Jermaine Jones signs with New England Revolution: World Cup alum huge boost for Revs midfield

32 year old German/American midfielder, Jermaine Jones signed a deal with the New England Revolution earlier this week that bought out his services to the team for the next one and a half years. The former US men's soccer team starter will bring a brutal shot from set pieces to the Revolution midfield that as of now is really just the Lee Nugyn show and a kind of weathered leadership that even coach Jay Heaps may not be capable of administering. All and all, it is blatantly apparent why New England soccer fans are rejoicing this week.

Born to an US military family stationed in 1982 West Germany, Jones developed a keen love for Germany and its national pastime- soccer- at a very young age. At age 12 he was playing for a club team by the name of SV Bonames before, just days after his 13th birthday, young Jones made the jump so semiprofessional ball when he signed with FV Bad Vipel in 1994. Following the '94 season, Jermaine Jones enrolled at Eintracht Frankfurt, a soccer oriented private high school where he played in excess of 70 games on the schools primary and secondary squads. Following his senior season at Frankfurt, Jones, sporting a greatly refined defensive game and a growing left footed shot was bought out by Bayer Leverkusen of Bundesliga, Germany's elite soccer league. In Bayer, Jones added 15 starts in the secondary league and 5 caps in the actual Bundesliga before he was loaned back to Frankfurt. 

Over the next 7+ seasons, Jermaein Jones bounced around Germany not because of any lack of talent but rather due to the whopping salaries he was suddenly commanding. His 30 goals from the defensive portion of the field up through 2010, caught the eye of then USMT coach, Bob Bradley and as that year's World Cup in South Africa rolled around, Jones was given his big break- a starting spot on the US roster. However after injuring himself prior to the cup, he did not make the trip to South Africa. 

Four years later when FIFA took its ultimate tournament to Brazil, he was displaying his brutal skill in its greatest form. With what could possibly go down as the iconic goal of the US run to the Round of 16 in 2014, Jones took a shot from 25 yards out that eventually curled into the net and equalized a pivotal US game with Portugal. 

However since the US eventually lost to Belgium last month, Jones has not played for any professional team and had been searching ridiculously for a team who could help him change that. He found that in the MLS who in turn found another international superstar that they could sign and boost their global profile. For the Revs in particular though, Jones is more than just a big name. 

After Andy Dorman tore his MCL last month, the Revolution who, at one point, held the best record in the conference have fallen from grace. Excluding the efforts of superstar midfielder Lee Nugyn, the Revolution middies have managed to net just 3 goals and have also left vast holes wide open for opposing strikers to capitalize on. Jones, a midfielder known best for gritty challenges and physical battles in the corners and on the outer portions of the field could help shove attackers away from the prime scoring areas in the Revs end.

Jones is excited to do just that and hopefully help the Revs make it to the playoffs for the second time this decade.

“I’m very excited to come to MLS and join the Revolution,” Jones said earlier this week. “New England is an exciting team on the rise, and I believe I can come in and help the team make a push toward MLS Cup. Playing with the U.S. National Team has given me a great connection with the American fans and I’m looking forward to playing in front of them every weekend. I’m ready to get started with the Revs." 

All and all, Jermaine Jones brings both name recognition and a perceived boost in ticket sales as well as some immense midfield skill to a team right on the fringe of playoff success. If Jones can perform in the blue and red uniform than the Revolution could not only make the playoffs but contend for the title they have never won, the MLS cup. 

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It is and is not just about baseball: Little League sensation Mo'ne Davis is helping show the world that women could play with men in pro sports

She is but 13 years old playing in a baseball championship with the eyes of the nation watching her every move and she had played brilliantly. Born in Philadelphia, Davis managed to capture the attention of the baseball world in the past week. She has done so by hurling strikeout after strikeout in a pair of tremendous complete game shutouts the first of which coming Sunday August 10th against Newark. 

