EJ did his usual 'throw the jersey' thing, and headed over to the sidelines... but does he really have to pout and be so selfish? He ignored everyone and muttered under his breath... even ignoring Pareja, a true QUALITY team leader. Yeah, I know he's young and frustrated; but I wish someone would 'take him aside' and STRONGLY instill the idea of being part of a TEAM. It's easy to 'let it go to your head' when you get so much attention at such an early age, but this is EXACTLY the time when he needs to BOND with his teammates. If the Burn are to do anything in the playoffs, they're gonna need a 'somewhat-grounded' EJ to JOIN the effort!
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the game tonight on TV. Are you saying EJ was pouting after scoring the game winning goal?
What are you talking about? I saw Eddie Johnson shaking the hands of the DC players as he was leaving the field. What a jerk eh?
When EJ threw his shirt, you were not seeing a jerk. What you were seeing is what we young guys like to call getting crunk. If you have no ide what I mean then go pick up the And 1 Mixtape. It's a playground basketball tape. EJ isn't of the same breed of players that usually make it that high. He has more of an urban flair to his game and with that comes the attitude. What you saw tonight was nothing more than you would see on a playground court after game point.
It's just that he looked like he didn't want to celebrate with any of his teammates. He walked right past anyone who tried to congratulate him and didn't even acknowledge any of the kudos heaped upon him. I hope it was just "getting crunk," and hopefully his teammates understand better than I did when I was watching. Attitude or not, I'd take him any day over Rhine. He traps, holds, passes, and sees the field so much better than Rhine. His quick vision and slick pass to Deering set up the second goal. And unlike Rhine, he likes to shoot.
Well the press used to bitch about Ted Williams attitude. However, they could not convince the majority of the public to dislike him even though they tried to. The true baseball fans only cared about how good a baseball player he was and loved him for the baseball player that he was. Point, like him or not, what I want to see is how good a soccer player he turns out to be. Liking him would only be a bonus.
Me and my son met him at local soccer field. He really is a young kid - reminded me of the high school kid who comes to mow your yard and you realize -- holy crap -- this guy is a couple of genarations away from me... He can show any attitude he wants. While we spoke to him, he was a nice guy.
I got the same sense that you did watching the game. In fact, I came to this board to see if any Dallas fans knew anything about this. I thought I even saw EJ mutter an "F off" or "F you" and it LOOKED to be in the direction of HIS team, not D.C. United. Anyway, while I'm not sure about that, I know I saw him shrug off his teammates congratulations. I found it odd, especially this time of year, that time of game, etc. Anyone with insight?
I used to sense a little remoteness between Johnson and his teammates sometimes, but not anything major. And while the situation seems to have worsened a bit, but it still sounds like things can be worked out. Perhaps the reason there's a little bit of hostility simmering there is that I'd imagine a few of the veterans may have got on his case after his poor play vs. the Revs in order to spur him on, and Eddie may have had some lingering resentment/anger because of it. But that's just speculation on my part. I can tell you that Johnson's probably the least approachable of the players that I've met. Many of the players are quite friendly (e.g., Bobby Rhine) or at least pleasant and willing to sign autographs (e.g. Jason Kreis) but Johnson's the only one I've met who gives off a bit of an "attitude".
I was thinking about that last night as I sat in my apartment heart broken. There was a thread that you guys had going a month or so ago about why he doesn't play more etc. He was probably thinking that, "hey, I come in and score a great game winning goal and continually get picked for US U-20s. How about some playing time?" The kid has great talent, you can see it when he gets his foot on the ball. Let's jut hope he has/will have the professionalism to match. If he has it, maybe he needs to be with another team.
If Johnson continues to have difficulty adjusting to life as an MLS player here in Dallas, I think it might be a good idea for the Burn to look into trading for an older black American player who could act as a mentor for Eddie. Someone like Dante Washington, perhaps. Vaca had some difficulties when he first got here, but Oscar Pareja took him under his wing and taught him what it takes to be a professional athlete, and now Joselito seems to be thriving in MLS. Unfortunately, Johnson doesn't seem to have really had someone on the team to fill that slot for him.
