Recent content by autry_denson

I'm in the minority here but I think we vastly underestimate the value in leadership and experience that both Hartman and Leonard have provided in the past two years. I don't love the mercenary model of college football, but until the rules are settled and some regulations are put in place this...

not to be a downer but South Bend almost always has a higher murder rate than Minneapolis, including this year.

Haven't logged in for years, but I'm entertained enough by all of the regulars' posts to keep following IE...and I've been excited/frustrated enough over the past two weeks to break my silence just to get this off my chest. This is perhaps the most talented team I've watched at Notre Dame since...

could be true. it's really hard to know whether improvements at lower levels would come with or without Klinsmann - my speculation is that he has been driving a lot of the change by playing a much more active role focusing on the U17 team, the new U14 program, etc. That may simply be b/c he's...

In truth the US has played well above their talent level in recent years. At this stage of soccer's development in the US, round of 16 in World Cup is beyond what anyone could rationally expect given our talent base. We just don't produce world class talents at any position other than GK. Our...

Iniesta still creates chances on a regular basis. I haven't missed more than 1 or 2 Barca games in each of the past three years, and it is very clear that he has declined over that span, and may no longer be in the top 10 or 20 in the world, but he's still a tremendous playmaker. Otherwise I...

More evidence of how clueless I am. I thought Pirlo was going to transform this team, he looked brutal last night. I don't know how long it's going to take for Pirlo and Lampard to start playing well together, or if they were just overly fatigued, but it's clearly going to be a process. Ugly to...

My amateur opinion is that we have one of those guys in Yedlin, who's still developing but should be very good. My own sense is that our issue is not one of 'missing pieces'. it's an issue of raising the quality of all of our pieces (and throwing in a couple of world-class talents in the mix...

I've been shocked at how good Poku has looked recently. He's had a few games where he looked really bad (to me at least). Yesterday he looked as good as I've seen all year.

disappointing to hear, hopefully he can reach the next level. someone has to step up at striker, Dempsey won't be around at this level too much longer.

It was incredible to watch. I thought they would just fixate on him and not give him any space to create. And they tried to do that, but he somehow finds a way to keep the ball, get some room and find people in places that look impossible.

I recall one of your previous posts discussing Zardes' development. Am I crazy to think he'll be the best player on this team in a couple of years? I haven't watched him enough at club level to assess with confidence - what's your take having watched him in LA? On Bradley: tremendous...

quick MLS tangent: have never followed the league closely until this year when my son joined in the NYCFC bandwagon. So we're watching the game yesterday and waiting to see how Pirlo is going to translate without the studs that surrounded him at Juve. Holy shit. He came into the game and...

So Belichick ended the discussion of greatest coach ever but now we've got a serious debate about greatest football player ever. Montana or Brady: Who do you got?

Since it’s the true dead period for college football, I thought I’d write down some thoughts about the “state of the program” as I see it. Take it for what it’s worth, which is just one outsider’s view of the major forces affecting the position of the program relative to all others. Most of this...