Sounders Transfer Rumors

Lately there have been many rumors of new players to join the Sounders (one of them just recently officially announced), and players potentially heading their way out. Below they are summarized.

Incoming

Cordell Cato
A Trinidad and Tobago midfielder who was rumored to have signed a one year contract with the Sounders, while team officials still claim that nothing is official yet. He apparently a Sanna Nyassi like midfielder who will provide pace in the midfield.

Adam Johansson (Officially Announced)
Rumored to have been signed to a multi-year deal and just recently officially announced by the club, Johansson will become the new starter at right back for the 2012 season. He is seen as a much needed upgrade over James Riley with his tactical ability and willingness to join the attack.

Christian Sivebaek
A Danish midfielder who can also play as a right back, has reportedly told the Danish press that he is making the move over to the Sounders for 2012.

Outgoing

Alvaro Fernandez

The Uruguayan has recently been linked with Serie A club Palermo, his agent reportedly confirming interest in making the move.

20 Player USMNT January Camp Roster Announced

The roster for the US Men's National Team January camp has been announced, and notably only two of the twenty players listed play outside of the United States. Expected returning players include Bill Hamid of DC United, New York's Juan Agudelo, and FC Dallas' Brek Shea. Newcomers that really stand out are the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez (who had been voicing frustration over a lack of a call up), Graham Zusi (who had performed spectacularly for Sporting Kansas City last season), FC Dallas standout George John, and SKC rookie forward CJ Sapong.

Goalkeepers (3): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders (7): Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), A.J. DeLaGarza (LA Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), George John (FC Dallas), Zach Loyd (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA)

Midfielders (6): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

Forwards (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), C.J. Sapong (Sporting Kansas City), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Saab Finally Calls It Quits

After several months of floundering in debt and desperately trying to scrounge together investors in China, Saab is finally calling it quits and filing for bankruptcy. While certainly expected, this is definitely sad news. After suffering at the hands of General Motors, Saab was finally establishing an identity of it's own with the new 9-5 and the 9-4X. Unfortunately, the Swedish automaker just couldn't make it on it's own. One main issue was the fact that though they were independent of the giant, they still relied upon GM for the production of the 9-4X crossover and GM just did not want to hand over the blueprints for one of it's products (the 9-4X is derived off of the Cadillac SRX) and completed products that cost billions to develop to a Chinese company.

According to the Car and Driver blog:

"Saab’s remaining assets will be liquidated by a court-appointed administrator. This includes any production facilities (we expect that the Swedish government or local investors will buy these), tooling, patents, and of course, the rights to the brand itself. In all likelihood, Youngman, Pang Da, or another Chinese company will score the rights to the Saab brand name, and produce new vehicles in China with the Griffin logo. This is similar to what happened with MG and Rover, which live on as Chinese brands."


Source: Car and Driver Blog

One Year Anniversary Reflections: Then and Now

Just over one year ago, after taking a couple classes in the autumn quarter of my freshman year at UWT that required me to maintain a blog, I finally found the motivation to start a blog of my own. Now that a full year has passed, it's time to take a look back and review how my blog has changed and evolved.

Title
At the time all I had in mind in regards to what I would post was primarily music-based content (reviews for the most part) as could be reflected in the initial and quite lengthy title of my blog "My Thoughts On Music Or Anything Really". Not only did I get complaints about the length of my blog's url, my focus became much much broader, as I will further discuss, and thus I stripped it down to a much simpler "My Thoughts On Anything Really".

Content & Focus
As stated in the previous section, I initially started out with the intention of primarily posting music reviews and other music related posts. As it turns out, music isn't enough of a topic for me to properly maintain the blog. Only occasionally do I feel motivated enough to review an album, and even rarer do I come up with a topic or idea regarding music to write up and post. Oddly enough, when titling my blog I happened to have that issue in mind, which led to a rather long title that allowed me the freedom to discuss and explore other subjects. As you'll find by sifting through my posts, rather than music my primary topic of interest shifted to the coverage of Major League Soccer, specifically the Seattle Sounders. I don't just post about the MLS, though. Though my primary topic shifted to a much more active one, I also regularly post about other topics to fill the occasional void such as music, Apple, tech, and gaming topics.

Views and Demographics
In the year that my blog has been up my blog has received two thousand plus views, of course many from the US, but also many of them coming from some quite unexpected sources, most notably Malaysia and Russia.

