On Mullan And The Rapids Being Thugs

Putting myself in the shoes of a Sounders fan watching at home, after seeing/hearing the tackle on FSC, I can understand being upset at Rapids fans booing the card. This, coupled with Mullan's on field reaction, produced a fair amount of right-brain driven backlash against the Rapids fans.

However, it's been previously established that from the majority of vantage points around the stadium, aside from the section right in front of the incident, it did not appear to be that bad. This removed one source of blame and anger, so the focus has shifted toward ill-defined accusations of the Rapids being "thugs" or "classless" or any number of other epithets that have been slung around.

This has been an emotionally charged situation. I think there's just a lot of residual, unfocused rage from all around the league at a very disturbing injury resulting from a fairly brutal challenge. I don't condone Mullan's actions, but I think Jason's evidence shows that the Rapids do not have a history of this and cannot logically be considered thugs.

 

Just want to be clear that I agree with the above, which is what I meant by "played the man".

Whether he did hit the ball first, as irrelevant as it is, it's really hard to tell with that angle/footage as the frames occur before and after the ball is actually touched. If I had the raw HD feed at 60fps, I'd have better luck. I think there are other angles from FSC, but yeah...it doesn't matter anyway.

 

More like a sleeper cell, he or she has been here since February of 2005 just waiting to post that. ;>)

 

Ignore list them.

I have to take them off when they decide to visit this forum, but it really makes the experience better.

My problem is that in the USMNT forum and Yanks Abroad every thread involves long sections of, "This poster is on your ignore list."

 

I've never had the impression Mullan's been a dirty player. He's just a hard worker. Mullan has gone in on tackles like that 100 times, and has usually come out with the ball. I don't think there was malicious intent from Mullan.

If you want a team full of thugs, flash back Dominic Kinnear Coached Teams From 2004 Earthquakes - 2009 Houston Dynamo. And mind you I love the Earthquakes

 

It's the great commentary that keeps me coming back. AllezRSL is golden, every time that guy posts it’s a quick and cleaver bomb. This site usually makes me laugh, quite a bit. These last few days have felt like I felt for weeks after I got into a fight in Jr High. It sucks because I didn’t break anyone’s leg. I’ve always stayed away from the great BigSoccer lets-all-gang-up-on Seattle behavior. They have a dreaded few posters but they are always followed up with a barrage of punches and hilarious banter.

 

This it it, for me. Mullan's tackle was ridiculous. But I won't be happy with just any suspension. If it's say, 9-10 games, and MLS makes some press release with no other changes, then he's just a scapegoat.

I agree with the points you made about missing Zakuani and Ferreira, and the rough play in MLS. There wasn't even a foul called on the Ferreira play, and while I think they're trying to catch more of these sorts of tackles where there's contact to the lower legs, way too much of it is let go. And the amount of shoving goes way beyond the sorts of shoulder-to-shoulder stuff you see on 50/50 balls in other leagues.

That's the context in which the Mullan play happened. Which again, is not to excuse the recklessness of his tackle. But you're not going to help anything only by going after Mullan.

Now, if Mullan gets 9 games or something like that, and the league rolls out a bunch of other changes to go with it, that will be something to think about, to chew on.

Other than the result, I'm not sure how many Rapids fans like the way the MLS Cup went along. It's not as if our players like Cummings, Kimura, Smith and Wallace can operate well in that sort of game, either. We all saw what happened to Kandji's knee. And while Casey can bull his way through that sort of game, he's just as important to the team as a finisher (and a PK taker) when the refs are calling it tight.

 

I agree with Deron. Ignore list folks, at least for now. Or take a break for while. Soccer is supposed to be fun...that's what I keep trying to remind myself ever since seeing that tackle and the resulting hysteria.

I've commended you for your patience and persistence while arguing in various threads. But at some point, it's too much for anyone. If people aren't going to come to a forum with at least somewhat of an open mind and in good faith, they're only worth so much of your time and aggravation.

