A soccer podcast series for handball fans

It’s the dog days of summer and the sport viewing options are limited, so I’ve been watching the Soccer World Cup.  Well, sort of watching, anyway.  The U.S. didn’t qualify, so I’ve got no one to cheer for and I really don’t get the game.  This means that I fast forward until I see a goal has been scored and I rewind to watch how it unfolded.  That 3-5 minutes is kind of interesting.  Better than all the kicking the ball back and forth at midfield.  Occasionally, if there’s a big upset brewing I’ll watch a bit more, but it’s a chore.  Yeah, I’m an old school American and I just don’t get it.  I just don’t understand how this is the world’s most popular sport and I never will.

But, that being said I’ve got a little appreciation for the sport and I can watch an entire match when the U.S. plays in the World Cup.  It’s fun to watch the underdog Americans and I’ve always seen soccer as a model for what handball could be in the U.S.  An imperfect model for sure, but a model nonetheless.

Recently, I binged listened to a 12 episode podcast series that brought back a lot of soccer memories that I had forgotten.  This unlikely bingeworthy podcast series, “American Fiasco” chronicles the USA Men’s National team that finished dead last at the 1998 World Cup.  At first glance this probably seems like the most unworthy story to ever listen to, but I thoroughly enjoyed it for a number of reasons.

Those reasons:

1) The narrator, Roger Bennett, from ESPN’s Men in Blazers tells a damn good story with great interviews.  This transplanted American Brit is just fun to listen to.  Even if you hate soccer, which I essentially do.

2) In chronicling the 1998 team, it also tells the story of soccer’s growth in the U.S.  The first few episodes, in particular, really captures what a waste land soccer in the U.S. was and how it has become “something” in the U.S.   It sure gives you some perspective of how far the sport has come in the U.S. and what handball would like to achieve in the U.S.

3) The story is a compelling portrait of team dynamics.  Anyone who has ever been part of a National Team will appreciate the interactions between the players and coach and the ensuing personality conflicts that ensue.

If you don’t have time for all 12 episodes I suggest that you listen to the first episode and the bonus episode with Dan “Big Cat” Katz, who hosts one of the top sports podcasts in the U.S., “Pardon My Take”  at Barstool Sports.  In that bonus episode Big Cat and Roger Bennett discuss what it will take for the typical American to become a true soccer fan.  Incidentally, Big Cat tweeted the following to his 602K followers during the 2016 Olympics”

“Team Handball is awesome. Need this as a televised American sport in July”

So his perspective on soccer as the prototypical American sports fan is an interesting take.  One that surely resonates with the American handball fan who sees soccer’s growth and wonders, “Why not handball?”

A last personal note:  Bizarrely, like Roger Bennett, I can often chronicle where I was during World Cup years.  Bizarre, in that I am by no means a soccer fan.  For instance, when Iran beat the U.S. 2-1 to eliminate any chance the U.S. had to make the knockout stages in 1998 I clearly remember being in Brussels, Belgium for a briefing at NATO HQ.  How could I possibly forget the celebrations that erupted in the streets and thinking to myself, “C’mon.  We suck at soccer so why are you celebrating our defeat?  And, really, you like Iran better than the U.S.?”

Here’s hoping that someday a U.S. handball defeat strikes a similar chord.  If that indeed happens, we will know for sure that we’ve arrived.

A first ever, fully pro U.S. Rugby team destroys Russia 62-13 in Denver. Success on the field, but major problems off the field. What might USA Team Handball learn from USA Rugby’s growing pains?

On numerous occasions I’ve pointed out the parallels between rugby and handball in America.

Both are:

• Minor sports in the U.S. that are very popular in other portions of the world
• Sports where the U.S. has struggled to be competitive internationally
• Sports where an influx of expats that have boosted growth in the U.S.
• Sports where outsiders see the U.S. as a market with great potential
• Sports which Americans often play for the first time in college

But, there are also significant differences.  Most tellingly, while both sports are minor U.S. sports, USA Rugby is still a lot bigger than handball.  Perhaps 100 times bigger in terms of number of athletes and 30 times bigger in terms of budget.  Rugby has also made some major inroads in terms of television exposure and National Team performance.

But, while rugby has made significant progress they currently are in the midst of governance issues that will both sound familiar and serve as a cautionary tell as USA Team Handball plots out its future plans.

This recent rugby podcast provides a pretty good summary of what’s happened with USA Rugby in the past couple of years and is worth a listen to anyone interested in USA Team Handball governance issues.

