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Seattle
Gonzalo Pineda has officially called it quits on the field, and will continue to explore commentary opportunities and someday coaching. On his way out he had high praise for Major League Soccer, saying it's no longer a "cemetary" for older players. He even went so far to say it is a springboard league for young Mexican players if they want to end up in Europe in the future.
We mentioned yesterday that Ken Griffey Jr. earned Hall of Fame status with a record-setting 99.3 percent of the vote. The New York Times follows up with a little history on why no one is ever unanimously voted into the HOF. Three votes short is still pretty amazing though.
You would be forgiven if you don't really remember much about Philip Lund. He was only briefly a Sounder in 2013 and played a grand total of 16 MLS minutes. But the Danish midfielder is still at it. After stints in the USL and a team in the Faroe Islands, and a trial with a Malaysian team, he is now battling for a spot at Singaporean team Tampines Rovers.
Seattle have the third-toughest schedule this coming season, based on 2015 results. Only Colorado's and LA's are slightly more challenging.
Major League Soccer
Pepco is a D.C.-area power company looking to merge with a competitor, but there's this little obstacle of government approval for the deal. Certainly a cash payment of $25 million paid to the city to grease the wheels would be highly inappropriate. But what if Pepco just paid that $25 million for naming rights to a street near the new D.C. United stadium, that would just be a normal and completely unrelated marketing transaction, right?
Eric Wynalda does not buy the Bill Hamid "hype," even though the United keeper has had a couple of quite good seasons. He is "not a big fan."
LAFC now have enough owners that they could field a decent squad for the team without signing any players. The latest two are number 25 and 26, Brandon Beck, cofounder of Riot Games, and none other than massive star and soccer fan Will Ferrell. If they could have a weekly web video where Ferrell reads the LAFC news as Ron Burgundy, I think that's a big win.
Also revealed are LAFC's new crest and colors. The art-deco-inspired crest, for me, easily jumps into the top few attractive ones in MLS. The colors, though...look a little familiar, and even the design is a little reminiscent of something.
— Dirty South Soccer (@DirtySouthSoc) January 7, 2016
Brad Davis is excited to be playing near where he grew up now that he has made the jump to Sporting Kansas City.
With the SuperDraft just a week away, it's time to take meaningless stabs in the dark as to who will (or who should) draft whom in this decreasingly-Super event. Matt Doyle likes a lot of defenders and midfielders going early in this draft.
Toronto FC will likely screw up this SuperDraft, just as they seem to have done at every opportunity, despite good picks from being so bad to mediocre for so long. But hey, drafting is pretty random.
World
Boxing Day football is a great time, and has become an English tradition, but what about a winter break for the Premier League? Jürgen Klopp and Sven-Göran Eriksson think they're crazy not to do it. Here's an idea where the tradition could be preserved but players could still get a rest.
Bayer Leverkusen are enjoying a chuckle at how "Chicharito" Hernandez was so undervalued by Louis Van Gaal and Manchester United, while he is on a tear in the Bundesliga. They don't sound interested in selling at the moment. But there's still time, Mr. Ferrell and LAFC, there's still time.