Nutmeg's Post & Labor Strife

[Beadling Boy]

A few years back, as the 2002 WCQ's were gearing up, Nutmeg wrote an eloquent post on what it meant to him to be a fan of the USMNT. It connected with many of the BS readership as evidenced by the many positive replies that thread received. As the current labor disagreement continues to further unravel and leave a bitter taste in many fans’ mouths, I thought back to that post which, ironically, suggested that these players don the ‘Stars & Stripes’ jersey for the pure love of the game – not $$$$. Unfortunately, “The” BS crash wiped out this and many other fine posts. Luckily, I remember that I had made a copy of that post because I liked it so much. I dug through cobwebs in the attic and some old soccer files I had and, luckily, found it (undated). Here it is:

“I don’t know why I’m making this post, really. Maybe it’s because I just read about Chuck Knoblauch’s latest bout in Minnesota and completely identified with the fans’ disgust. Not the way they acted upon their feelings, but the underlying sentiment behind their actions was one that I understood all too well. Just this past Sunday I sat in the Rose Garden looking at – not cheering for – a Blazer team representing my city get thumped upon by one of our most “hated” rivals, the LA Lakers. Had this happened about 10 years ago, what a tough loss that would have been. A 3 game sweep in which our team – my team – looked pathetic every game would have shamed me for days in years past. This time though, I just sat there entranced by my complete apathy towards what was happening on the court.

I sat and realized I had nothing in common, nothing with which to identify myself to, any of the Portland Trailblazers. My thoughts started to spill over to other teams I’ve cared about over the years. My beloved Mariners, the best team in baseball right now. The sad part is, they are also the poster children for spoiled athletes looking for greener pastures. Bye Junior. Bye A-Rod. Bye Big Unit. Never mind that this franchise and this city has helped define you as the athlete you now are. Never mind that you were so, so close to taking us to the series. The dollars came calling, I guess.

This isn’t an American sporting phenomenon. The biggest story of the Spanish Primera in 2001 will not be whether Real Madrid or Valencia make it to the Champions League final. It won’t even be if Real Madrid wins their 500th Liga crown. No, the biggest story, and scandal, of this past year was Madrid’s ransacking of Barcelona, and leaving with the city’s prized possession, Luis Figo. Minor details like Real Madrid’s millions in debt and Figo’s 59 million dollar price tag didn’t come into play here, either. Somehow, the bottom line came through and all of Catalunia had to control the gag reflex when seeing Figo in that hideous white jersey.

Then, I started thinking about my love for the national team, and it became crystal clear why above all else, this is the group of athletes I cheer for, scream at, even cry for at times with a passion I just can’t bring to any other sporting event. No matter what, this team and these players are mine. For good or bad, I’m stuck with them. As much as I’d like to, I can’t trade Razov for Batistuta. And I can’t take comfort in the fact that Spain, in desperate need of a forward to partner up with Raul, can’t swoop in and steal Clint Mathis from me while he’s on such a tear. And though it might be easier and cheaper for the USSF to buy Figo from Portugal instead of developing our own talent, I wouldn’t trade watching kids like Donovan, Beasley, and Convey reach their potential for even the possibility.

In many respects, I have shared these players’ backgrounds. I’ve been to the camps, I’ve hopped in the minivans to get to a Saturday morning game over an hour away. I’ve been to the premier try-outs. I’ve played in front of almost non-existent crowds. I loved every minute of it. In this sporting climate of a slow, steady migration toward the biggest buck, I’ve played a game for nothing more than the love of the game.

When I watch RFK stadium in Washington DC rocking and literally bouncing to the cheers of thousands of supporters. I’m absolutely thrilled for the players. I’ve got chills running up and down my spine. I know that even if the stadium were empty, those same players would still be playing that same game for that same goal and dream. The World Cup. The pride of your country. It’s not about the money. These guys get paid diddly for what they risk in injuries and time from their club teams. It’s so honest, so pure – It’s athletics stripped down to what it was meant to be.