Sometimes I just have to remind myself to stay out of N&A threads...they are what they are; even if I could argue more persuasively, I doubt they'd change. I keep coming back, though, for the good posters...it's not easy to find intelligent commentary on MLS. The Rapids forum has been really great, and has really helped me learn about the club. The place wouldn't be the same without you, but I can understand taking a break from the place.

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/mls-disciplinary-summary

Nothing there yet. In the long table we can see that the Rapids are pretty ordinary so far as yellow card accumulation. Beckham at present 'leads' the league with 5 yellows. Of Casey's 3 how many went to his mouth rather than the rest of his body, 2 - 1?

 

I understand that as Rapids fans we are under scrutiny from other fans around the league, but I still think we need to question the player making the play….

Mullan should never make that tackle. As a 5 time champion, and a professional playing soccer for over 10 years, he has the experience to control his body when going into such a tackle, especially in the third minute. Why even make such a slide tackle in the first place?

And that stupid tackle made us lose the game. We dominated with 10 men, and would have won easily with 11. With that loss, we are now on a 3 game losing streak. We should never be on that type of streak. Talent wise, we are a top 5 team easily, and should never be sitting at .500

My office is filled with non-soccer fans, but I still heard ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ from people watching the video on youtube.

Colin Clark is now healthy and starting to play for Houston…..just saying…

 

Yes, and much as I loved Colin we have a Cup which would not have occurred without Mullen.

 

Has anyone here ever read anything by Malcolm Gladwell? He is very interested in questions of identity, labels and memes (theory that ideas and knowledge are like organisms that take on a life of their own). He posits that early in the development of a system, the perceived differences between constituents are small and unimportant, but these small differences get labeled then become memes and self-perpetuate. Thus, things grow into what they were labeled initially, even if the labels were inaccuate at the time.

What I mean is that MLS is very young still and struggling for identity; desperate for identity even. The league wants these labels so everything can be organized and simplified; e.g. RSL is the "class of the league" (which, putting a pin in the rivalry stuff, aside from a long home unbeaten streak, I honestly don't see), LA and NY are the "money blowing Real Madrid/Yankees clones", FCD is the "always a bridesmaid, never a bride, best team to never win a Cup etc." and the Rapids are "the Thugs of the league". Who knows, maybe my own bias is contaminating this, or maybe the league is doing it on purpose to try and create these identities.

The point is, much of the despair seen by Rapids fans the past 5 days is related to the significant cognitive dissonance on display here; the facts are contrary to the label. Statistically, the Rapids are not "Thugs". The problem is, the meme may already have formed and is no longer based on logic. No matter how many reasonable arguments or statistics are thrown at our detractors, you cannot fight irrationality with rationality. The idea itself has taken on a life of its own.

Perhaps, to preserve our own sanity, we should just embrace it. If embracing it is too disagreeable, at least we can will ourselves to no longer care; a kind of Zen-like resignation.

"RSL is the class of the league and the Rapids are no-talent thugs only out to hurt their opponent! That is why RSL will be superior to Colorado until the end of time!!!"

"OK, we're thugs. Last time I checked though, RSL didn't win s*it last year and the Rapids got the Cup so I guess it works for us."

Oh well. Based on my posts the past few days, I'm going to get the label of "guy who posts rambling, pseudo-intellectual nonsense." I guess this is my way of figuring out the situation. Thanks for your indulgence.

 

My opinion from Kansas City:

• I watched it live here in Kansas City and it looked like a hot-headed play for the 3rd or 83rd minute.
• I have no opinion on the Rapids or Mullan (primarily because of Altitude blacks them out in 10 states - a rant for a different day), so it is difficult to see them. However, right or wrong (wrongly to me), Mullan is probably now the face of the club (players, supporters, etc.) to many outside of Colorado.
• What really sticks out to me were his post-game comments. The I-would-do-it-again sounded bad. Of course, he was referring to the tackle, not the broken leg, but the message was lost. Then, him being tearful in the locker room sounded like he was upset that Colorado had to play with 10, not because of the injury. To me, there was little or no contrition in his voice about the injury.

