Freedom Kicks: D.C. United, MLS, and UEFA Champions League links for Wednesday October 1st, 2014

Had I written an intro, it would be here. Instead, we go straight to the links:

More than soccer: How the D.C. United stadium will be used and how fans will get there | Washington Business Journal
A transportation management plan has been released for the proposed Buzzard Point stadium, and Michael Neibauer has the details. Apparently the plan is to use the stadium 46 times in a given year, with 23 of those events being United games. If MLS stays with a 34-game schedule, that's 17 home games plus at least one Open Cup match. Where will the other games come from? The CCL and playoffs, whenever possible, can get us within range where one or two friendlies during the season would fill the bill.

Personally I hope that one year, one of these events is called "Jason won the lottery and rented out the stadium to play out his childhood dreams while drinking."

Training Notes: September 30, 2014 | DCUnited.com
Bobby Boswell wore a microphone during practice for a future segment on Monumental FC, while United did some conditioning work before an intricate counter-attacking drill and an 11v11 scrimmage.

Partner Update: DC flying high | SAFC.com
Remember our partnership with Sunderland? They remember us, and it sounds like they actually read up on what happened in the game (or watched a highlight video)...either way, it's already more than most MLS-foreign club partnerships produce.

The Designated Player: MLS Coach Theater Rankings | Grantland
Graham Parker is good at the whole writing about soccer thing. This time, though, he's focused more on something that happens just outside the game: MLS coaches and their sideline behavior. Naturally, there is plenty here on Ben Olsen.

Poetry Corner Kicks: Union 0 - D.C. United 1 | The Brotherly Game
Hooray, we made Philly sad!

OK, it's more that the Union made Philly sad, and I actually like the folks from TBG, but this is a competition, and all my instincts are geared towards making anyone competing with me suffer feelings of endless melancholy in their soul. Mission accomplished!

Sizing up the wide open MLS MVP race | SBNation.com
Good news: Jeremiah Oshan is mentioning a DCU player in his top six MVP candidates. Possibly bad news: It's not the guy I'd put forward as team MVP.

Also, get used to me hammering away at this: Fabian Espindola and Lee Nguyen have been involved in the same number of goals for their teams (18). Espindola has done it in five fewer appearances (or over 600 fewer minutes, if you prefer that) and on a team that has 6 more points in the standings. Nguyen is a great player who I enjoy watching, but if he's an MVP candidate then Espindola must have won the award.

On the LA Galaxy present and the Chivas USA future: An essay | LAG Confidential
Josie Becker considers both the StubHub!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Center's landlord and their unwanted tenant and how the LA soccer scene might shake out.

Vincent Tan may be part of new Chivas USA ownership group | SBNation.com
Vincent Tan is a very wealthy man who dresses oddly and forcibly changed Cardiff City's colors just because he could. Given that MLS recently had to buy out another rich eccentric - and that's putting it kindly - in Jorge Vergara, that sounds like bad news. However, by all accounts Tan would be a minority owner, so yesterday's brief Twitter panic should be over now. All signs point to him being a dude who answers cash calls and occasionally shows up in the owner's box, not a guy who will act in a completely tone-deaf manner time and again.

UEFA Champions League 2014, Matchday 2: PSG upset Barcelona, Roma get a point in Manchester | SBNation.com
Rather than link to a bunch of UEFA Champions League reports, I'm sending you to SB Nation's storystream, which is packed to the gills. It includes coverage of a Zlatan-free PSG's victory over Barcelona, and also fans watching from rooftops to circumvent a stadium ban.

NCAA men’s soccer: Georgetown defeats Maryland, 1-0, on Allen’s late goal | Soccer Insider
I thought I saw Steve Goff in the Ludwig Field press box, and here's the proof. I concur with Goff's analysis: Georgetown deserved the win, and Maryland is, as he put it, "stumbling." There's a whole gaggle of quality NCAA teams within an hour of downtown DC, and my Terps may only be the 5th best team in the area at this point. On the other side, Brian Wiese's Hoyas are - as has been the case for a few years now - playing a good brand of possession-oriented soccer that goes against the stereotype of college's kick-and-chase past.

30 Years of Coens | The Atlantic
Christopher Orr from The Atlantic is giving a critical appraisal of Joel and Ethan Coen's entire sixteen-film catalog. I don't agree with everything he says here - he overrates No Country For Old Men, for example - but if you're like me you want people spending time and mental energy on serious filmmakers. At the very least, I strongly recommend you track down "Miller's Crossing" and "Blood Simple." And all their other movies, but those are two that people I meet haven't seen.

And now I'll clear off and let you good people have at it.