The Carson Daily, September 8th

Happy Birthday to me, I live in a tree. The Galaxy are awesome, let's all have some brie. 

Yeah, I ran out of rhyming words. But hey, grab yourself an iced coffee, and some cold meats, and let's see what the papers have been saying about the Galaxy on this, my birthday. 

Soccer player ratings are confusing, erratic, useless … and great. - By David Goldenberg - Slate Magazine
The U.S. men's soccer team lost 1-0 to Costa Rica last Friday, but the result masked some strong individual play from the Americans as the players tried to implement new coach Jurgen Klinsmann's ball-control strategy. But which players stood out? An interesting look at the world of soccer player ratings, maybe I should start rating players after Galaxy games. This lead me to...

Soccer stats, Prozone, Opta: The trouble with soccer's statistical revolution. - By Brian Phillips - Slate Magazine
It's a cliché that American sports fans are obsessed with stats while Europeans, especially soccer fans, are indifferent to them. American fans, the story goes, are numbers addicts, suffering through brief bursts of gameplay....a look at the differences between the American sports fan and the European sports fan, and the love of the stat sheet. 

When Bloggers Don’t Follow the Script, to ConAgra’s Chagrin - NYTimes.com
An exclusive meal for food lovers turned out to be a frozen-food switch — but the marketing strategy backfired. This one isn't even about sports, but as a jourbloganalyst, I thought it was an interesting read about the nature of blogging. 

Renovated BC Place stadium nears completion
All the heavy lifting has been done, so inside and outside BC Place Stadium workers are now putting the finishing touches. Which is good, I remember the turf up in BC being quite terrible. Another new stadium to play at!