As a fan, I never have to worry about the integrity of my team. They are playing for the exact same reason I would be playing if I had their ability. I identify with them, and I go through many of the same emotions they do in the course of a game and a qualifying campaign. It’s an experience that is so unique, so special that can only be understood by a soccer fan in the United States. I’ve become jaded in my support of other sports, but my enthusiasm towards the nats is a pure as it was 10 years ago.

I am part of the luckiest group of sports fans in the United States.”

I identified with many of Nutmeg’s sentiments regarding our USMNT. Unfortunately, as this bickering continues to destroy that special relationship many fans have with this team, I feel that any further backbiting, especially if WCQ’s have to be played with replacement players, will do irreparable harm to this unique bond.

During the last WCQ’s, I made sure I timed my customer visits to coincide with USMNT matches in the hosting cities and took timeout from already busy weekends to attend other games. As this mess continues to drag through the mud, I don’t know if I will take the time, or spend the money, to actually watch this team.

Both sides are wrong. It’s too bad the fans always get hurt when sport owners and players bicker. In the long run, though, it’ll be the sport in the U.S. that really gets hurt. It is so much bigger than either squabbling side, that it’s hard to put into words.

[Thomas Flannigan]

Great post. I saved Nutmeg's post at the time but I can't find it now. Inspirational. But maybe a lot of the players don't think that way. The fans do, sure.

[russ]

Good point(and superb use of the hard drive).

Maybe the Fed hopes that by breaking the union (the only reason I can see for the aggressive nature of the non-negotiation on their part) they can maintain this illusion of an amateur grass-roots relationship.

I say illusion because an organization that drives a surplus higher than my not-for -profit group's entire budget is big business and as divorced from the psychological desires of the rabid fan (as opposed to the corporate client) ,thus it can expect labor strife as part of its growth.

I have previously considered the possibility that a significant number of the amateur community could give a rat's ass about the qualification of the US or the survival of American professional soccer,other than the fact it brings money that they can use.They have no reason to support money going to pro players-how does that directly build the amateur game,specifically that part which drives the ongoing urgent business of getting middle class kids college soccer scholarships (which will exist no matter the outcome of this contract)?

The current players have no reason to care that much about what we think.The days of the Nat player being paid the bulk of their daily bread by USSF is over.If the US misses the 2006 WC,which of the current team will lose club salary because of that?I submit the number is zero.Some of the PAs attitude appears driven by the years of being lowballed and stiffed by the USSF.They want a seat at the table instead of the back wall of a hotel ballroom.

I remain sceptical of a settlement,even after the T&T game.

And you know what?I watched soccer when the US was a bunch of amateur non-qualifiers,and I'll watch soccer if we go back to that.I'll even watch a Nats game on TV if there's ever one on again after 2005.

The game for me is bigger than any one side - even my national team.

For the Fed and players it 's strictly business.So be it...

[Hatrick]

great post...both sides should read it.

[Thomas Flannigan]

The greatest Nutmeg post ever...along with 32 others!

[SABuffalo786]

That post just pissed me off even more.

[SgtSchultz]

To the Player's and the USSF:

You guys win.

I will no longer attend National Team Matches. Thanks for saving me the time and money.

[Northside Rovers]

Very will written. I wonder if he still feels that way now.

I know I am losing faith.

[Thomas Flannigan]

What we are seeing is a rapid meltdown in support from the hard core fans who have followed this team all over the world. It took decades to nurture this small but dedicacted group of fans.

Once grassrrots support is gone, don't count on EVER getting it back. Ask the White Sox, the Black Hawks and the Chicago Symphony about this. They thought they could push us around and everybody just stopped coming. Now they are on their knees begging us to come back. We are not coming back.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming, where the PA thinks they "deserve' to be paid almost 3 times as much as Brasil for a friendly!

[StillKickin]

great post...both sides should read it.
I was thinking that same thing. Wish there was a way we could assure that they do read it.

