You won't be going to any more games this season then??? I think you'd feel better if your club was burning up the top of the table.
I agree with your points on single entity, though I do believe that single entry is a girl with a very narrow-minded view of sex. (just kidding) Honestly, though SE may not be a favorite, I do think that it is the way to go at least until every team has a different owner.
Thanks to Bigsoccer for setting this up and thanks to Don Garber for his answers. This one made me laugh: Don, it's not that I didn't 'like' it - it SUCKED. MLS probably lost fans because of that lame ad campaign.
ABSOLUTELY UNCALLED FOR. The man came here to OUR forums to answer the tough questions from fans and this is your response?? You may not agree with Garber's policies but he deserves some damn respect, especially considering the fact that he just did what no other sports commissioner of any of the major sports leagues would even think about doing. Grow up.
I'm not a huge fan of 8 teams qualifying for the playoffs. It might not be so bad down the road when there are 16 teams in the league but too many teams qualify right now. However, as long as MLS plays a season out of kilter with most of the the world and doesn't suspend league play for international dates, it's going to have to have an inflated number of teams qualify for the postseason. Otherwise, good teams with international-calibre players are going to get hosed by a league format that forces them to play shorthanded for a reduced numer of playoff spots while their best players are away on international duty.
It's called for. Because I said so. And if you can take your lips off of Garber's pucker for just a minute, maybe you will realize I'm criticizing his view of the world game and not how he runs MLS. I don't really have an opinion on his policies. Some are good, some are bad. But when he speaks out about the world game, he maybe should know what he's talking about before he opens his mouth. Yes. People like Garber and Gulati certainly had their input on who Arena picked. Else how do you explain 11 MLS players on the roster? US Soccer isn't a one-man show. Bruce even admitted his assistants scouted the Czech Republic. I'm sure in the end it was Bruce's team, and that's the official line. But how the players all got there, the paths they took, the people who scouted them, identified them, coached them, spoke to them, influenced them weren't all named Bruce Arena. I should say that the question asked was probably less informed about MLS and it's "attacking" style than Garber. Thx, Jay!
Bullshit. Calling someone an idiot is not a criticism, it's an insult. Just because you don't know the difference, doesn't mean that there isn't one, or that it isn't significant. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but "because I said so" is not a good reason to believe something. In fact, it's becoming increasingly clear that you saying something a pretty good reason NOT to believe it, if your next inane comment is any indication. True, but none of them, at least none of them with the slightest influence on Arena's decision-making, were named Don Garber. "Having input" is such a vague concept that, even if Garber presumed to suggest that Arena pick a particular player or two, which is doubtful in itself, there is not one single reason to think that such a suggestion affected Arena in the slightest. Not one. In the end, 11 MLS players were on the roster because Arena thought that he had the best chance to win with them, period. If you think different, that reflects more on your own paranoia than on Don Garber, or even people like him. How you can connect assistant coaches scouting opponents to the commissioner of MLS telling Arena how to pick his team is beyond illogical and approaches hysterical, in every sense of the word. Furthermore, what would be the advantage to MLS forcing MLS players down Arena's throat? Only a handful were marketed as MLS World Cup players, and if the number was 10 or 9 or just eight players on the US WC roster, it would have made not one bit of difference to the league in any significant way. If you think that MLS was interested in anything but having the US team do well in Germany, to the point of even trying to get players on the team from MLS who were not as good as other, non-MLS players, then YOU'RE the idiot. Garber and everyone else in the league knows that a US run deep into the tournament would have done a hell of a lot more benefit to the league than any other imaginable circumstance. Any claim to the contrary is just plain ignorant. Come to think of it, speaking of ignorance, name one MLS player who took the place of one better from some other league. Just one.
SIGH. I do appreciate Garber taking the time to respond to questions cause I don't remember hearing any other sports commish doing this in any sport, but still........ MASSIVE F*CKIN SIGH at least it looks like the MFL/MLS competition is really gonna happen.
I'm picturing a hypothetical conversation in my head ... GARBER: Hey, I think you should take Taylor Twellman. ARENA: I think you should take a long walk off a short pier. Because Clint Dempsey and Brian Ching were more qualified than Jemal Johnson and Brian West. Seriously -- are we still in the days in which every Dario Brose kicking around in European obscurity is assumed to be better than everyone currently in MLS? I could see arguments that Jay DeMerit deserved a look, and some of the younger guys in Europe will get a shot in this cycle. But do you honestly think Arena took Chris Albright over DeMerit because Garber told him to? Garber's job is to run MLS. Arena's job was to coach a national team, and in doing so, he and his staff were continually scouting the available talent. Blaming Garber for national team selections is like blaming Arena for Kansas City's troubles in landing local ownership.
