Andy's first mistake was to walk away holding the ball and delaying the game. Then he turned and threw it - petulantly, I thought - at Marrufo.
He was wrong, young and dumb, no doubt. I don't think he was 3 games worth of young and dumb, though. Oh well.
I'm just disappointed because this is totally unnecessary on the part of the discipline committee. Getting the red card, IMO, is punishment enough to deter players from doing that act. He didn't put anyone's livelihoods in danger at all, nor did he personally insult anybody. Therefore to give him a suspension is simply ridiculous.
This little gem is what pisses me off the most about the whole situation: Really league? Really? So completely fscking up a game on national TV where you KNEW that 700+ supporters were driving through whiteout conditions to get to isn't putting the league into disrepute? Seeing a bunch of interns shovel snow while the MLS wonks shove their thumbs up their asses trying to decide whether or not it's safe to play when all of one team, half of another team, and even the ref is okay with the field is putting the league in disrepute? Then issuing an entirely insincere apology stating that you didn't know what the conditions would be like when anyone with access to any sort of weather forecast whatsoever, including the old fashioned "weather rock" could have told you that this storm was coming the week before and NJ was going to get snow, no doubt about that. The mind boggles.
The only way that United could argue Najar's case was that the referee did not consider it to be violent conduct or offensive and abusive language, which are penalized by ejection. Marrufo considered it to be dissent, which is punishable by a caution. His ejection was for a second yellow, not a straight red. DCU should have argued that in the opinion of the referee there was no violent conduct, just dissent by gesture. If Marrufo (seems to) believe(s) that he was hit by accident, why is the disciplinary committee stating otherwise?
The Andy Najar issue and the issue with the snow game have nothing to do with each other. Nice try, though.
I don't think her point was that the two were related. I think her point was more that the MLS being concerned about its reputation being put in disrepute by Najar's action is akin to the legacy of NJ's trophy case being tarnished by this year's loss.
She's not saying they have anything to do with each other. She's not even claiming in that post that Najar's punishment is incorrect. Nice try, though. Exactly.
I thought the second yellow/red was totally justifiable at the time. I didn't think however, it was necessary, as I explained earlier in another thread. I still don't think he acted with all intent and knowledge to throw the ball at the official, and there was basically nothing violent about it. He shouldn't have thrown the ball at all, but it was an accident, IMO. I think now, that I understand suspending him a second game, though as before, it seems kinda unecessary and excessive to me. But I think a 3rd game is absolutely unwarranted, for this situation. Precedents or not, each situation is a bit different and while you have to be fair, part of being fair is evaluating each case by it's own distinct characteristics. I think there's no way Hamid should be suspended for either his tweets or losing it on the field. He was very emotional yes, and delayed leaving the field yes, but there was nothing about this behavior that was violent or threatening, that I saw. I think a fine might be appropriate, but a suspension is too much, and if it happens, I will be even more convinced there is a serious rift between this club and it's fans and the league office.
I am amazed with Najar's suspension. And if there is extra for Hamid I will be amazed. If they are deciding on precedent then they should look at Beckham's suspension, i.e. one game for essentially the same thing. After all, MLS shoved it down our throats to switch dates on us. Forced it down our throats to play on another day after making everyone (players and fans alike) take a dangerous trek on the highways. Seems to me that Don Garber is acting like a petulant child, it's time the owners gets rid of him (or risk further tantrums against their teams down the road).
It reminds me that punishment NBA gave to the Knicks against the Bulls some many years ago, suspending players for different playoff games. All leagues have this kind of problem once in a while.
It would interesting to read Marrufo's match report. He gave Najar a second yellow. It likely would have been for unsporting behavior. On the other hand, if it was for violent conduct, it should have been a straight red. But it was not. So Najar is getting a 3-match ban for two yellow cards. If I recall correctly, Marrufo also allowed NJ to restart on our half and the foul occurred on their side. It was bad officiating.
Just watched the SJ/Gals match where Gonzalez received a yellow for a deliberate elbow to the head of Lenhart that landed. It was not red because under MLS rules the Gals cannot be issued a red card before minute 30 in any match. Minutes later when SJ was about to take the resulting free kick, Lenhart deliberately walked into Gonzalez and Gonzalez went South American and flopped. Lenhart was then issued a yellow. MLS spokesman Twellman then said Lenhart (omitting mention of Gonzalez who had earlier ripped the league) needed to watch out or his team would play short a man. I remember a few years ago when BMac was on SJ and SJ and DC were playing at RFK. In the first few minutes of the match, BMac and a DC player went forehead to forehead around minute 10 (discussing dinner plans?). They were both shown red. No blows, to pushing, no cursing (that could be heard from row 1) etc; both red. Wow! I await the disciplinary committee's review and punishment of Gonzalez for calling out the league, then deliberating going after a player with intent to injure. If the MLS wants respect it needs to start by looking in the mirror.
Apparently from that article that Goff wrote, the player's union appealed the decision and/or argued against it. I don't know how common that is for the union to get involved. I assume DCU appealed on the same grounds as well.
Generally the union files the appeal, it is the player's collective bargaining representative and the right to appeal a league suspension is a collectively bargained right. DC United is part of management and is part of MLS, the body that suspended Najar. The suspension is a league act, enforced by its agent, DC United. Put another way, if Najar decided not to appeal, DC United would have no independent right of appeal.
There's a huge difference between a player showing up a game official and the league canceling a game due to bad weather when it comes to the overall reputation of the league. By the way, you're "done" with MLS, so this shouldn't matter to you, anyway.
There's a HUGE difference between a 3 game suspension on a *second yellow* for dissent and faffing around with snow shovels on NATIONAL TV trying to decide to cancel a game when said snow storm was predicted a week in advance and 11 buses of supporters had to drive through the stuff to get to your stadium. Oh and over half the players on the field AND the ref were willing to play. Which makes the league look worse: Young kid making a hot head move in a high pressure game or interns with snow shovels, indecisive league officials and a cold Frenchman?
And the reason they gave for canceling was danger to players and fans... Still, their asshattedness in no way excuses Andy's. 3 games is excessive, but you never put someone in that position. What concerns me as much is Russell's ability to go on 2 days rest -- and the fact that the league seems to have no sense of its own good. Najar is a young, talented marquee player. He makes interesting things happen. Young players, especially young Latinos who, let's say as a ferinstance, might watch the Mexican league -- they might see him and say, wow, he plays in MLS. I want to watch some more of that. You might find some of those guys in a town like, say, Houston. If the league really felt they needed to make a statement, fine. An extra game does that. But two extra games seems foolish for a league whose commitment to consistency is about zero and whose sense of marketing is less. Without Andy we have no choice but to bunker all game practically. Not good for us. Not good for the public. Not good for the league. These guys just have no common sense.
Thats just good business whether you like it or not. Thats more eyes from fairwether fans and more money than they could ever get if it was columbus vs montreal. At least they havent pulled the ridiculous crap the NBA pulled post Jordan.
When you fail to actually read what someone wrote, and give them shit about saying something they didn't say, that shouldn't matter to me? I'm starting to think you're just trolling.