Stormwatch912

I've mentioned before that I'm also a baseball fan and one of my favorite podcasts is Effectively Wild which has just the right mix of analytical baseball talk and nonsense to keep me coming back. Thinking more about it, analysis and nonsense seems to be my preferred podcasting style as before Effectively Wild, I was a fan of ESPN's Fantasy Focus back when Nate Ravitz and Matthew Berry hosted, which also fused those two things together in a entertaining and informative way. On a recent episode of Effectively Wild, they discussed a computer program written by someone to calculate who has the best smile in Major League Baseball based on their headshots on the league's website. While there are admitted problems with using this kind of facial technology (it doesn't always work well on non-white faces, facial hair can cause it problems), it was a fun little segment that had no real significance but was enjoyable nonetheless. In other words, exactly the kind of thing I

Photo Credit: Torment FC Tormenta fell to Fuego 3-2 Saturday night in Fresno . I tried. I really did try to stay up for Tormenta's matchup Saturday night/Sunday morning with Central Valley. The problem is I'm not as young as I once was, and three hours at the water park with a five year old and then mowing the yard were not conducive to me staying awake well past my bedtime to try to watch the game. (Five year olds, notoriously, don't sleep in.) But let's back up, shall we. We're getting way ahead of ourselves. Tormenta fell to Fuego 3-2 after going into halftime with a 2-1 lead as South Georgia fell for the third time in their last four League One games.  Even being up 2-1, Feugo was peppering shots all through the first half with their attacking style keeping goalkeeper Drew Romig on his toes. (I never played goalkeeper, but it's my understanding that good goalkeeper form is to be on your toes ready to for anything.)  Despite the pressure, it was Tormenta who

  Did you know Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys and Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block recorded an album together? That was a lot. Typically Tormenta press conferences are... I don't want to say routine, but I have a general idea of how they're going to go. I ask about injuries and Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron doesn't get into specifics about any players. I'll ask about individuals who stood out at practice and he'll defer to talking about the team before eventually (perhaps begrudgingly, perhaps not, it's not my place to ascribe motive) he'll talk about a player that's made improvements and is pushing the coaches to make a decision about more playing time. A couple questions about the upcoming opponent, what he sees on film and what he expects and a couple questions about the team's performance, where he sees improvement and where they still need to get better, maybe we hit on a formation change and then I get back to my day job because runnin

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Nick Akoto will reunite with his youth coach as he heads to EFL League One side Burton Albion. Tormenta's Nick Akoto, primarily a defender who has seen time in the midfield and up top this year, is being transferred to English Football League League One side Burton Albion F.C. in a record transfer fee deal for USL League One.  Mark Robinson, head coach for Burton Albion, has a history with Akoto. Akoto played for AFC Wimbledon's U-18 squad where Robinson was on the Technical Staff. Robinson was hired by Burton Albion on June 4 of this year and appears to have wasted little time acquiring Akoto for a reunion. "This was on of those things where I didn't think it was going to happen until it really happened," the 24-year old Akoto was quoted as saying in the press release announcing the move. "This is just one of those really exciting moments in my career, and I am excited to get there and just kick on." In a message to me shortly

Two minutes of searching on Google for this image was two minutes more than was needed for this blog post. We're a week late with our Power Rankings. Have no fear. I still have them, but we're going a little different this month.  Today we're forgoing the usual 12-1 Power Rankings and instead, we're going with brackets in a "what team name and/or mascot would win in a fight?" battle to crown the top team in July. The seedings are simple. We're going with the standings through July 15th. Jagermeister Cup games are not considered for these seedings. With 12 teams, the top four get a bye and the matchups are 5-12, 6-11, 7-10, and 8-9. Winners move on and we bring in the top four seeds and continue until the one true, undisputed champion is crowned.  We may have taken some liberties in how we worked this out. Omaha gets to be the owls. Lexington are the horses. (Thoroughbreds it if helps.) I'm halfway through this opening and I still don't know what to

It was the best of times. It was not really the worst of times, but it wasn't a good time. Let's start with the good because it's a Monday morning and if I start with the bad news then we're in a bad mood to start our week and no one needs that.  Like death and taxes, in this life you can count on Tormenta and Charlotte playing to a 1-1 draw when these two teams meet. On Saturday, it played out very similarly to the other two meetings this year that ended that way with Charlotte going ahead early and Tormenta rallying very, very late to equalize. And since this was Jagermesiter Cup action, we got to go to a shootout (which I think the ESPN+ announcer forgot about at the end of regulation when throwing the broadcast to a commercial) that Tormenta came away with a 3-2 win and the extra point in the standings. Callum Stretch's goal in the sixth minute of second half stoppage time got Tormenta to penalties as he was able to corral a loose ball in the box and fire a shot

It's Jagermeister Cup time again as Tormenta and Charlotte renew pleasantries tomorrow in the sixth of eight games of the Cup competition.  We could meander our way to the chase, exploring stats and tends over the past few weeks and highlighting players and coaching tactics, but as Trevor Noah used to say on The Daily Show, "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That." We've got to cut to the chase.  Here's the deal, if Tormenta loses, they are mathematically eliminated from winning Group 1, the Eastern Group, whatever we're calling it. (Group numbers are the best USL League One could come up with? I've seen them called East, Midwest and West among writers and podcasters, but on the official League site, they're just listed as Groups 1, 2 and 3 as though they're new college freshman being broken up into groups for their orientation breakout sessions. If nothing else, someone in a position to do something please ask the League Office for better names for th