Many of these views have been sourced through rather suspect sites, sites that I am completely lost as to how they're referring viewers to my blog. The one that takes the cake is a site that apparently tracks torrents. WTF?

Next: Looking Forward: What The new Year May Hold

Steve Jobs Not Named Time's Person of the Year

That's right. After repeated mentions as a strong competitor for the honor, time instead handed it to a collective symbol representing those who protested for a better life against their respective government "The Protester". Certainly Jobs didn't leave as big a mark on 2011 as he has on past years, but to me it seems it was a way of honoring the visionary for everything that he contributed to the world of technology over his lifetime, which I'm sure that you're awarecame to an end only just recently. Instead, Time idiotically opted to recognize a symbol collctively representing each and every protestor. To me this is a very questionable move. The award is titled Person of the Year, not persons as the protestors should be collectively referred to. I understand their motives, but that doesn't change the fact that that just doesn't work. They pathetically attempt to make it work by using the collective symbol "The Protestor", but that just doesn't change the fact that it isn't just one person tht is being recognized.

Friberg Dealt to Malmo FF

Not only was there movement in today's Re-Entry draft, it was also announced by the Sounders today that swedish midfielder Erik Friberg was dealt to Malmo FF. According to Adrian Hanauer in the press release Friberg is looking to start a family and this move makes the most sense, so he and his wife can be in close proximity with family.

Friberg offered the following statement in the release: "I am very proud to have played for Sounders FC and our tremendous fans," said Friberg in the release. "It's been a fantastic year for me, one that I will never forget. I want to thank my teammates, the coaches, the club officials and our supporters for all their help and encouragement. Perhaps in the future, there will be an opportunity for me to come back and play again for the Sounders."

Sounders Lose Noonan, Jaqua and Acquire Burch In Re-Entry Draft

As expected, as opposed to a fairly lifeless first round, the second round of the Re-Entry was quite active. Several clubs picked up one or more players, and the Sounders were among those to make acquisitions. While initially ranking in at the fourteenth spot, the Sounders traded up to the number one spot by dealing out their third round pick in 2014's draft to the Vancouver Whitecaps. With their first spot selection, clearly in a move to fill the void left by the loss of Tyson Wahl, the Sounders picked up DC United left back Marc Burch. Notably, Burch has previously played under Sigi Schmid at Columbus.

Not only did the today's draft see the Sounders make an acquisition, but two losses as well. Immediately after the Sounders made their selection the New England Revolution selected Nate Jaqua, and then in the following selection the LA Galaxy picked up Pat Noonan. Both players have certainly made their contributions to the club, but both have been plagued with injuries during most of the duration of their stay with the Sounders that saw that impact lessened as time wore on. Hopefully the moves work out and they get their share of playing time and serve their new clubs well.

MLS Unveils Jabulani Replacement

It's no secret that the Jabulani drew a lot of criticism, namely for it's tendency to float around and cause goalkeepers more trouble when handling shots. In a statement made by the Adidas MLS Manager Ernesto Bruce, it's clear Adidas sought to correct these issues, "We worked directly with both field players and goalies to rigorously develop a ball with the truest and most stable flight path". While certainly the uproar surrounding the Jabulani died down as the season wore on, it's great to see the issues initially observed with the ball's performance finally addressed. The ball is pictured below.

Sounders Sign Michael Gspurning

The months of speculation can finally end, today the Sounders officially announced the signing of Austrian Goalkeeper Michael Gspurning. Prior to being signed, Gspurning played for Greek side Skoda Xanthi.

Of Gspurning, Sigi Schmid said:

“First off, you don’t replace Kasey Keller. What you’re looking for is a new goalkeeper. We like Michael’s background and pedigree. We like his size. He’s got good feet so we can play through him and he’s very good on crosses, takes good angles and has good hands.”


To read the full article, head here.

Apple Could Very Well Eliminate HTC From The US

Apparently Apple stands on the verge of forcing the world's largest Android-based phone manufacturers out of the United States market. According to Cult of Mac:

"The Washington, DC-based U.S. Trade Commission Tuesday rules on HTC’s appeal of a July decision that the company’s Android phones violated two Apple patents. The two patents allow smartphones to display and transmit basic data, such as phone numbers, contact information and applications."


A ruling against HTC stands the string possibility of outright banning sales, and such a ruling couldn't come at a worse time as holiday season is upon us. This potential ban could mean a great diminishment of Android's market share in the US from where it stands at twenty five percent.

The original article can be read here.

What are your thoughts?