Nutmeg
13 Apr 2004, 07:51 PM
To be honest, I’ve been surprised at the amount of attention leveled at Freddy Adu. For a long time, many US soccer fans have waited for that one transcendent star that would raise the sport from obscurity. I’ll fess up. I didn’t think Adu would be that guy. Not this year. In a couple of years, maybe, but only after he’d actually accomplished something.
But that is just me not paying close enough attention to the American sports landscape. I am still stuck in the mode where Michael Jordan was at least in part a big deal because he hit that jumper that beat Georgetown and gave Carolina the title. Queue the hype – this guy just might turn out to be good. That’s not how it works these days. Carmelo Anthony carries Syracuse on his back to Jim Boeheim’s first national title, and we’re talking about…LeBron James? Huh?
A part of me still doesn’t get it. And maybe that’s why I missed the boat on Adu. Silly me.
But I won’t let that stop me from telling MLS and anyone else who will listen where I think they are missing the boat. That boat isn’t just off the dock, folks. It is out of the harbor and off to sea. You’ll just have to wait and catch the next one. The bad news? These boats don’t come along very often, and there sure as hell isn’t a schedule.
The boat I am talking about are those precious transcending moments. Every successful league has had them. Usually they involve the league’s biggest stars in the league’s biggest games. When I say “Joe Namath,” what do you think of? If you follow football a la Joe Sixpack, one of the first thought’s that comes to your mind is the “guarantee.” When I say “Magic,” NBA fans think “Bird” and the glorious rivalry that elevated the league to new heights. Along the way, there were quite a few of those transcending moments I am talking about. Baseball? Don’t get me started. The sport lives off of its past transcending moments. Golf just had one of its own this weekend. 10 years from now, when somebody says “Phil Mickelson,” people will think of that ridiculous jump and his first Major win at Augusta.
Last year, Major League Soccer had perhaps its very first transcending moment. Maybe for the first time in the league’s history, a game held every single person who witnessed it completely and totally hostage to the drama and intensity playing out in front of them. The game had it all. A proud champion unwilling to concede its title? Check. An insurmountable lead? Check. A passionate and loud fan base cheering on the home team? Check. The league’s biggest and brightest star? Check. A victory snatched in the last dying seconds of the game in the most dramatic of ways? Check.
The stars aligned, MLS. You capture these moments. You bottle them. You shove them down people’s throats each and every chance you get. Forget how many years you have been in existence. This is the history people care about. I don’t know how long baseball has been around, but I sure as hell know about Willie Mays and his over-the-shoulder no-look catch. That is history. I couldn’t tell you how many teams the NBA consisted of its first year of existence, but I sure as hell know the call “Havlicek stole the ball! Havlicek stole the ball!” That is history. There isn’t a sport I know less about than hockey, but one of my earliest memories are the emotions I felt upon hearing those words, “Do you believe in miracles!” You see, MLS, that is history.
So was San Jose’s unbelievable comeback against LA. At least, it could have been your history, if you’d only capitalized on it. But you are still standing on a dock waiting for a boat you didn’t even know has already set sail.
Don’t let it happen again, or the league’s history might only be how many years it existed.
But that is just me not paying close enough attention to the American sports landscape. I am still stuck in the mode where Michael Jordan was at least in part a big deal because he hit that jumper that beat Georgetown and gave Carolina the title. Queue the hype – this guy just might turn out to be good. That’s not how it works these days. Carmelo Anthony carries Syracuse on his back to Jim Boeheim’s first national title, and we’re talking about…LeBron James? Huh?
A part of me still doesn’t get it. And maybe that’s why I missed the boat on Adu. Silly me.
But I won’t let that stop me from telling MLS and anyone else who will listen where I think they are missing the boat. That boat isn’t just off the dock, folks. It is out of the harbor and off to sea. You’ll just have to wait and catch the next one. The bad news? These boats don’t come along very often, and there sure as hell isn’t a schedule.
The boat I am talking about are those precious transcending moments. Every successful league has had them. Usually they involve the league’s biggest stars in the league’s biggest games. When I say “Joe Namath,” what do you think of? If you follow football a la Joe Sixpack, one of the first thought’s that comes to your mind is the “guarantee.” When I say “Magic,” NBA fans think “Bird” and the glorious rivalry that elevated the league to new heights. Along the way, there were quite a few of those transcending moments I am talking about. Baseball? Don’t get me started. The sport lives off of its past transcending moments. Golf just had one of its own this weekend. 10 years from now, when somebody says “Phil Mickelson,” people will think of that ridiculous jump and his first Major win at Augusta.
Last year, Major League Soccer had perhaps its very first transcending moment. Maybe for the first time in the league’s history, a game held every single person who witnessed it completely and totally hostage to the drama and intensity playing out in front of them. The game had it all. A proud champion unwilling to concede its title? Check. An insurmountable lead? Check. A passionate and loud fan base cheering on the home team? Check. The league’s biggest and brightest star? Check. A victory snatched in the last dying seconds of the game in the most dramatic of ways? Check.
The stars aligned, MLS. You capture these moments. You bottle them. You shove them down people’s throats each and every chance you get. Forget how many years you have been in existence. This is the history people care about. I don’t know how long baseball has been around, but I sure as hell know about Willie Mays and his over-the-shoulder no-look catch. That is history. I couldn’t tell you how many teams the NBA consisted of its first year of existence, but I sure as hell know the call “Havlicek stole the ball! Havlicek stole the ball!” That is history. There isn’t a sport I know less about than hockey, but one of my earliest memories are the emotions I felt upon hearing those words, “Do you believe in miracles!” You see, MLS, that is history.
So was San Jose’s unbelievable comeback against LA. At least, it could have been your history, if you’d only capitalized on it. But you are still standing on a dock waiting for a boat you didn’t even know has already set sail.
Don’t let it happen again, or the league’s history might only be how many years it existed.