If it's the same as Colin Clark for Houston it'll be 3 games. But I don't know if who you direct it at (ball-boy versus another player) has any bearing on it. It shouldn't, but with the DisCo you never know...
I have to disagree with you there. I think there is a big difference between cussing out a player and a child. I get (and support) that they want to get homophobia out of the sport, but I don't think either one of these guys was really commenting on the sexual orientation of the person he was yelling at. Their reptilian minds came up with the worst thing they could call someone. It's like that encroachment call, the whole thing is stupid, but follow the simple rule (no homophobic slurs) and we won't be subjected to the stupidness.
I will have to slightly disagree, because the insult that is being punished isn't the insult to the person you directed it at. The punishment is for the denigration of an entire people by inferring through the insult that the entire group is inferior. For instance, if Burch had called him "a jerk" that would not have been punished, because he was just insulting the player. And two adults on the field are used to that. But if he had called one of the ball-kids a jerk, he might have faced rougher punishment. But in this case, he is being punished for insulting the gay-lesbian population as a whole, so it doesn't really matter to whom he directed it. I know it may seem stupid and arbitrary and some people will say - yeah, but people have said it for so long they don't even really mean it and aren't thinking of it that way - but trust me - if you hear people over and over again put down someone else by comparing them to you - it still matters, so kudos to the league for trying to educate people about it, because that is basically what they are doing through this punishment... EDIT: And I should make it clear that I'm guilty of this as well - growing up in a different time when things like this were accepted - I catch myself saying similar things to this on occasion. I'm sure I'd be fined and suspended a lot if my every word was being recorded and broadcast, so I'm not saying Burch (or Clark) is a bad guy...
Does anyone else find it slightly jarring to have a picture of a bright green iguana next to an avatar of two anime chicks motorboating? I think it's a good time to leave for the weekend. See you all on Monday to discuss whatever happens on Sunday.
I support the league cracking down on that stupid crap. I guess the point I was trying to make is that in the first situation, the player not only used a homophobic slur, he cussed out a kid, so he should be held accountable for 2 screwups.
I still cannot believe Rafa Marquez won the 2011 Gold Cup Fair Play Award. Whoever chose him for that should be ashamed of themselves. He is a tool and he cannot get out of MLS fast enough.
This is the great 2012 MLS Philosophical question: Who is the bigger douche-bag? Rafa Marquez of Stephen Lenhart?
I like having home and away for both rounds of the playoffs, but the teams are playing a lot of games in a short time. It looks like the players are pretty beat up in the Eastern game.
Good! On another note, Salazar really screwed the pooch on that missed red card at the end of the first half. Houston should have been down a man and the guy that should have been off scored the tieing goal.