Aaron Rogers

Former Football coach @ Fairfield Christian Academy, Amanda Clearcreek HS and Wittenberg University.

[Aaron Rogers @Coach_Rogers67]

I am devastated to hear this. Absolutely one of my favorite announcers and coaches. He made commentating fun and brought Linemen into the spot light on broadcasts. RIP John. #AllMadden #RIPJohnMadden

[Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter]

NFL legend John Madden died unexpected this morning. He was 85.

[Sam Mahmood @TheSammahmood_]

The U.S. soccer federation is a poor return on invested capital.

I played soccer for 20+ years.

Grassroots.
Academy.
D1 college.
Pursued professionally after.

And I’ll say the quiet part out loud:

The US soccer infrastructure is broken.

In America, we treat playing D1 soccer like it is the peak achievement.

For most families, clubs, coaches, and players, the entire youth soccer machine is built around one goal:

Get recruited.
Get a scholarship.
Play college soccer.

But if the objective is to produce world-class players, D1 soccer is a terrible development path.

From 18-22, some of the most important technical development years of your career, you are preparing for a 3-4 month season built largely around athleticism, direct play, set pieces, fitness, and survival.

Now compare that to an 18-year-old in Spain, Argentina, Morocco, Italy, England, or France.

That player has likely been in a professional environment for years.

Training daily.
Playing meaningful matches year-round.
Competing against grown professionals.
Getting thousands more touches.
Learning how to solve the game under pressure.

The gap is massive.

And it shows.

American players are usually athletic.
They are usually fit.
They usually compete hard.

But at the highest levels, that is not enough.

The biggest difference is technical comfort.

We do not move the ball like Spain.
We do not combine like Argentina.
We do not play with the same fluidity, rhythm, and confidence you see from countries where the game is embedded into the culture from childhood.

That comes down to volume.

Volume of touches.
Volume of street soccer.
Volume of futsal.
Volume of unstructured play.
Volume of high-level training environments.
Volume of meaningful games.

In the US, youth soccer is expensive, overly organized, overly coached, tournament-driven, and too often built around winning games at 13 instead of developing players for 23.

Parents spend thousands.
Clubs charge thousands.
Travel teams fly all over the country.
Showcases become the product.
Recruiting becomes the scoreboard.

But the return on invested capital is poor.

We probably spend more money on youth soccer than almost any country in the world, yet the technical output does not match the investment.

That is a broken operating model.

And like any business, if the output is weak, you do not blame the customer.

You inspect the system.

The US has talent.
The US has athletes.
The US has money.
The US has facilities.

But the foundation is wrong.

We built a pay-to-play, college-recruiting machine and confused it for a world-class player development system.

Those are not the same thing.

Until we fix the grassroots layer, increase meaningful touches, make development less dependent on family income, and stop treating college soccer as the top of the mountain, the US will keep underperforming relative to its resources.

I’m not saying this to trash US Soccer.

I’m saying it because I lived it.

And if we actually want to become a powerhouse, we have to be honest about the infrastructure first.

[Christian Shimabuku @c_shimabuku]

An emotional Kansei Matsuzawa thanks his supporters. The #HawaiiFB kicker is a Lou Groza Award finalist. The winner will be announced Dec. 12. He finished 25/26 in field goals and 37/37 on extra points.

[Ben Stevens @BenScottStevens]

Kids will study the 2025 Ohio State defense in textbooks for decades to come.

[FOX College Football @CFBONFOX]

Congrats Blitz on retirement!

The @BroncoSportsFB tee-retrieval dog is working his last Boise State game 👏

[Warren Sharp @SharpFootball]

this is a never give up effort play you show to your kids

what a play by Alijah Clark

from blocked flat on his back to forcing a fumble 50 yards downfield 🔥🔥

[Ari Meirov @MySportsUpdate]

WOW! On 4th-and-27, the #Bills just called this brilliant play to keep the game alive. Holy smokes.

[Sickos Committee @SickosCommittee]

Happy anniversary.

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

Gus Johnson is a big fan of the Shepmates' reenactment of his Indiana-Penn State call, which Fox showed on the Michigan-Northwestern broadcast.

He also said, "I was so excited, I lost my stuff. Apologies if I went too far and irritated people."🏈🎙️ #CFB

[Ian Rapoport @RapSheet]

Great throw. Even better… 👇👇👇

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

INDIANA BROKE GUS JOHNSON

[RedditCFB @RedditCFB]

COOPER IS A GOD

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

A final drive made for Gus Johnson...

[Sickos Committee @SickosCommittee]

Happy Birthday Pudge!

[Mountain West @MountainWest]

80 YD 💣! TD LOBOS

📺 MWN

[Trevor Sikkema @TampaBayTre]

Don’t you ever — and I mean EVER — question how much Diego Pavia loves football

This dude is out of his mind, and I love it

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

Exactly how Purdue drew it up for a TD vs USC.

Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson have the call for CBS. 🏈😵‍💫🎙️ #CFB

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

The dogs were back on the NFL Network.

Among the dogs on set were Caroline from Bowl Miss.

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

...and Nesquick from Ruff-Gers.

[Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing]

Rich Eisen: Here's the latest Cardinals pick. From Arizona. Not The Vatican.

Charles Davis: No white smoke yet, Rich.