I don’t think you should need to be a soccer fan to get excited about the World Cup.  The Tournament lasts more than 2 years, with something like 2 or 3 rounds and 20-25 qualifying games just to make it to the final 32.  It’s an extraordinarily long process in which to get to basically 32 of the same 36 or 37 teams every time.

So on June 11, South Africa becomes the Center of the Universe.  The 32 teams go into 8 round robin groups, so each country gets 3 games.  The top 2 teams in each group then go into a knuckle grinding, finger scraping, nail biting single elimination bracket of death.

Now, one game in the early round that holds international intrigue is the U.S.A. vs our former oppressors, England, on Saturday morning, June 12.  Not much of the world gives us a chance, which is what makes this game so fun.

I’ve been known to complain that there is a gulf between the soccer fanatics, and the regular sports fan.  Soccer fanatics are like the guys who follow an indie band, who almost get mad if you don’t love the band as much as they do.  It’s hard to join them if you don’t have the same passion.

So that’s why I love what the American Outlaws, Seattle Chapter are doing.  The American Outlaws are the guys you see wearing Red, White and Blue in countries like Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Estonia, etc… Those that aren’t making the trip to South Africa have set up a place where all of the rowdiest U.S. soccer supporters in the city, can be joined by all of the people who want to be huge soccer fans for 4 weeks every 4 years.  They have rented out Neumo’s, installing huge TV’s, setting up tons of bars, and getting taco trucks from around the area to feed us.  

The US v England game starts at 11:00am Seattle time, which means the American Outlaws will be there at 8:00.  650 people – you included – will be in Red, White and Blue.  You’ll get caught up in the songs, the chants, and the patriotism.  If we win or tie, you’ll share in the disbelief with a billion people watching the game around the world, and remember where you were the day every Englishman died inside.  If we lose, we’ll all console ourselves with another round and look forward to Wednesday’s game.

But kudos to American Outlaws Seattle for setting up an environment where the fanatics can be their regular fanatic selves, and the casual sports fan can embrace the fanaticism, if only for a day.

I’m only sad it took me 5 months to find this. I knew song writing was easy…

For the last several years, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of being a judge at the UW Business Plan Competition.  I’ll admit, this year I was a little scared when 6 of the 7 plans I read in the screening stage failed to pass the Pets.com sniff test.

But last Wednesday, I was able to tour the 36 semi-finalists and talk with the teams in action.  It’s always an interesting exercise.  You see a few companies with ideas that you see every year, and you see some companies who are developing a cure for cancer.  But then there are those teams with ideas that are interesting enough that they just may work.

I gave “money” to a number of the teams, and while I won’t tell you who I tried to help make the next round, here are some ideas and companies I will try to keep an eye on:

• GreenStone International: Revolutionary Bio-Paving and Bio-Stone Technology
• TrueLight Flip: Capabilities to turn your phone into a projector.
• Snovision: Cameras in snowboard parks
• Broadspeak
• Clear Potential
• EmergentDetection
• Illionix
• Native Roots
• Switchstrip

How exciting is this week?  Iceland’s volcano has shut down air traffic all over Europe, and now we have a giant UFO or Fireball in Iowa.

I have to admit, it’s hard to replace Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross on One Shining Moment.  Anyone have comments on how they like an American Idol in his place?

I have to admit, my favorite Facebook Page – either corporate or personal – right now has to be the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay.  It’s topical, relevant, funny, uses good images, and has decent engagement with its followers.  Well done monkey.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mystery-Monkey-of-Tampa-Bay/344602443463

(Weird that the rest of this article didn’t post the first time.)

There’s nothing good about a labor dispute, and the recent gap between MLS owners and players looked to be pretty devastating.  On one hand, the league only has a couple of profitable teams, and despite it’s slow and steady growth, still regularly plays in front of crowds smaller than WNBA crowds.  Meanwhile, while some of the MLS stars make a very good 6 or 7 figure wage, you still have a lot of players making $30k a year on non-guaranteed contracts.

It was a situation where both sides had valid gripes, and with the start of the season looming, things looked bleak.  But instead of taking a page out of the NBA and MLB playbook of, “Screw the fans, let’s stick to our guns,” the MLS and its players actually got the deal done.  Score one for common sense.  All the owners and players who gave a little to get a lot should be commended for their solutions oriented approach.

