They Needed a Minivan but Got a Gio: Reyna at Nottingham Forest (Olf Borussia Dortmund)

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad' started by jond, Dec 6, 2017.

  1. Gorky

    Gorky Member+

    Jul 28, 2006
    NYC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Gio and his family did suffer a pretty horrible personal tragedy, so I am sure that colors how they perceive and interact with the world to some extent.
     
  2. twoolley

    twoolley Member+

    Jan 3, 2008
    That can make you protective but that doesn’t make someone automatically entitled. Their problem wasn’t being protective it was being entitled.

    either way, he played, gave some questionable hi-fives and we move on. It will get figured out. My bigger concern is I still haven’t seen him reach the pace that he used to get to so I think he’s still protecting his legs a bit when he plays.
     
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  3. Ray Shoesmith

    Ray Shoesmith Member+

    Valencia
    United States
    Nov 14, 2021
    Watching people try and defend/excuse one because of the tragedy is misguided. Then again that is a political defense we see all through society today.

    This happened so even though I have everything in the world, that still hurts so bad it is hard for me to function, and when I act poorly you don‘t get it. You‘ll never get it and my horrible, dumb, hypocritical actions and attitudes are justified/defensible. The Reyna‘s have tried it but their attacks were so heinous it didn’t buy them much, but that is the drill now, and lets‘ face it, we can all probably claim something bad that happened to us to some extent. Not like losing a child, but we see past hurt feelings and such being used by politicians, entertainers and sports superstars on a regular basis now to defend stupidity. Privileged victims are par for the course in this day and age. Think Harry and Megan and thank goodness for one of the few free/unafraid voices left in this country in South Park.

    Yeah, he doesn‘t have the burst. Even when he scored in those subs appearances he seemed sluggish. In his extended minutes and starts he looks like he is missing something. That is understandable after such a long lay off. I don’t doubt he is protecting himself or has a psychological barrier holding him back. This was never going to be quick or easy. I get it. Only time will tell.
     
  4. freisland

    freisland Member+

    Jan 31, 2001
    There is, however, a huge difference between explanation and excusing. Recognizing life situations as impacting future actions is older than Homer (the blind one, not the fans.)
     
  5. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Most families, if not all, experience horrible personal tragedies. The Reynas' didn't happen particularly recently (and I'll guarantee you that there were a shitload of family tragedies from 2020-2022). They deserve no pass.
     
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  6. luftmensch

    luftmensch Member+

    .
    United States
    May 4, 2006
    Petaluma
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Do you have kids? Because as a parent I can’t even imagine the pain and trauma that would result from losing my child, and I’d be afraid that it might send me off the deep end. Neither I nor most people I know have had a family tragedy that even comes close. I have a friend who lost her 2 year old son, and she’s still strongly affected by it 15 years later.

    Which isn’t an excuse for the Reynas’ behavior, but it does add context.
     
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  7. ShayG

    ShayG Member

    Celtic
    United States
    Aug 9, 2021
    The issue isn’t how bad the trauma from that tragedy was. I’m sure it was devastating for the family and I hope they had a lot of support from their community.

    The point that tomásbernal is making is that many families deal with such trauma. Many of the people you interact with at work or here at BS have been through similarly challenging traumas and yet have found a way to continue with their daily life.
     
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  8. luftmensch

    luftmensch Member+

    .
    United States
    May 4, 2006
    Petaluma
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Great, that’s fantastic. But many don’t find that way to continue, or they do find a way but still have blind spots or have trigger points that set them off again. Psychological trauma is a deeply complex thing, and you can find fault with the Reynas’ behavior while still having empathy for their situation. I don’t want them anywhere near the national team program again but I also acknowledge they may have had an understandable motivation behind their inappropriate behavior.
     
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  9. Cris 09

    Cris 09 Trololololo

    Nov 30, 2004
    Westfalenstadion
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    What was the trauma?
     
  10. derek750

    derek750 Member+

    Apr 16, 2007
    Brooklyn
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  11. Cris 09

    Cris 09 Trololololo

    Nov 30, 2004
    Westfalenstadion
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
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  12. Gorky

    Gorky Member+

    Jul 28, 2006
    NYC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I generally agree with @tomásbernal but I am not entirely comfortable with people dunking all over Gio and his family without noting their circumstances.

    I do think that the Reyna parents have done their son a huge disservice with the way they've handled his career. He is clearly talented enough to deal with things without being bailed out by mom and dad all the time. And I will say that Gio has generally handled himself well.
     
  13. uniteo

    uniteo Member+

    Sep 2, 2000
    Rockville, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    or maybe a lot more people deserve a pass, at least in being extended some grace. But we as a society are not so great at doing so, especially online.
     
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  14. twoolley

    twoolley Member+

    Jan 3, 2008
    How long does being extended grace last? For what circumstances? What stops said grace from being extended?

    all effectively rhetorical but only to point out how subjective all these judgements are and will always be.

    I am just looking to see how Gio handles all this. Great chance to demonstrate both mental fortitude but also learning.
     
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  15. lmorin

    lmorin Member+

    Mar 29, 2000
    New Hampshire
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Except that he has yet to prove that he is his own person and not still handcuffed to Mom's apron.
     
