Manic in the Year Zero; or, What Hurts Most is the Lack of Respect
Posted on December 2, 2011 5:25 pm
Holy mother of pearl – this was the sixth annual expansion draft. And the seventh in eight years. I don’t THINK there’s going to be one next year, but that’s got to be some kind of record.
I should, and I wish I could, just link Zach Woolsey’s Pulitzer-worthy summation of the Chimpact Affair:
Jesse Marsch, the coach, is a bit of an asshole.
*Battlestar Galactica slow clap*
It’s very, very easy to believe the speculation that this is personal, and while I greatly enjoy the rare times when American players feud with each other almost as much as I enjoy criticizing Brian Ching, I think it’s only fair we do it based on what he’s said publicly. Before the Expansion draft, Ching went into the most detail with Jose de Jesus Ortiz at the Houston Chronicle:
“I feel like my home is here now,” said Ching…. “This is where I want to be – with the Dynamo. I would want to play in the new stadium, and if I can’t, it would hurt a lot.
“But if (the Impact) pick me, I’ll be at the new stadium as part of the front office, not as a player.”
….
“I just know (Marsch) as a competitor on the field. He’s a competitive guy. He’s a guy that’s been successful in the league. I have nothing against him, but I wouldn’t play for him.”
….
“The franchise is my home,” Ching said. “My identity is with this franchise. I don’t see myself playing for any other franchise in MLS. My loyalties are here.“If (the Impact) pick me, obviously I’m going to retire and work in the (Dynamo) front office. It would hurt me deeply, because I want to be a part of the new stadium. I’ve never been (with) a franchise that had its own stadium. I’ve been in the league for 11 years now, and I would like to be a part of a place that I could call home, I guess.”
Even by American sports standards, personal tiffs in MLS tend to stay out of the public eye. Today’s opponent may be tomorrow’s teammate, after all, so the culture does not encourage the holding and nursing of grudges. “I wouldn’t play for him,” then, is seen as a studied, deliberate, and personal insult.
However plausible a Ching-Marsch enmity might be, though, that was only one part of a sentence in a sea of pro-Houston oratory. I thought it was unwise for Ching to draw attention to himself like this, but if the idea was to become a permanent and beloved demigod amongst Dynamo faithful, well done.
But it was strategically silly. Ching could have said the same things after Marsch had picked him. James Riley was very gracious on his way out of Seattle, and no one in Sounderland seems to begrudge him wanting to continue playing soccer for money. Only the very dimmest Dynamo fan would have felt betrayed by Ching suiting up for an expansion team at the end of his career.
It’s not unheard of for a player to retire rather than report to a new team – Jackie Robinson is probably the most legendary example, although almost no one remembers today that the Brooklyn Dodgers were dumb enough to trade Robinson. It’s much more common for players to stay one or two years too long, which actually makes Ching’s threat quite refreshing…assuming he sticks to his guns.
Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle was nice enough to write back to me and clarify Ching’s contract situation – forgive me if all of you knew this already – but Ching’s contract was not guaranteed until he started 19 games this season. MLS Cup was that 19th game, and so Ching now has $412,500 reasons not to retire. And the Impact had a similar number of reasons not to take him.
Ortiz had some fantastic advice for Ching – report to Camp Marsch, then have season-ending surgery. I would do it, but then, that’s why Brian Ching plays soccer and I just blither about it. I’ve been comparatively unimpressed with Ching’s class over the years, what with him taking credit for MLS Cup wins he had nothing to do with, but he’s never struck me as the kind of player who would even consider half-assing it.
And there’s the issue of Ching having said in public he would never play for Marsch. What if, heaven forbid, Ching did report, did apply himself as a professional, and did have a legitimate injury? No one in the world would believe him. The cloud over his legacy would not be one of those soft and fluffy cotton ball ones. And while it’s hard to believe a nice guy like Joey Saputo would refuse to pay his salary…oh, wait, no, it’s actually very easy to believe.
The Dynamo put Ching, and themselves, in this position by trying to game the system. Houston has taken its share of abuse this past week, almost all of it deserved – the rapid re-signing of Bobby Boswell does argue against the idea that Boswell and not Ching should have been exposed, so Chris Canetti probably made the smart move there.
