Other Teams and MLS....stuff [R]

To me the peculiar part is the stepping away from soccer part.

 

Andy Iro did an interview with the Columbus Dispatch on Rogers' story. Pretty good article.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blo.../iro-rogers-didnt-want-to-continue-a-lie.html

 

I'm not sure of the tone you are trying to use in your post but if you don't think its a big deal that he is coming out i don't get why. There are very few openly gay athletes. Statistics would suggest there are many many more in soccer and sports than we are lead to believe. That Robbie announced it was a huge deal. I really hope he doesn't retire. He has loads of potential, but just didn't work in England. I'd love to have his soccer skills back in the US. I'd love to have his bravery in general and in sports.

 

You got the sense of what I wrote right, I don't think this is a huge deal. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, it's either a lot of "let's jump on the bandwagon" or an excuse for why things didn't go all that well in England. Now that he is out of the closet, he can say that his time in England didn't go all that well, not because of his lack of talent, because England is full of anti-gay bigots.

I do not care about Player A's sexual orientation, his race or his religion, I care only about his skill in putting the ball in the net. Now, instead of being known as Robbie Rogers, a soccer player, he will be known as Robbie Rogers, a gay man who also plays soccer in his spare time when he isn't telling you about being gay.

 

You or I may not care, but there's still quite a bit of society that does make a big deal of it. Why do you think a lot of people have a hard time coming out? I wish it wasn't that way, but sadly it's the truth of the matter. If it wasn't such a big deal, you'd see a lot more athletes coming out.

 

Maybe more athletes don't come out because they feel that it would be a distraction from their sport. Imagine that the quarterback for a team comes completely out of the closet, I mean, shows off his "husband" at social events, etc. Now imagine that this team makes it to the Super Bowl. What do you think the first question will be every time a sports reporter interviews someone from that team? "How do you feel playing with a gay player?", "Coach, what's it like in the locker room with a gay player on the team?", "How do you feel being the first openingly gay player in the NFL?", ad nauseum. It would be very unlikely that the team would be prepared for the Super Bowl or any other game for that matter.

 

So first you're saying it's not news to come out, now you're saying it's news to the level that it'd be so distracting to a team they couldn't prepare for a major game? You're right, the media probably would make a big stink of it. I bet it'd largely die out after a month or two, and I highly doubt it'd affect preparing for a game. I think the bigger issue with athletes not coming out, is the threat of issues with teammates, fans, or other players.

Sadly, being openly gay just isn't socially acceptable as a whole just yet. I can understand why more don't come out, but at the same time I really wish more would, so that people can get over themselves and realize that it's not a big deal to be around an openly gay person.

 

1) I can understand what El is saying. I personally don't care about a players race, color, sexual orientation, etc.. I don't really care that RR came out. Yes, it took a lot of courage, and if it helps him in his life, then that's great. But El has a point on the media using that as a focal point. If you're having trouble in the locker room, why not just come out to them?

2)I agree with you on society not accepting openly gay people. I've got an uncle and two friends that have come out, and it was a big deal for all of them. My uncle didn't have that hard of a time, but my friend is still trying to mend the relationship with his parents. You'd be surprised how many people get ostracized when they come out. My brother did a documentary on the homeless population of Salt Lake City, and found that the majority of the population were kids under 21 who had come out and their parents disowned them. It's a big deal here in the valley.

 

I noticed that also, though it is being interpreted widely as retirement.

Speculating: He may want to gauge the reaction to his coming out gay. There is substantial anti-gay culture in most sports, but it seems to be changing somewhat. He may have wanted to come out for a while but his agent was pressuring him to not. So, he 'retires' so he can come out. Now he waits to see the reaction and if he may come back to the game if he finds some team that doesn't care about it. I'm betting a good number of MLS teams/fans wouldn't care a whit.

Or, more likely based on this from Iro, he's retired completely.

 

I've been wondering about you for a while and now I'm pretty sure I get it... you are not a nice person.

 

Oh well, c'est la vie.

 

Awesome it was but that was no header. Look closely, the ball is slightly behind him and so he decides to dive forward and perform the crouching tiger flying back-heel and by some fell combination of will and sorcery he somehow gets enough power behind it to slot it past the keeper. Pretty sure he's a ninja.

EDIT: here's a pic

 

So if you're Asian a scorpion kick changes its name?

 

Um, wasn't crouching tiger the name of a Chinese movie, ergo, if the player in question is Japanese, wouldn't it be something more along the lines of samurai back-heel?

 

Donovan to return to LA in late March.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/02/17/galaxy-announce-donovan-will-rejoin-club-late-march

 

If someone pulled this shit at RSL.i would hope the staff would have the balls to say "get over it. You play soccer for a living" the longer this plays out the less and less respect i have for him.

Landycakes is officially back. Manovan was just a short lived phase

 

You caught me. Clearly I did not do my homework before making that post

 

http://alllooksame.com/

 

Spoiler alert warning.

Could someone please explain the whole end of that movie with her jumping off the top of the waterfall. It must be some cultural reference that I am not aware of. And yes, it has been bugging me for the last 15 years...

 

It actually wasn't her it was her friend who fell because her brother didn't make it all the way around the valley and just barely missed making across the finish line nefore they shot her with an arrow.

Maybe I'm thinking of another movie Crouching Tiger against a crooked sky.

 

Bayern's movement off the ball is amazing. On defense they're rotating for each other and disrupting Arsenal constantly. On offense they're passing against greater numbers by moving to space, basically have the Gunners chasing all day. I'll be surprised if they don't win by 3-4 goals.

 

This Shalrie Joseph to Seattle trade today is something else. When I read this I laughed out loud:

(UPDATE- The deal is now official. The full trade has Chivas USA sending second-round picks in the 2014 and 2015 MLS drafts to Seattle along with Joseph and the No. 3 spot in the MLS Allocation order. Yes, the Goats gave the Sounders two picks, their high allocation order spot AND are paying a portion of Joseph’s salary.)

All in exchange for the player and the No. 15 spot in the allocation order. Heck, picking up the #3 slot alone might be worth the calculus of the trade.

Check that: Joseph, 2nd rounder in 2014, 2nd rounder in 2015, the #3 spot in the allocation order, and part of Shalrie's salary ALL GO TO SEATTLE. Chivas gets to not have Joseph, and swaps down to the #15 spot in the allocation order.