But I suppose if beautiful twin girls said this in Playboy, you'd be slobbering all over them. Or if this was a married guy whose wife was giving birth and he had sympathy labor, you'd think it was a great thing. (does happen.) I wish I had someone who understood like that.
I'm ambivalent on the whole Landon is a demigod thing... But that quote was better left unsaid. I can get the point about the closeness of twins without hearing about his sister's menstrual cycle.
Nice general theory but how about thinking about the specifics. First, one can buy German law expertixe easy, so the lack of that is no problem. Second, by all accounts, Donovan is exactly where he wants to be -- in the driver's seat in terms of whether he goes back to Leverkusen. Making your client's wish happen is what being an agent is about, so Motzkin clearly gets an A+ so far.
"I -don't think it's any secret I -didn't want him to go," says Donna Donovan. "He negotiated with me for about a year. It pretty much negated any chance of college and that was the goal." <<sounds like a mom>> The driving force was Landon's father. Tim Donovan traveled to Bayer Leverkusen to check out the arrangements, and he was convinced it was a move Landon should make. <<you think this is any different from most fathers that want the best for their son?>> "I -didn't want him to," says Donna now, "but I -didn't want him to say he had this chance and -didn't get to do it." <<well son - during the great war I shoveled sxxt in Louisiana>> Even now it's hard to picture what a leap into the unknown this was. A 16- year-old kid, thousands of miles from home, thrust into the ultra-competitive German soccer league, living on his own in a country where he hardly knew a word of the language. In a way it was incredible that Donovan managed as well as he did. <<Germany is hard enough on 18 year old GIs after basic training away from home the first time - sounds like a homesick 16 year old - pretty normal to me - I wonder seriously how JOB handled it before?>> The result? A miserable experience. <<I loved living in Germany when younger - but it can be a brutal place if you don't speak the language - I still do>> "I had a bitter experience there," he says. "I was only 16. I had no idea, no clue. I probably should have waited." <<astute>> "It was sad," says Tristan. "I worried about him a lot. He would call and say, 'I'm really lonely. I'm really unhappy.' " <<close to his sister and family - pretty darn normal>> Donovan may have graduated early from high school, but his soccer education was just beginning. He ran smack into a series of obstacles, beginning with the country on his passport. <<a 16 year old professional>> Looking back at it, playing in Germany was probably a bad idea from the start. The Germans prefer big, strong players. Donovan is 5-feet-8. The Germans are solid and mechanical. Donovan is flashy and creative. "Not only did he not play," says agent Motzkin, "he never suited up." <<cmon Landon and Motzkin - we all know Americans cannot play the game - shut up and be a good trooper like Kasey and Brad and Claudio - pay your dues and we will let you in our party when are good and damn well ready>> For two years Donovan was not allowed an opportunity with the big club. He was promised a chance - someday. Instead, he played in a lower division, a kind of farm team. He endured the weather and cultural divide. Today when asked if he would be willing to play in Europe, he runs down the list of conditions that hint at what life must have been like as a stranger in a strange land. "It would have to be where I had a chance to play," he says. "Where there is good weather and friendly people." <<astute - >> "I kind of agree with him about the people," says Donna. "They were kind of abrupt." <<yes they are>> Now he has many options. Bayer Leverkusen, chastened, is suddenly making promises and asking him back. The English teams are sending out feelers. But Donovan is still talking about wanting to "stay (in the U.S.) and being a pioneer. I want to bring it to the next level." <<negotiate hard - don't settle - play only in the right environment - be happy>>
I agree with you - sounds like the player wants to know where he stands, wants to compensated appropriately, wants opportunity for growth. Tell me how that is different from any other employee ? The culture thing is very simple - Americans playing professionally abroad simply experience prejudice about their ability to play the game. Simple as that - please don't feed me any Eurosnob we don't do that crap. I lived over there and experienced it first hand in Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland. I did not experience it in England, Spain, Italy or Holland. Maybe that was just my experience - but it was my perception. One thing is for sure - the NBA was certainly a heck of a lot fairer and friendlier to Toni Kukoc than the Bundesliga has been to Donovan and other Americans.
Do you think he did? I doubt that. Contacting a further agent is common business - just as you contact a lawyer in another law district where you're not allowed to act in court. You seem to know more than we do. Remind the original contract - Bayer didn't have to loan him back to MLS and not many clubs would have allowed that; and without the permission Donovan wouldn't be in the position he is today. Sure he had an option in this first contract, but it's grey theory to claim that anyone would have used it. I doubt that everything went as Donovan wanted it to happen. Why did he sign a contract until 2007 and now complains about it if the agent is that good? If you claim that going to Leverkusen at the age of 16/17 was a mistake (and I'm quite sure that not many see that as a clever move), then you've got to blame the agent for not informing about the risks of going to a European top club.