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  16. Alemannia

    Alemannia Member

    Alemannia Aachen
    Sep 16, 2021
    I think you mean Mom’s cleats.
     
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  17. bakerkdb

    bakerkdb Member

    Sep 6, 2010
    Club:
    Norwich City FC
    He hasn’t proved to YOU that he’s his own person. He has lived in a foreign country thousands of miles away from his family. He hasn’t been arrested, no evidence of a drug or alcohol problem. He’s not out clubbing and smacking his girlfriends around. There’s no pics on instagram of him holding wads of cash posing in front of a Lambo. He makes more money than the vast majority of the posters on here have, even with several decades head start. His phone number is in Erling Harland’s contacts. You may want to look around at how people his age in a similar situation handle their business.

    He was born into a family where his father is a legend in US Soccer and he was from a very early age considered a prodigy. Other kids and parents always pointing and whispering, massive expectations every time he steps on the field. On the edge of his teens his older brother who he idolizes becomes terminally ill so he now has to deal with his families worst case scenario and all of the psychological fallout that comes with it.

    Very shortly after dealing with his brothers death, while still in his teens he moves to a foreign country “without his family” or his mommy’s apron strings. Now he’s on his own, playing a grown man’s game professionally. He starts doing very well but gets injured, rehabs and gets injured again. Now he pushes through another rehab to be ready for the World Cup. Uncle Gregg tells him he isn’t going to play very much and he behaves unprofessionally. Meanwhile in the background his family is in open warfare with Gregg. Gio apologizes to his teammates and things seem to settle down. After the World Cup his coach lets slip that his behavior at the WC was so unprofessional he was nearly sent home. Even though he feels Uncle Gregg threw him under the bus he handles his business like an adult. His parents now start an absolute shitstorm that he is now in the center of.

    Now what has Gio done to make you think he’s attached to his mothers apron? He doesn’t live with them, he lives in Germany and they live in the USA. Gio had no part in what his parents were doing, I’m sure he cringed when he found out. With everything that has gone down it takes massive balls for him to show up to camp following this. It’s not mandatory to play for USMNT, he could have stayed away until the dust settled. Most 20 year olds don’t deal with embarrassment very well much less international level embarrassment.

    I will criticize his behavior at the WC but also look to see how he responds. He is a young man and young men make mistakes.
    We live in an era where 26 year olds are still seen as children. The number of adult children that have, as they say “failed to launch”, is a large number and getting bigger each generation. I spent 24 years in the military and I can’t even begin to count how many times I got phone calls telling me some young troops parents were contacting the commander over trivial shit, like not calling home enough or having to work weekends. Those young people were measured by how they performed and behaved. Their parents neurosis didn’t get factored in to how we evaluated them.

    Some people should recalibrate their measuring sticks.
     
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  18. russ

    russ Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Canton,NY
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My parents died before I was 10.I had barely adequate social skills and would totally have a diagnosis now.Amazingly,I wound up being not too much of an asshole.
    And I'm not even saying Gio is that toxic.
    But he does not get the grief pass.
     
  19. PaulGascoigne

    PaulGascoigne Member+

    Feb 5, 2001
    Aotearoa/NZ
    It seems like a couple weeks ago these kinds of shenanigans died down and some sort of consensus emerged that at least on this board we'd stop deliberating this whole morale-sapping saga. Now people are getting right back into it. Please, everyone. There's really no meaningful contribution that we can make other than to pontificate and speculate. Can't we keep it focused on Gio and his club career? Or, if not, I'm sure there's space for all of this stuff on the USMNT cesspool, er, I mean board. It's not like there aren't plenty of other nice spaces for this type of discussion.
     
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  20. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    Well said. He’s shown more mental courage by age 20 than most anonymous keyboard haters do in a lifetime.
     
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  21. bakerkdb

    bakerkdb Member

    Sep 6, 2010
    Club:
    Norwich City FC
    His behavior was the catalyst but we should all seriously take a step back. He is responsible for what he did, not what everyone else did in response.
     
  22. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    I also think that the residual hard feelings from years of battle over Berhalter’s performance got folded in to the way people think about the Gio saga.
     
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  23. bakerkdb

    bakerkdb Member

    Sep 6, 2010
    Club:
    Norwich City FC
    I think the trauma is more applicable to why Gios parents behaved the way they did more so than anything Gio has done. It can be understood... without being excused.

    Gio seems relatively well adjusted considering what has gone on around him. I don't see that trauma as having any bearing in Gio being pissed off and acting immaturely at the World Cup, which by the way is the ONLY thing Gio is guilty of in this whole drama.
     
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  24. luftmensch

    luftmensch Member+

    .
    United States
    May 4, 2006
    Petaluma
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He’s been playing professionally in a foreign country for nearly three years. Unless his mom moved out there with him that’s a lot less handcuffed than the majority of American kids his age.
     
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  25. freisland

    freisland Member+

    Jan 31, 2001
    Apropos of nothing, that is a, uh, complex juxtapositions of images right there...

    I am heading right to midjourney to see what that prompt generates. lol.
     
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