🚂 right on cue

A train rolls by Keyworth Stadium here in Detroit just as Chicago Fire goes down to 10!

Over 60,000 fans in attendance for Denver Summit’s inaugural home match 🏔️💚

THE LARGEST CROWD IN NWSL HISTORY 🤩👏

🎥 via @dreyesceron.bsky.social

Right! That guidance sounds good in theory, but over time it means refs are no longer making calls they believe in.

Rather, refs are more and more leaving it up to VAR to decide, which means we're expecting VAR to "make the call" rather than only watch for clear and obvious errors.

See VAR recommending a pen on Duah in Sunday's game. That would be a soft penalty if called imo, and the ref decided it wasn't enough to call it on the field. Looking at the footage, there is no "clear and obvious error", yet VAR recommended a review simply because THEY thought it was a penalty.

True! It feels like we are losing sight of the "clear and obvious error" spirit of VAR.

Now it's more like VAR is simply making their own calls and recommending those to the center ref, which feels much more inconsistent.

I think Wiebe is saying that it's not offside because the ball that went into the net didn't come off an actual shot, rather it came off a deflected RSL clearance. I'm unaware of the rule that says offside is only penalized if the shot is an actual shot, but I believe it.

bsky.app/profile/andr...

I do think y’all got lucky with that no handball call! Perhaps a wash considering you didn’t get the penalty call on Duah early on either

Wildly unpredictable game for VAR all around lol

Fair. At the end of the day, I’m more frustrated about the inconsistency in what goes to the monitor to be watched back in slo-mo from multiple angles and what doesn’t.

I think I see what you mean. McVey is offside for the first (only real) shot attempt, but it doesn’t matter because it’s deflected immediately, and then the second “shot” that goes in goal wasn’t actually a shot, rather it was a deflection after the RSL player “cleared” it? Wild

Yeah I agree. I tried to remain unbiased in my description above, but to me Segura’s is clearly an aggressive and forceful stomp whereas Biro’s is an accidental and almost avoidant step. Pretty frustrating!

Same! I didn’t catch a replay of it until @thenorthendpodcast.com showed it on their latest episode, and was just flabbergasted

And like I get that center refs are always different and they call games differently and sometimes miss big calls, and VAR is subject to the same struggle…

But something about the variance in when VAR chooses to recommend a 5 minute slo-mo look feels worse than just a center ref doing his own thing

Sigh, that’s probably the case. As an Austin fan, it’s hard to not feel hard done by VAR lately. The man upstairs asks the ref to check our goal, but they don’t for SD.

They ask the ref to go watch Biro’s stomp in slo-mo, but not Segura’s cleats-up stomp on Dubersarsky this weekend.

I’m having a hard time squaring that this was reviewed and overturned while San Diego’s first goal was not even sent to the monitor to check McVey being offside and standing directly in front of the keeper as the ball left Ingvartsen’s foot.

Perhaps a question for @andrew-wiebe.bsky.social

😎😎

I wish the ref watched more than just a still. Didn’t even watch the play leading up to the foul.

god i feel so bad for nelson in this moment lol. If I had cooked down the field that quickly and that happened, I would simply melt into a puddle

Preseason Wrap YouTube video by Fighting Leslies

A little recap of some of the things we did to try and get ready for the season opener. New website content, shirts, hats and more coming soon!

🍻💚🍻🖤🍻

youtu.be/yc5MCMOcLQk?...

I felt more patriotic watching a Puerto Rican rapper who supports Puerto Rican independence singing in a language I don't understand than at any time over the past year. Diversity makes America great.

Well I’ve got good news for you about next year’s cars!

Lando would be 13 points ahead of Oscar in this scenario, so the Imola situation wouldn’t have changed that. That situation only materially helps Lando against Max at this point.

Pulitzer Feeling Increasingly Out Of Place In Washington Post Office

Pulitzer Feeling Increasingly Out Of Place In Washington Post Office

If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.

enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

YES

A CD going in the Lexus IS 500

This week with the Lexus IS 500 has convinced me that my new mission should be: CD players back in cars.

Automakers, please

“No one rides the bus” — rainy day edition #transit #austintexas @capmetroatx.bsky.social @movability.bsky.social #getthereatx

hahahah it was a lot of words to get that same end

Hmmm I think my main experience with what you’re describing is the Bluebonnet Ln one, which I LOVE. But there’s a dedicated sidewalk alongside the bike lane so I’ve never seen non-bikers deal with debris issues.

I’ll get delivery trucks or trash cans in the bike lane but that’s rare enough for me