romantic sports arenas in the world. Candlestick Park has its final curtain call.

Thousands of fans are ready to mourn, and in a sense a part of their livelihood is about to die. A stadium like this one is about much more than a venue where their team plays.

It is their excitement as a child, seeing swathes of people and hearing a baying crowd for the first time.

It is their unbridled joy after seeing that pass and their misery after that defeat.

It is experiences they have shared with those closest to them, which they

22 June 2014 Stateside

“As fans we’re enthralled and feel so blessed to carry on returning week after week.”

- Rob Mahoney will never forget.

It is a second home. It is a part of them.

It’s clear that sporting venues play an incredibly significant role in the life of a sports fan.

Speaking to Stateside, Rob Mahoney of Sports Illustrated agrees and says it’s not just the fans that are affected: “Certain stadiums are magical places, and in the US we are spoilt for choice, be it Madison Square Garden, AT&T Park or the Superdome in New Orleans to name a few.

“As fans we’re enthralled and feel so blessed to carry on returning week after week to see our teams play but, let me tell you, certain places are held

close to a lot of players’ hearts as well.”

And it’s hard to pick out just one or two stand-out arenas, according to Rob, but one especially will go down in history with pros.

“There are all kinds of interesting arenas, though none that players respond to in the same way they do Madison Square Garden.

“The only buildings that come close to comparing, for me, are ORACLE Arena in Oakland and the Rose Garden, now Moda Center, in Portland – two stadiums known for an incredible ingame experience,” he explains.

“Neither has the same historical foundation as Square Garden, though the pulse they carry by way of two ar-

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

to The Stick How are we supposed to cope when we lose them?

Words: Will Rook dent fan bases – regardless of whether the team is good or bad – makes those stadiums pretty special.”

It’s clear 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis has given the ‘Stick a special place in his heart when he spoke about his playing experience there: “I’ll forever be grateful to have played on that field and shared that field with guys who are in the Hall of Fame and guys who have won championships for this organisation.”

A lot of the time it’s a certain event which turns an average stadium into a cauldron of atmosphere.

Ask any 49ers fan from the early 80s if there’s a defining moment from their time at the ‘Stick and they’ll say two simple words to you: The Catch.

Dwight Clark caught a six-yard pass

from Joe Montana for a touchdown in the NFC Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys in 1982, sending the 49ers to the Superbowl and winning the game 28-27.

The 49ers followed the win up by going on to beat the Bengals, kick starting their proud recent history and winning their first of five Superbowls.

It can be argued that ‘The Catch’ was the catalyst for the 49ers’ recent success and it is moments like these which define stadiums.

Speaking about their history and the fateful play, ex-chairman of the San Francisco 49ers, Eddie DeBartolo Jr. said: “I know what the play was, it was all diagramed.

“In the far end zone was Dwight Clark’s catch which will probably go

“I’ll forever be grateful to have played on that field.”

- Patrick Willis

Dwight Clark catching the six-yard pass to make ‘The Catch’, sending the 49ers to win their first of five Super Bowls

Stateside June 2014 23

Watch the 2014/15 NFL season on Sky Sports, at home or on the move with Sky Go.

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

A selection of your favourite arenas #StatesideStadia Mike Platt, 21

The New Orleans Superdome doubled up as a shelter during and after Hurricane Katrina

The tropical cyclone tore through the streets of New Orleans leaving a trail of destruction, flooding and death in its wake. down in history.

“I don’t think there’s any question, as far as the San Francisco 49ers go, our Superbowl runs and our history of success in the 80s and 90s, it started with The Catch.”

Many of these places are where people go to find comfort in times of need, never has this been truer than at the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in which at least 1833 people lost their lives.

As the tropical cyclone tore through the streets of New Orleans leaving a trail of destruction, flooding and death in its wake, those left homeless were housed in the only place which was deemed safe and sturdy enough to withstand the storm: the Superdome.

While conditions in the arena were grim, it was more safety than comfort which was sought.

With food and water in short supply, no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and no showers, the structure stood up to the conditions. those inside were kept alive and away from the rising flood water which was taking over their city.

It’s not only the grand, multi-thousand-seater stadiums with huge video screens, comfy seats and ample legroom which are romantic and bring back nostalgia.

According to Rob Mahoney: “There’s a lot to be said for your average street basketball and hockey courts, it’s where most of the professionals learnt their trade so you can only imagine the kind of things which have been witnessed there.

“They’re entirely different worlds.

I see no reason, though, why both of those environments wouldn’t carry a romance of their own - particularly when professional basketball players have spent so much of their lives on the court, whether hardwood or asphalt,” he says.

“There’s room for all kinds of memories at every level and in every dimension of sport. Some are bound to be framed by thousands of fans, while others are likely set in a spot-lit driveway.

“Sure, they’re a bit rough around the edges - but you can’t put a price on memories and nostalgia.”

You would have thought then that the professionals are pretty protective about some of the places they first started playing in, and this can be seen from Dwight Clark as he muses about Candlestick Park: “It was our dump so we could talk bad about it, but we didn’t want anybody else to talk bad about it,” he said.

It’s that sense of pride that encapsulates the romanticism of a venue though.

It doesn’t matter how good the facilities on offer are, whether they have leather seats or a skybox or 70,000 plush seats.

What really matters are the experiences of the people who have eaten, breathed and lived there.

They are what makes a stadium an icon.

Read more in-depth articles online at stateside.co.uk

“For me, you can’t look past Fenway Park as the USA’s most iconic sports arena. Baseball is ‘America’s game’ and Fenway is the oldest ballpark in the US. It’s got defining features like the Green Monster, and the Red Sox are one of the most successful teams so there’s a lot of history there too.”

Mark Green, 20

“The Staples Center is home to the Lakers, Clippers and Kings – three of the biggest sporting powerhouses in the country. It’s only opened relatively recently, but it’s in one of the biggest states as well.”

Jayne Johnson, 23

“Madison Square Garden is inspirational, where else can you watch Beyoncé one night, a basketball game the next and then boxing after? All my first hand nostalgia is at MSG and it will always be very close to my heart.”

Louis Lynch, 34

“CenturyLink Field is the home of the current Superbowl champions, it doesn’t get much more iconic than that.

Added to which, there’s an MLS team playing there too.”

Jonny March, 37

“It’s got to be Michigan Stadium, with a capacity of 110,000. it’s been standing since 1927 so think of all the history. I’ve gone there a bunch of times through my life, with my dad as a kid and with my kids now. When I smell the hotdogs it still brings back those magical early football memories.”

Stateside June 2014 25

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

MALCOLM GLAZER: LIFE OF A WINNER After the billionaire’s death in June, Ben Topliss looks at how a businessman from New York turned the struggling Bucs into Super Bowl champions

M

alcolm Glazer scribbles notes on a copy of the Wall Street Journal during a routine meeting with his associates. Bob Leffler, who had been a friend and colleague of Glazer long before he bought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recalls that the businessman would soak up every bit of information possible. “He taught me what the big time was about,” Leffler told the Tampa Bay Times. “It wasn’t about being braggadocios. It was about accomplishing things.”

Glazer earned his fortune the hard way, once telling the Baltimore Sun that success required 80-hour work weeks. The son of Lithuanian immigrants, he was born in Rochester, New York, where his father ran a watchparts business. After his father died, 15-year-old Malcolm, the fifth of seven children, sold watches door to door to help support his family.

Aged 21, Glazer set up a holding company, First Allied Corporation, to diversify further after investing in several trailer parks and nursing homes. In 1984, First Allied made an unsuccessful $7.6bn (£4.5bn) offer for the then bankrupt railway company Conrail, using only $100m (£59m) of its own cash.

The purchase would be financed from Conrail’s future profits, which, after

26 June 2014 Stateside

“He bought this team when people were saying it was one of the worst decisions he could make.”

- Derrick Brooks government deregulation, turned out to be substantial. The episode would be representative of the businessman’s early ventures, with Glazer seeing huge profits from the rise in the price of stock he held in failed bids.

Moving into the world of American sport, Glazer bought the Bucs for a record $192m (£114m) in 1995 despite the fact the team had gone through a historic streak of losing seasons.

“He took a chance on this team,’’ Bucs Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks, who was drafted the same year Glazer assumed control, told the Tampa Bay Times. ”He bought this team when people were saying it was probably one of the worst decisions he could make.’’

By threatening to relocate the Bucs, Glazer got the city of Tampa to fund a new football stadium and give the team a lease. Tony Dungy was hired as coach, and he led the team to the NFL playoffs in 1997. Dungy failed, however, to get them to the Super Bowl final, so the Bucs fired him at the start of 2002.

To reach the biggest stage of them all, the Bucs hired Jon Gruden, who was then under contract to the Oakland Raiders. They had to compensate the Californian team but it was worth it, as Gruden immediately took the Bucs to the Super Bowl final of the 2002 season, held in January 2003.

Their opponents? Oakland, of course.

Remarkably, Oakland had not changed their team’s signals indicating attacking moves after Gruden had left, so he often knew what they were going to do before they even did it. The Bucs consequently thrashed the Raiders to win their first ever Super Bowl.

Gruden told the Tampa Bay Times: ”Glazer was responsible, I think, for the Buccaneers turning the corner. He improved everything about the organisation, from their image to their colours to their reputation. They became a global franchise after winning the Super Bowl. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit.’’

To put his stewardship in perspective, Glazer owned the Bucs for exactly half

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Malcolm Malcolm Glazer Glazer celebrates celebrates Tampa Tampa Bay’s Bay’s Super (far left), Man- United Super Bowl Bowl XXXVII win (farwin left), Manchester chester United fans mock his takeover fans mock his takeover of the club (left), with of the club in 2005 (left), with Super Bowl Super Bowl trophy left, centre) trophy (above left),(above United fans protest and Jon Gruden (above) Glazer takeover (above centre),

TIMELINE

of the franchise’s existence. They were 87-204-1 with three playoff appearances in the 19 years before his arrival.

In the 19 years since Glazer purchased the team, the Bucs went 146-158 with seven playoff appearances.

“The first thing that comes to mind is how successful he was at everything he touched,’’ former Bucs general manager Rich McKay told The Tampa Bay Times.

“People don’t realise how many different businesses he was in, and every one of them was successful, whether it was retail, apartments, the Bucs, owning television stations.’’

Such positivity for Glazer is harder to come by across the pond, however. He, along with sons Joel, Bryan and Avram, bought Manchester United at a cost of about £800m ($1.35bn) in 2005, acquiring almost £575m ($975m) of debt.

Effectively using United’s own money to buy itself, vast amounts drained away in interest, fees and charges.

The club’s fans developed huge resentment for Glazer after saddling one of the world’s most successful and financially stable sports clubs with debt. Disillusioned supporters formed a breakaway club, FC United of Manchester, while a ‘Love United Hate Glazer’ campaign sprang up across the city. A group of wealthy supporters, the

1928 Born in Rochester, NY 1943 Inherits father’s watch business 1995 Buys Tampa Bay Buccaneers for $318m (£190m) 2003 Fails in bid to buy Los Angeles Dodgers 2005 Buys Manchester United 2012 Debuts United shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Red Knights, attempted unsuccessfully to buy back the club.

After floating United’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, Glazer and his family pocketed about £70m ($119m).

“Each of the six lineal descendants of Malcolm Glazer will claw out £16m ($25m) for themselves,” The Manchester United Supporters Trust said in a statement at the time. “Clearly this has nothing to do with benefits for Manchester United. What is the sudden reason for this desperation for cash now?

“There is now no doubt that this deal is bad for Manchester United supporters, Manchester United Football Club and any investors gullible enough to pay the inflated price they’ve attached to inferior shares. Their barefaced cheek is almost unbelievable.”

Despite the unrest, fans stopped short of a full blown revolution, largely because of the team’s continued success on the pitch. They won four Premiership titles in seven years, reaching three European Cup finals, winning one. Crucially, Sir Alex Ferguson, the club’s manager for more than a quarter of a century, remained loyal to the Glazer family until stepping down in

Read more tributes to Malcolm Glazer at stateside.co.uk

2013.

Glazer often declined to comment on the subject, as he did throughout his entire career.

“This guy was an unusual person,’’ Former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco told the Tampa Bay Times. “He didn’t fit what you’d think a sports personality would be. Everybody expects somebody in sports to be loud and boisterous and say funny things.

“Mr. Glazer was not a sports person at all. He didn’t know much about football. He just knew business.”

Glazer made a point of shaking each player’s hand before every Bucs game.

In typical fashion, the gesture was done in Glazer’s private way. He didn’t do it on the field, in front of TV cameras and thousands of fans. He did it in the closed locker room, where only his team could see.

“That’s something that you respect,” former Bucs running back Warrick Dunn told the Tampa Bay Times. “It wasn’t about him. It was about the team.”

Leffler says he hopes the city remembers Glazer as fondly as he does.

“I would hope that Tampa would realise that with no Malcolm Glazer,” he says. “There are no Bucs.”

