I really hate negative posts and will try not to make mine one! As I read about Fire making a deal with a local TV station, Galaxy partnering with Kohl's department store, many teams signing pretty well known name players, Metro getting a new socer facility, DC partnering with German giant club team and Fire with a Mexican giant club team and many more, it just makes me question if we are doing anything at all? Unless we are for sure picking our new player(s) from the group that is practicing with the team, isn't it almost too late to bring a brand new foreign player? The season is less than two months away. It seems to me that we are just not a multi-task organization. I guess right now we just dealing with stadium problems.
The Burn are talking to their TV partners about 2003. Part of the problem is the baseball schedule around these parts has not been finalized yet. With Fox SW having both Rangers and Astros, that effects the Burn TV considerably.
There is plenty of time to bring in a decent player. The season is extended this year, so much of the season would remain after most of the Euro squads are done. Good chance to pick up someone then, and have them for 20 games plus playoffs. Graziani joined the Burn midseason when he came. On a related note, having a stadium is important, but having a team to attract people to fill your stadium becomes your first job, when the stadium is done. Once the deal is signed, the quality of the team becomes the major issue.
O'brien joined the team midseason last year. I agree that this team does seem to have been bogged down by stadium issues. But I still like our chances against most of the teams in this league. As usual, it all comes down to coaching now. Let's get this season started.
Actually (In my opinion) both of those players (O'Brien and Graziani) are very bad examples. Neither one has shown a good chemistry with the Burn players. I believe O'Brien will this year becuase it will be his second year and he has had more time to adapt. You can not wait till the seasn starts and think that by mid-season they will be able to play with regular players. That does nothing but lower a decent players' confidence! We are not talking about players like Veron who can come in and make immediate impact. The players that we get, already lack confidence because they did not make it in the big leagues. That's why you see so many frustrated players on our team. They need more time to mold.