Rebranding of the Freedom

There will be games played in Maryland this year - just not by the Freedom. DC United Women will be playing their inaugural season at the Soccerplex in the W-League. See page 81.

 

I don't think she is dissing the whole Red Stars organization. I think this is a diss to Emma Hayes.
Ella Masar couldn't kick the ball in the ocean if she was standing in front of it during Emma Hayes days as coach of the Red Stars. And frankly we were all wondering if Emma knew what she was doing.

You could tell Ella was miserable there while Hayes was the coach. Omid Namazi came in and allowed Ella to be Ella for the most part and she recipricated with a nice scoring spree.

To me, this is more telling of Emma Hayes coaching then anything else.

 

Ella was miserable for most of her playing career in Chicago. For a year and a half she put everything she had into her team and was never really rewarded. MRAD is spot on by saying that this is more of a dig at Hayes than the Chicago organization.

 

"Ella Masar couldn't kick the ball in the ocean if she was standing in front of it during Emma Hayes days as coach of the Red Stars. And frankly we were all wondering if Emma knew what she was doing."

You're saying ella couldn't kick the ball in the ocean and you were ALL wondering if Emma knew what she was doing? haha so typical. Always the coaches fault right?

Ella is an average player in the WPS at best. When the National team players are with Magicjack she should be nice and cozy on the bench where she'll have time to write Omid a thank you letter.

 

When a player goes from being totally inept to being one of the league leaders at about the same time as a coaching change, yes. The only WPS leading scorer with a better goals-per-minute ratio than Ella is Marta.

 

Yes. In this instance it was the coach's fault. To some of us fans, Emma Hayes looked confused and experimented for a year and a half with the line-up and couldn't get it right. All that talent she had and couldn't put it together.
Ella Masar was played out of position and with the wrong approach the whole time. Emma's style, it seems suited no one on that team. Either year.

I was one who gave up on Ella after year one and into year two, believing she just didn't have it for the WPS. But then Omid Namazi came along, put her in the right roll, had her recieving the ball on the run at her feet and she responded with goals. He also gave her confidence.
A good coach can make an "average" player look like an MVP by bringing out the best of what they do. And there is no harder worker then Ella Masar.

 

"When a player goes from being totally inept to being one of the league leaders at about the same time as a coaching change, yes. The only WPS leading scorer with a better goals-per-minute ratio than Ella is Marta."

Ella had her college coach, janet rayfield on the bench when she started scoring as well. Maybe Magicjack should of signed Janet and Ella together if thats the only way that kid can find the back of the net.

Ella needed about 10 breakaways to score one at the w-league level when she played for the freedom.

How come Marta, Abby, Sinclair, Alex Morgan, Kelly Smith can score regardless of who shes playing for? because they're a different class of player...

 

Yes. In this instance it was the coach's fault. To some of us fans, Emma Hayes looked confused and experimented for a year and a half with the line-up and couldn't get it right. All that talent she had and couldn't put it together.
Ella Masar was played out of position and with the wrong approach the whole time. Emma's style, it seems suited no one on that team. Either year.

I was one who gave up on Ella after year one and into year two, believing she just didn't have it for the WPS. But then Omid Namazi came along, put her in the right roll, had her recieving the ball on the run at her feet and she responded with goals. He also gave her confidence.
A good coach can make an "average" player look like an MVP by bringing out the best of what they do. And there is no harder worker then Ella Masar.

and having her college coach there had nothing to do with it?

 

Bottom line is that Ella should of been more professional. Her blog makes her look ungrateful for the opprotunity she was given. Everyone gets on Hope for making comments....

 

Having said what I said, you may be right about that. Marcia McDermott was the GM and Janet Rayfield was never too far away.
Aside from how she felt as a player under Hayes, IMO Ella was treated well by the organization from what I saw.

Arnim Whistler and Marcia McDermott used to read these boards regularly and they still may. We all know Peter Wilt still does and posts once in a while.
So I'm sure Ella's comments will reach them.

But again, I think her comments were more geared toward player-coach relationship.

 

The fact is that she scored 3 goals on 10 shots despite playing only 321 minutes. I remember her as being a very exciting second-half sub and far more reliable (and less hair-pulling-out frustrating) that season than Christie Welsh, who had 81 shots but only 9 goals.

