Still very bitter about that decision. Up there with trading away Dunny and picking up hack England guy, not starting GBS, not getting Porter, FO pissing on the supporters, etc. etc. etc. Somewhere in my Top Ten Crew Damnations.
Sauro may not have a lot if miles left. His knee procedure isn't very common and longevity is anyone's guess. Not sure he could a full time starter for anyone.
KHT Three Crew players. One was always insane, one was the USMNT GOAT and respected professional. I would hate to see the third live punch drunk in his later years.
At the time, I was all for the Marshall trade. It wasn't an easy decision on my part. Love the guy, but the concussion issues were filling up the field of view. Feeling was he gets one or two more and that's it, career over. Trading him for something before he was going to be forced to retire in a year or two seemed like the better club move. Well. How'd that work out. Who could have possibly imagined the guy would still be rocking 5 years later and winning trophies. GGG even said at the time it was financially motivated. So, really this is all Tony's queso loving fault.
One thing I never understood... Why Chad, after his concussion problems, never wore one of those helmet/pad things as a preventative for yet more possible concussions and further brain injury. Like the ones Petr Cech used to wear. They might not look “stylish,” but, after previous concussions, isn’t your brain worth it?
What am I missing with Crognale? He was out fifth best option at CB last year so we loaned him out. Obviously Abubakar beat him out because he stayed with the Crew and Crognale went on loan. He is a quality USL CB and could probably fight for starting minutes elsewhere. I just don't see the need to unload or move someone else just because he is a homegrown. Mensah is our top CB. Williams, Abubakar, and Sauro all played well on rotation. Loan out or sell Crognale. Loan out Keita. Have both loans with the ability to pull them back in case of injury.
As I recall, Paule used one for a bit. He's likely one of the reasons the Crew were more concerned with Marshall. Paule still couldn't drive at least three years after he retired (had a friend who knew him personally in those days)--and I have no idea if he eventually recovered.
I think his minutes where him getting back to normal after a long break. Plus our CB tandem was very strong last year which naturally limited his minutes.
I have a very respected friend and he said the science behind those isn’t strong in terms of actual concussion prevention.
Sauro reads the game a lot better than Williams or Lalas Aboubacar. I would expect Mensah and Sauro to start with Aboubacar as a backup. Loan Crognale and Keita for playing time. Williams may be the odd man out. As time goes by, this league will bypass new players and especially college draft picks. They just don’t have the experience to step into a game day 18. That’s where USL comes in. The Crew is stupid to not look at Cleveland or Akron as an option.
Head gear (above) actually hasn’t proven scientifically valid in real testing. As I mentioned in a different thread this is what he does for a living.
Akron or the suburbs of Cleveland (John Carroll or NDC), could be a good place to play on the east side. Its a wealthy area where a lot of kids play soccer. Another place could be Lakewood high school if you want to play in the trendier part of town. This could be a cheap ticket during the summer, other than minor league baseball/whatever the Indians hope to produce this year. This team would have better name recognition and $ than the Cleveland NPSL team. You could also buy the rights to the Cleveland force/crunch, but i doubt they would not call it Crew 2. Its a good opportunity to tie the name to Cleveland.
Paule was part of a league initiative to get one player from each team to wear the headgear, in an (ill-fated) attempt to reduce the stigma attached to wearing them. It obviously didn't make any difference in that regard. As for prevention, they weren't much help with that, either. the thing is, your brain can still slosh around in your skull enough to get a concussion, lowering the impact outside won't affect it at all. In fact, you can get a concussion without hitting your head at all, provided there is enough motion involved.
With an expanded Mapfre training center, you could have the USL squad train with the first team throughout the week. Then head to Cleveland for games. I think a unique name would let local fans feel like it’s their team. We have the Clippers. I’ve never really thought of them as so and so player or come see this guy, it’s just more of our local baseball team with who ever happens to be playing that day. Such is minor league sports. Would The Crew own the rights to all the USL roster? I’ve heard different stories in this. Would we just loan players on a game by game basis? How does this work?
Have heard the same and there is some concern that wearing headgear (much like football helmets) could increase the number of high energy head collisions.
What is your opinion on the minor league baseball (and to a lesser extent, hockey) model, which has been tried by some MLS team (Houston/RGV, SJ/Reno) where the farm team is independently owned but the MLS team runs the soccer ops lock, stock, and barrel? I still favor having Crew 2 (Xoggz?) in League 1 and an affiliation with the proposed Cleveland Force team in the Championship for those who need to play at a level higher than Crew II but lower than Crew I.
We need to focus all Columbus area soccer fans towards attending the MLS Crew. Does anyone think Columbus can support a League 1 team too? I think Cleveland/Akron are close enough that it can be pulled off to just travel for games with local training. Plus with the Haslam connection in Cleveland, they’d be stupid not to leverage it. While I enjoy the USL talk, I suppose it’s premature. The lack of incoming talent is more concerning. Atlanta has set the bar high. How close do we want to approach their level?
Having a straight up Crew 2 team that plays at Mapfre and trains in the same facilities with the Crew is the obvious, most logical choice. Theyll play in front of a couple hundred people if they're lucky but attendance isnt a priority for a reserve team. If they consider outlying cities in the state....I would love for them to put it in Toledo, so I could go to every game. Toledo is a big minor league sports town. Our teams are farm teams for Detroit however and I think it would make more sense for us to be an affiliate of a future Detroit MLS team. Our UPSL team, now NPSL team....has been interested in joining USL League 1 in the future and the leagues interested in the market...so there could be room for a Crew takeover here but I think unlikely. Cleveland is the most logical place to set up shop outside of Columbus. Cede the southwest to Cincy....but stake a solid claim in the most populated part of Ohio, the Northeast. I would assume the Haslams would be interested in the Crew infiltrating the Cleveland market better and vice versa with the Browns and Columbus. I think Clevelands size would warrant a division 2 team...not 3.....and I kinda doubt USL would want the city to have a team in both leagues. The group actively working on founding a D2 team (who own the rights to the name "Force") could be a good partner for a RGV/Reno type of hybrid affiliation. We take care of the thousands of dollars in player and coaching costs for them....they provide a professional environment for our young guys to mature in and help us get exposure.
There's really very little evidence that it does a thing, and most medical sources consider them useless. A concussion occurs when your brain sloshes around inside your skull due to violently stopping the head's momentum. (There's probably a much better explanation but I don't do science). Padding the outside of the head does nothing to reduce the velocity of the head itself. Cushioning protects against sharp objects, not momentum. Pointyball players get concussions all the time and they're wearing $1000 high tech hard shell helmets.
I always thought that Cech wore it at first because he had to and then kept it on forever because he got used to it.