Refs Don't Like Tall Guys and Other Stuff

I Knew It!!! Research Proves Refs Are Biased Against Tall Players

Finally! I've known this for years from personal experience, but I'm still happy to see that science is backing me up on this. Researchers from Erasmus University in the Netherlands have proven that referees are biased against tall players.

My favorite tall player, Jan Koller, is obviously fouling "little guy" Oguchi Onyewu on this play.

I'm a big dude (6' 2" and 225 lbs.), and I'm not claiming that I don't foul, but I've had too many questionable calls go against me to not notice the bias. There's been times when I've had possession of the ball, and I've literally had small defenders run into me at full speed, only to bounce off me and go sprawling. The referee calmly blows the whistle and I set up to take the deserved free kick only for the man in black to claim that I fouled the poor guy who was trying to take off my leg.

So now, when I cordially discuss future poor calls of this nature with the referee I can site the good Drs. Giessner and Van Quaquebeke's seminal work on the subject, instead of my normal modus operandi of whining "...but he ran into me!" :)

MLS Club Will Field A Team In NPSL

In what will probably become more commonplace in the future, the NPSL Insider reports that MLS club New York Red Bull will enter a U23 team to compete in the NPSL Northeast Region.

Red Bull Arena. Looks awesome!

No word yet whether the team will play in NYRB's great new stadium in Harrison, NJ.

Charlie Davies Shows Remarkable Progress

Could we get this Charlie back in June?

Ives Galarcep is reporting that US Men's National Team forward Charlie Davies has far surpassed predicted benchmarks on his recovery from the tragic car accident in October. After multiple broken bones and severe internal injuries, he's already running and doing agility drills and plans on being back on the field for his French club Sochaux in April and barring any set backs is fully expecting to be on the field in South Africa. Wow!


African Nation's Cup Semis Set Dream Match-ups

The African Nation's Cup semifinals have been set and I can't think of two better games to watch than Algeria v Egypt and Nigeria v Ghana. The Algeria v Egypt match will be a rematch of the recent controversial World Cup 2010 one-game playoff put Algeria into the World Cup. And the Nigeria v Ghana match will be a titanic clash between the two sub-Saharan powers. If only we had a soccer bar in town...