Boston Sports Then and Now

The following post was originally published at my Revolution blog, Six States, One Blog.  Check it out to stay on top of the Shalrie Joseph story and the Revolution at large!

Shalrie Joseph was granted a leave of absence on Saturday.

Big news today, as the Revolution announced that captain and center back Shalrie Joseph has been granted an indefinite leave of absence from the club.  Personal matters is the cited reason for the leave; no other details have been released.  The Twitterverse seems to be of the “respect his privacy” state of mind, so we’ll see whether or not we get any further information on this story in the coming days.

From a soccer perspective, though, Joseph’s leave opens up a whole lot of talking points.  Let’s run through them.

• The captain has already missed four of five matches this season due to a hip flexor injury.  He started against Toronto FC on April 10 and was an important part of the Revs’ 4-1 victory.  When I saw the headline that he’d be taking a leave, my immediate reaction was that the injury must be more severe than previously realized.  If the issue was one of injury, the Revolution would let us know, so the question now centers upon the magnitude of this personal matter and just how long it will keep Joseph away from the club. Read the rest of this entry →

Are You Ready to Get Your Blog On?

As a wise man once said, things happen for a reason.

I completely buy that.

Blogapalooza has had it’s share of obstacles, but what doesn’t kill Palooza only makes it stronger!

All of this holds true to the evolution of Boston Sports Blogapalooza.

What is Blogapalooza you ask?

Boston Sports Blogapalooza is an event where social media and Beantown sports collide. Bloggers, their fans, and Boston Media members will have the opportunity to meet, network, trade social media tips and of course talk sports.

Now that you know what it is, your next question is who is going?

Boston Bloggers spanning all five major sports will be attendance. The Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and even the Revolution will be represented on May 2^nd at the Baseball Tavern. If you would like to view the list of participating bloggers, please visit the Boston Sports Blogapalooza website.

As I mentioned earlier, Good things happen to those who wait.

Since March, NESN and Lenovo have joined Swing Juice and The Baseball Tavern as event sponsors.

Our participating company list has grown to the Elite Eight. We have two minor league baseball teams, three apparel companies, a western Mass brewery, a charity marketing agency, and an online directory joining the Palooza party. For a complete list of partners, please visit the Blogapalooza event page.

All of our sponsors and partners have contributed wicked awesome merchandise for our event raffle. Also sprinkle in some sports oriented artistic works and you have the recipe for a fantastic variety of giveaways.

Are you excited yet?

Read the rest of this entry →

Jordan's love for soccer started at an early age.

The league is built based on the down-to-earth nature and approachability of its athletes. “Getting Silly with the Breakers” is a fun-filled way to create a comfortable bond between the fans and the professional athletes who are the Boston Breakers.

A special thanks to Erica Hunt, the communications director for the team, as well as the players themselves for making this approach possible.

It is difficult for Art and Lindy Angeli to calculate exactly how many hours have been spent watching their daughter, Jordan, play soccer over the years. One would estimate that an infinite number of cold mornings in the Colorado fall were spent packing the Angeli family into the back of the mini-van to see their little “soccer star” play.

A parent wouldn’t be a parent if they didn’t sit and dream about their budding “Kristine Lilly” some day growing up to play with, well, Kristine Lilly. Not one of us hasn’t cheered our child on as they broke down the wing and wondered if their kid might just have the stuff to make it all the way. Read the rest of this entry →

JNO and her party guests turned the night upside down while celebrating number 26.

On the 22nd day of March during a wide-ranging span of years throughout history, the Heavens parted and out dropped the likes of many famous individuals from various walks of life including: comedian Chico Marx (1887), actor Karl Malden (1912), “Captain Kirk” William Shatner (1931), Canadian figure skater Elvis Stojko (1972), actress Reese Witherspoon (1976), composer Andrew Lloyd Weber (1948) and sportscaster Bob Costas (1952). Each spent this day celebrating the anniversary of their birth some number of years ago.

Little did Boston Breakers’ midfielder Jen Nobis know that when parents Pam and Mike Nobis headed for that little hospital in Quincy, Illinois on that fateful day in 1984, that she would end up sharing her special day with such an illustrious group.

With Marx and Malden laid safely to rest and Captain Kirk, Stojko, Witherspoon, Weber and Costas undoubtedly celebrating with family, the star of the Breakers got together with a couple of her closest friends, Darci and Kim, and celebrated birthday number 26 this week, 1980’s style. Read the rest of this entry →

Coach Tony DiCicco and Lisa Cole address team prior to pre-season game vs. Boston College

With two weeks of training camp in the rear view mirror and the team bus driving towards their opening contest against the Washington Freedom on April 10, Coach Tony DiCicco’s Boston Breaker squad has departed the confines of the training bubble at Harvard University and are traveling south down Rte. 95 to the warmer climate which accompanies springtime in Florida.

Their current roster of 23 players will be trimmed a bit further in the next three weeks as DiCicco and his coaching staff decides on the top eighteen athletes to start the season as the 2010 addition of Boston’s entry in Women’s Professional Soccer. DiCicco will keep another four players in addition to his final choices to make up the team’s developmental squad.

The early days of camp become a testament to the players commitment to arrive at camp physically fit. Early season muscle aches and nagging injuries can become a factor and have an effect on the ultimate make-up of the team. Read the rest of this entry →

Breakers break camp.

After only four days of pre-season training camp under the “bubble” at Harvard University, Boston Breakers coach Tony DiCicco and his staff have made their first cut downs from the opening roster of 32.

On Thursday afternoon the Breakers released four players from their pre-season roster, including Anna Caniglia (Nebraska), Samantha Diaz-Motosas (University of South Carolina), Rebecca Mays (Southern Illinois), and Carly Peetz (Nebraska) from training camp.

Peetz was a sixth round pick (number 52 overall) in the WPS Draft held in January, while Caniglia, Diaz-Motosas and Mays participated in camp as undrafted free agents. Read the rest of this entry →