Things I couldn’t fit in the paper this week:

I’m a voter for the Soccer Hall of Fame and I assume the other voters are a lot of people like me, but if that’s the case, we’ve got to get our act together. After no one got in last year, they changed the selection system, and Jeff Agoos and Joy Fawcett got in this year. Agoos got 67.9 percent of the votes and Fawcett got 66.7 percent. 66.7 is exactly the amount you need to get in. That it took Joy Fawcett three tries to get in is absurd. She’s one of the greatest women’s players ever. And by that, I don’t mean top 10, I mean top 5. That one third of the voters could leave her off their ballots is insane.

And while Jeff Agoos is worthy of the Hall, how are Thomas Dooley and Earnie Stewart not getting in?

The person getting the most votes who didn’t get in was Preki, who was 10 votes shy at 60.4 percent. He was followed by Dooley, Marco Etcheverry, Stewart, Joe-Max Moore, Carlos Valderrrama, Shannon MacMillan and Peter Vermes. I must confess that I’m still torn on how to vote on players like Etcheverry and Valderrama and how to compare them — foreigners who played in MLS — with players like Dooley and Stewart, who played little if at all domestically but played significant roles on the national team.

xxxx

The WPS has set its playoff format. The top four teams in the table will make the playoffs. The first-place team will host the championship game and get a bye into the final, putting a strong emphasis on the regular season. The teams that finish fourth and third will have a one-game playoff at the third-place teams stadium, with the winner playing the next round at the second-place team’s field. So the third and fourth place teams would have to win three postseason games, the second place team and the first place team one. Also, by settling on the championship site early, the league knows they’ll have a home team playing there and will have two to three weeks to sell tickets.

The league schedule should be coming out soon. The league has some doubleheaders with MLS teams, so they’re waiting on the MLS schedule, which has to wait on the NFL schedule because New England shares the stadium with the Patriots.

Athletica will open training camp around March 1.