I thought about going with a Michelle Branch photo here to really drive home the title, but maybe it's just me that has that song stuck in my head today. So this is when I would usually run my monthly Power Rankings, but the USL had their midseason media availability with the presidents of USL League One and USL Championship and it would be a disservice to you, my readers, if I didn't bring you the key discussion points from that press conference.  (Wait, you'd rather have power rankings? But... but I already wrote up a recap of the press conference. There are quotes and everything. Sorry. Also, this won't be the only time I apologize in this post.) Before we get to what they did talk about, here are some topics that they avoided because I can only assume they were trying to downplay their importance and didn't want the media spotlight on such pressing issues. There was no discussion of why Spokane Velocity remains the only USL1 team to have its full name used on th

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Tormenta earned its 50th all time regular season win Saturday with a 2-1 win over Lexington. Well that was better. At least the second half was, as Tormenta scored twice in the final 45 minutes to take the 2-1 win over Lexington and sweep the regular season series between the two teams and gave Tormenta its 50th regular season win all time in USL League One.  Saturday's win was the first for Tormenta when trailing at halftime this season as Sebastian Vivas scored while Pedro  Fonseca scored and had an assist in the comeback victory. More importantly, it was their first win in regulation since May 18 when they knocked off Chattanooga 4-0. Having said all that, it certainly didn't come easy for South Georgia. Lexington dominated time of possession, holding the ball for almost 60 percent of the game and outshot Tormenta 17-13 on the night. That possession, however, was a lot of Lexington passing the ball around the back as they poked and prodded the Torme

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Aaron Lombardi and Tormenta take on Lexington Saturday. Hi again everybody. We're back, though this preview will likely be a little shorter than usual. (I'm sorry and/or you're welcome, whichever is appropriate in your case) as this week has been busy. Also, sorry about the title... I realize that, at least this season, Tormenta is always headed somewhat north for their games, but I couldn't think of a good title for this. Tormenta is off to the land of horses as they take on Lexington Saturday night. That's not fair, I'm sure there is lots to do in Lexington besides horses. It was ranked 10th in the Summer Travel Guide rankings so that's pretty good. (Wait, I'm being told that was out of 12 places. Well, it was ranked by a 15-year old who can't go to the distilleries, what did you expect?)  Nevertheless, Tormenta heads up to Kentucky in a matchup of two teams who have not had things go their way this season. Lexington came

Me and my youngest Friday at the game. I was glad to share something that matters to me with him. This isn’t important. You’re welcome to continue reading if you’d like (and I hope you do), but I want to be up front about what you’re about to read. It’s not important.  And let’s be clear, I’m not out here trying to change the world with this blog. If I was, I’d probably use better words. I’m not even sure I’m even trying to change anyone’s mind about anything. The platonic ideal of this whole endeavor is to be somewhat amusing and entertaining while filling you in on what is going on around Tormenta’s League One and W-League teams.  But even in that, it’s just soccer. It’s only important because we have decided it is. Sam Miller on the baseball podcast Effectively Wild said it best back in 2014 (and this is said tongue in cheek to an extent) about what we’re doing here: The point of this entire enterprise is to entertain us with baseball games. The point of it is not to decide who is t

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Manager Ian Cameron offers instruction during this past Saturday's match at Central Valley. I need be honest with you all, I've got to get back in to League One mode. Just based on the schedule with Tormenta's League One team being away so much in June and the W-League season having such a compressed schedule with so many games in June, I've being paying closer attention to their season. The sheer quantity of games combined with a tight playoff race had my focus and energy. Unfortunately, their season is over . But we're slightly past the halfway point for the League One Schedule, as Tormenta has played 11 of 22 regular season games and five of eight Jagermeister Cup games.  Suffice it to say, Tormenta is not where they want to be at this point in the season. Through those 11 games, they've garnered 12 points, which is good enough for sixth place in the league, but Northern Colorado (7 games played) and Spokane (8 games played) both hav

Jodi Smith and Tormenta had their best regular season in team history. The playoff hopes were dead to begin with. Nope, that kind of opening only works if there's a happy ending like with Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. This story, from a Tormenta perspective, does not have a happy ending. But we need to back up a bit before we get in to Sunday night's Tormenta W-League game. First off. Hi. I'm glad to be back. (Well, not necessarily back from my beach vacation, but back here with you all.) I know I missed a lot while I was gone. On the League One side, Tormenta fell to Chattanooga 3-2 a little more than a week ago and then prevailed in penalties in the Jagermeister Cup game against Fuego this past Saturday. I made it 20 minutes in to that one before the sweet embrace of slumber enveloped me. Andrew, my oldest, stayed up for the whole thing... ahhh to be 15 and have no real responsibilities in summer again.  In W-League action, NC Fusion forfeited their game a week ago and To