Thorns FC: Drafts and Deals, Part 1

While we’re waiting for the delayed season to start…let’s discuss the club’s offseason moves!

Thorns FC: In the Dead Time

Back when I was a broth of a boy – in the Eighties, for those of you who can’t imagine such a thing – I whiled away the time at soldiering. Or, at least, what we imagined was soldiering; the notion that you could spend a career commuting between CONUS and various unpaved portions of […]

Episode 32: It’s Getting Drafty in Here

With Richard Budweiser at the helm we discuss the draft, John relates the plot of the 2008 children’s film Bolt and Shannan shares a hot tip from a secret informant.

Thorns FC: Wild Card

In the old movie this is where the editor runs into the newsroom shouting “STOP THE PRESSES!!!” To me this is intriguing on a number of levels: First, because without Macario I don’t see the #1 pick on this draft being worth all that much. Certainly not worth a subsidized player. Certainly not worth a […]

Thorns FC: Draft Card

Well, so far it’s been an underwhelming NWSL off-season everywhere but in Australia. And we’ll talk about Thorns Down Under some time in late January or early February. Whole Lot o’ Nothin’ The hoped-for 2020 NWSL expansion is officially deader’n the passenger pigeon. Sacramento, for reasons that have still not been fully explained, was unable […]

Thorns FC: Final Grades – The Coaches, Trainers, and Management

I thought I’d said enough about last season, until I realized that I hadn’t got to where the buck really stops; the coaching and training staff and the club management. So in this final, final-grades post I want to discuss what in the Army we liked to call the “echelons above reality”; the people who […]

Thorns FC: Final Grades – The Forwards

We’ve finally come to the end of our look at the 2019 Thorns with the players whose job is to put the biscuit in the basket; the forwards. Before we got to this point we’ve looked at the goalkeepers, and concluded that we have two players who appear to be on diverging paths; A.D Franch, […]

Thorns FC: final Grades – The Midfield

The Heart of the Midfield: The Big Three Here’s pretty much where you need to start to discuss the Thorns’ midfield in 2019; with 2018, and the difference in goals scored between the two seasons by three of the Thorns midfielders: Lindsey Horan, Tobin Heath, and Christine Sinclair. Because 2018 was the Year Without Forwards; […]

Thorns FC: Final Grades – The Backline

The Tipping Toddler (A Safety Advisory) Before we go on, let me start with this. I’m not here to slag off on the Thorns as a team, or any individual player. As a fan I love and support the squad, in victory or in defeat. Some readers expressed concern that I was low-rating A.D. Franch […]

Thorns FC: Final Grades – The Keepers

There may be a Moral, though some say not;I think there’s a moral, though I don’t know what.But if one gets better, as the other gets wuss,These Two Little Bears are just like Us. ~ from Twice Times, by A.A. Milne Now that it’s all over perhaps we should look back at the 2019 season, […]