9/23/02: And So it Begins

Thanks Jim.

"Metros GM miffed over lost season" You bet Biff is miffed.

"A big reason for missing out is the lack of a veteran central defender...The problem never went away. We masked it because we were scoring goals," Sakiewicz said. "We were helped because our Eastern Conference opponents were worse than we were. Since Lothar Matthäus left, it's been our No. 1 priority."

But Biff, that was 2 years ago. What have you been doing?

I saw Gulati on TV Saturday night. He's been on the lamb longer than Osama. And this what he says:

"The Revolution's recent performance has apparently not cemented Nicol's future with the team. He took over as interim coach in May after Fernando Clavijo was fired.

Director of soccer Sunil Gulati praised the coaches and team Saturday night but stopped short of saying Nicol and assistant coaches Matt Driver and John Murphy would return next season.

''I am not saying anything in a postgame interview,'' Gulati said. ''It was a great win and it's been a great turnaround in the last month. The results and the play have been good and everyone is pleased with it. Robert [Kraft] is very happy and Jonathan [Kraft] is, also. We've told Steve we will sit down with him after the season is over."

That's a nice confidence booster. This is the Revs first conference crown, right?

 

But what's even funnier is that the quality central defender he was referring to was Lothar...

No, the problem hasn't been the lack of a quality central defender. Both Petke and Jolley are hardly newcomers now and both have been, at times, "quality"...

No, I think the problem probably resides somewhere in the front office...

 

Why? Which guy in the front office took down Twellman in the box and left Wolde Harris wide open?

 

Whatever. By that logic, because it's the players on the field, it's NEVER the front office's fault.

Don't you think Nick sets the back-biting, needlessly abrasive tone for the entire team. Petke and Jolley used to play well together-- now they can't stand each other. Who knows why, but management has at least some role in managing the personalities on the team. And on the metros, where the personalities are already intense, having a clown like Nick can only hurt.

 

Looks like they're going to keep Oz. Meanwhile, he's whining about Mathis again. Can the Wizards get Mathis? We'll take him for one year.

 

That is funny. I didn't even think of that

I guess there is evidence to the contrary, but I have always thought that Petke and Jolley were pretty good defenders. Sure, they get beaten every now and then but so does every defender.

I am an outside observer but I don't see those two guys as the problem. I just think they need more help.

 

Of course, the Metros did acquire Balboa.

Unfortunately his health was as good as that Spanish guy who discovered a part of the Americas back in the 16th century...

 

Good example flashman...
And was it Petke or Jolley who said "Sure we'll take him! He's 43 years old, but there's no need to do a physical exam before we close the deal!"?

 

Jim, you sure this one isn't from The Onion?

 

One more thing from the "miffed" article:

"The MetroStars, who own two first-round SuperDraft picks, also will receive a player allocation for missing the playoffs."

Didn't MLS end the allocation process and thus the "you-suck" allocation?

 

No, MLS didn't end the allocation process. LA got one for Vanney.

The "you suck" allocation seems to have been displaced because of the dispersal draft, which supposedly benefited the teams that missed the playoffs the most. Without free agency, the superdraft alone isn't sufficient to help parity, so I'd expect the "you suck" allocation to return.

 

That's what he says. I say Oz is gone in 3 weeks.

 

I wish I lived in Nick's Bizarro World. I'd be thin, handsome, and have threesomes with lesbian twins every night.

Sachin

 

You should apply for a position as "Stadium Consultant".

You might not get very much sleep, but f"orever" would always be "30 to 60" days away...

 

What if it's Nick who is on the hot seat?

 

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sports/othersports/a23fire.html

 

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_story.asp?intID=37522280 - "How the Fire captured the suburbs' hearts"

 

Great stuff.

This partly shows how MLS often fits into "small communities", who embrace the "major league being so close to home" concept better than big, metropolitan areas often do.

It sounds like the Fire will be drawing larger crowds from the get go next year (despite probably bad weather - they'll hvae a larger season ticket base if nothing else), but the key question is how many of these suburbanites will follow the Fire back to Soldier Field, which not only will involve infinitely more travel, but will be played in a much larger venue, taking away from the intimacy of the experience this year.

Nonetheless, major props to Peter Wilt and the Fire for pulling a rabbit out of a hat despite all the fiascos they had to go through just to end up in Naperville this year.

 

metros need a better midfield and a human being as gm as well as a coach who doesn't suck quite so much as oz.

tab's gone, freeing up some green.

'you suck' allocation is in the mail.

metros are famous for poor personnel choices.

with those two bozos at the helm, i fear another waste opportunity to improve the club.

they'll manage that ship right into the beachhead.

 

"Chicago's Marcus Beasley started the play at midfield, sending a long pass to Stoitchkov along the right sideline. The one-time Bulgarian international star opted not for the shot but instead for passing to Razov, who charged the middle of the penalty box and converted the pass into a goal and 2-0 lead."

Who's this 'Marcus Beasley'?

Stoitchkov is a one-time Bulgarian?