Rugby PatCast: Congress’ Lewis unload on USA Rugby governance: Link

A short primer on some of the subjects covered so you can better contextually understand the discussion:

• Pro Rugby: The first professional rugby league in the U.S. that played 1 season in 2016.  The owner is now suing USA Rugby for breach of contract.  The second professional league (Major League Rugby (MLR)) is now playing its first season.
• Rugby International Marketing (RIM): A for profit entity established to better market rugby in the U.S. (now in the process of going bankrupt)
• The Rugby Channel: A digital streaming (Over the Top (OTT)) channel that RIM established totally devoted to rugby.  (it lost over $4M and was recently sold to Flosports for pennies on the dollar)
• USA Rugby Congress: A large body that in theory represents USA Rugby’s membership to the USA Rugby Board (I think USA Team Handball may have had a similar body at one time, but if so, it was a long time ago)
• USA Rugby Board: Very similar to the USA Team Handball Board.  Currently they’ve had numerous resignations due to RIM’s failures
• USA Rugby Nominating Committee: Very similar to the USATH Nominating & Governance Committee:  They are responsible for selecting the new members to the USA Rugby Board. (Note the discussion on the qualities that prospective board members should have)
• Rugby World Cup 7s: 7s is the version of rugby that’s played in the Olympics.  The U.S. is holding its first ever major championship this July in San Francisco
• Rugby World Cup: Similar to the Soccer World Cup this event is held every 4 years and the goal is to eventually have the U.S. host this major event.  (and, of course one could imagine USATH having a similar goal one day to host the IHF WC)

All told, though, while the challenges discussed are immense there’s still lots of room for optimism for USA Rugby.  The sport has never had greater TV exposure.  The Pro MLR has had outstanding attendance in some cities like Seattle (5,000 fans).  Grass roots efforts have started to migrate from colleges to high schools.  The National Team for the first time last weekend fielded an entirely professional side, with many of the athletes playing for top clubs overseas.

Yes, USA Team Handball would gladly, willingly trade places with USA Rugby in a heartbeat.  Even if we had to take all those governance issues at the same time.  Not a trade that can be made, but understanding what a similar team sport is going through sure can provide some lessons as handball seeks similar progress and growth in the U.S.

Yes, maybe conceivably we could take all the good lessons and avoid all the bad ones USA Rugby is now working through.

USA Women in Korea

The USA Women recently participated in the 3^rd annual Busan International Friendly Tournament in South Korea.  They played 5 matches and finished in 4^th place with a 2-3-0 record.  All of the matches are available for viewing and the streaming quality/production is pretty good:

Videos for all matches: Link

30 May 2018 USA 22×28 Mie Violet Iris (Japan): Link

31 May 2018 USA 24×25 Senegal: Link

2 June 2018 USA 28×14 Australia: Link

3 June 2018 USA 23×17 Hong Kong: Link

4 June 2018 USA 24×34 Bisco (S Korea): Link

(Coach Latulippe is also interviewed at the very end of the video)

USA Women in Dance Competition: Link

Tournament Standings:

Analysis

The tournament field with the absence of pro clubs from Europe was a bit weaker than last year’s tourney, but still provided ample competition for the U.S.  The U.S. easily beat Australia and Hong Kong and almost beat Senegal a team that would have qualified for the 2017 World Championships if not for their disqualification for an ineligible athlete at the African Championships.  They also played the club sides from South Korea and Japan close until their short handed roster ran out of steam.  Short handed in that they were missing Sarah Gascon, Ashley Van Ryn and Sophie Fasold for the whole tournament and then lost a couple more players for their last match against host Bisco.  The U.S.’s best player was again Jence Rhoads and her performance was recognized with her selection to the all tourney team at center back.

You’ve got to hand it to Coach Latulippe and the U.S. Women for somehow finding the means for travel to France, Italy, South Korea and now China for meaningful competition all in just the past 7 months.  As far as I know USA Team Handball has virtually no budget resources to support travel so they’ve been able to make do on a combination of donations, sponsorship and their own pockets to fund these trips.

On 2 and 5 September they will play Canada in a home and away, 2 game series for qualification to the 2019 PANAM Games in Lima, Peru.  Locations are TBD, but will likely be Auburn and Quebec.  Canada will be no push over, but with this steady stream of match experience I would assess that the U.S. women are solid favorites to win that head to head match up.

And, on a side note both Canada and the U.S. also now know their likely toughest 2^nd Chance Tournament opponent should they lose the upcoming North American Qualification.  The Chile women took 3^rd place at the South American Games and await the loser of the September showdown, and the 4^th and 5^th place teams from Central America and the Caribbean Games.  This is a mild surprise in that Chile took 7^th place at last summer’s Pan American Championship, but was able to knock off Paraguay for bronze.  As expected Brazil and Argentina took 1^st and 2^nd respectively and have already qualified for the PANAM Games.