Soccer By Ives has a good recap of the high points of the deal.  Here are some bullets from that article (and my uneducated additions in italics):

• The MLS salary cap will increase from $2.315 million to $2.55 million and will increase by 5% each season thereafter.  (Small win for players, tolerable for owners who should expect revenues to increase by some small % every year.  Players would have liked a bigger win here, but gave up some of their ask when they realized “something” is greater than “zero.”)
• The CBA provides for guaranteed contracts for all players 24 years old or older with three years of MLS service. (Big win for players, tough concession for owners.  You could see teams stick with bad or injured players longer, since the team has to pay them anyway, and stay under a salary cap.  Good for current players, bad for those hoping to get a job.)
• Minimum salaries for senior roster players will increase from $34,000 in 2009 to $40,000 in 2010, with an increase of 5 percent each year thereafter. (Win for some players, not a big concession for owners.)
• Player Contracts will now have a limit on the number of option years they can have. The limit is two option years for players who are at least 25 and have four years of MLS service. All other contracts can have up to three option years. (Win for players)
• MLS will establish a Re-Entry Draft. Players eligible for the draft include those whose options were not exercised, those whose contracts were terminated and those whose contracts expired.  (Good middle ground here.  Free Agent would kill the league, because everyone would want to come play in from of 32,000 people in Seattle.  But players were getting killed by getting cut, but not having their contracts renewed, but not having the right to sign with a new team.  Good agreement here.)
• Players whose annual compensation is less than $125,000, the minimum base salary increase will be 10% for players who play in at least 66 percent of his club’s games and 12.5 percent for players who play in at least 75 percent of club’s games. (Players win)
• Increases in 401K contributions by the league, appearance fees, per diem and relocation expense reimbursement. Among the addtional player benefits in the CBA are full health care benefits for every player and his family at no cost, 401K contributions and expanded insurance benefits. (Players win)
• Bonuses for wins and exhibitions. The CBA includes a package of bonuses for wins in MLS games and international tournaments, as well as appearance fees for international exhibitions. (Common sense, players win.)
• The sides will establish a joint committee to study the re-launch of a Reserve Division. In the event the rosters are expanded, the salary for those players will be a minimum of $31,250, with additional annual increases. (Basically this says no decision has to be made.  if the league starts to profit, they’ll build a reserve division and there will be more jobs.  if the league doesn’t turn a profit, no new jobs for players.)

Now let’s go Sounders.

A little while back, the Miami Herald started asking for donations.  Not fees, but donations.  This led me to ask in this blog, “Is this the future of newspapers?“

Well as an update to that story, that answer appears to be, “No.”  NBCMIAMI.com reports the following (and they have a really clever photo to accompany it, so it’s worth the click):

Just two months after they put out their hand asking for online donations, the Miami Herald has apparently ended its request for voluntary contributions to its Website.

An article under “Breaking Business News” posted this past Saturdaystated that the push for handouts, which began in mid-December, was ending. A story posted Sunday by editor Anders Gyllenhaal said the “experiment with voluntary contributions from Web readers” was ending.

“The project taught us a lot about online reactions, but it’s unlikely to be an important part of our approach going forward,” Gyllenhaal wrote. “We thank the many readers who sent in contributions, suggestions and ideas as a part of this project.”

Any predictions as to what’s next for newspapers?

If you watched the Super Bowl, you may have seen Audi’s “Green Police” ad which basically mocked people who took recycling to the nth degree.  While the good folks of Michigan and Kansas City didn’t have too much of a reaction to the spot, the citizens of the Bay Area and Seattle looked over to their colleagues and wondered, “Are they making fun of us?”

Well, apparently Seattle decided it needed to try to distance from our friends to south itself on the battle of “Who can make the most ridiculous law” and implemented a quickly criticized ban on smoking in parks.

Now, before I had a chance to run to the blog here and announce how silly I think this rule is, Seattle politicians did what they do best – waffled on their decision, created a watered down version of the law, and developed something that is full of ambiguity and makes sense to no one.