Playing in the Mid Atlantic Championship game that would send its winner to Williamsport to play in the Little League World Series, Pennsylvania's Taney Dragons sent their secret weapon in Davis to the mound. On cue, Davis chucked a complete game shutout that featured the striking out of 6 batters and just 2 hits allowed. Within just a few hours of the conclusion of the game, clips of the locally televised contest began to take social media outlets (especially Vine and Instagram) by storm fueling a national curiosity about this girl from greater Philadelphia. By the time she pitched again, this time as just the 18th girl in the history the Little League World Series, ESPN saw a huge rating boost that only strengthened as she began to work her way through another fairy-tale game. 

In her second straight complete game, Mo'ne held Nashville to just 2 hits and 0 runs striking out a whopping 8 batters. Now she was more than just a whispered name in the world of sports. Mo'ne Davis had become a superstar.  

Garnering tweets from greats like Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen and Clayton Kershaw, first lady Michelle Obama as well as interview requests from talk show hosts some of whom had nothing to do with the sports, Davis, in just 10 days’ time had transcended the game she played and become a role model. Beyond the fact that she was the first girl to win a game as a pitcher, beyond the fact that she was the first girl to throw back to back shutouts in the Little League Postseason, Mo'ne Davis was attracting attention to little league baseball and the prospect of more and more girls playing America's pastime alongside the boys. And yet she is but 13 years old. 

Even Mo'ne is astounded by the attention she is getting even showing great humility in deflecting questions about her to the rest of her team. For those who look at her not as a girl tearing it up on the mound, but rather just a skilled baseball player doing so, they soon recognize a new found freedom to appreciate the other qualities to Mo'ne and her personality. 

She is humble and humorous and judging by the words of her teammates and coaches is the kind of no "I" in team player that even MLB teams pay big money to write into their rosters. Her curve ball is sickening in its deceptive movement across a good portion of the strike zone and her fastball is of the sort that even beats those of her male counterparts in terms of speed and placement. At the plate she has hit safely in 3 out of 8 plate appearances through 3 games and in the field she has wielded a hot glove at both 1st and 3rd base. 

For those who can look past her gender, Mo'ne Davis appears as a complete ballplayer and a model person. For those who can look past Davis' gender and have also dreamed of doing the same thing that she has, this Little Leaguer has helped pave a path to live that dream. 

For so many years female presence in baseball, though existent has been very small. A female ball player has never made it past the single A minor league systems of the MLB and that is truly a problem. Now I would be foolish to say that women and men are on average equal in muscular strength because that is not true. The simple biology of male and female hormones create a natural discrepancy between the two genders when they attempt to compete in athletics. Yet that is not to say that that discrepancy cannot be somewhat easily overcome. There are some stunning female athletes across the spectrum of professional leagues. Take Brittney Griner for example. Weighing more than plenty male basketball players, the 6 foot 8 inch WNBA star is one of the best players in her sport. Could someone so strong muscularly not succeed in the NBA against men? If you don't believe that take hokey and its female pioneer, Manon Rhéaume. In 1992 she became the only female in any "big four" sport to play an exhibition game with a men's team when she started in net for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game. She is a perfect example how even without the musculature of a man a women could succeed in a sport and a position where good reflexes can almost fully make up for any lack in strength. 

But who am I to even say that that should even be discussed? There are wonderfully strong women in the world who are all but equal to many men who play pro sports. When you look at some of the guys in baseball (JD Drew anyone) you then look at people like Mo'ne Davis and say, goodness gracious could she develop into someone who could be so much better. 

All and all, Mo'ne Davis has joined a growing list of women who are standing up and showing that they can play with the boys. They are showing the world that there is nothing wrong with running, throwing or playing "like a girl". The more people who do this, the sooner people begin to stop judging people because of gender and rather just because of their raw talent and untarnished will to win. 

