On Mullan And The Rapids Being Thugs

I did not state my opinion the suspension at all. I simply pointed out that majority of people outside of Rapids supporters, which means more than just Sounders fans.

You can keep up a facade of reasonableness, but the intractable nature of your viewpoint clearly demonstrates otherwise. You have convinced yourself that everyone outside of Rapids support is behaving irrationally. That is NOT the simple answer. The simple answer is that the minority, who believe themselves to be wronged....are wrong. 99% of the time the simple answer is right one.

 

Whether or not a precedent is set won't be known until we see whether or not MLS actually does anything in the future. You may be optimistic about this being a precedent, many people are not.

I will be impressed and pleased if MLS starts to really start handing out suspensions for reckless tackles, but I remain suspicious that they won't.

If we don't see it until there's another injury, then this will have been for nothing other than show.

 

Uh, some people consider the actual arguments made in order to assess reasonableness. I don't think Jason's viewpoint is intractable, he's laying it out there pretty clearly. In places where he isn't, you can simply ask him about it.

 

Yeah...lets set a new precedent that any major league in Europe would even consider excessive. What a farce.

I'll bet that fact that it involved a Seattle player (or an LA or NY player for that matter) severed as a factor in the committee's decision. If you complain loud enough, you'll get what you want.

 

Whatever you hope to achieve do it by addressing the argument and not the mental state of the poster.

Continued diagnosis of Jason's psyche will be viewed as trolling.

 

I would like to think that nature of my posts in your forum indicate that I am not a troll. But, if you think I crossed a line I will try and stay on the other side going forward.

 

I don't have much faith in them either, but I do think they should be given at least half a season for me to decide. The Nyarko incident did end up with an extra game. That's not a lot, but it is something.

Just lucky I guess. If they call it as they say they will, then that won't seem all that remarkable.

Here's hope they will, but I won't put money on it.

 

Those two tackles are clearly different. Before continuing, I will state that I would not have had a problem with a red after seeing Carrasco's tackle after the game.

However, and it is a significant however, there is no evidence that his tackle was anything other than mis-timed. There is no evidence in the video to indicate any form of intent. The Mullan video pretty clear demonstrates the state of mind he was in when went after Zakuani. And the fact he lost control when there wasn't a long period of chippiness going on to build him (Mullan) to a boil further exacerbates the "egregious nature" of the tackle.

These are very different tackles, and it doesn't do anything to bolster your argument.

You should focus on the "egregious nature" portion of the statement. That is where the disciplinary committee is making their statement.

 

I'm not going to go through all of these, so I don't know if anything I'm sayings been said, and I'm not trolling.

I personally think the most thuggish team in the league is probably Chivas, and if you look at card accumulation this season, it's actually LA Galaxy that has the most so far, so you could argue that they are the worst actually.

On the Mullan incident. Was it a dirty tackle? Without a doubt, but it was just bad luck that he broke his leg. Steve doesn't drag his leg(which he actually does a lot), and he pry walks away just a little sore, and Mullan may still get a red, but he doesn't get dragged through the mud like he has. Knowing MLS refs, he pry would have only gotten a yellow being only four minutes in. If Mullan knew that tendency of Zak, he pry wouldn't have tried such a tackle on him, or at least I hope he wouldn't. When I've seen Steve doing that before I've said to my buddies he would eventually get injured from a poorly timed tackle. I just didn't think it was going to be so catastrophic.

 

I haven't done anything so far, and you have been courteous, that's why I've addressed your posts.

I do ask that you avoid writing off opinions by personal diagnosis. We are all subjective, if the only argument you have is that Jason's opinion isn't valid because he's biased, then it really doesn't belong here.

 

And I don't think Jason is suggesting that Carrasco should have been suspended for 10 games with a $5000 fine. I don't think anyone in their right mind would suggest that. But Carrasco's challenge fits the definition of "endangering the safety of an opponent". If MLS wants to send the message that they're serious about cutting down the number of challenges that endanger the safety of an opponent, they are going to have to punish those challenges with a harsher sentence than 1 game + $500 fine.

 

My point is that fouls are so different in circumstance that they are not comparable.

And, I absolutely agree that if consistent enforcement is not applied going forward then Mullan is being made an example for no good reason.

My point is that this event needs to be viewed as a watershed moment for cleaning up physical play in the MLS. If you are not viewing the length of punishment under that light you are missing the point. Viewing it based on past precedent is not reasonable. But, I think I have made my point, and probably shouldn't argue it further. The proof will be in whether this serves as a deterrent, and where it doesn't is punishment meted out in alignment with this precedent.

 

I don't think either of us are saying the tackles are comparable. What I'm saying and I think Jason is saying is that if MLS really said they were concerned about player safety prior to the season, they've done a freaking terrible job showing it prior to Mullan's suspension. Just look at Carrasco's challenge on its own, not comparing it to Mullan's - it was studs up straight into Nyarko's shin. In any other league, that's a 3 game suspension. In MLS, it's a 1 game suspension. That's not a deterrent. That's just a nuisance.

Koffie's challenge on Pat Phelan was dangerous and could have caused a concussion, and is a pretty clear red card. 1 game suspension. Beckham's challenge on Josh Wolff was extremely dangerous. Ref gave it a yellow card, and since there was no harm, there was no additional punishment. So much for caring about player safety, huh?

MLS has had countless opportunities since the league started to crack down on violent challenges. They did nothing. They told the players they were watching out for this starting this season. They've done nothing on that front until today.

I agree with your point that it needs to be viewed as a watershed moment for cleaning up physical play. I think the punishment is excessive, but not by much. I was expecting somewhere in the 5 to 8 range given the paltry suspensions they've given in the past. I'm okay with 10 if this truly is the watershed moment. My problem is that MLS had the opportunity to come out and say that this is the watershed moment and things were going to be different from now on. They didn't. Having followed the league pretty closely from the beginning, I don't exactly have a lot of faith in what they'll do going forward given that they chose to say nothing.

Edit: And even if this isn't the moment when MLS starts treating all dangerous tackles seriously, I still can't really argue that Mullan's punishment is unjust. The tackle was truly one the worst I've ever seen.

 

Gotcha covered.

 

Done

 

Agreed. I hope there aren't any more tackles like this, and if there are, I hope they are punished similarly.

 

I hear what you are saying, and I don't totally disagree.

But, here is how I see it in a way that does not make these two cases evidence of contradictory outcomes.

In Carassco's case you can't demonstrate intent AND no harm was done AND the referee only issued a yellow.

In the Mullan case you can demonstrate intent AND harm was done AND the referee adjudged it a red.

Even on the surface (ignoring the concept of sea change), taking into consideration all three elements, it pretty clearly calls for vastly different outcomes, which they were.

 

Guess MLS bought into the joke this had become, 10 games.

Wonder what Europe is thinking of all of this none-sense.

 

http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2011/04/plush-statement-mls-ruling-mullan

Official Rapids' response to the suspension, via Plush.

 

I think that's very good.