Just read Freddie's new blog post, and he will be back with the team on Feb 1st! Atah Boy Freddie!! http://freddie.speaksup.com/2010/01/26/from-feb-1st-i-will-be-with-my-team-in-seattle/#comments
This is the biggest piece of news in months. Clearly, someone told Freddy - off the record - that the league has agreed not to lockout the players while the CBA is being negotiated. It's a huge win for the players. And a real relief to us fans. And I love how he states the player's case so simply: All that the players are asking for is FIFA RIGHTS!! Every football player in the world that I know of plays under those rules, big or small leagues. So when I thought an agreement would be signed in a second…how wrong was I. Truer words, never spoken. And while I know MLS needs some mechanisms to work with a very strict cap, what they demand from players now, is simply unethical considering the revenue that the league reaped these last few years.
Sometimes we're fans, Fuzzy. That means driven by our emotions, not necessarily our logic. Logic dictates that Ken Griffey, Jr. is a drag on the Mariners, but yet his coming back to Seattle and subsequent re-signing are seen as a good thing for the Mariners. In this case, we got a double dose of Freddie saying he was exploring his options in Europe, the team not saying that he had already decided to come back to Seattle, and then the media going into a feeding frenzy about him missing the first day of camp and then speculating about what it meant. As I mentioned in one of the other threads about Ljungberg missing/returning, it's not uncommon for the top players on a team to missing some of training camp.
Fuzzy calling us dumb, is like Rush Limbaugh calling someone opinionated. And last time I hung up a sign, at least I got it right side up. Heaven forbid, we read between the lines of a Ljungberg blog post and see the clear insinuation that he's been told there will be no lockout on Feb 1 and rejoice over it. The "news" here, is Freddy saying he's heard there's no lockout looming, not the ambiguity over his alleged offers in Europe.