The Premier League site is previewing teams for the upcoming season. My favorite side is featured today. (Or is that favourite?) I’ve long been a skeptic relying on “corporate” sites for following sports. I’ve never even visited the official NFL site. And I check MLB very occasionally, but only for their statistics. Fan sites are passionate but not usually up to the pro sites in terms of quality. Independent news sources are optimal. But I must say that British sites are not afraid to criticize their teams–not at all from what I’ve seen.
I’ve been watching a few of the football friendlies on tv this month. After a thrilling World Cup (especially in the group stages) and an exciting season of matches in 2013-14, I haven’t been impressed. August 16th: the only Saturday this month I’m not playing a wedding or doing something. I plan to stay home all morning and watch the matches unfold.
One advantage to shifting my day off from Friday is that I’ll get to view the occasional Monday match. Like this one, featuring a team I’m considering as a second to follow, now that the Bluebirds suffered relegation.
Sixteen days. I haven’t looked forward to the start of a sports season like this since I was a kid. Good thing I don’t live in Wales or England. Probably wouldn’t get a thing accomplished this month. One of my classmates at school last month told me of this retreat center she visited for her long retreat (forty days). I had to admit one of the first things I wondered was how far it was from Swansea. What would Saint Ignatius say to that?
Catholic Sensibility 
I wonder if enthusiasm for these U.S. tours by European clubs might wane in the near future as the novelty wears off and the fans are no longer willing to pay for such a poor product. I considered attending Liverpool/Manchester City last night at Yankee Stadium but thought the better of spending money on an exhibition game..
I was okay trekking three hours north to see Swansea players live. Once. If I had planned carefully, I would have seen a better match the same night three hours south: Sporting KC vs LA Galaxy.
I suppose the solution would be for a meaningful match to be played, but what does that mean? The best clubs have their continental champions’ leagues. I can’t see adding another layer for already-tired players and teams. The fifth-place EPL team vs #5 in MLS: winner takes $5M? I can’t see a meaningless bowl game propped up by revenue. An every-four-years competition across the Atlantic? Europe vs North America?
On the other hand Spurs drew 40,000-plus to Seattle for a meaningless game with a few shouts and shoves. That beats the gate at all but a few English venues.