Do you really think the eventual MLS MVP (and he wasn't the greatest MVP candidate ever, no doubt) and another player was MORE fair? I respect Columbus for sticking to their guns and not trying to let Metro screw them (the way MLS screwed Dallas on the Adu deal), but when their trade demands boiled down to "No talks w/o either Guevara or Gaven, and something else", for a 17 year old that's never played in MLS, that is a bit extreme. Lisi and Glen would have been too little (assuming Szetela stays more than 2 yrs), but it was closer to objective reality. Columbus wanted to keep him, so they decided to ask for the moon knowing no one would pay. Ives called them on asking for the moon, that's all that was. Did you expect him to write an article from the Columbus point of view in a Jersey paper? Maybe he stepped over the line, but if your only complaint is that he's a homer because he didn't agree with you, then good, because he doesn't get paid to. Ives is a very good reporter, and will likely do fine. He has a history of being honest with is audience, and hasn't seemed afraid to call things as they are, deflecting the spin so often used by Metro and MLS HQ. He has good contacts, does good research, and usually tells you at least one or two things you didn't know about whatever he's covering. I'll take that any day.
Here's the thing about that whole stupid article, it's a Fish Story the whole Clark, Gaven and Guevara thing. Everytime a Metro fan tells it, what the Crew was asking for gets bigger and bigger to the point I'm pretty sure the next dumb ass Metro fan comes on here and trys to tell us the Crew wanted the Metros to pick up Zidane and trade him along with those three guys for Szetela. It was Clark OR Gaven OR Guevara, but the real Crew offer was NO which is why they asked for Clark OR Gaven OR Guevara for trade. Which is why the Metro Nut Licker had a big hissy fit over the whole situation in the first place. He didn't think the Crew were dealing in good faith and thought just because the Metros wanted him and his family wanted him with the Metros the Crew should trade him for Lisi, a player that was injuried for the entire second half, and Glen, who was going through injuries as well. Then he went on and tried to tell the Crew how stupid they were for not getting ********ed up the ass with no vasoline taking Lisi and Glen's salary off the Metro's books. How the Crew would fade away and wouldn't have the players to do this or that. Strange, where's his ******** talking when the Crew finish 1st in the division and the Metros finish third? Then he gave the Metros an extra reach around about how sad it was this poor kid had to leave NJ(********ING NJ, most people would say that's a big ********ing improvement) and come to far far far far far away Columbus and be completely miserable with no one looking out for him as the Crew set him up in a crack house to live. All this without even talking to Szetela or the Crew FO. It was a complete hatchet job from top to bottom and Ives deserves the critizism for that article. If he's going national with that **************** then he needs to be called on that too.
are you guys serious...since when does a team HAVE TO send/accept or do anything with trade offers? my god you guys are retarded, just like ives...he should just write about euro leagues...i'll read guys like tino, bradley, connolly, yes even wheelock any day or ives....i like MLS, i live in america, i want to see the best americans in america... trys to bash americas best player cuz he played, and liked his HOME COUNTRY???? give me a break...
No, that's what the Crew are rumored to have demanded. The trade I mentioned is the one brought up in one of Ives's columns, saying the Crew were short-sighted for refusing to take an opportunity to better themselves while also damaging a conference member who, at that time, was ahead of Columbus. All I was saying is that one column he came across, to me, as a blatant homer rather than the local guy covering the team as in his other columns. I wasn't trashing the guy or anything.
I wouldn't judge Galarcep by his spat of columns during the Szetela issue. I think somebody said he was pretty close with the family, and he likely was just too close to the whole situation. To take that small sample and use it to paint him as a hack writer would be a major stretch. As to the Crew trade demands, I think they had every right to say "no" and obviously everyone will have a different idea of what is more "fair" (I've got a bottle of gin bet with Bill Archer regarding the long term prospects of Guevara and Szetela). Regardless of that, you have to admit that it's a bit ass-holish to say, "sure, we'll deal, but only for your best two players." If they'd just stuck to their original "no," the whole thing never would have dragged on as long as it did. That said, I'm glad the kid seems to have settled in. I've been to Ohio, and it's not nearly as bad as people paint it on here. PS: Isn't Ramapo College the alma mater of world famous former MLSer Nansha Kalonji?
Well, at least since January 2003 when Dallas was forced to give up the first pick of the Superdraft to DC United for something or other.
I still think you should sue him for plagierism on that article Jacen. It was pretty blantantly stuff you had wrote a week earlier, of course you said it much better and without the part about the Crew setting Szetela up in a crack house. However, I think it was pretty gracious of the Crew to come to the table at all when they didn't want to. The Metros wanted it, MLS wanted it, and the family wanted it so the Crew came to the table and set the tone for the kind of players it thought Szetela was worth. Metros came back with a joke counter offer and the Crew left the table.
i knew someone would put this, in my original post i had meant to say excluding this or the hernandez deal...really Danny wasn't a BIG ENOUGH name to have any forced trades...