Kante's availability?

Kante is available

I spoke to him the other night at Meet the Rev's and he said he was going to be able to play at the next game, which would be against the Galaxy on Aug. 10th.

I hope this is true.

 

I believe ALL MLS imigration matters are handled by a much maligned, and rather expensive attorney in New York. I have heard many complaints about the speed, quality and price of her work. But alas, she seems to be the only game in town...or at least the only authorized game in town.

 

Re: Kante is available

I asked him the same thing and he told me he will be starting in the middle next to Carlos. BTW, he was extremely nice, stayed after others had left, made sure every kid got his signed card and shook everyones hand before he left. I wish him well and hope he is here long term.

 

Not only that, but he was very gracious when a 'fan' and her youn'uns came up and asked him, 'So which one are you??'

P.S. on the VISA front, having had to obtain some for people who worked on a contract I sold, I am always impressed how quickly the major league sports get them - even MLS.

 

It's the INS. They are inefficient, incompetent, insensitive and immune. For years they've been dealing mostly with non-citizens who are at their mercy, and in no position to make waves.

As a US citizen who had to deal with them to get visas and citizenship for my children, I was amazed (and infuriated) by the rigidity, incompetence and lack of accountability at the INS. As Congressman Markey's office told me, when their intercesion was able to find out the status of my application that I couldn't get myself, "best not to piss them off"!

Of course mistakes or misunderstandings in filing documents can always screw up the process, so a bad lawyer can always make it worse!

 

Some fair criticisms concerning comments made by Todd in the excellent interview by Emlyn Harris… why can't the Globe or Herald print articles like that.

I know, "drink"

To Some comments and responses:

Todd Smith: "I think the comments about requiring a physical of him (Serna) and that he came in hurt was a little bit unfounded, number one because in this league, and I've seen some comments about why it seems ludicrous that we wouldn't request or offer a physical, none of the six players had one. Because the league owns the contracts of the players it really is a moot issue. The only the thing is that it's "buyer beware."

Well, this is kind of like shopping for items at a supermarket: you may appreciate the fact that the USDA or store checks out the goods and passes along their varying stamps of approval, but a good consumer will still take a good look at the items to make sure everything looks o.k., that there's no unforseen blemishes or problems that may be overlooked on more casual examination.

It is buyer beware, but it's hardly a moot issue simply because the practice is modus operandi for any number of league clubs. At the very least, for a player with a questionable track record with respect to fitness or injuries, a club should make the effort to get a physical before anything's signed on the dotted line. For example, if I was Nick Sakiewicz I might have considered getting one for Ted Chronopolous who has a lenghty history of recurring injuries.

Regardless of how the injury occurred, the fact of the matter is this: there are several rumors having circulated through the upper echelons of the league that suggest the Metros g.m. sold Serna to the Revs fulling knowing the extent of his injuries, and the simply fact that the Revs didn't request a physical is hard to accept, especially when this is common practice for most every other professional soccer league in the world where all contracts are "subject to said player passing a physical."

Todd Smith: " One of the misinterpretations is that this year, going into the 2002 season, Sunil's role was to deal with issues with the league and he had other things on his plate, so his role was going to be decreased from a day-to-day role and basically doing some big picture things. Obviously it's going to be a benefit when he understands the architecture of this league the way he does and utilizes his contacts in the game, all of that good stuff."

While I admire the effort, this still doesn't give a particularly good sense of what Sunil's role is with the club. By the very nature of being a MLS club official, you're going to "deal with issues with the league" whether you're g.m. or coach. I guess a better explanation as to these issues would be specific examples or something akin to itemized responsibilities. That being said and when factoring in Todd's response, it sounds like Sunil's operating as more of an internal consultant in a flexible role both in terms of time and responsibilities. That being the case, one has to wonder who's word carries more weight with Jonathan Kraft? I'm sure it varies from issue to issue, but I for one would like to see Todd operating from what could be a more established position in terms of decision-making.

Unfortunately Sunil's been something of an absentee figure: none of us really know what he does for the club, and to be honest, the explanation provided by Todd doesn't work a great deal towards resolving this question. I mean, we can speculate and theorize as to supposed examples of what he does, but at the end of the day we're still left with the question, "who's the man behind the curtain?"

He has a "tremendous amount of contacts," and helps facilitate navigation through the byzantine operational structure of the league. Oddly enough, it always seems that those practices that could benefit from such expertise (such as player acquisition, discovering talent) are more substantially protracted when compared to other clubs around the league.