Up to the point of reading this article I've been firmly of the opinion that he should get himself back over to Bayer ASAP. My mind has been changed. It's his life, and it seems he's livin' it large. The bright lights of the media and public attention he's experiencing is indeed a good thing for the sport in this country. He truly does have the opportunity to be that breakout athlete most of us here have been craving. If these anecdotal reports about merchandise with his name on it flying off the shelves are true, then MLS should keep him here at all cost. So he doesn't "honor" the contract... big deal. It's nothing new in the world of sport. Stars are always using their celebrity to shape their career destiny. Good for him. Reading between the lines (which seems to be a popular theme in this thread), he comes off, to me, as being immature. This isn't a condemnation, just an observation. He seems to have a significant amount of emotional scar tissue; growing up in a broken home, torn from his twin at a developmentally fragile age, treated like dirt by Teutonic devils... the security he feels right now will go a long way to helping him grow up, or develop the edge it will take for him to be able to conquer the world. Is MLS the highest level of competition? Not quite, but it seems to be serving him well for the time being. IMO, he hasn't outgrown it yet. The day may come when he does, and there will be a thread for that discussion, no doubt.
Olaf -- I am not privy to the inside details but really it's all about results. After Donovan realized that -- rightly or wrongly -- he didn't like the situation at Leverkusen, he had two goals. First to get himself into MLS and, second, to have control of when and if he goes back to Leverkusen. The second is not completely played out, but at this time Donovan seems to be in control. So, yes I think Motzkin got the legal advice he needed and, after Donovan expressed his desire to get out of Germany, made that happen. I don't blame Motzkin for the first contract because it is his job to effecuate his client's wishes and his client probably was not thinking about failure then and, in any event, it is unlikely that Donovan had the leveage at that point in time to get the power he now seems to have.
Putting Ones Time In Clearly, Landon was not happy about the way things turn out and perhaps he had good reason to feel that way; but the question in my mind is what makes him so different from every other talented young player trying to make it at a big European club? John O'Brien stands out as a pretty good example of how a player can bide his time and look for opportunities to get playing time without severing completely his ties to the parent club or severely damaging his relationship with said club. JOB is now what? 24 years old. He has been in Holland for 6 or 7 years and has pretty much come up through the ranks at Ajax. He is not the most heralded of players on the roster; but clearly has cemented a starting role and is one of the key players on the club. JOB is succeeding in Europe. A player not receiving positive feedback from his club especially when first starting to have success in the reserves may feel pretty neglected. I just don't know if this adds up to much. German personalities or not, it seems to me if Donovan actually was showing the kind of progress of value to Leverkusen, then team officials would have let him know. OTOH, Donovan is in a pretty good situation with San Jose, he may continue developing for a little while yet at the MLS level. However, sooner or later he will need to push on to a major Euro league to find a level of competition that can help him develop his game further. Whether he returns to Leverkusen or goes to another club, he still will have to prove himself to his new manager and teammates and establish himself as player in that league. There simply is no way to circumvent it. What coming to MLS has accomplished is getting to complete approximately two years of development in a warm weather climate at a level sometimes better and sometimes worse than he would have been afforded had he stayed with Leverkusen. Progressing past the next level of development still awaits his full commitment to a team not on these shores.
i could have all the emotional scars in the world. but if i don't do my job the way my boss wants i'm fired. it's that simple. Landon has a job to do. and as long as MLS gives him this "do what you want landon we love you" BS then he's going to walk all over everyone and give us an even worse reputation. remember that he is JUST an athlete doing his job. just like you do your job and i do mine. we have people to answer to. but when we don't have to answer to those people anymore and we can get away with whatever then we run into problems. do you know what i'm saying?
also. it is true that you can quit your job and go do something else (which in a way landon did) and in a a sense look for something better. but you have to remember you don't always get what you want. if I were to read between the lines here it seems as though landon has often got what he wanted because he's "special" and i fear this attitude and immaturity will keep him from being a great player and getting the opportunities to grow. you can run up and down the field on half these MLS teams with his talent. but once he's there (which he pretty much already is) then the growing stops. my only arguement for him to go across seas is to play some teams where he really is going to have to work hard. i don't feel MLS teams are at that level yet and therefore to grow stars i look overseas. at least until the MLS teams get real depth and can provide a real challenge. true every league has it's stinkers. but ours is still young and has a few more than most top notch ones. and it seems the consensus is that landon can be top notch. and that's what i want from him. to grow and play strong. it's like the bease. it just seems that there isn't enough here yet to really harness his skills and make him perform at 100% like they did at the cup. true we have the talent and we proved it. but there they had to play at another level. i don't think that always carries to the field here. and again this isn't a pessimistic or euroteams are better view. i just don't think we're THERE yet. and agin i think it just comes from the depth here in the league. but soon. and i can't wait for that day.
