I'm not saying that we deserve to know, have the right to know, or should know why SJ is taking time off. All I'm saying is that within the context of how this young story is being handled, it doesn't sound like a family health issue. If it was I think the Joseph family would want the Rev family to know and help out anyway we can. We've generously helped the Katz family, and would expect the same turn out for the Josephs. Joseph has every right to protect his private life from the public. But along the lines of what Sandon was saying, when your a public figure and a two sentence blurb of your indefinite leave of absence creates threads like these, you would think that you would set the record straight if it wasn't something to be ashamed of. Hell why not give a very general reasoning like "Joseph has been granted an indefinite leave of absence in order to attend to some family concerns". Case closed, and we can at at least direct our prayers in the right direction. But here we are, with people already speculating substance abuse.
Unfortunately sports franchises only tend to be vague with details in these situations when it's something that creates a negative image for the player and the team. Shalrie is a class act on and off the field from what I know, and I don't expect the worse in this situation, however, it's hard for me to believe that this is a family related issue. At this point I'm honestly questioning why Shalrie has missed so many games this season at the last minute, played in one game and looked fine, and the gone back to not playing. Not only has he not been playing, but a lot of the time he hasn't been practicing or traveling with the team. It seems very shady. And I'm sick and tired of people like bwiddell and Soccer Doc rolling their eyes and criticizing people for speculating over this. We're paying customers and fans of this team. All of us here wish the best for Shalrie, but from the circumstances of the season, and the way the FO worded this press release, I can't help but have negative thoughts on this situation.
Are you serious with the part I bolded??? If this was an issue with you or your family, do your company's customers (who are paying customers, after all) have the right to speculate over the reason? Throwing out bullshit like he might have failed a drug test or not be getting along with his teammates is unfounded and uncalled for. This has nothing to do with KAD/NNN -- this is about basic human decency.
I agree about the nature of human decency. If one of my employees or co-workers had a personal, private matter to attend to then they'd be granted that time no questions asked. Moreover, one doesn't ask "sooo when you gonna be back?" The answer is, take all the time you need. Granted in the context of professional sports indefinite leaves of absence tend to be for pretty severe issuess, which is not good at all. As a fan I'd like to know more but ultimately its none of our business. Same time, feel free to set your expectations about his performance and return down close to zero. Place your bets. Who's back in MLS first? Beckham, Twellman or Joseph?
Because they don't want to? They might be legally barred from doing so. Shalrie may have asked them not to. Or the organization might have decided not to. Why not? If it's a family related issue that Shalrie doesn't want publicized, or isn't in a position to publicize (an abortion, a sexual assault, HIV, a family member with addiction, etc etc etc) it absolutely could. No, they don't. They demonstrate why people THINK it's their business, when it's not. Yes, they do. Does the team update fans with every time a guy breaks up with his girlfriend? It's not unreasonable to expect that fans will want to know. It's unreasonable to expect that fans desire to know trumps all other considerations. To what degree? Erin Andrews is a public figure, so does that make the drooling fanboys filming her undressing "reasonable"? Clearly, they do. You know one other way to limit the baseless speculation? For communities like this one to police themselves. You're just making this up. Why? There's no reason not to. boo hoo. I mean, what's so hard about this, really? You're a paying customer, sure. That gets you quite a bit. But it doesn't get you everything. Life is so hard.
That's kinda what speculation is. People may be confusing wanting to know why, with wanting to know why with details. A simple "He had to leave for family concerns" is better than "He just had to leave". Or what about this: "We can not comment on why he had to leave at this time but please rest assured that its is not ____" fill the blank in with any of the speculation made here. And I like how people compare Joseph's job with our own jobs. I wish when I take a leave of absence a dozen different video game websites report it, and people post 50+ responses about it. To quote bwidell and Doc and just to piss off Crooked...
There's a difference between feeling entitled and being entitled, but the distinction is so very lost on some people.
That about sums it up. We're a pale shadow of the team were even 3 years ago and that's with Shalrie right now. Without him...well, we already saw what that's like. As to the how's and the why's and the whatnot's...does it matter? He's got something to deal with, he's going to go do that. Its going to take as long as it takes. I hope it all turns out OK for him. To me the bottom line is what the %^*&# are we going to do without him?
Good luck Shalrie, where ever you are. I get a bad feeling about this. I don't think there's a thing to be done about it. Ironically, (usually) the MLS rules protect us - the minor market fans - more than they hurt us. There will be no help coming. We'll suck it up, and like it.
That's an opinion. The fact is that with him we are 1-0-0 and we looked pretty good winning 4-1, albeit against a weak team. People debated all winter how the 2010 Revs, led by Shalrie, would do. The question remain unanswered, and I sure hope we get to find out. I haven't seen anything yet to change my prediction that with Shalrie this is a 1.5+ ppg team.
Best of luck to Shalrie. And clearly, the team and/or Shalrie don't want us to know why he's leaving. It's their right not to tell us. It's our right to act like petulant little babies and demand that we know every single personal detail of players' personal lives, up to and including a detailed log of Edgaras Jankauskas' bowel movements. It's the Revs' right to tell us to pound sand. Good for them.
This one, which has been in place for almost 10 years. If the LOA is in any way medically related (even for a family member), this law takes precedence.
Thanks, I was going to say that and you did it much better than I. And yes. On all accounts. I'm really really contemplating closing this thread, but this is a discussion that's going to go on for a long long time (till SJ comes back) so I'm going to leave it open. What I will say is no more baseless speculation please. It's unfair to Shalrie, his teammates, his team, and to those of us that love the Revs.
Out of respect for their player, and employee and someone they consider part of the Rev "family"? If any employee is having personal problems and needs to take some time off, you wouldn't want them not to come forward for fear that it comes with a press announcement. They absolutely have to protect his privacy. I'm sure the Revs stance is (and should be), that if/when SJ wants to give an explanation, he or his representatives will.
I fully agree with you on this one. But just like if someone at my office all of a sudden took a LOA, and my coworkers would speculate, the same thing is happening here. I'm a bit surprised that people are shocked by that, as it's human nature to do so. What I (as a mod) won't allow though is speculation such as drugs, etc since there's no proof.