[NQR] Ronaldinho in talks w/ Galaxy & the history of soccer in America

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Yeah, we clearly don't do as well as the Galaxy in this regard.

Oh, wait.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

The fact that they have suspect history with injuries is why they're in our price range to begin with...

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Maybe this is the same guy that examined Becks.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Now Ronnie is a guy I want to go see every time they come no matter how crap this team is.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Concerns me a little that MLS is becoming a dumping ground for declining foreign talents to make a quick buck.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

this has nothing to do with the quakes, go to the LA forum....

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

I don't know. Maybe we can sell Ronnie on the fact that Los Gatos was Brazil, USA for the '84 Olympics and the '94 World Cup, IIRC. By him a place in hills above N. Santa Cruz.

Assuming he still has half a heart to play, he would really be an entertaining draw for a new stadium.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

it always was going to be. To expect anything less from a DP is just fantasizing IMO.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Then hoping for long term success for MLS is equally doomed. Because the league will not earn any respect, or long term fans, by simply picking up heavily used big names on their way out. Sure you might get lucky and get an occasional Beckham bump, but at what cost? You don't earn any new fans that way as we've seen with Beckham.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Whether or not Beckham brought in new fans to the MLS is debatable. there is no proof that he did not bring in new fans. But what is absolutely NOT debatable is that he brought in tons of money to the Galaxy and the league and it is money after all that will make the league a success.

The Galaxy has made a pure profit on Beckham. His worldwide Jersey sales alone have more than paid his salary. And he brings in new fans at every match he plays in, even if those fans only last a game or two.

The success of the NASL was the foreign player the Pele, Eusebio, Chinaglia, Kruyff, Beckenbaur, Best. These players were all at the end of their careers and were playing at the lowest physical levels of their careers, yet they were still top draws and better skilled than the American player was then or is today.

Players like Ronaldinho (pronounced; Hono deen yo) are good for Soccer in this country and great for the MLS.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

But the NASL wasn't a success... infact it was an abject failure in the end...

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

difference being MLS is making a profit without many of the big names NASL had. We are building much smarter, the marketing and business plan have been better. Granted teams like Seattle, Toronto, Phili....and soon to be Portland, Vancouver, and Montreal will be propping up the league for awhile financially. So long as those markets stay strong, the league will survive handily and with a profit. Unfortunately most of these DPs will be brought in to sell jerseys more than actually helping the team. I wish that were not the case, but it is true nonetheless. Hopefully we can find someone that can actually help. Riquelme just turned down West Ham because they didnt offer him enough. We should be doing everything within our considerable power to latch on to him.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

We should be doing everything within our considerable power to build a stadium.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Exactly!

Almost related to SJ. How about ... ¿How come our team is never linked with Ronaldinho or some other great player?

Did you even read the title of this thread? Ronaldinho to the evil, cheating, league-favored, animal-shagging, navel-gazing, turd-fondling, smog-breathing, water-stealing galactopustules. He is NOT coming to join the Quakes!

Aaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhh!

GO QUAKES!!
!@#$ el-lay!!

- Mark

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

As much as I would hate the "dumping past-their prime great players to the MLS" trend, I think this would be good for the MLS. Anything that increases visibility domestically and internationally is good for the league and its growth. A player like Ronaldinho coming to the MLS would get more people out to games, and that's always a good thing. More fans = more money = more visibility = more coverage = better players = more fans = more money... at least in theory...

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Maybe. Maybe it means that other leagues, players, fans here at home, begin to see our league as a geriatric league. As a retirement league. We have to get better, but bringing on lots of older player in their declining years is not a good path.

Oh and someone was saying that MLS is profitable and NASL wasn't. I'm pretty sure that MLS as a whole are losing money. If we are profitable it's only just barely, and a fair fraction of that being Beckham and Blanco jerseys.

We need to try to get younger players. We aren't going to get all of the guys we go after. We won't be able to afford "The Best." But we don't have to hit the "big time" overnight.

And I want to see OUR team sign someone good. Doesn't have to be a household name. We can probably find a quality player for one or two million a year. Maybe we have to look in Argentina or Uruguay, maybe we look in Eastern Europe. But, we can and we should sign a serious quality player. It hurts the fan base to see other teams linked to big time players and the Quakes linked to aging Brazilians and USL players.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

My concern is that MLS could end up like a European league... two teams and their supporting cast. EPL, La Liga, Serie A are all suffering from lack of parity. Sure, we see big crowds with big names in big games on TV, but most of the matches in those leagues are NOT like that. They're played in front of MLS-sized crowds by teams that have no chance from Day One to win the title. We want to avoid that.

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Where else would he go other than NY or LA? I doubt Ronaldinho would exchange San Siro in Milan for Buck Shaw. Of course its LA......they always get the stars at the expense of the rest of the league......

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Ah, there is a wise man among us!!

Clearly, especially in the land of the NFL, our league has to be seen to be fair. We must have set rules that cannot be bent or broken for "special teams." It's not about parity, it's about fairness. Salary cap, draft, public allocation list, league rules available on the website, and no last minute rule changes or bending for one team or another.

Sure, there will be a tendency by international players to want to play in NY or the cesspool. But, if the league rules are tight, and if the league bothers to enforce them, we won't have Hermosillo and Hernandez situations.

And hey, Hermosillo did not have the effect the league wanted in el-lay, but he would sure as hell have increased attendance dramatically in San José. What's that you say?! He would not have agreed to play for San José?! Then the league would have been better off telling him he couldn't play in MLS at all.

GO QUAKES!!
FUMLS!!!!

- Mark

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

And greater interest=wider range of kids taking up soccer=expanded player pool=better US national team.

 

Re: Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Looking back after 2 decades have passed, I believe the NASL wasn't a failure at all. Far from it. Sure the league in the end folded but indirectly, it was a major success. If you look at the way soccer was before 1968 or 1973, its like night and day. If it weren't for the NASL, the USA would never have qualified for a World Cup, hosted a World Cup in this country, had a national team worthy of anything, not had youth soccer and in many cases college soccer, not had an MLS or for that matter, would we be here now discussing anything to do with the sport of soccer. The legacy that league created turned into a huge success something that can not be measured in anyway shape or form.

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

falvo, I think that you give the NASL much more credibility than it deserves.

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

Did you ever see the sport of soccer played in San Jose or for that matter, in the Bay Area (SF or Oakland) before the NASL? I'm willing to bet not....not unless you were a San Jose Lobos fan or played in the Rose Garden for the Peninsula Soccer League matches on Sundays or watching the SF Scots or SF Glens in SF from the late 1950's and into the 1960's....

 

Re: [NQR] Ronaldinho in talks with Galaxy

No NASL, no Shakers. 'Nuff said.