 

Here's some ticket info.
Looks like FAU will be doing the ticket sales for MajicJack:

http://www.fausports.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/032211aah.html

 

Interview with the elusive Borislow:

http://www.potomacsoccerwire.com/news/458/15701

 

...and they've finally updated the league-wide fixture list - 'magicJack's Washington Freedom' now discarded in favour of just 'magicJack' and all home matches will be at FAU: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/2011-wps-schedule

['Washington Freedom' site is still as is, frozen in time since before Christmas, and no separate site linkable from WPS site for 'magicJack']

---

Preserve your memories
They're all that's left you

- Simon and Garfunkel, 'Bookends Theme'

...still missing the old WUSA Freedom.

 

Did you read the whole blog?

Even though I still think it was more directed toward Emma, she does do a little dissing. The part about how she had dreams in Chicago and until Omid came in she lost sleep watching them fall through her fingers. Omid replaced Emma as coach.

And what about the comment that she feels appreciated more at MagicJack then her first 2 years combined? That's dissing to me.

When I first read the blog, I attributed that to her experience with Emma. But frankly after reading the blog again, she didn't imply one nice thing about Chicago. And this is the Club that put her face up front on billboards, etc. and treated her as the home-town girl-star. The kids flocked to her like a rock-star after the games in Toyota Park Club. Especially after she started scoring.
And even through her struggles fans were pulling for her to come out of her funk.

So the statement that she wasn't appreciated is not true.

Anyway, back to MagicJack.

 

she's just making comparisons.

she feels MORE appreciated by magicjack. that means she WAS appreciated in chicago. it's a matter of degree. more than once she also said that chicago was more professional.

i may be wrong, but i feel like we're being the thought police here on someone who is just blogging what she feels based on her daily experiences. she's not parsing language. just giving a quick account of how things are going.

 

Oh, horsesh_it! If she didn't want to prove a point why bring it up? Why make the comparison.
She says that in 2 weeks she's been appreciated more then the previous 2 years in Chicago, combined? If that's not a diss to the CRS, I don't know what is.

Hey, I like Ella. But it is what it is.
Her coaching comparison is right on, though.

 

it would be impossible not to make the treatment/surroundings/accomodation comparison. the digs alone seem a mile beyond what she experienced in chicago. and they're not the only thing.

so the feeling more appreciated comparison appear to be right on to me too. i didn't see anything wrong with it. i don't think anything less of chicago because of it. when i read it, it just occurred to me that borislow had more cash and ameneties to use. that's all.

 

Ok, well, you think that way. There are those who will read this blog and feel it was a dig at CRS. One former GM felt that way as well.

After reading it the first time, I thought it was just a little dig at Emma Hayes. But after reading it a couple of times I concluded there is a little dig at the CRS as well there and a little ass_kissing session for the new boss.

So in two weeks of practice with MagicJack, she has been shown more appreciation then 2 years of all those kids who lined up at Toyota Park to get her autograph and cheered "Ella, Ella", all those CRS fans who wore "Masar" on the back of their CRS shirts, the organization that put her face on billboards, promotional brochures, pamphlets, etc., people like me and ratdog who would "high-five" her as soon as she walked in TP Club after the game???
What more apprectaion in 2 weeks of practice with MJ would she have gotten?

Now if she's talking about appreciation in the locker room, that's a different story. That was between her and Emma.

I was there, at every home game the Red Stars ever played and some away games as well.

As I said, I like Ella Masar. Wish her well and hope to see her play in south Florida this summer.

 

except i didn't see anywhere in her blog where she even makes any reference to fans. they're just scrimmaging. the only things she talked about that could be compared were practice, physicals, and accomodations. and 2 of those she said that even tho they were easier on her, chicago was more professional.

 

Give me a break.

She said that she has been more appreciated since she's been at MJ then 2 years combined with Red Stars. She's been with MJ 2 weeks.

She said she felt more appreciated then her first 2 years combined. I feel wanted as a player and respected for what I can do, she says. She goes on to say that they aren't asking her to change her ways and to be the best Ella she can be.
To me that is a comparison to what happened to her in Chicago and from the written tone, I take she wasn't exactly happy in Chicago until Omid Namazi came along because she says there were times in Chicago that she wanted to quit.

I think we've discussed this to it's entirety.

Let's move on and await the next blog.