Again, this is good. Her age and looks are immaterial. She makes her arguments adeptly. In the old days, we would say that she is skilled at rhetoric. Now, we say that she is an effective communicator. It's a fine ability for a politician to have.
I'd have a beer with Rongen- hilarious dude. But we're already past his best days, no matter what happens here. Once we get back on our feet, I'm going to remember this disrespectful talk from you all.
I'm an Atlanta fan, and I understand it. D.C. was the team I followed most closely prior to Atlanta getting a club.
Back in the day, I actually did have a beer with Rongen, and yes, he is a good guy to hang with and talk soccer. I caught him trying to foist off some bullshit story about why the Revs declined the option on CoIo Farias, a tough-as-nails DM from Argentina who was their best player. He said he was on loan, but I knew he was on a one-plus-one contract, with a raise for the second year. Then he laughed and admitted how "budget guidelines" were always a factor with the Revs. The hell you say! I would have to say that the early years of MLS were truly special, when fans actually could meet various US soccer big-shots and they'd generally be happy to talk with fans and appreciated not only being recognized, but that fans could actually have reasonable conversations with them. I remember playing 20 questions with Sunil Gulati on what exactly a "discovery player" was. He eventually confirmed more than a few Ancient Chinese Secrets of MLS inner workings. I would say the vast majority MLS coaches were approachable, well except for that arrogant prick Bruce Arena, who considered it an affront to his very existence that he actually would allow you (just for this time) to breathe the same air as he did. And his protege, Bob Bradley, who was not quite as bad, but would be a walking excuse machine. Dave Sarachan was off-putting in a press conference and when asked to comment on things, but he was much better when I met him in a different setting later on.
...said the DC United fan, circa 2000. Look, all I'm saying is that you should savor what you had in 2017 and 2018 because there is a real possibility that Darren Eales might've caught lightning in a bottle one time and that it might never be that good ever again.
I do recall the Chicago Fire winning a title in its first MLS season. That propelled the Fire to become the spectacular franchise that it is today.
Never had a beer with him, enjoyed heckling him when he was DCU's gaffer. And found him to be absolutely great in this absolutely great documentary...
With Almiron gone, we might not be that good again. But there was still a lot of room for improvement- despite being that good, we didn't crush everything in our path the way we should have, especially NYRB- we gifted them the Shield thingy at the end of the season and didn't finish with the points record like we should have. But we should be an elite franchise for the forseeable future, and thus good enough for a Cup run most years.
...said the DC United fan, circa 2000. Life comes at you fast in Major League Soccer, and if you have expectations of an MLS Cup run “most years,” you’re going to find out that expectations are prebuilt disappointments. The only expectation that any fan of an MLS team should have is that you’re gonna eat a lot of shit at some point. There is no team for whom that has not been true.
The Galaxy have missed the playoffs five times in 23 years, currently haven't qualified for them since 2016, won the Wooden Spoon in 2017, and suffered through the coaching reigns of Frank Yallop, Ruud Gullit, and Curt Onalfo. Seattle? Well, admittedly they haven't eaten much shit so far. Still, the arc of the MLS universe is long, and it bends toward shit-eating.
As a Revs fan, we had a nice run in the Stevie Nicol era, but 0-4 in Cup Finals. Of course, you have to be pretty good to even make it to 4 finals, but it still is pretty raw for most of us. Not to mention the 2014 run, when Jermaine Jones single-handedly brought us to the brink. And in each instance, one or two off-season tweaks could have brought us the final piece of the puzzle, but that never happened, ever. As for now, we can be like the Springsteen song Glory Days, and look back fondly on our Golden Era of a Super Liga title and the 2007 Open Cup. We are going to be terrible for a long, long time. We've come to the conclusion that being a Revs fan is being on a runaway train to doom and annihilation, where brief spasms of joy are only there to point out the total hopelessness of all human endeavor. Aside from that, we're a pretty happy bunch!
As a DCU supporter there has only been one noteworthy season in the last decade, 2013 when we won both the US Open Cup and the Wooden Spoon.
Two titles, actually. Nabbed the USOC as well as the MLS Cup. Three more of the former, but naught since '06, IIRC...
As a libertarian, I reject that the government has the right to tell a corporation how to run their business. And if they happen to crash a couple of jets into the side of a mountain, the invisible hand of the market will force them to change their way.