Stateside June 2014 27

WIN

TICKETS TO KNICKS V BUCKS IN LONDON

H T N O M Y R E V E S N IO IT T COMPE

PRIZE DRAW COURTSIDE SEATS AT THE 02 As part of the NBA Global Games 2015, the New York Knicks will return to London to play a regular season game against the Milwaukee Bucks at The O2 and Stateside have two courtside tickets to give away.

As well as having the best seat in the house, the lucky winner will be treated to an all expenses paid weekend stay in

London.

To be in with a chance of winning, buy a bundle of four digital Stateside issues and you will be entered into our prize draw.

One lucky runner-up will receive sixmonth free subscription to Stateside, a basketball jersey of their choice, and ÂŁ100 in Nike vouchers.

BASKETBALL

FACE

Words: Will Rook

LEBRON JAMES

Can we realistically call the L-Train the greatest ever with only 29 years on the clock?

L

eBron ‘The King’ James has been pulling up trees in the NBA for 11 years now since turning professional with Cleveland Cavaliers. Since then he’s gone on to earn himself comparisons with the great Michael Jordan and when he’s dominating the basketball world with Miami Heat, why not?

Following their defeat at the hands of the Heat, Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel told the Washington Post that James could well challenge Michael Jordan as the greatest ever.

“It’s bitterly disappointing to lose to this team three years in a row, but we’re competing against the Michael Jordan of our era, the Chicago Bulls of our era.”

James and Jordan have near identical win shares from 21 to 29 in their careers, with LeBron slightly shading it; win shares being the estimated number of wins contributed by a player.

In this time frame, James has played in 683 games, scoring an average of 28.3 points per game when the average points scored per team is 98.3 per match with an effective shooting percentage of 54.4%.

“I’m going to be one of the top four that’s ever played the game, for sure.”

Hearing this, it’s clear The King definitely believes in himself, but this isn’t a view shared by everyone. Six-time MVP and NBA Hall of Famer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of them.

“LeBron James was talking about how he’s the best ever, but he never saw Wilt play,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

“If he had, he wouldn’t say that.

Whenever he averages 55 points a game, then I might want to listen to what he has to say.”

He does agree that James is one of

30 June 2014 Stateside

the best of his time though.

“I’m not trying to put LeBron down.

He’s awesome. He’s the best player in this era at this point. But he didn’t see Bill Russell play.

“When his team wins eight consecutive NBA championships, maybe I’ll compare him to Bill Russell.”

You have to question Abdul-Jabbar’s criticism, is it really arrogance from James?

At least he has the ability and pedigree to back it up.

One look at his trophy cabinet and you’d be hard pressed to say he wasn’t one of the most gifted, and certainly most decorated, athletes in NBA history.

James does occasionally show humility as well, amidst pundits and fans alike making comparisons between today’s Heat team and Michael Jordan’s legendary Chicago Bulls side.

“Any time I hear my name or our team in the same breath with legends and great teams and franchises, it’s so humbling, man,” he said.

“When you hear the comparisons, you respect it, you’re humbled by it.

Hopefully, you make an impact to where people will start comparing you (to the greats).”

As part of the Miami Heat super-team, the L-Train already has NBA championships and MVP titles in his locker and he’s only at the age of 29. To put that into perspective, if he was to have a career as long as Michael Jordan then he’ll have another 11 years in which to carry on his dominance of pro basketball.

There’s certainly no doubt about it, LeBron. You are one of the all-time greats.

OFF

BASKETBALL

MICHAEL JORDAN ...Or will Air Jordan come out on top once again against another young pretender?

“I’m the best player in the world, and from this point on, it’s a lesson.”

So MJ, like his present day counterpart, doesn’t lack self-confidence. But when you’re that good, is that such a bad thing?

To be the world’s greatest, you first have to believe it yourself and Michael Jordan certainly believed it.

From the ages of 21 to 29, Jordan played in 667 games and scored 32.3 points per game when teams in the league scored an average of 108 points per game and had an effective shooting percentage of 52.6%.

The five-time MVP and six-time NBA champion is regaled as one of the greatest ever basketball players, who was the driving force behind the Chicago Bulls dominance in the 90s, as Magic Johnson says “There’s Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us.”

While Jordan appreciates LeBron James’ talent, Jordan doesn’t believe that he would have been challenged by him in his prime and speaking to Ahmad Rashad he even alluded to him not being the best in today’s NBA. “In terms of dominance of the game of basketball at this stage, it’s LeBron, championship-wise – Kobe Bryant.

“He’s willing to go to the extreme… he’s cursed as much as I am.”

When talking to Sports Center, Michael Jordan furthers this by claiming that in his prime he could beat LeBron James in a one-on-one match, but not Kobe Bryant, “Because he steals all my moves,” he said.

In the same interview, Jordan attributes the gap in standard to the difference in the game between then and now.

“It was a much more physical game

than what it is today.

“You couldn’t walk across a lane without getting checked … If you were an aggressive or a gung-ho guy, you go in with the understanding that you’re going to get hit.”

To leave a legacy on any sport as strong as Michael Jordan has on basketball happens once in a lifetime, we should be grateful it was ours.

VERDICT

MICHAEL JORDAN Both of these guys are powerhouses in the world of NBA, and they’ll both go down in history as people who redefined the sport for all the right reasons. Even for someone who knows nothing about basketball, they’d only have to watch a few minutes of Youtube clips to be able to appreciate their brilliance, or simply look at their respective honours lists. For us, Michael Jordan edges it because he’s been there and done it all, while LeBron might go on to surpass his achievements, he’s still got a significant proportion of his career left and it’s impossible to tell how it will run. MJ has retired and nothing will change his glittering past.

Stateside June 2014 31

BASKETBALL

THE BEST AND WORST

O F

THE NBA

From the high of Jason Collins to the low of Donald Sterling, Phil Hammond reflects on a rollercoaster period for basketball

T

he NBA has seen the highs and lows of social change in the space of little more than six months.

Jason Collins is the ultimate feel-good story; Donald Sterling, however, is its polar opposite.

The high came in early February when the Brooklyn Nets signed Collins, making him the first openly gay male in a major US professional sports league. Collins’ move to the Nets comes just nine months after sharing his story on the now historic May 6 2013 edition of Sports Illustrated.

At the time of the announcement Collins was a relatively unknown Washington Wizards free agent. He had changed his jersey number to 98 to symbolise the year of the death of gay college student Matthew Shepard and the launch of the Trevor Project - an American helpline for young people - but he still felt he was hiding and wanted to do more.

Speaking as part of YouTube’s #ProudToPlay initiative, Collins said: “I remember being at college and hearing that story [Shepard’s death] and just being so scared to think of how people can kill another human being, just because he is gay.”

But since going public about his sexuality he has found that he no longer carries around the same burden that he did in the previous 12 years of basketball, during which he was living life as a closeted gay man.

“The previous 12 years, I had that stress, that weight on my shoulders,” Collins explains to Out. “This past season I didn’t have that at all.

I really enjoyed this season the most.”

Athletes such as Michael Sam and Derrick Gordon have since followed suit, but Collins has 32 June 2014 Stateside

Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA for life after making racist remarks in April

inevitably taken on a new, unofficial role in the sports world as a mentor for those not quite ready to take the same step.

Speaking in the #ProudToPlay video, Collins advises young athletes who may still be uncertain about coming out: “You don’t have to fit a stereotype; you can be your own person. It’s fun to break a stereotype, it’s fun to challenge people’s misconceptions about what it means to be gay.

“If someone has a problem with your sexuality, that’s on them. It’s not on you.”

The video campaign highlights the vast achievements of LGBT athletes in recent years and ends with the late Nelson

Mandela addressing the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, saying: “Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”

After a whirlwind 12 months, Collins now finds himself virtually universally accepted by the players, coaches and fans in the league. The NBA is basking in the glow of being the first in breaking a major social barrier.

Low point Flip to the other side of the coin and we see the NBA’s low point: Donald Sterling. The taped racist remarks allegedly made by the Los Angeles Clippers owner shook the world of basketball and have been widely condemned by players, fans, and the media. The remarks and their fallout have completely overshadowed the league’s crown jewels, the playoffs.

BASKETBALL

JASON COLLINS TIMELINE October 2001 Debuts with the New Jersey Nets February 2008 Traded to the Memphis Grizzles June 2008 Traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves February 2009 Signs with the Atlanta Hawks October 2012 Changes his jersey number to 98 in memory of Matthew Shephard May 2013 Comes out publically as gay with cover of Sports Illustrated February 2014 Signs with the Brookyln Nets February 2014 Becomes the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the big four US leagues

Until going public in May 2013, Jason Collins openly admitted he lived life as a “closeted gay” athlete

Both stories were so big that President Obama weighed in. Speaking about Collins in May 2013, he said: “Given the importance of sports in our society, for an individual who has excelled at the highest level to go ahead and say ‘this is who I am, I’m proud of it, I’m still a great competitor’ and for young people who are gay or lesbian and struggling with these issues, to see a role model who is unafraid…I think it’s a great thing.”

At a press conference in Malaysia in April, Obama condemned Sterling, saying: “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.

LeBron James, the game’s biggest star, was also questioned about both stories. Speaking about Sterling’s comments he said: “It’s unacceptable in our league, it doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, Hispanic, whatever, all across the races. There is no room for Donald Sterling in our league.”

And the comment came almost exactly a year to the day since he spoke of Jason Collins, saying: “I have the utmost respect for Jason. If you can play the game, then that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

“I have the utmost respect for Jason. If you can play the game, then that’s all that matters.”

- LeBron James Collins and Sterling represent the best and the worst in the journey of social movements and the battle against discrimination based on sexual orientation or race, not only in sport, but in society. Many are quick to declare racial issues dead but 50 years since the passing of the US Civil Rights Act and 150 years since slavery was outlawed here we are listening to the owner of an NBA team who considers his African American employees inferior. Racism is far from dead.

For years homophobia led us to believe it was impossible for an openly gay man to play pro sports. The stereotypes surrounding what it means to be a sportsman led athletes such as Collins to live a lie, mainly through fear of the repercussions of coming out in public. Yet here we have Collins, seamlessly integrated on a Nets team that made the playoffs and all the things people feared would happen to a gay player never materialised. The impossible has become the possible.

This does not mean that homophobia is gone, but the signs are promising.

Collins has provided other athletes who may be in the same shoes with a role model and a sense of belief. As he signs off the #ProudToPlay video, Collins says: “In time we’re going to be on the right side of this thing. Being gay is just one side of my personality that I am proud of, and it took me a long time to get me to that point in my life.

“There are so many people who are waiting to support you and accept you for who you are. It got a lot better for me.”

Social change bears witness to countless struggles and setbacks, and the “isms” and “phobias” never truly disappear.

Donald Sterling is a stark reminder of the worst inside us, Jason Collins the best.

Read more comment articles from our writers on our website stateside.co.uk Stateside June 2014 33

SOCCER

LAST CHANCE FOR WOMEN’S SOCCER THE

Words: Phil Hammond

The USA’s two previous attempts at a professional women’s soccer league have failed dramatically. Stateside spoke to Yael Averbuch, a woman who truly believes that the National Women’s Soccer League is here to stay

F

ull-time is fast approaching and Washington Spirit are defending for their lives as they protect their slender 1-0 lead. The home team, the Chicago Red Stars, finished a very comfortable 16 points ahead of Spirit last season, yet going in to the final two minutes of this league encounter it’s the underdogs who have the advantage.

Not for the first time this evening, the ball is launched towards the area.

A Red Stars player climbs the highest and gets the faintest of touches to guide the ball into the path of a teammate. The Spirit players freeze as Rachel Quon, a defender by trade, gets caught in two minds and her tame finish ends up over the bar. Relief all round, but still, one minute to play. It’s not over until the final whistle blows.

Thirty seconds to go. Twenty seconds to go. Ten seconds to go.

The ball gets launched in to the Spirit penalty area once again and is headed clear, leaving the midfield players to battle for the ball. Five seconds to go. A tall centre-midfielder, wearing Spirit’s number 4 jersey and bright yellow boots, beats two other midfielders to the loose ball and gets a toe to it, sending the ball high in to the air and out of harm’s way. With the ball just about returning to ground, the referee blows

36 June 2014 Stateside

Portland Thorns won the title in the inaugural season of the NWSL

the final whistle.

Spirit’s number 4, Yael Averbuch, raises both hands in the air and high-fives her nearest teammate. The players hug each other and smile as they walk towards the changing rooms; it’s now two wins from four games for Spirit in the 2014 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). One more win and they equal their win total from last season in its entirety. It’s safe to say this season feels a little bit different.

In what was the NWSL’s inaugural season, Spirit disappointingly finished bottom of the eight-team league in 2013. But this time around, they’re aiming for higher.

“Making the play-offs [top four] this

season would be huge for us, especially after the difficulties of the last campaign,” says Averbuch.

