Cesc Fabregas (center) may soon leave Arsenal and return to Barcelona, where he would play his club football beside Sergio Busquet (left) and against Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso. Is there really tension within the Spanish National Team, based on the crazed club rivalry between Real and Barca? The press says yes, the results say no.

Welcome to the Unsightly American Soccer Podcast for, well, the onset of offseason. The Gold Cup has ended, and we covere that in the first half of the pod, posted last week here at halphillips.net. This week we wrap the European season first with Spencer Robinson, soccer pundit with ESPN Asia. We spoke to him from Singapore about the seemingly imminent departure of Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal, the club Spencer supports, from a distance. This proved a nice segue to our discussion with Stephen Myers re. what might have been the most eventful season in Spanish futbol history. As our discussions normally go with Esteban, this one proved provacative and wide-ranging: Prem vs. La Liga, Barca vs. Real, Spanish élan vs. thuggery from all comers. And while the Real-Barca saga has lessened in volume, for now, it all starts up again, in earnest, at the beginning of August. I’m your host Hal Phillips. The conversation starts right now…

2011.07.02 UASP Euro

Pablo Barrera (left) scored two and Gio Dos Santos sealed the deal in Mexico's 4-2 win over the U.S. last weekend.

Behold, the Unsightly American Soccer Podcast for the week of June 27, 2011. The Gold Cup has concluded, and the Mexicans, by virtue of their 4-2 victory, have laid claim to biannual honors as top dog in CONCACAF. This is our Federation, of course, the agglomeration of North American, Central American and Caribbean countries that holds a World Cup Qualifying tournament every four years, and every two years conducts its own championship, The Gold Cup. It’s nearly always held here in the U.S. — we’ve got the stadia, the corporate backing, the ease of travel, etc. But Mexico’s got the fans. Of the 100,000 who packed the Rose Bowl Saturday night, June 25, for the Gold Cup final, 80,000 were in green. Tom Wadlington joins your host Hal Phillips to pick up the pieces. Tom strays, as he often does, into some Fulham FC talk at the close of our discuss. This serves aptly as preview for Part II of this UASP, wherein we talk to Spencer Robinson and Stephen Myers re. matters Euro. But for now, enjoy Part I…

2011.06.25 UASP

Rory McIlroy’s recent triumph in the U.S. Open at Congressional spurred the reopening of topic I’ve tackled in print called The Cinderella Complex, the curious predilection we golf fans and media have for rooting against Underdogs. It’s a bit twisted. See a link to the piece I posted on this subject last year, when Tiger returned to the game. But it’s eternally relevant, and we discuss it this week with John Strawn on The Curmudgeon, the golf podcast here at halphillips.net. John is a fellow A Positioner, CEO of Hills & Forrest International Golf Course Architects, the author of Driving the Green… Apologies for the sound quality on this pod. Rest assured that the crickets and sound engineer responsible have been sacked.

2011.06.27 The Curmudgeon

As I hope y’all know, the Boston Bruins open their Stanley Cup Finals series tonight, June 1, in Vancouver against the Canucks. To mark the occasion I tracked down perhaps the most hockey-crazed, hockey-savvy, hockey-literate U.S. citizen I know, David Desmith… The Bruins have not won the Cup since 1972. When I moved to the Boston area, in 1973, they “owned the town” — in such a way as to have inspired the commemorative plate pictured here. In my youth, many a night was spent watching Ch. 38’s local broadcasts of Bruins game. Indeed, I learned the game as much at the knee of WSBK announcers Fred Cusick and Johnny Peirson, as I did on the ponds of Wellesley, Mass. …  The Bruins have since been to the Finals 5 times, losing the last four times to Canadian teams: Montreal twice in the late 1970s, and twice more to Edmonton. The last time they appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals, 1990, and I was there, three days after the Broons’ epic triple-overtime loss to the Oilers in Game 1; I covered Game 2 at the old Boston Garden for those oracles of sports journalism, the Marlboro Enterprise and Hudson Daily Sun. The Bruins had the misfortune, in all four of these “international” Cup Finals, to encounter the finest teams of their eras, among the best of all time. Are they running into a similar buzz saw tonight? Not likely, but just how good are these Bruins? David and I talk about how the team has grown through the playoffs, and we preview the finals in Part I of this special “Dallas Smith Edition” of the podcast. Watch for Part II later this week.

2011.06.01 Bruins Stanley Cup Podcast, Part I

The Curmudgeon, a.k.a. Hal Phillips, made a guest appearance Feb. 22 on Peter Kessler’s “Making the Turn”, a fixture on the PGA Tour Radio network (XM 146/Sirius 209). As a guest on someone else’s show, he kept the ranting and complaining to a mimimum, but there was nevertheless lively conversation on the state of the U.S. Tour galleries, the rise of Golf in Asia, the transition of media outlets to web formats, course ranking, Tiger Woods and more. Enjoy.

We know how it is. You like your golf. You might even love it, but the game’s fawning media echo chamber leaves you cold, and often woefully ill-informed. Perhaps The Curmudgeon — the golf podcast that dares speak truth to power — is for you. Join host Hal Phillips and a panoply of journalists who aren’t afraid to put their access at risk. What’s more, you don’t have to wear a collared shirt to listen in.

Inside this Special PGA Championship pod:
• Should the Masters really be a Major?
• Sartorial Screed: The Case Against Cargo Shorts
• What are the spoils of Ryder Cup hospitality exactly?

2010.08.12 The Curmudgeon

Join Hal Phillips and a veritable cast of characters/correspondents spanning the Globe to discuss  the burning, hot, molten issues of the footballing day. This week we present the Post-World Cup, pre-Apocalyptic (but just barely) edition, in two parts. Tom Wadlington comments in Part I on the Spanish victory, on his way to Fenway Park to see Sporting Lisbon vs. Celtic; he also weighs in on the “Bob Bradley to England” scenarios, which started with Fulham but now involve Aston Villa. Hal and Esteban get a bit political toward the end of Part I before delving deep into World Cup matters in Part II, fixating, in a meandering sort of way, on the tournament’s Best XI, making sternum plans for Nigel DeJong, and the never-ending tension between form and function.

2010.08 UASP Part I

2010.08 UASP Part II

Join Hal Phillips and a veritable cast of characters/correspondents spanning the Globe to discuss the World Cup and all the burning, hot, molten issues of the footballing day. This week’s episodes (that’s right, there are two, so listen in order): We get the view from Asia by way of Highbury with Spencer Robinson, plus Esteban again providing the Spanish view, which is only right, followed by Dave Batista from Brookline, fresh from the Vineyard. Everything you need to know leading up to Sunday’s final.

2010.07.10 UASP Part I

2010.07.10 UASP PART II

Join Hal Phillips, Tom Wadlington and an assortment of correspondents spanning the Globe to discuss the World Cup and all the burning, hot, molten issues of the footballing day. This week’s World Cup Episode for 6.26.2010: Tom and Hal pick up the pieces following the US-Ghana Round of 16 thriller, while special guest Esteban again provides us the view from La RaZa, along with that of the West African faithful.

2010.06.26 UASP 2

Join Hal Phillips, Tom Wadlington and an assortment of correspondents spanning the Globe to discuss the World Cup and all the burning, hot, molten issues of the footballing day. This week’s World Cup Episode II: Tom and Hal preview the US-Slovenia game, while special guest Esteban brings us the view from La RaZa.

2010.06.17 UASP 2