But Montreal had the right – nay, the duty – to make the most effective picks possible. Ching and the Dynamo were basically living out the Mr. Mike version of Uncle Remus, where the animals respect Br’er Rabbit’s wishes and skin him alive.
Like Salt Lake did with Jason Kreis in the Toronto expansion draft, Houston gambled and lost. So make a deal or don’t make a deal, Dyanmo, but quit complaining about it. It’s unseemly in nearly-champions. You don’t hear Kansas City whining about having to reacquire Seth Sinovic, after all.
In Houston’s meager defense, exposing the high-salaried icon is a long-standing tradition in MLS expansion drafts. The Revolution left Joe-Max Moore out to dangle in 2004. The Quakes dangled Ronnie Ekelund that same year. In 2006, Toronto could have picked Nick Rimando instead of Kreis, and picked up Cobi Jones and Stuart Holden while they were at it. The Sounders turned down Eddie Gaven and Ben Olsen. The Union could have picked Chris Wondolowski in 2009, which would have haplessified the Quakes even worse than they are today. The record for most club icons exposed in one year has to belong to Kansas City – the Wizards offered up both Tony Meola AND Preki in 2004.
Houston thought they could get away with similar shenanigans, and were incorrect. Or, Jesse Marsch thought he could mess with Brian Ching, and was incorrect. We’ll see how this story plays out, but no one involved was forced into this situation.
I doubt Montreal’s maneuverings will end up being the most life-altering manipualtions in the history of the expansion draft. It’s hard to see anyone beating the day that Bob Bradley demanded that the Galaxy include Chris Armas to complete a Jorge Campos for Kevin Hartman and Danny Pena deal. Had Bradley not held Hartman and Pena hostage, the Fire probably would have folded, and Bradley would be famous for having made the worst trade in MLS history.
Expansion drafts, like so much of Major League Soccer, treat grown men like action figures. And fans forget that it’s no small thing to uproot your life and your livelihood for an uncertain future thousands of miles away in a different country – especially for the middle class salaries MLS players get. Ching makes a much worse example of this than poor James Riley, who has been exposed all but one year since 2006, and picked three separate times. It’s very hard to feel sympathetic for someone whose absolute, utter worst case scenario is to play soccer in Montreal for over half a million loonies, or whatever they call the money with the old English broad on it.
But if Brian Ching wants to choose who he wants to work for, hey, slavery’s been illegal in Canada since 1833. Since we’re going to do this anywhere from two to four or more times, it would be nice to find a way to find a process that treats players like people (or even employees). Real life Jesse Marsch should not be more callous than me running my West Bromwich Babylon fantasy team.
Jerseys look like the old KC Wizards jerseys
Not a bad take. It was silly to posture so much before the draft.
One rather poorly thought out statement in your post: Of course SKC is not complaining about having to re-acquire Sinovic. They made out like bandits! They shed a $300k a year reserve AND received allocation money. They would have done worse had they exposed Arnaud and lost him.
What I don’t get is people saying Marsch is not being a jerk. Of course he is but that is his right to be jerk and Houston’s right to call him on it.
What people don’t get is that Houston is better off now. Ching is disrespected and screwed by Marsch, and Houston not only doesn’t need a deal for Ching — they CANNOT do a deal for Ching that gives anything of real value. Houston was over (or up against) the cap with Ching’s cap hit guaranteed to rise, and no allocation available. If they do any deal for Ching it throws Houston over the cap.
The only way Montreal unloads Ching now is to give Houston allocation money like he did with SKC. And he still will not get Hainault.
Jerk’s do stupid things. As you mentioned, exposing poor value veterans has a long past-time. Marsch puffed up like a blow-fish and decided to show everyone how willing he is to be tough for his team. So now Montreal and Ching lose, Houston moves on, and Marsch has justly earned the disrepect and enmity of folks who think Marsch should consider a player’s interest before trying to use them as a pawn.
If Houston wanted him badly enough, they would have protected him.
Good for Marsch not getting pushed around by a team trying to protect extra players. F*** you, Ching. Go retire, you baby.
