For months MLS fans have been reading about the great new league website. It was going to be the cat's meow, all the rage, chock full of cool stuff and all that. Well, the site debut was met with nearly universal scorn and ridicule, and rightly so. For a major league website of a sport that struggles to get ink in the traditional news media, and therefore is regarded as the source of all things MLS, the rollout was akin to launching a new automobile model and shipping it out without the motor.
Now I'm not without sympathy. I've done technical web work and understand the difficulties in rolling out a new product, but when you have a perfectly serviceable website, and you've spent a ton of money on your new website, as with any software, the major expense is in the error checking and testing and it's very apparent that MLS did not understand that. From no scores to incorrect game dates, just to name a few, the problems with the site are an embarrassment.
The soccersphere is awash with others echoing the same bewilderment and you can see that the work is ongoing, as I noticed changes(fixes) from this morning to this afternoon. I'm sure they'll eventually get it right, but for the site to be introduced on First Kick weekend, with more than the normal attention being paid by sports fans, this was, and is, just plain bad.
Here's one of my favorite soccer writers, Bill Archer, on the release.
3:00pm PT: Just visited the site. There's just something wrong about the 'MLS News' box displaying links to Euro football stories. Go to the News page, and instead of having MLS as the first(and default tab), the All News tab is the default. The schedule is still an abomination. Did you know Seattle played Philadelphia on Friday? Colorado vs Chivas on Saturday? Four games on Sunday March 28?
FYI: The real schedule for this week is:(all times ET)
THU 4/1 HOU v RSL 9:00pm ESPN2
THU 4/1 LA v ChivasUSA 11:00pm ESPN2
SAT 4/3 COL v CHI 4:00pm Telefutura
SAT 4/3 DCU v NE 7:30pm
SAT 4/3 SEA v RBNY 10:30pm FSC
The new MLS website shows ...
THU 4/2 HOU v RSL 2:00am
THU 4/2 LA v ChivasUSA 4:00am
FRI 4/3 COL v CHI 9:00pm
SAT 4/4 DCU v NE 12:30am
SAT 4/4 SEA v RBNY 3:30am
looks like Greenwich(that's England) time to me. Oh my!!! Eurosnobs have taken over MLS!
MLS
- See the first of my weekly attendance reports.
- Video: San Jose coach Yallop after loss to RSL.
- Video: Wizards/DCU recap.
- Video: MLS highlights. Oh yeah, props where props are due. The video quality on the MLS website is outstanding.
The Business of Soccer
- Richard Whittall: UEFA's plan to stem Financial Doping.
- Premier League pondering salary cap.
- TIAS: A personal essay on the meaning of soccer. A good read.
Title and Champions League Races in Europe
| GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts | |
| EPL | ||||||
| Manchester Utd | 32 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 51 | 72 |
| Chelsea | 32 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 53 | 71 |
| Arsenal | 32 | 21 | 5 | 6 | 40 | 68 |
| Tottenham | 31 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 28 | 58 |
| Liverpool | 32 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 21 | 54 |
| Manchester City | 30 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 53 |
| Bundesliga | ||||||
| Schalke 04 | 28 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 24 | 58 |
| Bayern Munich | 28 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 29 | 56 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 28 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 26 | 53 |
| Dortmund | 28 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 49 |
| Werder Bremen | 28 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 48 |
| Hamburg SV | 28 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 15 | 44 |
| Ligue 1 | ||||||
| Bordeaux | 28 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 23 | 56 |
| Montpellier | 30 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 56 |
| Auxerre | 29 | 16 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 55 |
| Lille | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 24 | 54 |
| Lyon | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 18 | 54 |
| Marseille | 28 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 20 | 53 |
| Serie A | ||||||
| Internazionale | 31 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 30 | 63 |
| AS Roma | 31 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 62 |
| AC Milan | 31 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 20 | 60 |
| Palermo | 31 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 51 |
| Napoli | 31 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 48 |
| Juventus | 31 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 48 |
| La Liga | ||||||
| Real Madrid | 29 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 55 | 74 |
| Barcelona | 29 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 53 | 74 |
| Valencia | 29 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 53 |
| Mallorca | 29 | 14 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 47 |
| Sevilla FC | 29 | 13 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 45 |
| Athletic Bilbao | 28 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 42 |
No comments:
Post a Comment