Todd Smith: It was simply a matter of thinking, 'Well, maybe a change of venues do both of these players (Diallo, Serna) good.'"

Well, in all fairness to Todd, hindsight is 20/20, but it's just a shame that any number of players who didn't work here can find results elsewhere. That being said, as many busts as the Revolution have brought in, we have gotten good years out of players including Raul Diaz Arce and Wolde Harris, while Carlos Llamosa and Brian Kamler have done well to distinguish themselves in 2002.

Todd Smith: One of the things that I recognized right away was the fact that we didn't have players around long enough in the off-season in my first year. We went into pre-season with too many people to look at, too many positions to fill, and not enough time to build chemistry, team unity and all those good things.

Well, this begs the question, what can the Revolution do…strike that, what would Todd Smith like to do/what can he do to change this? Is the number of players cycling through camp a result of Sunil, one could argue that it could be? Too many positions to fill? Well, that's going to be the case when you drop a good number of players, i.e., you partially create this situation no matter whether it's warranted or not. Not enough time to build chemistry, team unity…blah, blah, blah.

You know, perhaps the Revs had several things working against the latter, especially if certain players were, for lack of a batter description, the "vinegar" to the other players "oil." But there has always seemed to be some problem with chemistry: maybe this is due to the exceptionally high turnover of players from season to season, with not enough core players sticking around to emerge as team leaders. So as g.m. you have to wonder, what can I do to help my coaches get those right type of players that, perhaps not as talented as some other players available, may bring stablity, continuity, and leadership to the club.

There are some very knowledgable fans who've followed this club quite closely since it's inception, fans at times with a very good (if but selective) memory. If you don't recognize the mistakes of the past then you'll be condemned to repeat them, and in some instances, this has been the case.

You know, one of the best parts of the article was the news about Rusty coming back relatively soon. He's a fan favorite (I'd argue,) and a seemingly integral member of the side. This is the sort of news Rev fans want to hear about, and something that should be put forth on the Revolution website.

If I had to make one suggestion to Todd, and I hope he's reading this, it's to seriously re-evaluate the club's web pressence for 2003. There's so much they could do with it, and all it would take would be one or two dedicated staff, a design overhaul, things that do require $$$, but it would go along way towards improving the accessibility to information.

The Magpie

 

It's the INS. They are inefficient, incompetent, insensitive and immune. For years they've been dealing mostly with non-citizens who are at their mercy, and in no position to make waves.

But you have to wonder why it takes so long with the Revolution. Semedo seemingly took forever to get here, now Kante, all while United gets Eliseo Quintanilla, Columbus gets Freddy Garcia into their line-ups in no time.

I'm also curious how Kante was able to suit up and play in the USL, where you'd have to assume he's getting paid, only a month or so before MLS signed his papers. You figure he'd need a work visa to play there, so is there some reason it wouldn't apply to the Revolution?

The Magpie

 

Work visas are specific to the employer, so he has to get a new one.

 

Well there you go!

Thank you.

The Magpie

 

I'm nearly speechless after reading this. After comtemplating about a half a dozen responses over the last 10 minutes (all of which would be worthy of at least a yellow card) I'm ready to try a real one. The only way you could possibly defend a statement like that would be if he couldn't think of any way to defend such an absurd policy so he didn't bother to try. The fact that the league holds all of the contracts should make which team an injured player is on moot to the league, because they have to pay him anyway and theoretically the league shouldn't care which individual teams players are on. Whether or not a player is injured when you trade for him is not supposed to be moot to a GM, however. In general, he should actually care about the health/effectiveness of the players on his team.

If it's the actually league practice that teams do trades without physicals, the an obvious (and important) follow-up question would be about whether the league expects the teams making the deals to be up front about any physical ailments, or whether the teams make trades based on assumptions of the player's health. If they are expected to be up front about a player's health, there should at least be an investigation into whether or not Serna was healthy when he was traded, and the punishment if it's true should be pretty severe. Of course, that assumes that the Revs care enough to file a grievance. If it's the case that teams just assume players are healthy, they need to seriously re-examine this policy, as it might have cost the Revs one of their more valuable assets. It would also call into question the structure of the league. Is it a coincidence that Serna was traded to a team not under the care of Lamar or Phil?