First, let’s be clear about something.  I am not a smoker.  However, since I believe the market generally works itself out in these scenarios, this government intrusion annoys me.  In fact, as much as I enjoy going for a pint and not having to deal with smoke, I find that the ban on smoking in bars is unconstitutional and unfair.  I don’t get why one legal vice is allowed, and another legal vice is not.  But that’s not what I want to focus on.

Instead, I have to ask, how on earth can you ban smoking outdoors?  The argument of, “It’s dangerous for kids,” is a pretty slippery slope, so you better be committed before throwing yourself on that sword. For example, when I was 12, I broke my jaw when I was hit by a baseball, so let’s ban baseball too.  5 years ago, I broke my wrist playing soccer, so let’s nix that.  Swings are ridiculously dangerous, and slides get really hot in summer, so let’s nuke those.  And don’t even get me started on dogs.  People are allergic to them, and kids get scared.  Keep them out of our parks.  I mean really, you could even find a reason to not allow people to read certain books, if you are worried about a kid asking what a “Catcher in the Rye” means.

Now, apparently Timothy Gallagher’s boss got an inbox of emails after the Parks and Rec Department tried to sneak through this lunacy.  Maybe someone realized that we had made it impossible for President Obama to ever visit a Seattle Park.  Regardless, Gallagher’s vision on a truly nanny society got curtailed a touch, and the rules got shifted a little.  Now you must be 25 feet from people.  This is still comical.  Imagine if “Joe” takes his blanket out to Greenlake, finds a lonely place away from everyone, sits down with War and Peace, and lights up a smoke.  While he’s enjoying his day, 5 year old Timmy goes running by and stops to look at a leaf.  Does Timmy’s Dad now get to charge Joe with smoking next to a minor?  Suppose a bunch of 16 year old miscreants follow around the smokers to get them busted?  It’s just crazy.

I wasn’t born and raised here, so I’ve never quite figured out why Seattle likes its politicians to have so much control over their lives.  Can we agree now that folks like Gallagher need to get reigned in, and agree we need to start reclaiming control of our own civil liberties?  Or should we wait until Nike shoes are deemed inappropriate.

We’ve all seen this coming, but Facebook’s announcement earlier today that it would allow consumers and advertisers to buy ads and virtual items via PayPal, may be the latest watershed moment for Social Media.

The Wall Street Journal positions this as a move to improve International revenues, so they can “generate advertising revenue from small companies in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, where credit card use isn’t prominent.”  Now, I’m sure that’s part of the reasoning, but it seems like there is something much bigger in store that the WSJ is missing.

The part of this that the WSJ glosses over is that, “Facebook said it would also allow people to purchase its own “Facebook Credit” currency through PayPal. Currently, users must give Facebook their credit cards to purchase the credits, which they can spend on virtual gifts for other people. They can also spend the credits on items made by businesses that build software for Facebook, such as gaming companies.”

I think this is the big deal here.  Theoretically, there shouldn’t be that much of chasm between using your credit card to make a purchase, and using PayPal.   But there really is.  With this system, now all of a sudden on my Facebook profile, I can say, “I have two Mariners tix, who wants them. Price is $80 total.”  A buyer could update my status and PayPal account simultaneously, and I can email my tickets over to them.  So all of a sudden, Facebook becomes Craigslist, but with trusted friends instead of sketchy strangers.  Sure, up to now I *could have* inserted a bit.ly link or something unnatural to the Facebook environment and allowed my profile to be a marketplace.  But with the PayPal  technology integrated into Facebook, it should be pretty seamless for anyone to sell goods or services from their profile.  

And once we get the credit cards out of the way, we blow open micropayment opportunities.  You may put a small version of a beautiful sunset picture on your Facebook page.  And if I send you $.25 from my PayPal account you’ll email me the high-res version.  It’s not paying your mortgage, but if 10 people do that, then your latte got paid for.  We could imagine possibilities for hours.

The only odd thing is that Facebook wasn’t able to build their own version f PayPal.  But since PayPal is owned by eBay, maybe this is the beginning of a tighter deal between the two companies.  Go ahead and let your brain wander around the concept of an eBay/Facebook merger…