The 5ft 10’ centre-midfielder, who has 26 caps for the USA women’s national team and holds the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record for the fastest ever goal scored, has made the move back to the USA after two seasons plying her trade in Sweden.

Averbuch’s move home coincides with the formation of the NWSL, which is the third attempt at a professional women’s soccer league in the United States in just over a decade. Its predecessors, the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) and the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), collapsed in 2003 and 2012 respectively, with the former recording losses of more than £60m ($100m).

It is the return to the USA of international players such as Averbuch that will play a massive part in the potential success of the NWSL. Since being allocated to Spirit in January when the NWSL announced its list of allocated players, Averbuch has played the full 90 minutes in all but one of the Spirit’s league games so far. Her influence is apparent, and it’s easy to see why Spirit are so happy to have her on board.

Speaking in January, head coach

SOCCER

SOCCER Soccer Mark Parsons told the Washington Post: “I am a big admirer of how she [Averbuch] plays. She is not a typical crash-bang player – she is cultured and technical. Her game is about possession and tempo. That’s how we want to play. If she ended up being allocated to another club, at some point we would have tried to bring her in.”

“I also really wanted to come back home and become part of this new league, and help it grow and survive.”

Many other international players followed Averbuch back to the USA after playing abroad. Seattle Reign’s Megan Rapinoe and Portland Thorns’ Tobin Heath, who have 157 international caps between them, both joined their respective teams for the NWSL’s first season after playing in France. Others, such as Whitney Engen of Houston Dash and Meghan Klingenberg of Boston Breakers, followed the same route as Averbuch – two years in Sweden before a return to the USA in time for the league’s second season.

They wouldn’t have made the move back if they didn’t believe in the NWSL. “When the WPS collapsed, there was a year with no women’s professional league in the USA. I searched for opportunities overseas, as did a

number of American players, and I ended up taking an offer in Sweden,” says Averbuch.

“There were rumours that a new women’s soccer league would start in 2013, but there was so much uncertainty surrounding it – the league had no name, and I had no idea which teams would be in it. So I decided to re-sign with my Swedish club [Göteborg FC] late in 2012.”

Despite the uncertainty, the NWSL did form in 2013, bringing together 9 teams from across the country; some survivors from the WPS, and some newcomers. Averbuch was a keen observer of the new league as she played out another season in Sweden.

“I wanted to see what it [the NWSL] was like, to see if I would want to come back eventually. I also wanted to make sure the NWSL would last, since the WPS was always so uncertain and many of us were left so rattled by it folding so abruptly in 2012.

“At the start of this year, I was open to staying in Europe. But I also really wanted to come back home and become part of this new league, and help it grow and survive.

“I also wanted to be seen by the national team, which is easier when you’re based in the USA. I would love to add to my 26 caps but my first priority is to establish myself in Spirit’s team and become a valuable player for them,” says Averbuch.

The NWSL’s first season was largely a success. The Portland Thorns attracted an average of 13,320 fans per game after they became the first NWSL team

The nine teams that make up the NATIONAL WOMEN’s SOCCER LEAGUE

WASHINGTON SPIRIT

SKY BLUE FC

SEATTLE REIGN

WESTERN NEW YORK FLASH

PORTLAND THORNS

HOUSTON DASH

FC KANSAS CITY

CHICAGO RED STARS

BOSTON BREAKERS

A number of players from the USA women’s national team have joined the National Women’s Soccer League, including Yael Averbuch (left), Tobin Heath (centre) and Megan Rapinoe (right) who have 183 international caps between them

38 June 2014 Stateside

SOCCER to be affiliated with an MLS team, the Portland Timbers. The MLS’s Houston Dynamo soon followed suit and set up a partnership with their NWSL counterparts, Houston Dash.

Unlike the previous two women’s leagues, the NWSL is relying on financial support from the USA, Canadian and Mexican national team federations to subsidise wages and help the league stay afloat.

Yet, to be financially stable in the long term it is argued the NWSL will still need to improve on the attendance figures of its predecessors. The Thorns provided the stand-out attendance figure for the league last season, and teams such as Kansas City and Western New York impressively broke the 4,000 fans per game barrier. Spirit sat just below this figure with an average attendance of 3,625 last season, but other teams such as Sky Blue FC averaged just 1,600 – consistent with previously poor numbers in the WPS. However, the success of the Thorns last season has made a number of NWSL and MLS executives curious.

NWSL executive director Cheryl Bailey has said it is important for more teams to have partnerships with either MLS teams or other organisations and Houston Dynamo and Dash president Chris Canetti told The Oregonian that if they can replicate the same success Portland had in their first season, other MLS teams will “seriously start to consider what a women’s team can bring to their organisation.”

The model of having a men’s professional league support its women’s counterpart is nothing new. The WNBA was founded in 1996 as the women’s counterpart to the NBA and its continued survival has a lot to do with this partnership.

“I definitely liked what I saw when I

Crystal Dunn was the first overall pick in the 2014 NWSL College Draft

The first ever NWSL game was played between FC Kansas City and Portland Thorns FC on Saturday April 13, 2013.

In front of a crowd of 6,784 fans, the teams played out a 1-1 draw

“The possibilities are endless and it’s very exciting.

It feels different this time, that’s why I came back.”

- Yael Averbuch was observing the NWSL from Europe, and being back has only confirmed this to me,” says Averbuch. “The new league seems a lot more stable; professional women’s soccer has been a bit rocky over the last ten years or so. The WUSA and the WPS both collapsed, neither could find that successful formula to keep them afloat and they both ended up losing big amounts of money.

“But I really believe that the NWSL will be around for many years to come and more and more clubs will become tied to MLS teams. The better the MLS does and the more success the women’s teams who are tied to men’s teams such as Portland - have, the more this will become possible.

“People forget that the MLS had similar issues when it was in its early stages, with small crowds and clubs losing money. This has only changed recently.

Hopefully together, we can create something that works, unlike the last two attempts at a women’s league.”

There is also increased positivity surrounding the Spirit’s season following their impressive start. As well as the influence of Averbuch, they have also benefitted from the addition of 21-year-old striker Crystal Dunn to their ranks as the first overall pick in the 2014 NWSL College Draft.

“Crystal has stepped in and already become a very valuable player to our team and the way that we play. She is

very athletic and energetic, and she can cause problems for the opponent no matter where she is on the field.

She is a superb example of the exciting young women players coming through the ranks in our country. We’re very lucky to have her,” says Averbuch.

Spirit’s fast progression is something that is mirrored by the NWSL as a whole.

Reflecting on winning the NWSL with Portland Thorns last season, striker Christine Sinclair told the Guardian: “All the organisations did a tremendous job. The fans came out – and it’s only going to get bigger and better. Coming from the WPS, I think this [the NWSL] has been a huge success.”

And bigger and better it has become, with opening weekend attendance up a massive 24.4% in 2014, compared to last season’s total of 13,284.

“Eventually, I can see an increased number of international players coming to play in the USA and the salary cap will be raised significantly once the teams start to make money,” says Averbuch.

“Once this all falls into place I also think the league schedule will expand from the 6-month timeframe we have now to hopefully a 9-month or all-year programme.

“The possibilities are endless and it’s very exciting. It feels different this time, that’s why I came back.”

Stateside June 2014 39

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Soccer

ONE-ON-ONE “I miss playing with Thierry Henry.

He would dribble past the entire defence and then lay it on a plate for me to score!”

Words: Samuel Brownsword

Kenny Cooper

From wide-eyed Man United kid to sharing a dressing room with an Arsenal legend, it’s been quite a ride for the American striker Kenny Cooper is spending some quality time at his new home in Seattle. His transfer to the Sounders from FC Dallas at the start of the 2014 season was his fourth in as many years. “Maybe I’ll settle here,” he tells Stateside after enjoying a meal out with his wife.

The former Manchester United, FC Dallas, 1860 Munich, Portland Timbers and New York Red Bulls player, was born and raised in the States to English parents. His father, Kenny Cooper Sr., was a professional goalkeeper, starting his career at

Cooper has 75 MLS goals to his name, making him the leagues fifth highest active scorer

Blackburn Rovers, where he failed to make a single appearance, before spending ten seasons at Dallas Tornado. He went on to enjoy an illustrious career as an indoor soccer coach at a time when the sport was attracting crowds of 20,000 people on a weekly basis.

“I would watch my father from the stands,” he recalls, “I was very fortunate to be exposed to the professional game.” Roughly 20 years on, the roles have reversed as Cooper Sr. watches his son become a success in the MLS. Fortunately for us it’s his day off from training, freeing him up to tackle the questions that matter most, covering everything from being called up to the US national squad and why he misses playing with Thierry Henry. But before all that, his journey begins at England’s most decorated club…

Manchester United.

I knew I’d made it as a player when I signed a

professional contract with Manchester United. I had always wanted to follow my father’s footsteps into the game as he had played at the highest level in the States. So when I met Sir Alex Ferguson and signed the papers it was a true dream. I had to keep reminding myself it was real!

If I hadn’t played football I would probably be a coach. I have a huge passion for the sport so I couldn’t really see myself doing anything else. I am just football crazy!

My earliest memories of football are watching my father coach professional indoor football at Baltimore Blast. It was at a time when the indoor side of the game was really big in America. I would play football all the time and I remember getting involved in some of the training sessions and trying to copy the players. Looking back, I was very fortunate.

My hero growing up was the Brazilian Ronaldo. To me he is the proper Ronaldo because he is more my time.

I would buy the same boots that he wore and even tie the shoe laces in the exact same way. That guy was my ultimate hero.

Stateside June 2014 41

For me, football is an innate thing draws! I love being on the winning inside of me that’s impossible to side and let’s face it, it’s more fun describe. It’s a real natural and driven for the fans. I maybe think like this feeling, to play and to succeed. Even because I’ve been raised in America, though my dad never pushed me but to be honest I don’t think we’d to play the game, I change much knew from a young else. Football is a age I wanted to be growing into a very a footballer. It is a popular sport in Date of Birth 21/10/1984 really big shared the States.

Height 6ft 3in Position Attack passion in our Place of Birth Baltimore, Maryland, USA family so maybe I Clubs played for was influenced in Playing with 2004-06 Manchester United 0 games (0 goals); some way. But I owe Thierry Henry was 2004 Academica Coimbra (loan) 10 (0); 2005 everything to foota very privileged Oldham (loan) 7 (3); 2006-09 FC Dallas 90 (40); ball because it has and educational 2009-111860 Munich 13 (2); 2010 Plymouth (loan) given me a focus experience and 7 (0); 2011 Portland Timbers 34 (8); 2012 New and path to follow. one that I miss York Red Bulls 33 (18); 2013 FC Dallas 31 (6); because he would 2014- Seattle Sounders 5 (2) usually take on four International career I love match-days players and then 2007- United States 10 (4) because walking lay it on a plate for Playing honours out of the tunnel me to score. He’s a MLS team of the year 2008 and feeling the roar phenomenal talent of the crowd is quite and one of the best special, especially when I played to play the game. I really believe he for the national side. You hear them has encouraged other sports fans in before you see them which usually the States to watch football and even makes your hair stand on end. I like to play the game, which is huge! close my eyes and take it all in.

FACTFILE

I was happiest when I got a phone call to join up with the US national team. I was sat in the car waiting to pick my wife up from her hair appointment. When I told her we both screamed! That was a great day, I just couldn’t stop smiling.

Three words that sum me up are tall, determined and conservative. I’ve never really done anything crazy in my career, or my life. I’m kinda boring.

To relax, I love eating out and trying new restaurants, my wife and I consider ourselves as food critics. My all-time favourite food is Vietnamese or Thai, but most of all I can never turn down a breakfast if it’s on the menu. I try to keep it simple: scrambled eggs, toast and potatoes!

“I would get rid of draws in football... let’s face it, winning is more fun for the fans!”

The item I most cherish is a football shirt that isn’t even mine!

My father would swap shirts with some of his favourite players that he faced. The best one he has, which I’ve now stolen, is a Pele shirt when he was at New York Cosmos. It’s the most prized possession in my house.

You won’t know that I love learning languages. Football has given me the chance to meet some interesting and diverse people, and when I was at FC Dallas a team-mate of mine spoke five languages! It really inspired me and so now I’m trying to learn a bit of Spanish and German. I even go to a French tutor every Monday evening. I just wish I had more to show.

If I could change one thing in football, I would probably get rid of

My one regret… I don’t have any regrets. I think people dwell on things too much and overthink what they have and haven’t done. Yes, there have been lows as well as highs in my career, but from those challenging moments I just look back and treat it as a good experience. It keeps me happy.