Troubles? This was probably the quickest transfer of ownership in our city's history of professional sports. The Royals were on the block for years and years, run by a board of trustees. To even find a local owner is amazing in itself. It hardly ever happens anywhere in the US when a team is put up for sale. It's usually an outside investor who likes the city, or wants to move the team. To do it in under two years with a caveat for a stadium being part of the deal tells me they were an attractive property. But as to your point, I agree. I highly doubt Garber had any "input" at all in who was getting selected to the World Cup squad. That's pretty ridiculous to even think about.
Fair enough -- the analogy was the important part. Maybe switch it to "blaming Arena for moving San Jose" or something like that.
you lack class. and you would deserve the "Wag of my finger" from the real Stephen Colbert. YOU are an idiot, and I find your lack of intelligence offensive. Garber took a lot of time out of his day to answer our questions. It is clear that he (or those close to him) monitor these boards -- in particular this thread -- very closely. To call him an idiot is completely out of line. i'm sorry, but you need to take a break from BigSoccer and embrace your new pastime, playing in traffic. "With idiots like Garber advising Bruce Arena" ... ?? you can't really be that dumb. you're just putting on a show, right? like, your buddy bet you $5 that you couldn't make the most retarded post in the history of BigSoccer ... and you were happy to take him up on it. i understand, you gotta do what you gotta do to get your payoff.
I actually prefer the MLS Cup finalists to make the CCC. Cup competition success gains entry to a cup competition. Better correlation between single and double-elimination home-and-away success. Yes, I know Conmebol and UEFA don't do it that way.
I was 14 when I watched my first MLS game on TV, the first ever, San Jose Clash vs. DC United at Spartan Stadium. Next one was the MLS Cup Final, DC United vs. LA Galaxy. It was difficult to follow the league as a kid whose parents weren't interested, but I am also a fan for life.
Re: "Idiot" For the ultimate indication of Garber's ability, take a step back in time to say 1998. Now examine the term "soccer-specific stadium." Tell people that, one day, multiple American governments and business entities will permit and/or fund the building of stadiums that American professional soccer teams will control. Not even Richard Simmons would humor you.
My first MLS experience was watching Mamadou "Big Mama" Diallo scoring goals in highlights at halftime during WC 2002 games. And hearing about him putting one in the "old onion bag".
I just want to say THANKS to THE LEAGUE because I don't see other leagues doing this. I agree with much of what he said because of the fact that their focused on keeping the league alive...anything else is uncivilized lol
maybe two. Chelsea has reportedly been in talks with AEG to buy the Galaxy (ref: BBC) and there is a rumor that a new DC United owner will be stepping forward after the season is over.
15. I'm a 25 year old girl who believes more could be done to market some of the hot guys of MLS to women my age. I attended my first MLS match at 14 after my older sister took me to see a match in DC because she had a thing for another team's player. MLS in my opinion is missing out by not having more of a cross media footprint for some of these guys. Why no late night talk shows or cameo appearances in music videos or appearances at music or film awards? Stars are made in this country mostly through exposure as much as or more so than actual performance. If MLS want's "stars" they need not buy Beckham, instead just get Alex Yi, Clint Dempsey, Jamie Moreno, Shavar Thomas, Dwayne DeRosario and Jeff Cunningham's faces out there more. Are there any plans to do this? COMMISSIONER ANSWER: ...Look for more news in this area next week when an MLS player will be featured in a national magazine targeted toward women... I wonder why he didn't give us the details on this player and magazine so we can show our support by purchasing a copy!!???!!!
I know. those were my thoughts exactly! I think it will probably be on the MLS site if its a big deal. (i'd hope) otherwise what are going to do, look in every magazine on the news stand?? Like I said, i would hope that this will make mlsnet.com when it happens so we can buy a copy.
This response shows your lack of class, sound judgement, and quite frankly intelligence. Italian soccer is perceived to be fairly defensive soccer around the world....NOT JUST BY GARBER. You make it sound like he mistook Manchester United for playing in the Bundesliga or something. Give me a break! You only proved to be a self-righteous a$$hole by personally attacking the Commissioner for giving an opinion that soccer fans around the world also share, regardless of statistics. When you're ready to get out of the sandbox and conduct yourself in a manner conducive to constructive league operations discussion, you let us know.
You're right, of course. And perhaps in your future you'll experience the thrill of being a disfavored club under single-entity --- which experience, Mr. DC United, you've certainly not had until now.
Honestly, I find it hard to believe that Roman Abramovich will buy the Galaxy for a number of reasons: 1. The way he has thrown money around to make Chelsea a better team would not indicate to me that he has any interest in a system that promotes parity 2. New Russian capitalists have a distinct hatred of any kind of sharing/spreading around the wealth that is at all reminiscent of communism, having lived under that economic system. The single-entity structure more-or-less does this by throwing money into a pool and imposing limitations on what individual owners can do with individual teams 3. I find it hard to believe that he would ever submit to business decisions made by Phil Anschutz or Lamar Hunt, let alone Don Garber. In fact, I would find it easier to believe that he would buy the whole league