[stinky]

i can't agree with the post more. (except maybe the NBA and MLB references...i have no idea what he's talking about :D )

part of me want's to just say f this, i'm done with the national team. whenever the players walked out in the beginning to a great crowd, i always thought to myself that that must be the greatest friggin feeling the world, and i would honestly give anything to feel it. representing your country, against another country, in the greatest game on earth. the fact that the players now want more money as a condition for this privilege, is disgusting. i don't give a crap how much the federation is making. good for them. let them use the money to grow soccer in this country.

part of me wants arena to get entirely new players, coach them and qualify. then at the MLS games when the old National team players are close enough, i'll let them know what idiots they are (i will anyway in the upcoming season).

i'm all for bigger bonuses based on results in actual WC games and qualification to the successive rounds. for instance, if the players would get 500K each for reaching the semis in germany, i'll chip in. but to just show up and get more money to earn a spot on the team that gets there, no sir.

i just don't understand that if a company becomes more successful, there is an obligation to share the increased profits with every employee.

its almost like trying to date a girl again after she cheated on you. sure, you may love her again and get over it...but it'll never be the same no matter how sorry she is.

i wish the players would just realize how friggin lucky they are to be able to play soccer for the national team. if they're so friggin good, they'd be earning the money with their club team.

[Nutmeg]

First of all, it is great to see you around again, Beadling Boy. Thank you for digging this up - I lost it myself.

Very will written. I wonder if he still feels that way now.

I know I am losing faith.
Thank you. I don't feel the same way now. I've never been a fan of the USSF - you can find posts of mine that go years back calling out their ineptitude. But I foolishly believed that the players put on the colors primarily for the love of the game and their country. Silly me.

[onefineesq]

(snip) .... Thank you. I don't feel the same way now. I've never been a fan of the USSF - you can find posts of mine that go years back calling out their ineptitude. But I foolishly believed that the players put on the colors primarily for the love of the game and their country. Silly me. And it's easy to believe that because before people realize that money is available, it's easy for them to say the right things and act the right way. Once it's available, most people would stab their own mothers in the back. Watching families implode over pennies after the death of a relative, time and time and time again, has driven that point home to me well enough.

[Sandon Mibut]

I enjoyed reading Nutmeg's post - most of his posts, actually - and thank Beadling Boy for re-posting the essay, for lack of a better word, that started this thread.

To all the people that think the players are greedy, I ask one question: If the money is there, and they are the ones earning it, why shouldn't they be entitled to a bigger cut?

Yeah, it's an honor to play for your country. It's also a risk and inconvenience and a burden. It's time away from your family, a lot of travel and jeopardizing your primary means of income every time you step on the field. It's a lot of travel, cramped airplanes, unfamiliar hotel beds, lots of institutional hotel meals, living out of a suitcase, and a lot of stress and pressure.

Yeah, it's an honor and it brings absolutely great rewards. But it aslo comes with it a lot of hassles, risk and stress. You think the wives of players who have kids are thrilled when Daddy is gone for a week or two and leaving them with Jr. for a week. You think that burden doesn't carry over to the players' families?

These guys aren't machines. They have the same personal issues you have. They already have a full-time job and pretty demanding one at that. And, unlike us, they have a very finite window to make money in their career and anything that jeopardizes that - like playing a bunch more games - is not something to be done lightly.

I've read a lot of posts about people saying they would gladly play for the US for free. I don't disbelieve the posters who wrote that. But I would also point out that it's easy to say that when you haven't been in the position the players are in. And, it's a simply easy thing to say because it's NEVER gonna happen, much like me telling my wife that, if I could, I'd gladly be the one to give birth to the child or breast feed. You guys have as much chance of "playing for free" for the US National Team as I do of giving birth.

So, while I believe you when you say you would play for free, I suspect pretty strongly that if you were in the players' situation, you would see things much, much differently.