Read more about Seattle Sounders forward Kenny Cooper at stateside.co.uk and on our stats app

Soccer Baggio’s Despair: Roberto Baggio, who lit up the tournament, hangs his head after his missed penalty handed Brazil the World Cup. The game was tied 0-0 after extra time

20 Years on USA ‘94 In Pictures

Soccer

Soccer Surprise Package: Bulgaria reached the semi-finals, led by the six goals of Hristo Stoichkov

Fallen Hero: Diego Maradona left the World Cup after testing positive for a banned stimulant

Disbelief: Gianfranco Zola sees red 12 minutes after coming on as a sub for the only World Cup appearance in his career

Soccer Tragedy: Colombian AndrĂŠs Escobar scores an own goal in a game his side lost 1-2 to the USA. Two weeks later he was shot dead, reportedly by drug barons who lost money gambling on the game

Champions: RomĂĄrio lifts the trophy for Brazil

Relief and Anguish: Bebeto puts Brazil 1-0 up against the USA as Alexi Lalas looks on

SOCCER

The new Giants of New York Sheikh Mansour has a new soccer club to play with. Should we be scared?

Words: Will Rook

I

t’s a delightful cliché and an often asked question but, can money really buy you happiness?

Ask Sheikh Mansour.

With a Premier League title and a new soccer venture in New York set to take over the free world, you’d think: yes.

If only it were that simple.

New York is already a hotspot for sport: two baseball teams, two football teams, two basketball teams, two hockey teams – and now two soccer teams. Will New York City stand out or get lost in the crowd?

To say that Mansour and Manches-

ter City were taking a risk launching a brand new club in a place as diverse as New York is an understatement.

Speaking to Stateside, Stuart Brennan, Manchester City reporter for the Manchester Evening News, thought New York’s diversity may well work in favour of the fledgling soccer side: “I really wouldn’t be surprised if New York City was a hit, if for no other reason than the demographic of the area in which they will be based – there is a large South American population in Queens and soccer is a big sport in Latin areas of the city.

“I also met a few ex-pat City fans who

said they would go along to support New York City.”

The amount of variables involved mean it is more than a significant gamble for Manchester’s favourite deeppocketed Sheikh, all for the princely sum of an initial £60m ($100m).

Since their takeover by the Abu Dhabi group, the Blues have grabbed English soccer by the scruff of its neck and given it a violent shake. One look at their trophy cabinet shows a Community Shield, an FA Cup, a League Cup and two Premier League trophies - all in the past four years.

What’s to say they can’t recreate

SOCCER

HEAD TO HEAD David Villa New York City vs.

Thierry Henry Red Bulls

Age: 32 Place of Birth: Langreo (Spain) Previous clubs: Sporting Gijon, Real Zaragoza, Valencia, Barcelona & Atletico Madrid Appearances (goals): 622 (297) International caps (goals): 94 (56) Honours: Copa del Rey (3), Spanish Super Cup (3), La Liga (3), Champions League (2), UEFA Super Cup (1), Club World Cup (1), World Cup (1), European Championship (1)

Age: 36 Place of Birth: Les Ulis, Essone (France) Previous clubs: Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal & Barcelona Appearances (goals): 756 (352) International caps (goals): 123 (51) Honours: Ligue 1 (1), Trophée des champions (1), Premier League (2), FA Cup (3), Community Shield (2), La Liga (2), Copa del Rey (1), Spanish Super Cup (1), UEFA Champions League (1), UEFA Super Cup (1), Club World Cup (1), MLS Eastern Conference (1), World Cup (1), European Championship (1)

VERDICT: They’re both world class players but Thierry Henry comes out on top. He’s done it all - and won it all. Va Va Voom.

Disagree? Tweet us what you think @Stateside such success in the Big Apple? If they could, is it possible that their Stateside endeavour would become a priority?

Not as far as Brennan is concerned: “You can never say never in football, but I think if this happened, it would be a long way into the future.

“We have seen soccer have periods of popularity in the US before, and they tend to be passing phases, while European soccer is a constant.

“Nothing lasts forever, but Champions League and Premier League soccer are in a strong position, and City are well placed in both competitions, and financially sound, so they will remain priority for the foreseeable future.”

Speaking of the soccer rivalry which could see New York’s sporting scene become overcrowded, MLS commissioner Don Garber said: “We look forward to an intense crosstown rivalry between New York City Football Club and the New York Red Bulls that will captivate this great city.”

The team will initially play at the iconic Yankee Stadium, and the Yankees will have a 20% stake in the franchise, until a permanent home is built in Queens.

With such lofty ambitions and positivity, could Mansour’s priorities shift to New York, leaving Manchester City to fall into mediocrity once again?

It’s an unlikely prospect, says Bren-

nan: “City are approaching break-even, so are on the brink of standing on their own two feet.

“For the purposes of Abu Dhabi, they remain the perfect vehicle for spreading their message around the world.

“City are watched worldwide when they play in the Premier League and Champions League, giving Abu Dhabi, Etihad and other partners the exposure they want. That will not happen at NYCFC for quite some time, if ever.”

It’s obvious with the initial outlay to get MLS’ 20th franchise off the ground - they will not be there just to make up the numbers. Ex-US soccer star Claudio Reyna’s appointment as director of football should be seen as a statement of intent according to Stuart Brennan.

“As a former US international he is also a big figure in the sport. Taking on a franchise in such an exciting city, with the obvious opportunities it offers, has clearly given him a big motivation.”

Added to this, there’s the likelihood of City players moving stateside once their careers in England are over: “Gareth Barry and Martin Demichelis have already been mentioned,” says Brennan.

The soccer world is already beginning to sit up and take notice of NYCFC after making World Cup and European Cup winning striker David Villa their first signing. Even the most cynical

sceptic must admit the prospect of a face-off between Thierry Henry and David Villa in a derby game is mouth-watering.

Reyna is positive about New York City’s future and believes American soccer is the strongest it has ever been: “Everything is pointing towards the sport growing in the coming years but it’s incredible to see where it’s at,” he said.

As much as it is played down, there are always going to be comparisons drawn between the two clubs, and convergence between the two is inevitable.

The official line is that Reyna’s appointment had nothing to do with his Manchester City past, but that all seems a bit of a delightful coincidence to an onlooker.

It seems likely we’ll see many a City reserve player farmed out to the MLS in years to come.

That said, with the open chequebook policy which Sheikh Mansour seems to run, who is to say that they will need second string loan players? Could both teams dominate their respective leagues?

Even if, as the saying goes, money can’t buy you happiness, it can certainly buy you the potential for world soccer domination - and that’s pretty close, right?

Stateside June 2014 51

SOCCER

MAKING THE

GRADE Every year, thousands of Britons travel to America to study and play soccer.

The majority don’t go on to find the same sort of fame reserved for players such as Peyton Manning in the NFL and NBA’s Kevin Durant, but the experience is a chance of a lifetime.

Stateside caught up with the stars of the Martin Methodist College soccer team

Joe Beecroft spent three years playing soccer alongside his studies at Martin Methodist College

Words: Kristian Johnson

W

hile most A-Level students travel the length and breadth of Great Britain exploring the positives and negatives of Portsmouth and Stirling universities, a handful of 16 and 17-year-olds cast their net further afield.

Many American universities offer the chance to study a degree, as you would in the UK, but alongside a programme of elite sport. These scholarships are funded, but only the very best are offered them.

“They’re incredibly competitive,” says Ray Robertson, who was offered a soccer scholarship at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 2009. “Only a handful of players get recruited and have the chance to study here.”

Each hopeful is put through their paces in the UK and has to pass a number of rigorous trials before even being considered for a scholarship.

“The main reason I applied was because I was really bored with England,” says Joe Beecroft, who played in the same soccer team as Ray. “I wanted to experience somewhere else, but still maintain a high standard of soccer.”

The successful applicants are whittled down until the chosen players jet off to America to start a new life. And it’s not just people from the UK who are chosen.

“I was one of about ten recruits to arrive that year from all around the world,” says Joe. “I was joined by Brazilian, Irish and Australian students.

“We were thrown into what was already an international squad. Each of us were in the same boat, away from home, and we quickly gelled. Before long, everyone in the team became a family.”

It soon became apparent to Joe and Ray that compared to the British university sports set-up, America is in a league of its own.

“They really are poles apart,” says Ray. “Back home, soccer is 52 June 2014 Stateside

just seen as a bit of fun.

“I went to university for a year in Norwich, and it was so amateur compared to the US system.

“In some of the games I played at Norwich, teams turned up without soccer balls or cones, and everyone goes out drinking after the game – sometimes even the night before.

“Over here, you jump straight into an ice bath after each and every game. A couple of days later, you watch a tape of your next opponent. There are no parallels.”

Joe agrees.

“The biggest difference is that school sports here are almost as big as professional sports. The money pumped in is tremendous. Not a penny is spared.

“Every stadium was immaculate. Every playing field was lush.

The college even paid for our flights and accommodation as we travelled across the USA to play matches. That type of money just isn’t there in British sports.”

Perhaps the most startling difference is in the use of statistics.

It is common knowledge that all manner of facts and figures are recorded for baseball and American football games, but the same methods are put into place in soccer. Even at college level.

“Your entire game is monitored by statistics,” says Joe. “Within minutes of leaving the field, the coaching staff have the numbers on who’s run the farthest, who’s completed the highest percentage of passes and who’s won the most aerial duels.

Sport is a science here.

“We played a team who scored an astonishing 80% of their goals from their left winger cutting in onto his left foot. Our coaches had also worked out that 70% of his shots veered towards the bottom right corner.

“When we played them, our manager put our left back at right

SOCCER

Martin Methodist’s cosmopolitan squad The Martin Methodist 2010-2013 side didn’t consist solely of Britons. There were seven different nationalities in the team that went to the 2012 National Finals.

back. We all thought he was mad, but each and every time their left winger cut inside, our left back stuck out his left foot - his strong foot - and prevented the winger from having any impact on the game.

“We won 3-0. That stupid stat proved its worth!”

Although the statistics are useful in terms of scouting opponents, they also mean there is no hiding place after a bad game.

“The scholarships are extremely challenging,” says Ray. “The amount you receive is based on your performance. If you do well, you start the majority of games and your money goes up.

But if you perform poorly, your income decreases. In the worst case scenario, you’re shipped back home.”

Luckily for Ray and Joe, their team was one of the best in America.

“You’re always competing with the best of the best from each country, week in week out,” says Ray. In their second year, the Martin Methodist College soccer team won the TranSouth Athletic Conference ahead of the previous year’s winners, Bethel College, Mishawaka, and went on to be crowned regional champions.

Joe says: “From there, we went to the national finals, where we would go on to face the best college teams from the rest of America.

“We were flown 2,250 miles from Tennessee to California and put up in luxury accommodation. Once again, this was all paid for by the college.

“Our team was good. We beat a strong outfit from William Carey University, Hattiesburg, 2-1, before overcoming Southern Polytechnic State College, Marietta 1-0 in the last 16.

“Then we played Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, in the quarter-final. It was a closely-fought contest, but they beat us 2-1. They went on to win the entire thing. There was no shame in losing to the best college team in America!”

Joe went on to be voted as the third best college centre-back in America that season, which meant an inclusion in the ‘All American Third XI‘.

“I’ve been blessed to be able to live independently with a bunch of great friends from around the world,” says Joe. “But what really stands out from my time at university is the soccer. I experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows while playing football with the most technically gifted players I’ve ever played with.”

Ray echoes his sentiments.

“There’s no way I’ll be coming back to the UK anytime soon,” he says.

“The standard of living here is on another level and while I don’t play soccer anymore, I’ve now got myself a good job.

“To top it all off, there are no chavs here.”

Joe Beecroft (left) and his teammates train in elite college facilities

USA x9

England x3

Spain x2

Ireland x1

Norway x1

Brazil x1

Indonesia x1

Australia x1

Japan x1 Stateside June 2014 53

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June 2011, the Boston Bruins had just defeated Canadian side the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. Fires raged, cars were stripped bare and tear gas masked the skyline – the NHL title would not be crossing the border for yet another year. Stateside investigates why Canada can’t win the Stanley Cup

T

he Vancouver Canuck’s crusade to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since 1993 was cascading to an embarrassing end. The Canadian side were hosting the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 final as favourites, but they were 3-0 down going into the last quarter. In central Vancouver, record crowds of supporters were huddled around giant screens with hope fading fast. At the final buzzer, Bruins claimed a 4-0 win and with it, the Stanley Cup. It ignited violence between the Canuck’s fans. They rioted in the streets of Vancouver, setting cars on fire, looting shops and staging bonfires, while riot police used tear gas and truncheons to quell the carnage. It was a haunting repeat for the city.

In 1994 after another Game 7 loss, this time to the New York Rangers, Canucks fans went on a similar rampage destroying everything in sight. The Stanley Cup has become Vancouver’s

black eye.

Unlike 1994 when it had only been a year since a Canadian side had won the Stanley Cup, 2011 marked 18 years since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings. Anger had been brewing and patience was thin not just in Vancouver, but nationwide.

