Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG

I am not going to lie. Living in Austin is pretty damn nice. Occasionally my professional obligations would afford me the opportunity to visit with one Darrell K. Royal, a venerable Texas legend. For those who are not familiar, Coach Royal was the man in charge of the University of Texas Football team for 18…

A few weeks ago I was reading ESPN the magazine and there was a feature about rules they’d like changed in sport and they picked up on penalty shootouts. They said it was an unfair way to end a game as it was not a proper representation of what had happened during the match. Many…

Well it looks as though the Liverpool takeover will happen sooner rather than later. Some fans are decrying the fact that it looks as though Tom Hicks and George Gillett may well end up making a profit after the sale. I personally have no problem whatsoever with that. Quite simply, the club is now worth…

With the football world’s attention firmly fixed on South Africa and the impending World Cup, it has totally slipped under the radar that something quite significant for European football will happen on Friday May 28. What many people don’t know (I confess I’d totally forgotten about it too) is that on that day, UEFA will…

In the last few weeks there’s been a ‘will-he-won’t-he’ saga unfolding at Liverpool as to whether or not Rafael Benitez will leave to become manager of Juventus. /www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]>/www.bigsoccer.com/forum/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]> Despite all kinds of denials, it certainly looks as though Benitez’s agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon, has been talking to Juventus and the obvious assumption is that Benitez…

15 minutes from time in Club America's shock defeat to Liga MX cellar dwellers, Leones Negros, there was a collision between Oribe Peralta and UDG goalkeeper Humberto "Gansito" Hernandez. Peralta absorbed the majority of the impact, most of it right to his head. He was dazed and confused, but Peralta decided he could play on….

With the start of the Mundial a little more than a month away, coaches all over the world have started to fill out their preliminary rosters. As always, there are some notable player omissions. A few of note are Ruud van Nilstelrooy and Kevin Kuranyi. Mexico had its notable omission, which we discussed over the…

90th minute. At home. Leading by 2 goals. Hotter than Hell on a Saturday night. Watch the run by the short 37 year old guy in the middle of the pitch: There's been a lot of pointless talk in these parts about whether MLS is now "a retirement league". (Then again, that's sort of the…

Chuck Blazer is an easy guy to lampoon. (Some people might say "harpoon" in his case, but I'm not going for the cheap laugh here. No siree Bob.) ​ Aside from making Sigi Schmid look like Kate Moss' twin brother, and the beard which caused one well-beloved internet wag (modesty forbids) to call him "Santas'…

It would be unfair to hold Ben Olsen to the standard that Gary Smith set, taking two years and ten days to bring Colorado its first title. Or even to Jason Kreis, who took two years, six months and fifteen days to bring Salt Lake its first championship. After all, Peter Nowak took one season…