Again, the money is there. They are risking their livelihoods and putting their personal lives through stress to create said money. They want their fair share in return for their efforts and all they risk and incur.

Why is this unreasonable?

[StillKickin]

Thank you. I don't feel the same way now. I've never been a fan of the USSF - you can find posts of mine that go years back calling out their ineptitude. But I foolishly believed that the players put on the colors primarily for the love of the game and their country. Silly me.
Call me foolish, call me naive...but I still believe. I have to. I'm not bailing, not yet. (The guys still want to play while they negotiate.) Come on, players...don't let me down.

[Thomas Flannigan]

Personal story. Before the 2002 World Cup, Reyna said he would retire from national team duty after the World Cup. No one that I know criticized this. He had been a loyal player and wanted to be near his family and not flying back and forth across the Atlantic.
After the game, he exchanged jerseys, and Reyna came over to the US section. He pointed to the guy next to me and signaled for a US flag. He draped it around his shoulders and the US fans went nuts. Then he started kissing it. There was a strange look in his eyes and there weren’t too many dry eyes around me.
Two days later he announced that he had unretired from the national team and would serve if asked. I can’t be sure but I think that the unique, emotional experience may have had something to do with it.

What changed?


http://www.sams-army.com/index.php?Mlist=content_full&Article_id=84

[Femfa]

But I foolishly believed that the players put on the colors primarily for the love of the game and their country. Silly me.

I respect the sincerity of the feelings of betrayal - but I'm also puzzled by them. What does the Fed care if it's considered incompetent, or inept, if it still gets to do things exactly as it pleases? Imagine if the civil rights leaders of the '60s had decided merely that the Jim Crow laws really sucked and they were going to tell a few people that.

Unless someone actually stands up to the Fed, nothing there would ever have to change. Action is sometimes needed to force action.

When I read Nutmeg's old post, I feel ashamed, frankly. It recalls a time when national team games were a disgrace. Not because the quality of the players was low - the level of many countries was lower, even then, but those teams were still supported by loyal fans - but because our teams were so ignored.

Perhaps it's my own cultural upbringing, but to ignore something or someone is the ultimate insult. Hate or frustration - fans showing up to jeer - hey, it means on some level, they still care, they expected and hoped for more, they're here to express their feelings, because they have them. Ignoring is attempting to reduce something to nothingness. That's what people in the U.S. did to their own team for years, not out of malice (like I said, that would have been better, because they would have cared enough to do something deliberately), but through sheer apathy.

But our players refused to be dismissed in spite of being ignored. All those things that Nutmeg mentions in his posts - they went through and more.

And when they reached that success that he also references, when the crowds began to recognize their effort and ability, they may have taken a good long look around and said, "We've come a long way - it'd be nice to collect some fruits of the labor we've put in."

Somehow this sentiment nullifies all the endeavors of past? All the years of playing to small crowds, hostile crowds, all the hours of practice and recovery from injury, all the putting it on the line for team and country is wiped out because they believe that the Fed is being unfair?

Mediation vs Arbitration could be argued back and forth from the various perspectives - which I won't do because I honestly don't know enough about the details involved. Obviously, what arbitration had going for it was a quick resolution - which many on Big Soccer were for, regardless of whether it would possibly defeat the whole purpose of what the players were trying to accomplish. On a simple scale, arbitration could be seen as all-or-nothing, while mediation seems more of a bilateral compromise.

The players offering one to a Fed that has shown questionable negotiating tactics would seem to indicate their willingness and eagerness to reach a resolution. It was also the PA who accepted the Arena negotiated offer to play the T&T match.

The honor of country colors is only as good as what it represents. For a long time, our players put on their uniforms to play as pioneers, doing their best to raise profile of the game they so loved. If we truly respect that past sacrifice, wouldn't we be more than happy to raise the compensation for it now that their success has helped raise the funds to make it possible?

That's why I don't get this from another poster : "i just don't understand that if a company becomes more successful, there is an obligation to share the increased profits with every employee."

