Jameson's Sport Writing Portfolio

All sports come with fandoms. They are the root of the business, the thing that drives the players to victory, the judge, jury, and executioner of all things the teams and players stand for. European football is particularly peculiar in this regard because of the nature of how passionate some people are about their football clubs. Without getting into too much detail, football fanbases have become a part of the matchday culture for a sport that has been ingrained in almost 200 years of history. Every footballing nation has a football culture, a deep underlying love for the sport, and a determined style of play they have adhered to for many years. Examples include the rough and physical football played in England, the flair and speed game in Spain, Total Football in Holland, the list goes on. These are countries that have players who play from the lowest divisions of the game in the hopes of getting all the way to the highest tier. They grow up around the play style and the culture of t...

The 21st-century edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been a tough but fascinating team to follow. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004 and spent more time drifting out of Stanley Cup contention for years. That all changed in 2016 when they drafted franchise center Auston Matthews first overall. Since then, the Leafs have assembled an elite core, and Matthews has flourished into perhaps the best or 2nd best player in the NHL only behind Connor McDavid. They’re the new faces of the league, but in the case of Matthews, he is suffering through the curse of the Leafs: no playoff success. Another first-round exit continues to haunt the Leafs. How much more needs to change for them to win a playoff series? More importantly, how much longer will Matthews put up with the lack of success? 2021-22 was Matthews’ best season since he was drafted. He scored 60 goals, the most by an American player, and set a franchise record in points. He’s easily the best American hockey player right no...

Gareth Bale is the greatest British footballer of all time. Not English, BRITISH. He’s representing more than just Wales, he’s by and far the most talented modern footballer from the UK; he gives the whole British Isles a great name. However, that hasn’t stopped the Spanish media, especially the Madrid media, from continuing to drag him in the mud. Say what you want about Bale: injuries, falling out with the Real fan base, “Wales. Golf. Madrid…” he’s still one of Madrid’s most talented players even at age 33. So when he finally got tired of MARCA spewing lies and slander about him, you can understand his frustration.  The Madrid media is full of these anti-Bale agenda-pushers but for once, can’t they just acknowledge what Bale has done for Real Madrid? Gareth Bale deserves better.   Ever since his move from Spurs to Madrid in 2013, Bale has continually been shown in a very strange light. The Madridistas never really liked him; his British allegiance often gave them the impress...

The 2022 Winter Olympics were one of the strangest sporting events I've ever read about, and I say read about because, to be frank, I didn't watch a single minute of the winter games. Not out of apathy, simply out of lack of interest. This has been something that has been happening with the Olympics over the years: people have really become disinterested in the Olympics concept as a whole. The summer games offer way more relatable sports, but they've also grown to include such strange sports that it's almost like anything that is remotely considered a sport or physical activity can be included. The winter games have taken serious dips in popularity with sports like the men's ice hockey not having access to top professional talent, reverting to amateur and it's all wrapped together with Russia's Olympic athlete ban in light of their state-sponsored doping scandal. Not to mention, the venues for the last winter games have been in Asian countries where time dif...

Hockey has gone through some tough times between 2020 and 2021. Pandemic, season stoppage, a bubble playoff, a shortened 2021 season, a massive scandal at one of the biggest clubs, and recently, hefty amounts of executive changes with the clubs. Since the end of the last season, starting with the New York Rangers and all the way to the Vancouver Canucks as of December 5th, 2021, there have been five clubs who have decided to sack their executive leaders, be it the general manager, head coach, both, and a combination of assistants and lower-level management. 2021 has been NHL's season of executive turnover, so just what does this mean about the state of club leadership during a time of great change and uncertainty? Hockey has always been a volatile sport from the business side. Coaches get recycled far too often, GMs can fail with one team but manage to pick up a job in the same role with a new club for an even higher salary, ownership groups tend to make very hasty or late decision...

The November international break is coming up with another round of World Cup qualifiers set up for the US Men's National Team. The road to qualifying for the Stars and Stripes has not been smooth, as they have been suffering through what seems like a gauntlet of CONCACAF teams to secure qualification for Qatar in December. Some USA soccer fans are getting a little irritated with the team selection manager Gregg Berhalter has been choosing for these important matches. It is notable the number of MLS players that round out the depth chart for the USA, something fans have taken to social media on more than one occasion to gripe about. Some fans have come to think Berhalter has a certain bias about choosing MLS players over the American players that have made the jump to leagues in Europe. So, I guess the question has to be raised: is there an MLS bias in the USMNT?  It is no secret that US Soccer has long strived to develop its own domestic soccer league, and to a degree, the MLS rep...

This summer was a very peculiar one for Real Madrid, as they seemed to take another page out of their galactico playbook and rehire Carlo Ancelotti as manager. They secured David Alaba on a free transfer, Gareth Bale has returned from a half-decent loan at Tottenham, but Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane have departed and there’s certain to be other players leaving in order to finance the next galactico: Kylian Mbappe. Florentine Perez has made it very clear the Los Blancos are going to sign the French superstar but with what money? And with PSG not willing to sell, it seems kind of dubious to think Mbappe will be leaving PSG for Madrid, yet Perez is making it clear he will get his next talisman. But Mbappe wouldn’t really solve the problems that are crushing Madrid currently.   Madrid has a very old squad, something they have either failed to truly address or one they can’t seem to find a way to move on from. They have seven players over 30 in the starting XI and Carlo seems set to ...