Alumni bloggers capture World Cup buzz

If you've watched any games from this year's World Cup, you've probably heard the hum of vuvuzelas, the long plastic stadium horns favored by South African fans and visitors alike. For the past few weeks, a handful of alumni soccer fans have been contributing their own sort of buzz on the blog Yankee Vuvuzela, a creation of two former Princeton soccer players: occasional PAW contributor Giles Morris ’97 and classmate Jeff Plunkett ’97.

Morris and Plunkett played for U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley ’80 when Bradley was at Princeton, and they have recruited former teammates John Talbott ’94, Tyson Hom ’95, and Lee Topar ’95 to chip in thoughts about Bradley's coaching style and the U.S. team's World Cup run. Former Princeton basketball star Mitch Henderson ’98, an avid soccer fan, also is a contributor.

The blog's authors provide opinions, analysis, and humor -- some of it self-deprecating. Morris' bio, for example, recounts how Bradley responded to a defensive misstep in a game against Seton Hall:

"After the game, Coach Bradley told Giles he lacked competitive maturity and benched him for the rest of the season. Giles did not let that affect their relationship, however, visiting Bradley's open office hours frequently to contribute to the running philosophical discourse on the beautiful game with comments like, 'Some players are better in games than in practice,' and 'I see myself in the mold of a Finidi George [the former Ajax midfielder].' Needless to say Coach Bradley was not shaken from his own philosophical foundation and pressed Giles to obtain skills like tackling, shooting, and passing."

(Photo courtesy PicApp.com)