http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=537110&root=mls&cc=5901 Pretty funny article. Conrad is one of my favorite players not only because he is a solid defender, but hes a smart and funny guy. He bashes refs a little (as any player does) but takes a look at it from an interesting angle, all in good humor. Thought you guys may get a chuckle out of this like I did.
I can't say it had me falling off my chair with laughter here. Maybe Conrad would have been more enlightened if he'd left his dictionary on the shelf and taken a look at the LOTG? Reminded me a bit of the legendary English sports journalist, Phil Space.
I thought it was pretty good. Read it with an open mind. He notes that he was in fact wrong about the offside call that he went to protest, and for which protest he received the yellow. His complaint is basically that he hadn't dissented yet, or at least that his dissent (probably OFFINABUS if it had occurred in any of our youth games) wasn't heard by the referee. Perhaps he's not aware that the LOTG specifically disallow "dissent by word or action]/b]? He does have a legitimate point about being the captain - while not recognized in the LOTG, traditionally captains are allowed to get an explanation on calls. I do wonder what explanation he thought he was going to get that would satisfy him... "Uh, Mr. Conrad, the scoring player was onside when the ball was last touched by a member of his team." Right. It's going to end with Conrad surrounded by other teammates shouting at the AR, then stomping off still feeling robbed. Stott wanted to nip it in the bud, and he did so. This did get an LOL from me. BTW, the video shows the goal, and it's a good goal, but does not show what led to the yellow (or even the yellow being issued). The video also shows Toronto basically camped in the Wizards end creating chances and putting shots on or near goal. I'm surprised it wasn't 5-0 Toronto. No wonder Conrad waited a few weeks to post this - hoped people wouldn't remember not only the score, but also how badly they got spanked. The official article on the game says Conrad was booked by the AR. Obviously that's not the case, but I do wonder if the AR called for the card.
Actually, Conrad does reference the right parts of the correct laws and admits that he was wrong in the heat of the moment. Not too many players are willing to do that. Loved the "sick hobby" comment, too. My old USENET sig was "referee and player - dr. jekyll and mr. hyde". But the roles have been known to be reversed. (What? Haven't you ever called the 50-50 plays opposite the way the screaming coach calls them just to find what his breaking point is? )