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The new look Boston Red Sox: After historic trade deadline, the details of the Red Sox future are unknown

When the trade deadline passed Thursday afternoon, it was merciful because all within Red Sox nation could finally go to sleep without worrying about waking up the next morning to the news of another huge trade. And sleep was something they needed direly due to the fact that in the 48 hours preceding the January 30th deadline, the Sox had gutted their roster and completely changed the identity of a team that less than a year ago won the World Series. 

They traded Felix Dubront on Wednesday, moved Jon Lester and Johnny Gomes to Oakland Thursday morning and dumped John Lackey on the Angles a few hours later. Before all that they had also moved Andrew Miller to Baltimore while kicking Stephan Drew over to New York in exchange for third basemen Kelly Johnson. Coming to Boston as the other half of all those trades were Oakland slugger Yoenis Cespedes, Baltimore prospect Eduardo Rodriguez, as well as Allen Craig and Joe Kelly from St Louis and Kelly Johnson from New York. 

What all those names amount to is a revamped Boston Red Sox team and a proof that the front office is willing to try again to keep the sinking ship that is the Red Sox afloat.  

Nonetheless, it is hard to look at this slew of deals and not at least be skeptical. Going into their day off during Thursday's trade deadline, the Red Sox had a win-loss record of 48 and 60 and were 10.5 games out of a playoff spot and almost surely playing the kind of baseball that deserves nothing more than a last place finish. One of the biggest reasons this was true was not the Red Sox pitching but rather, the Sox batting. From almost day one, the first two thirds of the order which boasted many of the league’s best players were simply not hitting. Aside from David Ortiz who hit 25 home runs in the first half of the year, big stars who last year slugged their way to a championship ring have been flat out terrible. Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia have combined for just 17 home runs and 78 RBI's while Xander Bogarts, the man tasked with bringing power and speed to the left side of the infield has hit just stolen just 2 bases and hit just 8 home runs. These deficiencies in the Sox offensive arsenal have doomed the team more than any other aspect of the game has. 

In fact, it doomed the team so much that no matter how well anybody else played, they just kept on loosing because of their offence. At the deadline, they tried to reverse that by ripping their best pitchers off their roster and trading for some serious sluggers that could bolster their roster. 

Of the some 5 players who came to Boston as a result of Thursday's trades, 3 of them are guys who make their money because of their work at the plate. Yoenis Cespedes is the most impressive of these such players. Having played for just over 2 and a half years, Yoenis is by no means a David Ortiz or Melkie Cabrara type player. What he is though is a young kid with power and a sense of humor in the locker room. 

This season, Cespedes is batting .256 with 17 home runs and 67 RBI's  and is on pace for an explosive 107 RBI season that would dwarf any and all that have preceded this one. Nonetheless, those that have have been great. Cespedes has won the All-Star weekend Home Run Derby two years in a row and has displayed power from day one hitting a home run in just his second game. For a guy who had to escape Cuba in the middle of the night, Yoenis Cespedes is a calm, happy slugger on pace for a great career. 

But beyond him the Sox now have another big bat on their payroll. After he made his debut in 2010, Allen Craig hit 11 home runs in 75 games in his sophomore season. Catching the eye of the MLB as a whole with the power that he exhibited in those games, Allen Craig was promoted to full time first basemen for the Cardinals. With considerably more playing time in his future, Craig then buckled down and managed to churn out a reputation as one of the greatest hitters with runners in scoring position. After the 2013 season in which he drove in 97 runs, Craig had upped his average with runners in scoring position to .456. That is the third highest in MLB history. 

So with all these key players now in a Red Sox uniform, it seems that Ben Cherrington has completely reworked the core of his team. As we come out of the deadline flurry, deserving of recognition is the fact that Cherrington felt no sentimental feelings towards guys like Gomes or Lackey and do what really was best for his team. At least that is what it looks like right now. 

With Cespedes and Craig in town and Lackey, Gomes and Lester out, the Sox could go in a very interesting direction come next year. 

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