He was smart to leave. Went from being a backup in MLS making less than 100k to making over 400k in Israel (I read that somewhere awhile back) and playing in Europa League. I'm happy for him.
Big Celery was one of the nicest dudes I was ever fortunate enough to meet. Completely down to earth and relaxed. Granted, pretty much all were really cool regardless of the environment I encountered them in. I think the noticeable exception was Chad Marshall. I think the weirdest experience I ever had running into a player was in 2008. My wife and I were in DC for my Dad's Vietnam Squadron's Heritage Association annual reunion meeting and the Chicago Fire were staying at the same hotel we were in. I had a really good (as good as you can have in 3-5 minutes) conversation with Jon Busch at breakfast. He was extremely gracious about Columbus, the fanbase, and the organization (Sigi notwithstanding).
That was true of almost all of the early guys. You also saw that at the reunion held last year, pregame. Heck many of us were friends with at least one player. Now? hard to say--the contact opportunities have gone down (the NFLing of MLS). But I have enjoyed my interactions at things like the open house at the stadium.
It was obviously a clash of personalities, but every time I'm reminded of Jon Busch leaving Columbus, I'm reminded of "Those Who Stay Will Be Champions." I wonder if deep down somewhere, he has the smallest bit of regret, knowing that if he stayed, he could have won a ring. Of course, there's a ton of variables, but it's one thing to possibly think about during a lack of current games to discuss. The "what if" factors are always fun to hypothesize over. Regarding Chad, introvert personality, perhaps?
Look at the playing history of many of those players and the fact that they were just happy to continue. Compare that to players coming from big European leagues. I do wish the younger fans had the same experiences I was fortunate to experience, but it's part of the league...growing pains and all that. With that said, Columbus and KC aren't comparable to NYC and LA...but since there's a players union, that's the end of that.
Depends on how you define "introvert". I scored really high on the Meyer-Briggs test for introversion, for example. One of the definitions is actually drained/energized (introvert/extrovert) by people.
Depends on the player--Keller for one, is a pretty nice guy (I got about 15 min one on one with him before a qualifier once). Helped that I'm a Gladbach fan, though. I really do think a lot of it was the influence of the NFLPA in forming the MLS Union--when the NFL got involved is when all of those opportunities started going away, which I think was a mistake, as MLS is not the NFL. Not even close. Might be some day, but soccer is still building the sport here.
I meant it more in the sense of hooking up to each other than the casual fling usage. I’d be jealous either way.
IN for sure--but I forget how the other two came out (it has been almost 40 years since I took it). I recall one of the latter two was 50/50 pretty much.
Abubakar seems to feel that his personal begging and pleading is what convinced Onstad to make the deal with the Raps. Interestingly, silliness aside, he suggests that at least one other team was trying to swing a deal. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...rmanent-move-colorado-rapids-might-not-happen
I wonder why Brunner and not Balc, who was a unanimous first team all American, B1G PotY, Top Drawer Soccer PotY, set all kinds of records like 4 assists in one game, etc. etc. Brunner had a fi e career at tOSU but Balc was the star of that team which also included Roger Espinosa, who is still, I believe, in MLS someplace.
Some of the minor sports don't get much press. I know a couple on the full list, but that's largely because one of my best friends was a varsity fencer. I also noticed Blaine Wilson on the list--and the reason I note that is because his mom was in a lot of co-rec soccer leagues in Columbus back in the day.
Sporting KC. Roger Espinoza also got called up to a couple World Cup teams. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Espinoza
Back in 2013, when that guy was playing Twitter hide-and-go-seek with Columbus Police, he asked Amanda Furrer for a photo. I can't remember if he did so because who she was or just someone at the bar.
Espinoza actually played a year in NPSL before "transferring" to tOSU for one season. Brunner was originally at, I think, Wake Forest (or Maryland - too lazy to look it up) before transferring as well. The reason they wanted to come to tOSU was to play with Balc and make a run at the national championship, which of course they did, losing 2-1 in the final. Just seems odd that of the 3, they elected Brunner. Balc had a better college career and Espinoza a better pro career.