According to the latest article on QuakeMagic Also among the casualties was 2003 playoff hero Chris Roner. The Cal-Berkeley grad was attempting a comeback following a radical cartilage transplantation procedure on his right ankle last year. According to Kinnear, Roner's inability to recover quickly following practices and games led to the decision to part ways with the utility man. "I think it's safe to say that right now, [the ankle] still hurts him," added Kinnear. "I think this year he just needs more time [to heal]. He's the first guy to have had this surgery and try to play professional sports, so it's kind of an unknown for everybody."
Seems like this opens up a spot for a foreign acquisition. I'm guessing cutting senior roster players after 3/1 would cost teams 5k against the cap.
Troy Dayak is the onlyt original 1996 San Jose team member left, though he missed a few years due to injury. The last original team member to play non-stop for San Jose was current assistant coach John Doyle, who finally retired from playing after the 2000 season. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Not surprised. I was never sold on Chris. He was often shakey at right back and a complete disaster the few times he played defensive midfield. Add to the fact that he sat out a whole year. Should we be looking on eBay for more Quakes stuff from Chris?
He could get into art school, or write op-ed pieces... ----- Still, not much of a surprise--guy was unhurt and couldn't recover enough in time. Also made expendable with the signing of Barrett, Waibel reupping, and the trades to get Davis, Clark, and so forth. A project at best, who would gotten a chance to play in 2004 had he not been injured. Was hot (see 2003 playoffs) and cold (see OG during 2003 MLS Cup, but trivial given the result) at that. He gets a major nod for his goal during the comeback classico in 2003 against Los Angeles... Good luck to him--he's intelligent and has that "Renaissance" quality to keep him busy outside of the game. Cheers!
Well, it sucks that he never recovered from that nasty injury. Who knows, if not that injury, maybe he could have developed into a really good player. Good bye, and good luck, Chris.
its sad because so many people are going to remember him from that unfortunate MLSCup 2003 match, he just had an off game
it's never good to see somebody unable to walk away on his own terms. here's hoping things work out for chris. woulda been nice to see him get one last run with the quakes.
It's too bad for Chris. Gives me flashbacks to Scott Bower. Maybe Scott and Chris can form a boy band....
Really? People are so shallow that they'd stereotype a player for life just because of one bad game? Oh, well, at least Chris' team won their championship. Sincerely, Bill Buckner
It's gotta be really frustrating if MLS Cup '03 is his last MLS match. I'm sure he wanted to get back in a game and start putting that behind him. And just wondering, if he had to have "radical cartilage transplantation" surgery, and MLS Cup '03 was his last match before that surgery, how fit was he in that game or any number of games leading up to that? Or did he injure his ankle after MLS Cup '03 somehow??
I agree with Ringo 100%. Chris is a classy guy and had a world of potential. During a run of bad form for the rest of the team in 2003, he was the best thing we had to watch. I remember him simply destroying the left side of the Galaxy attack in a game in LA. I had high hopes that he would be Comeback Player of the Year this year. And of course, the goal... one of the greatest moments in Quakes history. I for one hope his recovery is complete with a little more time and he gets another shot.
I asked him that very question last year at the SWTQ. He told me that was playing on the injury in those last three games, something he probably shouldn't have been doing. Not only did it aggravate the injury, but the injury is certainly responsible, at least in part, for some of the screw-ups in the 2003 Cup game (Chris didn't say that last part, I did). Of course, Chris is not the first gung-ho athlete who wouldn't stay off an injury when he/she should have.
Thanks for the info. Maybe he shouldn't have played on the injury but it didn't seem to be affecting him in an obvious way (thinking about the classico header where he got some good hops to put that one in). But to his credit doesn't seem like he ever used the injury publicly as an excuse. There's a scene in the DVD where, in the aftermath of the 2003 MLS Cup victory, Yallop sees Roner, and says something like "Chris, we won!". I think Roner was probably apologizing and Yallop was saying forget about it, what are you talking about, we won.