This year there will be no riots in Vancouver, or any other Canadian city for that matter, as the Stanley Cup will be contested between two US sides in the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. The drought for Canada’s national sport ticks over to 21 years, which begs the question: why can’t a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup? Like the majority of sporting competitions, the title usually goes to the best team in the league. In the National Hockey League playoffs, teams are seeded depending on their points tally in their respective conferences.

It used to be simple when the top

eight teams in each league would vie for the Stanley Cup. But since the start of this season and the realignment of the NHL divisions, the top three seeds from the Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Metropolitan leagues automatically qualify, followed by three ‘wild card’ teams dependent on the next highest points total.

Still, in the end teams are seeded by their point total which is telling for the competiveness of Canadian sides.

“At first glance, the difference seems minor,” Nate Silver wrote in the New York Times. “But the Stanley Cup is not normally won by an average team that just sneaks into the playoffs. It usually goes to one of the best teams in the league.”

Since 1993-94, the season after the Montreal Canadiens ruled supreme,

come along in the form of the Ottawa Senators, who made the playoffs every season bar one, it crashed spectacularly when the club went bankrupt in 2003.

But the economics north of the border finally improved in 2005, only the NHL had introduced a salary cap after the league was suspended the year previously over a labour dispute. The engraved words on the Stanley Cup bluntly read: ‘Season Not Played.’

Canadian teams started to churn huge profits similar to their American counterparts, and their owners revelled in the newly-formed level playing field that a £23 million ($39m) salary cap had brought. A wealth of talent could now be attracted but would it turn to results on the ice?

Initially success soared. In 2006, the

“Vancouver is a world-class city and it is embarrassing and shameful to see this type of violence and disorder.” - Mayor Gregor Robertson 12 of the 19 Stanley Cup winners have been seeded number one or two in their conference; just 14% of this elite band has been from Canada. But why?

The NHL’s economic structure has much to answer for. From 1993 to 2005, teams were unleashed to spend freely within their own means. The highest earning player in each of the eleven seasons between those dates played for an American NHL side. On closer inspection, from the top five highest earners for each campaign from 1993 to 2005, only seven represented Canadian sides.

Canada’s struggles in the NHL’s financial Serengeti could be put down to the fact that the Canadian dollar was weak. Profits were hard to come by and the sport’s best players headed into the jaws of the US franchises instead.

Canadian hockey suffered. The Vancouver Canucks missed the playoffs in four straight seasons from 1996 to 2000, which was nothing compared to the Calgary Flames who went seven straight seasons from 1996 to 2003. The Edmonton Oilers, the Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens also failed to qualify in period that was riddled with false hope and missed opportunities. Even when success did

Edmonton Oilers reached the Stanley Cup final but lost in a seven-game series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Oilers’ goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who they had acquired through their new found wealth, missed the first three games with an injury, which went a long way in explaining the Canadian side’s bad start to the series. The following season, the Ottawa Senators lost the title to the Anaheim Ducks by the thinnest of margins.

But the Oilers and the Senators began to crumble in what was being dubbed a new era for Canadian NHL ice hockey.

For the former, they missed the playoffs seven seasons in a row after their cup final appearance, while the Ottawa Senators were absent in 2008-09 and 2010-11. There was a common theme.

The salary cap that was hailed initially by the Canadians, had now formed a

Looters ransack downtown convenient, electrical and sports stores

Patrick Roy lifts the 1993 Stanley Cup for the Montreal Canadians, the last Canadian side taste glory

greater enemy.

The greater profit margins had changed the mentality of management for many Canadian NHL teams. The Oilers and the Senators began to invest significantly more in pricey marquee players instead of building a depth of skilled and affordable young talent through the draft system. In-between the Senators’ playoffs failures of 2009 and 2011, the average age of their roster was 30.3 years. That’s old in hockey terms.

As for the Vancouver Canucks, since the introduction of a salary cap the team’s performances on the ice had been somewhat inconsistent. But in 2011 it all came together. General manager Mike Gillis invested heavily in the team by bringing in Aaron Rome, Mason Raymond and Bill Sweatt on big contracts. A higher than league average of 28.1 points made them first seeds in the playoffs, and they went on to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks, the Nashville Predators and the San Jose Sharks on their way to the Stanley Cup final. The Boston Bruins proved a step too far.

The Vancouver mayor at the time, Gregor Robertson, said the riots that followed were “embarrassing and shameful.” Their fans thought that Canadian hockey in the NHL had stumbled upon a divine right to compete and spend in the same arenas that the big boys from America did. Yet, as the 2011 season proved, greater wealth does not always bring greater success.

The Vancouver riots illustrated not only fan despair in the city; it was a show of the despair felt by the entire country. The new enriched era had brought more questions than answers, it brought more heartache than success, it had brought more years of the curse.

Stateside June 2014 57

ICE HOCKEY

Sidney Crosby’s season in numbers Age:

26

Regular Season Points

Height: 5’ 11”

Sidney Crosby

104

Weight: 200lb

Ryan Getzlaf

87

Claude Giroux

86

Tyler Seguin

84

Corey Perry

82

Regular Season Assists

Sidney Crosby’s fine form for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season has seen him nominated for the Hart Memorial Trophy, along with Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers

37 Goals

Sidney Crosby

68

Joe Thornton

65

Nicklas Bäckström

61

Claude Giroux

58

Ryan Getzlaf

56

Did you know?

Crosby is the youngest captain to win the Stanley Cup. He led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2009 triumph.

19 Home/Away 18

Time spent on ice 1,757 minutes 47 seconds 58 June 2014 Stateside

For more in-depth data and analysis, visit our dedicated stats website: stateside.co.uk/stats

13.9% Shooting Accuracy

BASEBALL

Words: Ben Wier

BASEBALL

Goodbye to the Yankees’ no.

Stateside takes a look at the career of New York Yankees captain, Derek Jeter, whose 20-year career comes to a close at the end of the season. Most believe he will be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but where does he rank amongst the Yankee greats?

BASEBALL

A

s the curtain starts to close on the career of Derek Jeter, the man himself has made sure that his final bow is on his own terms, albeit a rather long one. The 2014 season will be the New York Yankees captain’s curtain call, just shy of 20 years in the sport.

Turning 40 this year and having only played 17 games last season due to the ankle injury he suffered in 2012, the shortstop clearly thought that the time was right.

Announcing the decision via Facebook (strange for a man who has shied away from social media), Jeter was forthright in his appreciation for what baseball has given him: “I want to start by saying thank you. I know they say that when you dream you eventually wake up. Well, for some reason, I’ve never had to wake up.”

It is us, the fans of baseball and the fans of the Yankees, that should be thanking him. Such devotion to the sport has not gone unnoticed. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig summed up Jeter perfectly: “In the 21-plus years in which I have served as Commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter,” he said in a statement following Jeter’s announcement.

“Since his championship rookie season of 1996, Derek has represented all the best of the National Pastime on and off the field. He is one of the most accomplished and memorable players of his, or any, era.

“Derek is the kind of person that generations have emulated proudly, and he remains an exemplary face of our sport. Major League Baseball looks forward to celebrating his remarkable career throughout the 2014 season.”

Following his retirement, the conversation now falls to where Derek ranks amongst the Yankee greats, and when, not if, he’ll be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Just the fact that he can be men-

Jeter’s sets an all-time Yankees club record for most homers by a shortstop (top). His fan assisted home run (middle). At 8-years-old (bottom)

five Yankees). The Yankees are going to retire the number two jersey at some point in the future.”

ESPN’s Skip Bayliss on the other hand believes Jeter is way down the list of the greatest Yankees; “Derek Jeter does not belong in the same breath with my top five Yankees,” he told ESPN’s First Take.

“I apologise to all those Jeter fans but I always warn people of being prisoners of the moment, trying to crown the latest greatest... all of a sudden LeBron is better than Michael Jordan? No he’s not!

“Did Derek Jeter lead the home runs league 12 times? Did he win seven rings like Babe Ruth? Does he have a career batting average of 342? Joe DiMaggio had a 56 game hitting streak, which will never be broken. This man won 9 rings in 10 tries. Jeter fans forgive me for this but Micky Mantle won seven rings... Yogi Berra won 10 rings! He was the greatest catcher who ever lived, and people are saying Derek Jeter should be in the same breath as him with five?

“I’m not being old school, I’m being real school here.”

Jeter vs Berra

tioned in the upper bracket of players that have ever worn that Yankee uniform says a lot,” MLB journalist Bryan Hoch told Stateside.

“Yankee captains like him don’t come along very often. He’s done everything the right way in New York... 20-30 years from now people will go to Monument Park and look at Derek Jeter’s retired number and talk about it. He’s the kind of player you want your kids to go see.

“I think he’s up there for sure (top

Like Bayliss, many believe Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle and Gehrig represent an untouchable foursome at the head of the Yankees table. The men are the cornerstone of Yankees folklore. Jeter is not in the same league, and there is no embarrassment in that.

But could the number two be considered as the number five? Bayliss argues not. To him, Berra with 10 rings to five is more impressive. He also has 102 more homeruns in 3,059 fewer at-bats, three regular-season MVP awards (compared to Jeter’s three) as well as only striking out 414 times in his career (1,339 fewer times than Jeter).

Yet Jeter has 204 more doubles, 318 more steals, 701 more runs and 1,166

ALL HITTING, ALL SLUGGING, ALL-STAR

The career of Derek follows two main themes of professionalism and purity 1974

1984

1989

1990

1992

1992

1995

Born in Pequannock, New Jersey, as the first of two children, but the family move to Kalamazoo, Michigan when Jeter is fouryears-old.

Jeter dreams up in school an essay that he would one day suit up as the shortstop of the New York Yankees.

As a sophomore point guard, he hits a threepointer at the buzzer to beat rival High School—still among his fondest sports memories.

By his junior year, Derek is at the top of a lot of scouting and recruiting lists. He bats .557 and slugs seven homers.

Named 1992 High School Player of the Year in U.S. and offered a full scholarship at University of Michigan.

Jeter’s MLB career starts when he is signed by the Yankees for $800,000 in 1992 draft.

He makes his debut in 1995, but after a 13 game run in the side (with a batting average of .250), he is demoted to Class AAA Columbus.

62 June 2014 Stateside

BASEBALL

Jeter hits the game-winning home run just after midnight in the bottom of the 10th inning in the World Series (top). The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (right). Yogi Berra with the captain (bottom)

“Derek’s probably going to be a first ballot hall of famer, I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t get in on his first try.” more hits than Berra in his career (pre2014 season). He also has the better batting average (.312 to .285) and onbase percentage (.381 to .348).

Statistically, they’re similar, and to rank one higher than the other is hard considering the different eras in which they played. Jeter has been the star player for the Yankees, and icon if you will, for the majority of his career, whilst Berra was not, but only because he was trying to shine in the same period as DiMaggio and Mantle; a near impossible task.

Many find it hard to split the two; former Yankee, Whitey Ford, once said: “I couldn’t give a slight edge to anyone; I’d just be making it up,” whilst Mel Stottlemyre, former teammate of Berra

and former coach to Jeter, said: “If Yogi is five, then Jeter has to be six. And if Jeter is five, then Yogi has to be six.”

Questioning whether he belongs in the top five all time Yankees is one thing, but what cannot be disputed is how much Derek has meant to the franchise and the world of baseball. “If you could make them in a factory, you would model it on Derek,” said Hoch.

“He’s got the proper temperament, he was brought up the right way. His parents Charles and Dorothy have a lot to say about the way he has approached the game. If you want to criticise his play on the field that’s fine, maybe he should hit more, maybe he should be a better fielder. If you were going to

build a player though in a laboratory to put the creation at shortstop for the New York Yankees it would be pretty darn close to what Derek Jeter is.

“Derek’s probably going to be a first ballot hall of famer, I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t get in on his first try.”

To be elected for the Hall of Fame, Derek must wait five years after his retirement to be considered, after which a screening committee will decide whether he should be voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). For a successful election, he then must be approved by at least 75% of those voting, in which writers may vote for up to 10 players. Jeter is bidding to become the first ballot hall of famer for the Yankees since Reggie Jackson in 1993, and the fourth in the franchise’s history (Mantle and Ruth the others).

An ambassador Hoch opinion is shared by many, including ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who has likened Jeter’s retirement to a funeral being announced, told First Take: “I’ve always sworn throughout my life that the only professional athlete I would ever seek in this lifetime is the great Muhammad Ali. A close second, would be el Capitán, Derek Jeter. What this guy means to New York, what he means to the sport of baseball, is on par, if not eclipses what he’s meant to the New York Yankees.

“To call him an ambassador... they should name an award after Derek Jeter. How to be professional, how

1996

1996

1996

1998

2000

2000

2001

Then Yankees manager Joe Torre declares in pre-season that the 21- year-old will be his starting shortstop for 1996.

He became the fifth unanimous choice for the AL Rookie of the Year award in its 50-year history.

As a team, the Yankees also win their first championship since the 1978 World Series.

Derek finishes the season topping the AmericanLeague runs standings which he follows up, by leading the 1999 hits rankings.