I apologize for the rant. This might be more of an issue for me than for others. However, after making what was described as one of the biggest trades in the history of the MLS, we find out that the main player that we were after may have had an existing injury when we traded for him, and Todd Smith seems surprised that people would care about this. The fact that this would just be treated as business as usual, in my opinion really calls into question the integrity of the league.

 

This latest flow of information, or lack thereof, coming from Revs management in the aftermath of Gus Martins critique and Chris Allen's misinterpreted comment, has shed a beacon of enlightenement on just exactly who/what is the source of the Revs problems - on and off the field.

Thanks to Gus, the Professor and Todd, we can see clearly now.

 

Just one follow up comment on the Serna injury/physical issue:

My impression from speaking to Todd and others (and it might be difficult to read in what Todd said to me yesterday) is that everyone knew the condition of Serna's knee before he came to New England, in fact, before he went to New York. The guy did his ACL three years ago. BUT...all the examining doctors felt that, due to the muscular development of Serna's legs, surgery was not the best course of treatment. They felt he had the muscle to compensate. And...he played a full season in Miami and most of a season in New York with little problem. Todd was saying that the incident that produced the torn meniscus occured in whatever game that was, while he was in uniform for the Revolution, and that it had little to do with his pre-existing condition. It was just unlucky that the meniscus injury happened. While treating the meniscus, doctors decided to address the ACL as well.

So, not sure that helps, but maybe it's more clear.

I'm not doctor. I don't even play one on TV.

 

Well, I am a MD and that's sound medical practice. I think all the yelling about Sernas knee is about a problem that isn't real. The Revs knew the status of his knee before the trade, he had been playing well on his knee before and after the trade and he sustained a new injury to his knee while in a Rev kit. There is no smoking gun Gus!!!

 

FWIW, Kanté's work papers have not come through yet. If you remember last year, it took three weeks for Caté's to come through (You do remember him?).

 

Having been through many knee injuries I don't see how the deficient ACL could not have been a contributing factor. From what I understand the ACL in coordination with the PCL help control the rotation of the lower leg relative to the upper leg. Meniscus tears often result from over rotation or partial disloaction of the joint. If the ACL is deficent and does not have it's full strength to derotate the joint it makes it more vulnerable to a meniscus tear even if his muscular development is superior.

It sounds like the doctors agreed that the benefits of avoiding opening the joint, even slightly via a scope, outweighed the risk of further injury. That doesn't mean that the risk of further injury was not greater than it would have been before his ACL was torn.

An ACL deficient knee is more likely to suffer meniscal tears.

 

If the Revs knew that Serna had a previously unaddressed knee problem, don't you think it would have been wise to have a doctor check him out before you traded for him? A significant part of our season's success depended on Serna's health. You can bet your bottom dollar that the Pats wouldn't sign a player or trade for one without giving him a physical. Instead, we made a major trade that was "buyer beware".

It's not unusual for teams in other sports to pass on signing a player or rescind a trade because that player fails a physical. Sometimes, not only does a player's former team not know that he was going to fail the physical, but the player himself is sometimes surprised. This sometimes happens to players who never even missed a game due to the original injury.

 

Re: Re: Kante's availability?

This lawyer is porking people big time (in the financial sense only), according to those I've talked to. According to one of the top immigration attorneys in New England, getting a green card should cost anywhere in the vicinity of $2,000 to $3,000 - no more (and, as athletes, they can speed up the process slightly, too...since 9/11, things, understandably, have changed a lot). My understanding is that "she" has charges anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000. And, they've reported "she" is painfully slow and inclined to be dilatory. Again, I'm getting this from those who've opted to go this route, and not directly from "her."

 

George, with the greatest respect as another M.D., I don't believe sound medical practice is in evidence here, at least as far as third hand information can tell us. It is common for players to choose to play with an orthopedic injury (or a concussion, a heart condition, etc.) rather than face dealing with it medically, but that doesn't mean that there is no risk involved, even if the player has "muscular legs". I have yet to meet an orthopedist who thought arthroscopy had any significant risk in a healthy young person, particularly relative to that of playing on an injured knee. The fact that he played every game for Metro means jack. Ask Earl Campbell.

Naturally, none of us know Serna's exam, or relevant details of his history. It sure doesn't look good though - and none of my concerns were cleared up by John Lewis' interview. Todd Smith doesn't seem to have nearly the grasp of the issue reflected by Teskicks.

Gus and many others are correct - there should have been a contingency physical.