I Hope There’s A Checkmate in Here Somewhere

By: Laurie | March 16th, 2008

I spent years teaching chess to small children.

(And if anybody tells you that you need to play chess in order to teach it? They are lying.)

The kids all had their individual styles. Some were slow and methodical. They would memorize the openings, and practice the endgames, and never make a move without giving it long, hard thought.

And then there were the other players. The ones who would start the game, and the next thing you knew they’d be frantically pounding their clocks and trading off pieces. And you’d be thinking, “Wow. That’s pretty exciting. It could end really well, or it could end in disaster. I just hope they’re seeing the big picture here.”

That’s kind of how I feel being a Galaxy fan this year. It’s exciting, and unpredictable. We could end up with that unstoppable passed pawn on the road to inevitable triumph.

Or we could end up down a queen and just waiting to be put out of our misery.

The Galaxy’s strategy isn’t that hard to figure out. Bring in three big stars. Hope they stay healthy. Back them up with a few (very few) steady vets. And hope that the rookies and younger players can dig in and learn the game before time runs out.

An interesting game plan. In October we’ll either be saying, “Boy, did they plan that right,” or, “Fire Alexi.”

(Or maybe both. I won’t rule out that possibility either.)

But I think that as the season gets under way, we Galaxy fans should hold onto our hats and take our heart medicine. Because I think we’re in for a helluvan endgame.

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Diane

I liked seeing Alvaro step in too, Jen. It's not as if Becks is an angel, he's always had a temper and has always fought for calls. But this is just too frequent to be a good sign of anything. Can't imagine he's coming upon anything he hasn't seen worse of before (haven't heard of any death threats or effigy hangings in the U.S. yet, thankfully). Maybe the fact that his motives for coming to MLS have been questioned...HATES being accused of cheating fans...whatever, hopefully a few more matches played in normal (healthy) form will take the edge off. (He is always telling everyone else that the important thing is to "enjoy their football.)

I'm liking Gullit A LOT, clearly running things and attending to details. How great if Total Football coaching can keep the young guys improving as they seem to be. Great for them as well as the team...they will have to skip reading the papers for awhile tough...ouch again.
jen

I was just explaining soccer as being like chess to a new defender on our team today.

I'll go on record and say, even before the start of the season, fire Alexi. I really, truly cannot stand most of the decisions he makes. I'm actually crediting Gullit and CoJones for good that is happening so far. I get the impression that Gullit doesn't get pushed around. And of course Cobi is smart about the game and trusted by the management. Clout is what I think they call it.

Not sure what's going on with Becks and the temper. I was glad to see Alvaro stepping in to protect his captain though. He's definitely the team's enforcer while not being too obvious about it.
George

I agree with Diane. Beckham's getting into some sort of argument practically every game, friendlies nonetheless, and that's just annoying for me. I like the intensity in his playing, but he really needs to calm down. I didn't appreciate that he was draining the clock at the end of the Dallas game with an argument, and he's the captain, he should be setting a good example.
mag

On topic: we must give them time, this is very "green" team with a lot of new players,whatever they win or loose,it's important to play like a team, have a game's picture in your mind and not to run around like crazy chickens (how many times we saw it last year!).
I'm worry that we don't have long bench and from some point of view depend on three key players,which is very dangerous thing.
But potential is there,who knows...I like surprises.
mag

You play chess Laurie!?
Best game in the world....after football of course,I played chess almost on professional level from 8 till 17 years old, even won some championships in my state.
Sweet childhood....
Diane

Ouch. It's going to be rough on the rookies and kids who will continue to be mentioned by name as the less than useless members of the team. Ouch. (They also need to make sure their nans don't know how to google).
Also, Gullit needs to steady Becks' temper. Too early in the season for last night's frustration level. It's not because of the kids, he wasn't losing his temper at them and he knows what kind of time they need (and it wasn't because of the England trainer, his head's in whatever match he's playing). Unless there was a lot more crap going on than I could see on my four inch screen they may need to bring the yoga back.
Not a bad first night back in the league as far as I could see.