I hope any rational supporter for other clubs will not hold this against the Rapids. I don't. I'll be there in Denver for the game on May 28th and maybe even at the Bulldog, if I can squeeze in with a Sporting KC shirt.

 

Memes attach themselves to other meme's like proteins forming a cancer.

The English approach is physical.
The latin approach is skill.
Attacking A-Mids are skilled.
D-Mids are ugly.
The Rapids, Houston, New England, and - likely soon to join the list - have Anglo-Saxon coaches. They're rough teams.
Dallas has/had a latin A-Mid they're a skill team.
RSL has an A-mid, they play a possession game.
If you don't have an A-Mid you don't use an attacking approach
Schmidt and Arena are college coaches who always focus on cynical tactics and fitness

There's a lot of short hand at work in these things.

The Rapids have done their part to earn the reputation. Back under Hankinson they did set out to up the physicality of the team and even advertised it with the "Black and Blue Attitude". Clavijo never seemed to have a solid handle on it one way or another. Smith seems to have taken the parts and upped the discipline by a lot.

If we've upped the physicality of play it's been in the midfield and up top. Our defense is generally cleaner than most in the league. This seems to unbalance the minds of watchers - midfielders and forwards are supposed to be soft, or something.

I do tend to believe that people see any South/Central American player as being skilled even though we've seen plenty of the dark arts out of them as well. This is the Gardner bias - all latin American's play a free flowing game.

 

For those interested, today's ExtraTime podcast talks at length about this tackle, and I was happy to hear them approach it with calm and rationality.

 

This is what I thought but didn't post, now I don't have to.

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/mls-disciplinary-summary

Obviously out this week and "(currently under review)" -- understatement of the season if they read Big Soccer ...

 

I thought the list of RSL thugs was interesting.

I'm surprised that Borchers made the list. I think he is anything but a thug.
To replace Borchers I would add Espindola.

Having said that I think there are some factors that are seldom talked about. The first is size. There is an inherent bias against huge players. Fans have it and refs are not immune. If a 6'3" 220# player makes a hard, fair shoulder charge against a 5'8" 160# player the smaller player will be blasted off of the ball and the big player will have a foul called. The big player will go in the books as committing lots of fouls. Add a few notable cautions and a send off and he will be known as a dirty player.

It's hard to shake a bad reputation. A bad reputation will shade a ref's perception and that will affect the calls. Those calls will validate the fans' perception.

It takes a lot of effort, but players do change, as do their reputations.

Olave is a good example. In his first years with the club it seemed that he was whistled a lot for being bigger than the player he challanged. He got sent off for stupid tackles and he ran off at the mouth. Kreis used a firm hand; he sat him after some stupid cards (both temper and tackles). At the same time the refs realized that some fouls called were like calling a foul on a wall for blocking the wind.

I didn't consider Beckerman a dirty player when he played for you. He was a hothead and that lead to jawing and pushing and shoving after the whistle. It seemed like he was involved in something at the end of very match. He has grown up. The physical confrontations are rare but he can still run off his mouth. I don't think his play ever descended to being dirty.

I hope Kreis has convinced Espindola to control his temper. He has also been benched. He is a work in progress. This year: so far, so good.

The key factor whether a team is thuggish or not is the coach. Kreis actively discourages it in RSL, benching players if necessary. Your coach seems to encourage physical play. In no way do I mean to say that he encourages thuggery; it's more the case that when a player crosses the Colorado line they are closer to thuggery than when the cross someone else's line.

I haven't seen Conor play enough to judge. Pablo is incorrigible.

 

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. I think of Borchers as a clean player and Olave as clean. I do think Olave is more physical though, and I think a fair number of people equate any physicality to being thuggish.

Beckerman wasn't any more foul prone in Colorado, but we'd hear the accusations on a regular basis. Certain fans of certain clubs in particular would get it in their head. Dallas and DC in particular had it in for Kyle. At least in DC's case it was always kind of funny, because Olsen was every bit as tough and mouthy as Kyle. Dallas just always loses to us in the playoffs so anything that'll make them feel better is fine by me - as long as the situation remains as is.