Unless she recently finished, IIRC Ching’s wife is a medical resident, a VERY difficult job to move from, especially into Canada, which would totally screw up her licensing. Sure, Brian can support both of them, but it would be a very taxing decision to put all that education on hold. I can understand Ching being upset about having to move, especially if Montreal is only using him as trade bait.
Despite what they may say publicly, I’m not 100 percent convinced Houston is really that upset about Ching’s selection.
I thought I was the last remaining fan of the movie “Panic in Year Zero”. Frankie Avalon was great as the kid, but I love the father and his ridiculous adherence to American values in the face of complete panic. I mean, things were all year zero out there and he forces the store owner to hand over the goods his family needs to survive, and then he writes the owner a check.
Yeah, you show em Marsch. Show em by screwing over your own team and a veteran player. While Houston laughs at you. But you showed em.
Expansion drafts are not solely about getting players who you feel can make, play for, and contribute to your team: they are, in the largest sense, about improving your team by acquiring assets. Some of those assets are used to acquire other assets. ‘Twas ever thus.
Montreal did nothing wrong in this scenario (though I know Houston fans need a scapegoat). Marsch would have been guilty of malpractice had he NOT chosen an asset like Ching (who obviously has value) instead of someone else just so Houston fans can have, at best, a neutral opinion of him. Boo freaking hoo.
Obviously, it’s a huge deal to potentially have to uproot your family for your job…but this is the business Brian Ching has chosen and expansion drafts are (check me if I’m wrong) collectively-bargained, with a players association representing….oh, I don’t know, players or something. Ching would be well within his rights to decide NOT to play in Montreal, or not to play anymore, or choose any one of a number of options available to him. No one would begrudge him that.
But the people acting as if Jesse Marsch somehow owed it to Brian Ching or to the game or to me or to you or to the Texian Army not to let such a great statesman and competitor like Brian Ching go out like this…well, you’re idiots, quite frankly. Jesse Marsch’s primary responsibility is to the Montreal Impact, and to that end he has to make whatever moves he believes have a chance to make his team as competitive as possible as quickly as possible. If that means trying to be better than the Portland Timbers or Toronto FC pisses off people in Houston who were handed a championship-caliber side, well, those are the breaks.
To quote Bob Sugar, “It’s not show friends. It’s show business.”
“Haplessified.” I love it!
We’ll see how it plays out, but when you look at what else was out there to pick (Cruz, for example), it’s hard not to say that Marsch wasted the pick.
The only way I can see this working out for Marsch is if Dynamo do something stupid and pay way more for Ching than what he’s worth.
If that happens, the terrorists win.
Nice Norm Macdonald reference, Dan. It truly is the lack of respect that is most bothersome
But Ching’s contract is not with Houston but with MLS. This is no different from a transfer in real life. It happens to hundereds of folks every day.
This seems like it would take more than a two second Google search, so that’s more research than I’m willing to undertake. But while I remember a Dilbert cartoon in the 90′s along the lines of “We’re not firing you, we’re simply transferring you to our office on a frozen asteroid in the Kuiper Belt. If you choose to resign rather than report for work, that’s your decision”, I think there are actually consequences to using relocation as an excuse to void an employment contract. (Justin O’s comment that the Dynamo may not be totally heartbroken over gaining $400,000+ in salary cap room is well taken indeed.)
Of course, KT will correctly and immediately point out that this sort of thing is 150% certain to have been foreseen in the CBA, so in this particular case it’s a non-issue. Ching should have picked another line of work if he didn’t want to be shuffled around randomly, I guess. But “screw you, I ain’t reporting, trade me” is a time-honored, if not beloved, tactic. I usually associate it with famous Colts quarterback John Elway, but unfortunately Danny Szetela is probably a more accurate MLS example, considering the player power we’re talking about here.
Well said!
I completely agree with you. Marsch has the responsibility to do whatever it takes, within the legal boundaries, to WIN. Obviously, he thought that taking Ching was one of the better choices, and he did it. People need to realize that there was not an “un-written” doctrine stating that Montreal shouldn’t take Ching. Now if Ching wants to retire, let him. He will be the one having to live with that decision.
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