Oh, please. Johnson is a young guy in a big city. He is going to adjust just fine. He needed the playing time and he didn't get it. I would have been going ape-************ watching Rhine get all the time while I was faster, more skilled, and more likely to get the ball in the net. If his being pissed off about that is coming out now, fine. I'd be happy if he head butts Jeffries after scoring his third goal against Colorado...
It was interesting to see the byplay between the two stars of the U17 team at the end of the game. The camera showed Quaranta saying something to Johnson as Johnson walked off the field and Johnson kept walking without even looking at him. Could make for a tense U20 campaign.
Maybe, but I think the jury's still out. In his nearly 2 years in Dallas, Johnson's productivity has so far been just so-so -- 2 goals in 260 min last year; 2 goals in 320 minutes this year. When Burn veterans or coaches talk about which young players are working hard to improve their game, you never hear Johnson's name mentioned. They always comment about his talent, but his work habits and desire to improve seem to be a question mark. I'm hoping Eddie does well this postseason and next year, working his way into the regular starting lineup. But if he continues to struggle a bit, then I think the Burn will need to take some action. Either trade him to a team where a fresh start will hopefully get his career rolling, or perhaps bring in a veteran player or assistant coach who has the ability to motivate/inspire Johnson to get the most from his talent.
I'm no expert on EJ but it was kinda weird to see the way he walked off the field. He sorta acted like he'd saved the whole team himself, when all he did was finish a VERY easy 5 on 3 break with the goaltender out of the net. Hardly goal of the year material. Really seemed to make it apparent that he had a lot left to learn. Of course, who wouldn't when you're just 18, 19 or however old he is.
Me thinks it's maybe just a "cool gangsta" style of celebrating a goal. Similiar to young NBA and NFL playas'. Just an act. When you get quotes in the newspaper by EJ they consistently don't show a player will all that much of an attitude. For example, in yesterdays DMN he showed an example of respect for his teammates. "He is unbelievable," Johnson said about Vaca. "He is one of my favorite young players in this league. He's a great kid, and he was able to deal with not starting and just playing his role, like he always does. Every time he comes in he does exceptionally well." And, I believe it was in the Ft Worth paper same day he said he would have to just wait for his chances to play. Eddie said other players looked good and did well why he was out injured and they deserved their playing time.
I agree. Johnson seems to have his head on pretty straight, and like I said earlier in the thread, he only gives off a bit of an attitude. I imagine, though, that its been a bit difficult for Johnson to fit into the team, and really, it's not hard to see why. Most every player joining the team is either a 22+ yr old college graduate or a vet with international experience. But Eddie joined the Burn when he was just 17. And, unfortunately, the Burn seem to have segregated themselves along racial/ethnic lines. The only players I've seen Johnson hang out with after games are the other young black players (Mayard and Dove last year; Bussey this year).
I was going to post this exact thought, but I figured I'd dogged Rhine enough in the last few days. I just pray that Jeffries learned something about dealing with primadonas after the Graziani episode so he doesn't make a hash of this situation.
Maybe that high school basketballer that the Mavs drafted from the Chicago area a couple of years ago could be hired to hang with him for the remainder of the season...
Check it out...again http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/broadband/players/video?skin=basic&id=1434080&rate=300&format=wmp EJ is not a jerk. He just has not figured out the best way to celebrate his professional goals. Maybe we should hold polls before every game, let him know what we voted for and see if he follows through. La locura rojinegra.
Re: Check it out...again That's the first time I've seen the video. That, my friends, was the finishing of a professional.
I got the same "He sure looks like a jerk" feeling. I asked a relative of one of the Burn players tonight what the general feeling about EJ was and they have that same feeling. Of course this person's line was something like "Of course, if every day for two years someone was writing articles about how great you were, you would probably have a big head too" And I heard that he and DMB are good friends and hang out.