Compensation for the ones who were MOST responsible is a time-honored tradition of respect for the effort involved.

If we appreciate our players, the profit-sharing in the success that they have generated should be a laurel as de riguer as applause and cheers for goals scored. So I'm frankly confused at the player hostility here, just as I was as a child at national team games - when I would look out at crowds with only a few USMNT supporters - and wonder, "Why? This team represents us, and where is our support?"

[The Lieutenant]

Personal story. Before the 2002 World Cup, Reyna said he would retire from national team duty after the World Cup. No one that I know criticized this. He had been a loyal player and wanted to be near his family and not flying back and forth across the Atlantic.
After the game, he exchanged jerseys, and Reyna came over to the US section. He pointed to the guy next to me and signaled for a US flag. He draped it around his shoulders and the US fans went nuts. Then he started kissing it. There was a strange look in his eyes and there weren’t too many dry eyes around me.
Two days later he announced that he had unretired from the national team and would serve if asked. I can’t be sure but I think that the unique, emotional experience may have had something to do with it.

What changed?


http://www.sams-army.com/index.php?Mlist=content_full&Article_id=84

$$$$$$$$

And it pisses me off. I am in a world of NFL, NBA, and Nascar fans. I defend my soccer craze by explaining what Nutmeg wrote about.

That is why I became a soccer fan, and not just a player. The baseball strike of 1994 turned me off to the Dodgers, I was in DC when MLS started, that got me following the WCQs in 97.

I love MLS because after a match in Dallas (at the Cotton Bowl) we could stand by the exit to the visitors locker room and chat with the DC players and get our pictures taken. The guys seemed just like us.

The players on the national team played for pride in their country, at least that is what I thought. I watch "Our Way" the DVD and see the players and Bruce talking to the President on the phone for a pre-game call of support, just like we get from our leaders before we go off to fight, and it makes me think these guys are like me. Doing the job because they love it because they love their America, not for the money. Now I know they aren't like me. They are no different than those in MLB....hell they even said they want to be on the same level as other pro athletes in our country. It makes me sick.

$$$$$

[Sandon Mibut]

$$$$$$$$

And it pisses me off. I am in a world of NFL, NBA, and Nascar fans. I defend my soccer craze by explaining what Nutmeg wrote about.

That is why I became a soccer fan, and not just a player. The baseball strike of 1994 turned me off to the Dodgers, I was in DC when MLS started, that got me following the WCQs in 97.

I love MLS because after a match in Dallas (at the Cotton Bowl) we could stand by the exit to the visitors locker room and chat with the DC players and get our pictures taken. The guys seemed just like us.

The players on the national team played for pride in their country, at least that is what I thought. I watch "Our Way" the DVD and see the players and Bruce talking to the President on the phone for a pre-game call of support, just like we get from our leaders before we go off to fight, and it makes me think these guys are like me. Doing the job because they love it because they love their America, not for the money. Now I know they aren't like me. They are no different than those in MLB....hell they even said they want to be on the same level as other pro athletes in our country. It makes me sick.

$$$$$Lt, are you turning down the hazard pay you'll get in Iraq? Afterall, you love America. Why shouldn't your love for your country be enough? You don't need more money for that, do you?

As I said on the other post, I have the utmost respect and appreciation for your service to our country. But I damn sure don't expect you to be uncompensated for it.

And I don't expect the players to be uncompensated, either.

[The Lieutenant]

Lt, are you turning down the hazard pay you'll get in Iraq? Afterall, you love America. Why shouldn't your love for your country be enough? You don't need more money for that, do you?

As I said on the other post, I have the utmost respect and appreciation for your service to our country. But I damn sure don't expect you to be uncompensated for it.

And I don't expect the players to be uncompensated, either.

Turn it down?

Did I ask for it?

Call your congressman, tell him/her to eliminate it. I don't need it. ********, I would do my job for half the pay I get now. It is nice, so I take it. Just like the national team players should take their little bonus and put on the jersey.