Whats the over/under on the number of "Landon speaks" threads, which rehash the same story over and over again, befor that happens. I'll set it at 50 and I'll take the over.
The main job of a player agent is to consult, i.e. to explain a player what the situation is like. In this case he had to tell about the pro's and con's about playing for Bayer and tell about the alternative scenarios. After that it would be Landon to decide on his future. In this case it doesn't look as if it happened like this because Landon obviously had expectations that were tremendously far away from reality.
Your reality, maybe. For me, I don't think it was unrealistic of Donovan to expect to have a shot at a first team place at 17. Mind you, I don't think that he could have been a regular by any stretch but he was -- in my opinion -- good enough to get on the field at some point. And factor in the fact that -- according to Donovan anyway -- Bayer promised him at least that much, and I don't find much fault with the agent. Once again, my opinion is that Donovan is a special talent who could have played at age 17 for a top team. His potential may, or may not, yet be realized but for me it is there, and certainly not unrealistic.
Landon belongs here; he's the guy we've been waiting for -- the all-American boy to a fault. He loves playing here, relishes the limelight, and wants to make soccer big in the USA. We've been lamenting the lack of personalities in soccer. When they show up, it's usually one of the girls -- Mia, who recoils from the media, or Brandi who is too eager to trade on her 15 minutes and that famous bra. Call for David Letterman! Up till now the most recognizable man in soccer has been Alexi Lalas (once again, a solid defender) -- and he shaved off his trademark. The article is clearly aimed at the general audience, not soccer fans, let alone afficianados who keep up with the international scene. It will take Landon -- and more like him -- to make average Americans completely comfortable with soccer, even eager to get to games in order to see this guy. In this country, this side of the game is as important as anything else if we want to do more than just survive as a sport. If we want to flourish and pack the stands, it's going to take popularity, and that depends on players people want to see. Isn't there some other kid we can send to Germany, a dutiful boy who will work hard, give 110%, never complain for not starting....? Wait, that was Frankie Hejduk. And for being a good soldier he got sent to Switzerland. (Sing the tune from "The Great Escape.")
all american boy? i still have a problem with the attitude he represents. he craves attention and it doesn't seem like he can just be pleased with himself. he cries foul when people only point out his fault and ignore his successes. (welcome to real life landon) i understand he wants the ideal situation. the wakes are ideal to him because he's top dog and he gets all the attention. it fits his personality. he's a poster boy for americans and it's a shame. what about the ones who strive to be something better? it seems he isn't striving for that. i always thought that was the all american way. but i guess being the best you can be doesn't matter as long as you can satidfy your selfishness. and yes were allowed to be selfish. but shouldn't that selfishness be correlated with being the best? do you want to be the best employee at a small business or run a fortune 500 company?
The only people newly interested in LD are teenage girls. The general american audience wants to see American players take on the best in the world. That happens once every 4 years. The growth of the MLS and soccer in general in this country is going to continue as it has for the last decade, slow and steady, regardless of whether LD is playing in the MLS or anywhere else.
And exactly because of that assumption you need someone who knows the league to tell you about the reality. I could have told him to better wait at least two or maybe even three further seasons. Of course Bayer promised him much, that's what any team is doing - that's another big reason for having an agent who knows the league, because he can tell you about the club and how the real expectations have to look like. Face it, he can be lucky to have signed with Bayer - if he had signed with Bayern Munich, there would be a huge probability that he'd be in D3 still today.
Anyone who thinks that Landon is: a) spoiled; b) arrogant; c) immature; or d) a prima donna really needs to watch a little more NBA action. The guy is 20, fer chrissake. He could be beating up Asians outside of nightclubs. He could be crashing cars. He could be choking his coach. He could be rude to fans. He's done none of those things. He wants to be happy and he wants to promote the game in his home country. Some people need to get this all into perspective.
I don't see the connection between the first half of your post and the second. It isn't stretch to call LD immature.
so we set a standard by over paid NBA players for how our soccer players should act? they're like that because the same people that put landon on a holy pedistal are the ones who worship people as more than they are. he's not using his celebrity to get away with crimes. just to get out of contracts. context?