The All-American XI (AAXI) was originally started three years ago as one soccer fan’s desire to provide to the masses a review of American players in Major League Soccer (MLS) by fielding a mock lineup of the best eleven players each week along with commentary and evaluations on their play.

As any fan of the US domestic league will tell you (at great length), trying to watch just one MLS game can prove difficult sometimes, let alone a half dozen. You need to at least have the following to even attempt such an ambitions plan:

• A television with a cable connection and several premium soccer-related channels.
• A remote with a functioning mute button.
• A radio and a passable understanding of Spanish and Polish.
• A high speed internet connection to follow games online.
• A satellite dish to cover games from other time zones not being televised on cable.
• An instant messenger client for play-by-play chat rooms for games you still can’t get through cable, radio, the internet, or satellite.
• A VCR or DVR to record games that are being played simultaneously.
• A six-pack or bottle of your preferred booze.
• A backup TV for when you tune in to ESPN2 only to find the game you want to watch is being preempted by the Pro Bass Tour or the 9th round of the National Tetherball Association draft or the televised funeral of the latest famous old person to croak, and you put the nearest hurlable object through the center of the screen.

Needless to say, our founder realized that he’d never be able to pull off this stunt without help, so he put the word out that he wanted the assistance of other soccer fans that knew the ins and outs of the game, could objectively review player performances, and could remain sober for an entire Saturday to watch the requisite games. When it was realized that each of those requirements was mutually exclusive he lowered his standards and brought on a half dozen fans from teams around the league.

Three years later the AAXI has become as popular as Eric Wynalda; which is to say that we have legions of fans and receive death threats by bulk mail.

Unfortunately our venerable founder is no longer with us. No, he’s not pushing up daisies or pining for the fjords. He is either on vacation or actually working for a living; we forget which. In his absence, however, several of the original members, along with a new crop of talent, have continued to publish a weekly review of the best Americans that [the] MLS has to offer; and we’re not going to stop any time soon, so stop asking.