Grahame Jones Peace offering to Big soccer fanatics...

I don't know about peace offering, as it annoys me when Jones throws Englishisms into his writing.

"These are early days yet, however, and more trades will be made,"

Early days? Who says that? Oh, yeah, the Brits do.

 

There are some nits that are better left unpicked.

Why don't you start complaining that he actually has the audacity to write in "English" - how dare he!

 

This is a dang good article. He deals with an awful lot of issues--major player trades, suspected NJ conspiracy, National team veterans coming (back) to MLS, the salary cap, the cartel issues with MLS's Big Three, Colorado's swap of a French #10 for a Columbian #10, the Bob Bradley trade, and he points out that LA have somehow remained untroubled by any of it... There's some great coverage of American soccer in there.

Oh, but he's Graham Jones, so it must be shite.

 

I don't get as worked up about Jones as others but I thought it was a decent summary of the past few weeks events.

One thing I think he has wrong is the reference that San Jose made sure no one else in MLS got Graziani by loaning him to Barcelona of Ecuador. I don't think that is factually correct, and his saying that makes me wonder how firm of a grasp he really has on how MLS works.

I'm sure SJ would have loved to have gotten *something* of value in trade for Graz from another MLS team, be that a pick or a cheaper player. Obviously, no other MLS team thought he was worth the price. SJ effectively cut him and MLS (who owns his contract, by the way) is the entity that loaned him out. It remains to be seen exactly what SJ will eventually get out of this whole deal: a future allocation?, cap relief for whatever loan fee they extracted from Barcelona if any?

 

Before the BS paranoia posse gets its panties in a wad, note that he writes "don't look for any conspiracy in the AEG trades."

 

Are we sure he's English? Jones is a Welsh name, and, speaking as a person of Welsh descent, there are some things English we don't much care for.

 

You're wrong - he's GrahamE Jones.

He's writing for an American paper - the L.A. Times - and yet he manages to sound patronizing almost every time he mentions MLS. Lately, his articles have shown grudging respect, but I, personally, am skeptical.

And I never said he was English - I said British - so Jones being Welsh would count - and it's the Britishism in Jones writing that are annoying. Does he think there's a huge British expat community in L.A. that he is personally writing for?

 

i appreciate his columns. I for one am happy to have a daily soccer column (and sportswriter) in the la times than having no coverage at all.

 

No doubt. I go through something vaguely similar down here in San Diego with Mark Ziegler, who's become increasingly anti-MLS over time. We get a lot of soccer coverage (not enough of course) but Ziegler still grates from time to time.

I liked this line:

I've often wondered what people/agents/fellow players tell Europeans or Latins when they're considering coming to MLS, particularly about the crowds and vast (often 3/4 empty) stadiums. That part alone must be quite a culture shock for many players and I'm sure Grimandi will have to adjust.

 

1. There is in fact a HUGE British ex-pat community in Los Angeles, a cricket league, an ex-pat newspaper, David Hockney, and I have heard estimates of upwards of 100,000 in Santa Monica alone.

2. There are in fact MANY legitimate substantive gripes that can be asserted about Jones' column, and I am by no means one of his fans. However, to focus on the idiom he uses to write and not the substance of what he writes is misguided. Too bad that you find his "Britishisms" irritating. Grow up and get over being so petty.

 

He's from South Africa. I'm sure his family was from the British Isles at some point.

Did we really have to bring David Hockney into this? I've never gotten over how he turned me into a sexual object when he let me use his pool.

 

No, I don't think it's a minor quibble that the game I adore as a global pastime - the game that is growing in my home country - is being reduced to a regionalism by a writer who can't or won't take the time to proof his articles to make them accessible to the audience that pays his salary. The game needs to be understood by new fans - and Jones' British terminology isn't helping. There's absolutely no reason for it, either. Would it have killed him to write, "Time will tell - " so that all the millions of non-Brit expats, especially those outside of Santa Monica, in LOS ANGELES, could read the article without saying, "Huh?" It's hard enough trying to understand soccer as a newbie. I, for one, am tired of the "a patronizing soccer writer is better than none at all" argument. I'd rather have someone enthusiastic, well-informed, and more impartial (Can we get Connelly or Bradley to move? The weather here is nice!) or have no one.

 

Well that's certainly an image I could have lived without.

 

LAT uses Paul Guttierez as LAG beat reporter.

Part of the problem with Jones is that he never really bought into being a Galaxy "beat" writer, and that's what LAG fans were looking for. Actually, I am very happy to see his coverage of world wide soccer on a daily basis, even though it has very little content that isn't available on the wire services and the net. After all, a lot of sports fans, even casual soccer fans, don't scour the net for nuggets of information the way the average BS poster does. They probably have lives.

But, by publishing this stuff regularly, Jones does create an aura of "legitimacy" that soccer seems to lack in the perception of casual American sports fans. That is to the good.

Anyway, there was a good sign in today's LAT: Jones did his usual recap of events, with special emphasis on the FA Cup and the Mexican League. At the same time, in a parallel column, Paul Guttierez reports on the new Korean defender joining the the LAG, and interviews Sigi and Cobi about the first practice. If LAG wants to assign Guttierez to the LAG beat, that's just fine with me. If the LAG merits a real beat reporter, just like the "real" teams - Lakers, Kings, Ducks, Dodgers, Angels, UCLA, USC - that is also a mark of progress.

I intend to write to the Times and thank them for this additional coverage.