He wins his 4th World Series championship in 5 years as the Yankees dominate the MLB.

He also becomes the first Yankees player ever to win the All-Star MVP award.

Jeter performs the infamous flip-play vs. the Oakland A’s.

Stateside June 2014 63

BASEBALL

to conduct yourself beyond the field of play. This dude is beyond special. I have a lot of respect for a lot of players on this level but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone as close to perfection as a professional athlete than Derek Jeter. “ The time on the disabled list the previous two seasons, the most serious of which was a fractured ankle, is what many believe has led to Derek’s announcement after a stop start 2013, an opinion shared by Hoch: “I think it (the injuries) gave him a lot of time last year to think about the future. A lot of times for Derek in the years passed, you never heard him think about anything other than winning baseball games for the Yankees and win the World Series every year, that was really his primary focus.

“He spent a lot of time on the disabled list and a lot of time down in Florida rehabbing without the team which started seeing him get involved in other things. He started a book publishing imprint with Simon & Schuster, he latched onto a food company to make frozen meals, Jessica Biel was involved. He started diversifying himself a little bit, you started seeing cracks in the façade where it was always about baseball 365 days a year.

“There was more to life for Derek, he had some time to think about what he wanted to do after he stopped being the shortstop for the Yankees. I think those thoughts got into his mind and he realised you can’t play a kids game

Jeter is helped off the field after fracturing his ankle (left). Celebrating victory (right)

“They should name an award after Derek Jeter.

How to be professional, how to conduct yourself beyond the field of play. This dude is beyond special.”

- Stephen A. Smith forever, 20 years as a Yankee is pretty good.”

Final season Looking ahead to his final season, Hoch believes Yankees manager Joe Girardi is going to have to monitor Derek very closely: “Joe’s going to have a tough balancing act because if Derek is performing up to expectations, nobody wants to drop him in the batting order.

“But he’s going to have to do what’s good for the team because the years where Jeter could play in 150-160

games a season are probably in the rear view mirror.

“He’s 40-years-old and there’s a reason you don’t see many 40-year-old shortstops in the game. If he’s moving well defensively, he’s getting the ball and he’s hitting well, I don’t think it’ll be an issue for Joe Girardi to keep him in the line-up.”

Wherever you rank baseball’s unequivocal number two in terms of other Yankee greats, his contribution to the sport he so loved can never be questioned. The man has personified cleanliness in arguably the sports dirtiest era. As many idols were pushed off stage, he remained. The sport of baseball will undoubtedly miss Derek Jeter, a standing ovation just doesn’t seem enough.

2003

2004

2004

2009

2009

2011

2014

Named captain of the Yankees by the boss George Steinbrenner.

Jeter flings himself into the stands face first chasing a foul ball against, coming out with blood on his face.

Wins first of five golden glove awards, beating A-Rod.

Passes Lou Gehrig’s all time hits record for the Yankees (2,722) with a ringing single to right field accompanied by a standing ovation.

Wins his fifth and final championship, his first as captain, beating the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

Fractures his ankle diving for a ball against the Detorit Tigers in Game 1 of the ALCS.

Announces the 2014 MLB season will be his last after 20-years in the sport.

64 June 2014 Stateside

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BASEBALL

RED HOT John W. Henry has won three World Series with Boston Red Sox in little more than ten years and taken Liverpool from the brink of administration to the Champions League.

Stateside discovers the secrets behind his success Words: Kristian Johnson Stateside June 2014 67

BASEBALL

U

pon John W. Henry’s acquisition of the Boston Red Sox in February 2002, the front page of the Boston Herald carried a picture of the Fenway Park scoreboard, which read: “Visitors 1, Boston 0.”

“Fans were largely sceptical of someone from outside Boston buying the team,” says Joshua Green, Bloomberg Businessweek senior national correspondent.

The wiry businessman, whose squareframed glasses rest on the ridge of his pointy nose, was seen as an outsider in an otherwise tight-knit region. Henry was undoubtedly successful, having made his billion-dollar fortune in trading commodities, but aside from a brief spell as owner of the Florida Marlins at the turn of the millennium, his sporting background was scarce.

Matthew Collins, writer for Boston Red Sox fansite Over The Monster, agrees.

“The reaction to Henry buying the Red Sox was probably mixed at best.

“For one thing, he was part-owner of the Florida Marlins at the time, so people were unsure about the favouritism being shown by the MLB commissioner Bud Selig to allow him to sell his shares in the Marlins to buy the Red Sox.”

“Henry brought a new strategy and a new attitude with him.”

No sooner had Henry’s company, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) - then New England Sports Ventures (NESV) acquired control of the Boston Red Sox than they appointed Theo Epstein as the youngest general manager in MLB history at the age of 28. To put this into context, the man who won the 2003 World Series with the Florida Marlins, Jack McKeon was 70. Bob Brenly, who led the Arizona Diamondbacks to the title in 2001, was 47.

More big decisions followed.

Nomar Garciaparra had been a shortstop with the Red Sox since making his debut in 1996 and quickly became a hit with the fans. However, his position at the club deteriorated soon after the

Henry brought a World Series title to Fenway Park in 2004 three years after purchasing the club

arrival of Epstein in 2002. Following a wrist injury, Garciaparra’s on-base percentage on offence and strong defence - two areas in which Epstein demanded excellence - began to fall considerably. Despite statistics suggesting his performances were on a downward spiral, the six-time All Star demanded an improved contract.

“He was the definition of a fan-favorite for most of his career at the Red Sox,” says Collins.

“He had some attitude problems in 2004. He demanded a contract extension and pushed for one of the highest salaries in the league, but Henry refused to bow to his demands.

Garciaparra was eventually forced out in the middle of that season.

“It was stunning at the time, but that trade is now seen by many as the catalyst to the run the team then went on.”

A few months after Garciaparra had left Fenway Park, the Red Sox ended their 86-year wait for a World Series title. The Curse of the Bambino had come to a long overdue end.

‘The Curse of the Bambino’ The Curse of the Bambino began after the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth, a.k.a. ‘the Bambino’, to their bitter rivals the New York Yankees in 1919. Until then, Boston had won five World Series titles in 15 seasons. Ruth’s sale prompted

the start of an excruciating wait for baseball’s biggest prize.

“There were people who legitimately thought they’d go through their entire life without seeing a World Series come to this city,” says Collins.

“Henry brought a new strategy and a new attitude with him. That was a major part of the Red Sox finally getting over the hump and winning that first championship in 86 years.”

Henry saw a talent in Epstein which nobody else dared to gamble on and his fascination for statistics ensured that he and his coaching team forensically analysed the pros and cons of potential new players. For instance, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez - who both played an instrumental part in the 2004 triumph - were bought because of their impressive Runs Batted In (RBI) stats. They were the second and third best in this category in the 2004 season. A year later, they topped the pile.

Not content with success on the field, Henry continued to make commercial gains off it. He signed a number of sponsorship deals to close the considerable financial gap between themselves and the Yankees before expanding the capacity of Fenway Park.

“Henry’s the most mathematically talented person I’ve ever met,” the Red Sox president Larry Luchinno recently told Bloomberg.

“He’s also a very competitive guy. He

John W. Henry’s portfolio

2001

2001

2001*

2004

2007*

2010

2013

*Henry is the sole owner of all the above companies, but only holds an 80% stake in NESN and a 50% stake in Roush Fenway Racing.

68 June 2014 Stateside

BASEBALL wants to win. He wants to measure his success.

“When you put it all together, he’s got more dimensions than most baseball owners. ” In just three years, John W. Henry had gone from unknown businessman to the brains behind the Red Sox’s greatest success in almost a century. The stigmas attached to being an outsider had well and truly vanished.

When the Red Sox won the World Series once more in 2007, Henry ousted another of the team’s stars: Ramirez.

Ramirez’s indiscretions began with an on-field altercation with teammate Kevin Youkilis. A few months later, he pushed the club’s 64-year-old secretary over. As the 2008 season drew to a close, Ramirez pulled out of the team minutes before a crucial league game against the Yankees on July 25.

“He had been the best hitter on the team for the decade,” says Collins. “But when he finally acted up one too many times, Henry had no hesitation in trading him to the L.A. Dodgers.”

Walk on With his mark well and truly imprinted at the Red Sox, Henry explored the possibility of exBrendan panding his sporting Rodgers portfolio.

While his Boston franchise was bathing in the glory of World Series wins, Liverpool Football Club had endured three-and-ahalf calamitous years under the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett and were “seconds from financial disaster,” according to the club’s managing director, Ian Ayre. Their tenure on Merseyside was littered with false promises, mounting debts and fan protests.

As the infighting continued, Henry spent months quietly lining up his purchase of the club, but Hicks and Gillett would not let their stranglehold of the Premier League side go without a fight.

Despite obvious resentment towards the duo from the fans, the sale of Liverpool had to be forced through following an arduous legal battle, which went all the way to the Old Bailey.

Eventually, in a deal worth £300m ($500m) - which included wiping out £237m ($400m) of debt - Henry became the principal owner of Liverpool

Football Club on October 15, 2010.

A few weeks later, in one of his first public appearances since buying the club, the American descended the stone steps at a modern hotel in Liverpool, walking slightly behind temporary chairman Martin Broughton and former managing director Christian Purslow.

As a mob of journalists shouted questions at him and dozens of camera bulbs flashed in his face, Henry’s eyes squinted behind his thinly-framed glasses.

His statement was short.

“I haven’t got a lot to say, but our actions will speak for themselves.”

And they have.

Shortly after Henry’s arrival on Merseyside, the unpopular Roy Hodgson was sacked. His replacement was Kenny Dalglish, a man voted as the club’s greatest ever player and the last manager to win the league title with the Reds. He steered Liverpool to their first trophy in six years when they won the 2012 League Cup, but poor league form ultimately cost the Glaswegian his job at the end of the campaign.

Then, in a move which mirrored Epstein’s appointment in Boston, Henry installed the relatively untested Brendan Rodgers as the new Liverpool manager at the age of just 39. Manchester United - Liverpool’s biggest rivals - had 70-year-old Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm.

Rodgers’ first season was mixed, but in the Ulsterman’s second year in charge, the Reds finished two points behind the eventual winners Manchester City, who have spent almost £1bn ($1.65bn) in less than 10 years.

Despite finishing as runners up, Liverpool topped the table in terms of broadcast revenue earners for the season, while substantial sponsorship deals with the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts (£20m [$33m]), Garuda (£32m [$54m]) and Warrior (£150m [$250m] over six years) will help the club comply with UEFA’s recent Financial Fair Play rulings.

Historic cathedrals of sport Liverpool Echo journalist Paul Snowden, who writes a weekly article on the Red Sox, is impressed with Henry’s handling of both clubs.

He says: “He does all of his business quietly behind the scenes. There’s no fanfare. He just gets on with it.

“It reflects well on Liverpool’s history in particular. In the 1970’s and 1980’s - when Liverpool dominated Europe the club always did their business in a professional, secretive manner. It’s the ‘Liverpool way’.”

Henry’s head honchos Tom Werner Chairman Tom Werner built up a strong reputation as a television producer and director in the latter part of the 20th Century, working with the likes of Danny DeVito and Tom Hanks.

He formed NESV along with John W. Henry and Larry Lucchino in 2001 and continues to play a crucial role in the day-to-day running of the organisation.

As the chairman of both the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool, Werner makes more public appearances than Henry and frequently gives interviews to the media on both sides of the Atlantic.

Werner was a major shareholder in the MLB franchise the San Diego Padres from 1990-94.

Larry Lucchino President Larry Lucchino was the president of the Baltimore Orioles for five years (1988-93) before fulfilling the same role at the San Diego Padres from 1995-2001.

The 68-year-old was a major driving force in ensuring the Boston Red Sox stayed at Fenway Park, rather than relocating to a new stadium.

Lucchino has recently distanced himself from reports that he will become the new MLB commissioner when 79-year-old Bud Selig retires.

David Ginsberg Vice chairman David Ginsberg only became a fulltime employee of FSG in 2010, but he has provided business, financial and investment banking support to the company’s board members for more than a decade.

Ginsberg has been entrusted with overseeing the day-to-day business operations of Liverpool and during his tenure, the club’s financial situation has improved considerably.

Stateside June 2014 69

BASEBALL However, while Henry usually shuns the media spotlight, he is not shy in celebrating his teams’ successes.

When the Red Sox won their first World Series title, he paraded around the Fenway Park pitch with a chunky cigar lodged between his lips and the trophy clasped tightly in his hands.

On one of his first visits to Anfield, 44,590 buoyant Liverpool fans belted out You’ll Never Walk Alone in the closing stages of their side’s League Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City in 2012. Henry was a bundle of nerves - twiddling his thumbs, biting his fingernails, swaying from foot to foot. When the final whistle was eventually sounded to confirm Liverpool’s progression to their first domestic cup final in six years, he punched the air before high-fiving a star-struck fan.

