Talk:Nick Theslof

Do we really need to know about his brother?
I tried cleaning this article up a couple months ago and it's been undone. The article features way too much irrelevant information and is poorly written for the most part. To mention his relatives' Olympic success and his time at PSV is all well and good, but I really don't think he's notable enough of a figure to have every gory detail of his life's story up here. It reads like it's been written by somebody who grew up and played on all these obscure teams with him.

And most importantly, he is NOT the first American to play in Europe by any definition, especially considering he never played a minute in the league with PSV. Look up Brent Goulet, Bruce Murray, John Harkes, Paul Caligiuri and many others. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.103.229.206 (talk) 23:21, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
 * References take precedence, and there is an extremely notable and reliable one in Sports Illustrated within this article, which verifies all these facts quite comfortably, including the reference to continental Europe. Personal opinions do not have any relevance whatsoever in the threshold to inclusion in Wikipedia; kindly see Notability. ··· 巌流 ? · talk to ganryuu 15:03, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

It says nowhere in that article that he was the first American to play in Europe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.244.122.231 (talk) 01:17, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

How about Soccer America as a reference? This is a highly regared soccer publication of long standing in the USA. In regard to Brent Goulet, I quote, from the Nov 18, 2002 issue, "After a short spell in the Major Indoor Soccer League, Goulet, who in 1987 saw action with England's Bournemouth, joined Bonner SC midway through the 1990-91 season." Bonn was the capital of Germany at the time. You may find this reference on the internet at http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/SoccerAmerica/2002/sa1542l.pdf

In the same issue, pp 16 and 17, are listed all the US players in Europe from 1987 to 2002. Interestingly it mentions a couple of US players prior to that time, including a couple of players from the 1930 World Cup team. Also, if you look up the Bobby Smith on the US Soccer Players web site http://ussoccerplayers.typepad.com/ussoccerplayers/smith-bobby.html you will also note the mention of his having played for Dundalk in Ireland--in 1974.Kgilbert78 (talk) 20:01, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Theslof Playing for Crunch?
I read the SI article. It does not say he played for the Crunch but for a youth team the Ron Wigg coached. As Theslof was from a Columbus suburb and Wigg was coaching youth soccer in Columbus, it is unlikely that Theslof played for the Cleveland Crunch at all, as Cleveland is 2+ hours away and the Crunch were just an indoor team and had no youth teams AFAIK. What the article actually said was that PSV was *in Columbus* to play the Crunch in an exhibition (which I remember, though I did not attend) and Wigg got Huub Stevens to look at Theslof in a club match while PSV were in town (as I recall they did a clinic as well as the game). This error should be corrected *on the basis of the SI article*, which only states that PSV were in Columbus to play the Crunch. No mention is made in the article of any other connection between the Crund and either Ron Wigg or Theslof.Kgilbert78 (talk) 20:12, 23 December 2009 (UTC)