Orange ramblings

So as I was at work today, I had the headphones plugged in listening to Glenn Davis' Dynamo All Access radio show from Monday night. If you've never heard Davis' take on all things footy (but mostly Dynamo), you're really missing out. The show is lively, entertaining, not afraid to pick fights and defend positions and an indispensable part of the soccer landscape here in Orangeville. Last night, Glenn had as guests Stuart Holden plus the Chicago Fire’s midfield duo of Justin Mapp and John Thorrington, as well as weekly guest Dominic Kinnear.

Here are some thoughts arising from last night's show:

Glenn expanded on his piece from today's Chronicle about the fact that Dynamo should be included in any discussion about the city's top teams. This is a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many otherwise professional sports journalists think that all discussions should be limited to Astros-Rockets-Texans. The things is, and this was pointed out on the show, journalists don't enjoy exploring something they don't know anything about. They like new things in their fields and are actively curious about them, but expanding beyond the horizon? Most of the time no.

When I was a young sports journalist umpety-ump years ago, I worked for the Middlesex News out of Framingham, Mass. I had to go cover a high school wrestling meet. Now, being from Texas, I knew pfft about wrestling. So I went to the tourney, pulled aside an assistant coach and explained my situation. The guy sat with me and pointed out some tactics and terminology. All in all a 15 minute lesson. Then I remembers, "Hey. It's sports. One guy wins. The other loses." Then it all clicked. The point I'm making is that it takes almost no time at all to learn about a new sport, and as we all know, you employ your curiosity for a match or two and soccer grabs hold. You may not get all fanatical about it like the people in this room (who me?), but it'll get you past your prejudice.

So as The Dom said on the show when asked about this topic as to whether Dynamo should be in the discussion, "Sure. Why not?" And that is really the question, now isn't it?


Glenn also mentioned an interview he had with Joseph Ngwenya the other day about the possibility of his return to Orange. Apparently the dreadlocked one, who says he played only 51 minutes for his team in Austria, is trying to decide about a return. He says his pride is hurt, but that if he id come back, it would only be here. But my favorite part of the interview is this:

GD: Have you been following the Dynamo and the league?

JN: I have been following, it’s early days yet and if there is one thing I know, I know the team will be in the playoffs again this year contending for another MLS Cup and I know that NO team in the league relishes the prospect of playing the Houston Dynamo in the PLAYOFFS (regardless of regular season records) !

Check out the whole interview at the link above.

And if you get a chance, check out the All Access podcast. It's a great way to spend a couple of hours.