“We’ve become part of something incredibly special in Boston, and we’re beginning to think we’re part of something really special in Liverpool.”

“Tom, Larry and I are not from Boston, but we’ve became part of the fabric of the city,” Henry told BBC Sport in March in a rare interview.

“We’ve been part of something incredibly special here [in Boston], and we’re beginning to think we’re part of something really special over there [in Liverpool].”

Henry understands the value of each of the local communities and the strength they play in times of tragedy, particularly on April 15.

On April 15, 1989, 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives in football’s greatest tragedy, the Hillsborough disaster. On the same day in 2013, three people were killed and scores more were injured in the Boston marathon bombings.

“It’s ironic that both clubs - both cities - have the same date, together,” Henry told BBC Sport. “These two cities are linked by these two tragedies.

“We are aware of what the Liverpool families went through for a quarter of a century - the horror of it. To lose a loved one and then the injustice that followed was something that the club recognises and feels.

“Over in Boston, we played a strong brand of baseball from that day for70 June 2014 Stateside

David Oritz gave a rousing speech to the Fenway Park crowd in the wake of the Boston bombings

ward [April 15, 2013]. These players all came together as one. It was the tightest, warmest, strongest clubhouse.

“The year before that, we were known for having a dysfunctional clubhouse.

The tragedy had a galvanising effect upon the players.”

Another reason why Henry has been accepted is because he has done his homework. He knows baseball. He recognises what makes a great pitcher.

He has also done his research with Liverpool. He talks to the press with the same passion and respect for club legends such as Kenny Dalglish as any fan would in a pub on matchday.

But most importantly, he values the fans above all else.

After his purchase of Liverpool, Henry met in secret with a number of representatives from the club’s fan groups before facing the media. He made no false promises, but listened intently to the concerns of the supporters.

He also understands the attachment each set of fans have with their respective stadiums.

From May 15, 2003 to April 10, 2013, the Red Sox sold out every one of its 820 consecutive home games to post a major professional sports record.

Such levels of support contributed to Henry’s desire to redevelop the iconic if a little decrepit - Fenway Park, rather

than relocating to a new stadium.

“Staying there was important to the Red Sox fans because they love their stadium as much as the Liverpool fans love Anfield,” says Paul Snowden.

“It’s such an iconic venue in American sports as a whole, not just baseball.

You could show a picture of so many baseball stadiums from above and the majority of them look exactly the same, but Fenway Park is one of the few that really stands out.”

Plans have recently been announced for similar redevelopments at Anfield to take the capacity of the 130-year-old stadium to 54,000 for the start of the 2016-17 season.

The club’s former co-owner, Gillett, famously said: “The spade has to be in the ground within 60 days” when he bought Liverpool, but the reality was that millions of pounds were squandered while no progress was made.

Henry has been sure to not make any unfounded claims, but recent developments reveal that he has come further than his predecessors ever did.

Speaking to an audience at the Boston Chamber of Commerce in January, Henry described the two arenas as “the most historical cathedrals of sport”.

It is with such attention to detail that Henry has seen the stigma of outsider well and truly vanish.

Fenway Park is one of the most iconic stadiums in American sport

Baseball

Baseball

A life that ends at 18 The controversial relationship between the Dominican Republic and MLB Words: Jamie Kightley

O

n opening day of the 2014 season 83 DR players took their places across MLB’s plethora of rosters. Countries such as Venezuela (59), Cuba (19) and Puerto Rico (11) also boast high numbers of players in the MLB but the Dominican Republic has always topped foreign player charts for many years.

Dominican players like Albert Pujols, who earned £9.5 million ($16m) in 2013, and David Ortiz, £8.25 million ($14m), are revered in their home country.

So how does a tiny island marooned in the between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea provide such a high proportion of both Major and Minor league players to the US? Rose tinted observers will point out that it is down to the Dominican Republic’s ‘rich baseball history’, but even these origins tell a contentious story.

Other than Major League Baseball stars the DR’s biggest export is sugar, and a number of American sugarcane refineries existed across the country at the turn of the century.

Pujols earns £9.5m “Traditionally the refineries basically exploited ($16m) cheap post-slavery labour and they brought English speaking people from the Eastern Caribbean to the Dominican Republic to work the sugar cane fields,” says Professor Alan Klein, Sport-Anthropologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

These Eastern immigrants began to settle in specific communities around the refinery that employed them, developing their own tight-knit society.

The formerly US-based refinery owners were sporting fans and enjoyed competition, so with this in mind each refinery began shaping and perfecting their own specific baseball team. These employee communities provided rich pickings when it came to baseball players.

Soon competition between rival refinery team

managers became so fierce that owners began to offer incentives to their players.

“Eventually managers would tell their players ‘If you can beat’ whoever they were playing ‘you don’t have to cut cane for a week,’” says Professor Klein . “So onerous is cutting of cane that they really worked hard to beat their opposition.”

“When you have that level of competitiveness and that degree of motivation, and they were good athletes, you will develop a high level of competition.”

It seems that the DR owes a lot of its baseball origins to poverty, and the hunger and determination it can breed.

“From the age of five kids in the DR can name all the Major Leaguers, but they can also name exactly how much he ‘signed for’,” says Professor Klein, who has visited the Dominican Republic and recently published his fourth baseball book Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice.

“I’ve always argued with MLB officials that instead of spending money trying to boost the sport of baseball in the UK or Germany, go to the Eastern European countries where poverty produces the most interesting athletes.

They’re highly motivated; what you need is poverty.”

Even now, according to the CIA World Factbook, 34.4% of Dominicans live below the poverty line; compared to with figures of 15.1% in the US. So, thanks largely to poverty, competitive baseball was born in the Dominican Republic, but until the mid-20th century it was another povertyridden Central American country, Cuba, which provided MLB with its quota of foreign players.

“Cubans were generally lighter skinned and could pass for Spanish whereas Dominicans were predominantly darker and were subject to racial segregation during the civil rights movement,” said Professor Klein.

Stateside June 2014 73

Baseball However during the politically fraught 1960s (think Castro and the Cuban Missile Crisis) all US trade with Cuba stopped and this included professional baseball players.

From then on the Dominican Republic picked up the mantle and has become an integral cog in the MLB machine. Currently all 30 MLB franchises own academies on the island.

But here is where the critics say the reason for the large numbers of Dominicans in the MLB lies.

By law in the US young players cannot sign a professional contract until they turn 18 and gain a high school diploma.

However, Dominicans can legally be signed as soon as they turn 16-and-a half, and at this age they hold a crucial advantage over Americans of the same age. MLB teams know this, and offer the boys large amounts of money as a signing fee to attract the best talents to their franchises.

“At sixteen and a half the very best players will be taken around to various major league academies for try-outs,” says Professor Klein “The start of the signing period in the MLB is July 2.”

But the journey for these young hopefuls doesn’t end there as the MLB themselves then subject the boys to a ‘vetting’ process, for security reasons and as there is a historic stigma attached to Dominicans for lying about their age through fraudulent documents.

“Let’s say the Tampa Bay Rays are interested in a young boy. They have to look at his papers but the validation of those papers takes a long time, especially in a post-9/11 world.” says Alan Klein Each boy is usually chaperoned to these trials by a ‘buscone’ or player developer (buscone stems from the Spanish term ‘to seek’) who has often raised and coached numerous boys from a young age.

“The buscone will most often take 3035% of the signing bonus which seems extravagant in the US but given the fact that this boy has been raised for years by this man is not at all extravagant.”

Age Rule The tragic irony for those Dominican boys who don’t immediately catch the attention of the MLB teams is that

they now have a limited shelf life in between the age of 16-and-ahalf and 18. Their value is decreasing along with their chances of being scouted before they hit the age of 18, when American High School graduates become available for drafting.

“In some twisted way MLB has decided that they prefer 16-year-olds to 18- year-olds, even though an 18 year old in the US is at a prime time for signing, an 18 year old in the Dominican Republic is considered an old man,” says Professor Klein.

“When an 18 year old is perceived as an old man in the Dominican Republic it’s ridiculous. It’s a tragedy because a lot of good players are ignored.”

For these players, who have often shunned education for a shot at the Major League, the only other alternative is a life of crime, factory work or the military.

Most live in poverty dreaming of what could have

been.

In journalist David Zirin’s book Welcome to the Terrordome he interviewed a Dominican who simply said that “those who don’t make the cut in baseball chase the dream of being worked to death in a factory.”

The clock is also ticking for those boys who have been signed at sixteen and a half but are subject to the MLB’s

Most overseas players by team 74 June 2014 Stateside

Texas Rangers (15)

vetting process.

Often when a player is signed this process, in some cases, can take up to a-year-and-a-half, by which time the youngster has aged considerably.

As result their value decreases, as it is commonly thought that Dominican boys take longer to adapt, physically and mentally, to life at an MLB team than US high school graduates.

“The vetting process actually reduces the value because of the ticking clock from sixteen-and a-half-years, from a political and economic perspective that really plays into the hands of MLB teams.” said Professor Klein.

Yewri Guillén These delaying tactics came to a head in 2009 when young prospect Yewri Guillén signed for the Washinton Nationals for £18,000 ($30,000). MLB stepped in to begin their validation process and accused Guillén of document fraud, suspending him for a year while they investigated.

Finally in 2011 they authorised the

San Francisco Giants (13)

Baseball contract wasn’t finalised they weren’t able to afford the $1,300 admission fee.

Finally a week later, on the day he was destined to leave the Dominican Republic, Yewri Guillén died of suspected bacterial meningitis.

vaccinated for meningitis, the MLB release said.”

Following the report on Yewri’s death investigative magazine Mother Jones reported his family had to sign an agreement pledging not to sue the Nationals over the lack of certified trainers or doctors that could have diagnosed his illness when it was treatable. In exchange, the team finally released Guillén’s $30,000 signing bonus and insurance money.

A Mother Jones investigation found

“Those who don’t make the cut in baseball chase the dream of being worked to death in a factory.”

If his contract had been finalised quicker by the MLB his family would have been able to afford private medical care for Yewri.

Such long bureauTop: Many Dominicans are first cratic delays are scouted playing in local fields not uncommon Below: Before moving on to but this the most academy pitches when they turn tragic example in 16 and a half the controversial, and seemingly one sided, relationship between MLB now 18 year-old’s contract and the Naand the DR. tionals told him he’d be leaving for the “I know a lot of buscones who claim US on the 15th April. In the week prior this is an intentional tactic by MLB to to the move Yewri began complaining drive the costs down, and I’m inclined of headaches and returned to his home to agree,” says Klein. in La Canela.

After an MLB review it was estabIt is reported his condition worsened lished Guillén died of a brain infection and his worried family rushed him to after an aggressive sinus infection.

Clínica Abreu, a private hospital in the “The Nationals took the proper steps Dominican capital. But as his to ensure that Guillén’s medical care was handled appropriately, and that proper protocols were followed to prevent the spread of meningitis when that infection was suspected as the cause of Guillén ‘sillness,” said Dr Gary Green, who led the review.

“As a result, even though meningitis did not cause Guillén’s death, the committee has recommended that The Toronto Blue Jays made history all MLB academies in the Dothis season by fielding a record six minican institute a vaccination Dominican Players in their starting program for meningitis. Evelineup ryone who stays overnight at MLB camps in the Dominican was

Chicago White Sox (11)

Seattle Mariners (11)

that 21 of the 30 MLB academies on the island did not employ qualified trainers.

“In reality, I wanted to find out really what happened,” Yewri’s mother told the Washington Post.

“And I was bothered by it. The team because the kid got sick and they sent him home like that. That headache.

That’s what bothered me about it, that they sent him to me like that. And that they didn’t send him to a doctor.”

She told the newspaper she was aware the family has signed away their right to sue.

“I left it all in God’s hands,” she said.

There have been investigations into the dealings of various Major League teams the DR. In 2009 Jim Bowden, General Manager of the Washington Nationals stepped down amidst allegations from a federal investigation of accepting ‘kickbacks’ from signing fees promised to young Dominican prospects.

In 2008 the Yankees sacked Carlos Ríos, and their Dominican Republic scouting director, Ramón Valdivia, under similar circumstances.

One big development for both the MLB and the Dominican Republic occurred in 2012 when an international signing bonus cap of $2.9 million was enforced across the league.

A marginally smaller MLB carrot now hangs above the poverty stricken young boys of the Dominican Republic.

It seems the US has learned nothing since the days of the sugar cane teams.

Competitive hope still poisons the mind of a nation whose only alternative to poverty is talent with a bat and ball.

Chicago Cubs (10) Stateside June 2014 75

Bridging

the Gap

Baseball

Billy Beane, the man who leaped baseball’s financial gulf Words: Jamie Kightley

I

n 2002 the Oakland Athletics found themselves in a financial position many professional sports clubs can relate to. It had been over a decade since they last won the World Series in 1991, when they had the highest payroll in MLB. Now with the third lowest General Manager Billy Beane had just lost three of his best players, 2000 American League MVP Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen.

