*snicker* I'm sure the only decent wings in the MD/DC/NoVa area are from WNY transplants. Maybe I'll do a first person search in a couple of months if things go well.
I'm not saying that our defenders will be busts, simply that if you look at the history of the league, the best defenders have been from the US and south americans (even highly rated ones) havn't fared well here.
Sorry, too lazy to do the quote thing. Falc said "The NCAA rules will limit when a player leaves college." Really? I didn't know that. How in the world can the NCAA prevent a player from leaving? Kids drop out of school all the time! Now if it's part of the terms of their scholarship, well I am certain that if an MLS team really wanted him, they could pay them the amount of the fee to drop out, and their salary.... Falc said "Just think if we required all engineer graduates to be put in a pool and be dependent upon the engineer firm that drafted them for their employment." Actually, this is what the NRMP does for all medical students when they graduate from med school. Each year 15,000 prospective doctors graduating from med school go through the interview process, and then through a program that uses an amalgorithem it matches players, sorry - doctors to residency programs. Guess who used to work for the match? Once in a while, tv shows like ER and Scrubs refer to the match. I love talking to doctors about it - they have the most convoluted preconceptions about how it works, but I understand that if your entire career was based on a computer program, you would be suspicious, too. Kinda' like a sports draft. Falc said "The NFL and NBA can use the draft because they have a monopoly in their respective sports." So how does that make it better? You know what, I really don't care - speculating on what some imaginary 17 year old soccer player may or may not do in a make-believe world where MLS does not have a draft is an exercise in futility. Never mind. Though I am still curious about the NCAA rules - how can they prevent a player from leaving? The NCAA isn't even recognized by FIFA, so they can't control their player pass....
Really? I felt that DC United had pretty good experiences with Mario Gori and Diego Sonora, when healthy. You could argue that Erpen had his disasterous moments.
Me too. So what are you arguing about? All I said is that MLS should do without a draft. It is not the only way to allocate players and it is a system that does not benefit them other than keeping the wages of players down as teams within the league do not compete against each other. But considering that there is plenty of competition outside of the league, my opinion is that doing away with the draft is better for MLS. Look at what happened with DC United and some of their draft choices for the last two season. Now what the draft has to do with whether a kid goes to college is non sequitur. The draft has no affect on the college game. In fact, the draft is not exclusive to the college game as high school kids enter the draft. So the college game will continue as it is doing. The US Soccer Academy may have an impact but not whether MLS employs a draft system. Your argument that somehow MLS will be able to exploit kids if they do not use a draft system is ..... what? You are correct that NCAA rules cannot prevent a kid from quitting. But the rules prevent a player from negotiating. Once a player does so, he loses his eligibility. So it is a pretty big hammer and unless a kid thinks he is a sure thing, will prevent him from going on a goose chase. And that should calm your fears of kids giving up on their education.
While we have our debate of to draft or not to draft, can you at least let us know the quality of a Quilmes draft?
Good point - it's easy to forget Carlos was Colombiano, because he was capped for the USA by the Bruce.
From the world of yesteryear - Michael Ricketts was just released from his contract in England. Wonder if an MLS team will make a play for him - I can't remember his story, was he born here or does he have a green card? I know a bunch of people were clamoring for hi to be on the NT at one time.
Ah, but there, you get the whole breast and leg and everything else. I actually had the Gordon Biersch wings last night and they had the sweetness of the wings at the L'Enfant Plaza food court plus the spice of traditional Buffalo hot sauce. My faves are still Sweeney's Saloon in Trenton, NJ (oddly enough, right down the street from the proposed site of Union FC). A burnt honey taste served with a bit of watermelon to cleanse the palate. Ahhh.
I'm guessing DC Utd has had a few more than me, but I was in BA in October and Quilmes drafts were top notch. I don't remember beer being sold at the soccer matches, but my favorite Italian restaurant on Thames and Guatemala served Quilmes as a 40--hell, maybe it was 60! And the rock/punk clubs in Capital serve them in pitchers. No other beers available, and no other beers needed. I would say it reminds me more of an Asian beer (Tiger?) than any Euro beers I can think of. And take my word, it's better than RFK Bud.
"I know my chicken....You got to know your chicken." By the way, Chicken with Argentine Chimichurri sauce is not bad. Try it some time.
It's chopp. And to quote my sister after her first trip to BA, the only thing she learned in Spanish was "Quilmes. Chopp. Dos, por favor." Chopp = draft, and is much better than the bottles, which is much better than the cans. Regardless, ever since it was bought by a Brazilian company, the quality has gone downhill. Iguana is much better. No beer is sold inside the stadiums here - there is enough violence without having booze inside. Let me guess - La Baita? It was probably a liter - my first trip to BA 11, they didn't sell bottles smaller than a liter. Of course, Argentines think you are supposed to share a liter.... Personally, I am a Guinness man, but it's too expensive here, so Quilmes chopp. LMAO - sounds about right.
great. now how did the night out bonding session go at the wizards game. any reports yet out of Florida