What would have hurt most was

that three ‘large market’ franchises had prised these players away from the A’s. The New York Yankees took Giambi, The Boston Red Sox Damon and the St. Louis Cardinals Isringhausen. Oakland simply could not compete with the salaries these richer organisations could offer.

It is a familiar scene in worldwide sport in the 21st century, money talks and, more often than not, richer clubs tend to prosper over the poorer.

Billy Beane realised the Oaklands

Baseball

Athletics could no longer count themselves amongst Baseball’s economic elite. Competing with them required some lateral, not to mention mathematical, thinking.

Beane decided to build on the work of his predecessor, GM Sandy Alderson, who also applied economics when scouting potential players. He adopted an approach known as ‘Sabermetrics’, which focuses on the studying of player data and using empirical research to determine their on-field effectiveness.

“What Billy Beane did with the Oakland A’s by using Sabermetrics was absolutely revolutionary,” says SportingIntelligence.com editor Nick Harris.

“By analysing data he was able to find players who other teams had completely overlooked.”

“What Billy Beane did with the Oaklands A’s by using Sabermetrics was absolutely revolutionary” The players he picked up were often deemed undesirable by other teams for various reasons and meant they were usually available for a cheap price. For example, David Justice was traded to the Athletics by the New York Mets as he was in his late 30s, and therefore considered to be too old to bat consistently. His .376 on-base percentage for that year proved many critics wrong.

After a faltering start to the season by mid-August the A’s hit sparkling form, achieving a 20 game winning

streak from August 13 to September 4.

It was a new American League record and revolutionised approaches to the sport.

Oakland finished the regular season as AL West champions with 103 wins, the same amount as the New York Yankees.

That season the Yankees’ salary payroll was $125,928,583, the Oakland Athletics’ was $39,679,746.

The great dream ended in the post-season playoffs as the Athletics lost 3-2 to the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series.

However the A’s showed their hand in 2002 and most of baseball followed suit, despite early criticism during Oakland’s slow start to the season.

“There’s a cruel irony in the story because, like many inventions, the formula couldn’t remain secret and other teams applied the same technique, catching up,” says Harris.

The Boston Red Sox offered Beane a £7.3m ($12,5m) contract to become their GM in 2003, as Red Sox and Liverpool FC owner John W. Henry was impressed by his exploits with the A’s.

The Red Sox also employed Bill James, who wrote extensive essays on Sabermetrics in the 1970s, to spearhead their new analytical approach to scouting.

“It would be wrong to assume big teams don’t use analytics now in the modern game,” saysHarris “But of course any team with a small budget are going to use whatever they can, but the smaller teams can’t afford the money to use to top analysts. The whole thing has come full circle really.”

In an attempt to level the playing field but not upset Major League high spenders MLB authorities introduced the ‘luxury tax’ in 2003. While not technically a salary cap the league set a ‘threshold’ figure, this is currently set at £111m $189m. Any team which exceeds the threshold is punished with a tax payment as a fine.

“It speaks volumes that only five teams have ever had to pay the luxury A more youthful Beane in tax, the 2002.

Yankees, the Top: The A’s have struggled Red Sox, LA to get over the playoff line in Anaheim, recent years

Top Ten Salaries 1. LA Dodgers $235m 2. NY Yankees $203.8m 3. Philadelphia Phillies $180m 4. Boston Red Sox $162.8 5. Detroit Tigers $162,2m 6. LA Angels $155.7m 7. San Francisco Giants $154.1m 8. Texas Rangers $136m 9. Washington Nationals $134.7m 10. Toronto Blue Jays $132.6m 25. Oakland A’s $83.4m the LA Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers,” says Nick Harris “The Yankees themselves have had to pay the tax in every year since its inception in 2003. They’ve paid 95% of the £168m ($285m) collected from teams over the past 11 years.”

So what of the Oakland Athletics in 2014?

They currently sit 25th out of 30 in the payroll figures, spending £49m ($83m) in 2013. The LA Dodgers topped the list with a budget of £139m $235m.

Billy Beane has seen his franchise reach the playoffs only four times since 2002. Ironically in 2003 they lost the ALDS to the Red Sox who had tried to sign him less than a year earlier, as the highest paid GM in sports history.

The silver lining is that two of those playoff appearances have been in consecutive seasons, 2012 and 2013 Perhaps the Beane counter is functioning once more.

Stateside June 2014 79

STATESIDE STATS

STATESIDE STATS etro

1 1 World Championship 4 NBA Championships 1 Olympic Gold Medal

TITLES WON

R

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NBA ALL-TIME POINTS LEADERS 3. MICHAEL JORDAN 32,292 4. KOBE BRYANT 31,700 5. WILT CHAMBERLAIN 31,419 6. SHAQUILLE O’NEAL 28,596 7. MOSES MALONE 27,409 8. ELVIN HAYES 27,313 9. HAKEEM OLAJUWON 26,946

TEAMS PLAYED FOR

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TOP FIVE...

MVP winners without an A number of NBA stars have won the NBA’s Most Valuable

championship trophy aloft. Stateside looks at the best Charles Barkley

1993

After Michael Jordan picked up two consecutive MVP awards in 1991 and 1992, it seemed as though nobody could wrestle the crown away from the Chicago Bulls shooting guard, but Barkley stepped forward with aplomb.

His efforts in his first year with the Phoenix Suns ensured they posted a record of 62–20 in the 1992-93 season and he propelled them to the NBA finals.

They faced Jordan’s Bulls in the finals, and although Barkley proclaimed that it was “destiny” for the Suns to win, the Bulls triumphed in six games.

1 3 2

Karl Malone If it wasn’t for Michael Jordan, Malone would surely have won an NBA championship.

Malone led the Utah Jazz to the finals in both 1998 and 1999, but an MJ-inspired Chicago Bulls side strode to glory on both occasions.

The following season, the Jazz were the bookies’ favourites to take the crown. ‘The Mailman’ delivered the goods once more in yet another fine season and won his second MVP award in three seasons, but the power forward was unable to help his team defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in the conference semi-final.

In his final season as a professional, Malone joined the Los Angeles Lakers, where he teamed up with whole host of NBA stars - Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton.

In his only season with the Lakers, Malone reached the NBA finals for a third time, but despite the vast array of talent on show, Showtime were thrashed 4-1 by the Detroit Pistons.

In an unexpected turn, Malone’s latest venture has seen him become a 2014 Miss USA judge.

1997 1999

STATESIDE TOP 5

Visit stateside.co.uk for reaction, statistics, exclusive interviews and more from the NBA finals

NBA championship Player award, but have yet to hold the

among this prestigious group Steve Nash Although Nash transferred to the Los Angeles Lakers in the twilight of his illustrious career, it was during his second spell with the Phoenix Suns that he shone as one of the NBA’s finest point guards.

The Canadian began to forge his reputation at the Dallas Mavericks (1998-2004), before his big-money move to the Suns.

Now 40, Nash’s trophy cabinet consists of two MVPs, 3 all-NBA first team inclusions and seven all-star ap-

2006

4

pearances, but he is yet to get his hands on an NBA championship.

Nash has recently said that he will play for one more season before retiring, but there is no doubt that he is the greatest ever Canadian to grace the NBA.

2005

5

Derrick Rose Rose is the youngest ever player to receive the MVP, having claimed the award when he was just 22.

He joins a star-studded list of Chicago Bulls players to be honoured with the crown and his best season to date undeniably came in the 2010-11 season.

Rose recorded an astounding 2,000 points and 600 assists during the campaign, becoming Kevin Durant will just the third player since the 1972-73 season battle for the NBA to do so. The only other players to record Championship with Oklahoma such high figures in the same era are LeBron City next season James and Michael Jordan.

Since his 2011 MVP Award, Rose has seen a spate of injuries prevent him from recreating such devastating form. In fact, the 25-year-old didn’t play a single game in the 2012-13 season, and appeared on just 10 occasions last term becasue of an ongoing problem with a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Despite the injury concerns, the point guard is still in the early stages of his career and has plenty of time left to help the Bulls to their seventh title if he manages to stay fit.

2011

Kevin Durant Durant is in the form of his life.

The Oklahoma City Thunder small forward has averaged an astonishing 35.9 points per game this season as he propelled his side to the top of the NorthWest Division ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers.

If this statistic wasn’t enough, on April 6, Durant surpassed a record previously held by Michael Jordan by scoring 25 points or more in 41 consecutive games in a 122-115 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

His remarkable rise has led to much praise from wide and far.

Rick Adleman reckons “he’s got all the ability in the world” while commentator Dick Vitale suggested that Durant is “the most prolific offensive skilled big perimeter player I’ve witnessed in many a year”.

During his emotional MVP acceptance speech in May, he dedicated his triumph to his mum and said she was the “real MVP”.

Durant is still only 25, so if he continues to perform to such high standards, there is no reason why he can’t win an NBA championship in the near future.

2014

Stateside June 2014 85

PLAYER PROFILE

THE KING Blueshirts star goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, has had another fantastic season for the Rangers, but how did it all start for the man dubbed ‘The King’?

H

enrik Lundqvist was born in 1982, in the small skiing village of Åre in Sweden, with his twin brother Joel who, like Henrik, also became a professional ice hockey player.

The brothers chose to play ice hockey over other popular winter sports, using a small frozen sandpit to nurture their talents when they were younger. Their interest grew when their father, Peter, took them to see Västra Frölunda HC play in Gothenburg, which slowly became a regular trip for the twins. At the age of eight, the brothers started playing hockey properly for the first time for Järpens IF, their local team. Lundqvist played in goal after his brother raised his hand for him when a goaltender was required. The boys’ interest never wavered, and at age 16, they were selected to play in TV-pucken, a Swedish national ice hockey tournament. They both started to attract a lot of interest from professional teams.

After extensive scouting, the twins signed for their boyhood team, Frölunda, and both made their debuts the following season. Lundqvist made a slow start to his Frölunda career, conceding four goals in his first game, and was pulled in favour of veteran keeper Håkan Algotsson in his third appearance.

Lundqvist would only go on to make 10 more appearances that season, losing his roster place to American keeper Pat Jablonski.

After a few months in the wilderness, Lundqvist played in the 2001 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships for Sweden’s junior team, finishing in fourth place overall, as well as winning the Anton Cup, Sweden’s junior championship. Lundqvist slowly started building his reputation as one of the hottest prospect in world ice hockey, making more and more appearances for Frölunda’s main team over the next few years, as well as earning a call-up to the Swedish national team in 2002.

2005 was to be his best year, breaking four Swedish national records; lowest goals against average (1.05), highest save percentage (.962), longest goalless streak (172 min 29 sec), and most shutouts in a season (6). He was subsequently named Best Goaltender, Best Player (Golden Puck), and also voted as the league’s Most Valuable Player (the Golden Helmet) by his peers. As a result, Lundqvist established himself as Sweden’s first choice goaltender and also started to become known for his ‘butterfly style’.

His brilliant performances that season were noticed by many in the National Hockey League, leading to a move to the New York Rangers in the same year. In his rookie season in the NHL, Lundqvist made his debut against the New Jersey Devils when starting goaltender Kevin Weekes got injured, and despite

86 June 2014 Stateside

being on the losing team, he saved 24 of 27 shots. He also became the first goaltender to record a shutout in his rookie season for the Rangers for 20 years against the Florida Panthers a few games later. Overall, Lundqvist had a great rookie season.

He was nominated for goaltender of the season (the Vezina Trophy) and finished fifth in goals against average rankings (2.24) as well as fourth in save percentage (.922). He was also selected in the NHL All-Rookie Team of the Year for 2005.

2006 saw him dubbed ‘the King’ by Rangers fans after his strong performances in his rookie season. It also saw him face his brother, the first NHL goaltender to ever meet his twin brother in a game, when Joel played for the Dallas stars. Rangers won the game, but the game will be mainly remembered for only the third set of twins to play each other in an NHL game. For a second consecutive season, Lundqvist was nomitated for the Vezina Trophy, as well as being offered a $4.25 million contract with the Rangers for another year.

Lundqvist subsequently established himself to be one of the best goaltenders in the world year after year. He won a Winter Olympic goal medal in the 2006 games in Turin, beating arch rivals Finland in the final. In 2008, he became the highest paid goaltender in the NHL, signing a six-year contract with the Rangers worth $41.25 million. He also received the second of his five consecutive MVP awards for the Rangers. A year later, he was selected to play in the NHL All-Star Game which was played in Montreal, which he was again selected for in 2011.

2012 finally saw Lundqvist get his hands on the Vezina Trophy after being nominated for the fifth time in total. This led to him signing a $59.5 million contract extension with the Rangers in 2013 to once again become the highest paid goaltender in the NHL. This year also saw the Swede gain the most wins as a Rangers’ goaltender, beating Mike Richter’s 301 wins, as well as becoming their shutout winning leader with his 50th regular season shutout.