Outstanding interview of Todd Smith by Joh...er, Emlyn Lewis for CSA. A few of TS's quotes stuck out to me, at least: As many have pointed out, this is so lame it defies description. Quick, someone see if we can trade Brian Kamler before another GM realizes he's hurt. And people wonder why we're always in last place. We're screwed as long as management continues to think like that. Do they even realize how many sub-standard MLS players are on this roster? First, we're not going to make the playoffs - let's end that dillusion right now. We're six points out with seven to play. It's just not going to happen. We barely managed to beat the second worst team in the league last week, and we had three or four guys in our lineup that wouldn't start for any other team in the league. Ummm... If team chemistry is a problem, why have the Revs made more in season personnel changes this year than any other team in the league? And I think it's safe to say that when your roster features the worst pair of goalkeepers in the league, one legitimate center back, approximately 32 crappy defensive midfielders, and exactly two attacking players that the other team has to respect, your problems run deeper than mere team chemistry. Oh, well that makes everything OK then, right?
Resign, Mr. Smith To add to Mike's comments: from a medical perspective, the idea that knee injuries are unrelated to conditioning or previous injuries is simply ludicrous. What happened to the early season happy talk about how the Revs had the best chemistry they had ever enjoyed? As Perry Mason would say, "Were you lying then or are you lying now?"
i tore up my mcl in high school baseball (hook slide). at the time, it was unclear the damage done to the knee. i started playing summer ball as soon as felt i could run. however, b/c my quad had atrophed (sp?) and the "rubber band" (ligament) holding it together was loose.....it rapidly caused a tear in my miniscus cartilage. basically, meant that my knee locked up occasionally and randomly. at some point it locked up permanently playing beach v-ball and i had to have surgery. fitness is most definitely related to quad strength which definitely affects joint mechanics.....let's get fritz's comments on the same subject. i'd say he'd beg to differ. as for the rest of the article.....it took a long time to read b/c its hard to see the screen when your head is shaking in disbelief and overprotective hands are firmly planted over the eyes that tell you we've seen these comments a 100x before. (uh-hem, bobby *cough* grier) KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW NOW!.....what? that 2 of the players you got are currently not playing and the other can't figure out what position he really wants to play....while the 3 you shipped off have racked up, what, 30-40 pts in the aftermath. i really don't care how unhappy diallo was. you DON'T make this trade to your divisional rivals 8x a week. god help us....i was really looking forward to getting some stuff cleared up w/that article....i'm thoroughly deflated.
Dear Mike Marshall: In the future, as a service to the rest of us, please post a warning or a header at the top of your posts. Something like, This Will Make You Laugh So Hard You'll Piss Your Pants. Thanks! Gotta' go change my briefs.
Memo to Todd Smith - Watch the play where Chris Armas tore up his knee. Observe that no contact was involved. His discussion of The Trade seemed to focus on Diallo vs. Serna, where the bigger sticking point right now appears to be trading away Andy Williams.
Re: Resign, Mr. Smith Well, he might have been telling the truth both times. Revs chemistry has always been so bad that simply crap chemistry this year could be considered the best ever.
I get the sense that everyone wanted it to work out in the beginning, and that things were genuinely alright in Brazil and then in Portugal. The team found Diallo's histrionics somewhat amusing then. Once the season started and the pressure was on, Mamadou's incessant drama wore thin pretty quickly, and by the end they were heading for another TB style melt down.
John--Thank You. It's good to read at least something on BS that is based on a bit of factual inside material. From what you've written here and elsewhere it was clear that Big Baby was another Rev cancer just like Harkes and a few other nut cases we have signed in the past. The Rev NEEDED to move him. Serna was a risk---a risk with a big up side if he worked out as well as he had in Miami. The trading of Williams for hernandez was to try to add defensive help. With out injuries we would have been in even worse shape if we hadn't gotten him. It's sounds like the MUTTS held us up for Teddy. I loved the Teddy of 97-98-99-2000 dearly but his injuries were making him less and less dependable in the past two years. At the time of the trade I like many out there saw it as a wash. We got rid of a cancer, picked up a good defender and replaced one winger for another. Sernas getting injured has made theTrade appear rather uneven but then we were able to sign Griffith and who knows how that will work out in the long run.
deja vu all over again. Seems like in their continual efforts to avoid these "lockerroom cancers", the Revs have developed a chronic case of "lockeroom pnuemonia". Maybe a classic case of the cure being worse than the symptoms...
So why hasn't Harkes been a problem with Cloumbus? Why is it that all these 'headcases' are problematic for the Revs, but are controllable and productive with other teams? Not all of them, but most of them, anyway.
I don't think it's the case that they are all happy and productive in other places. I think if you went in the Metro locker room you would find that all is definitely not joy and light. The same could be said of Columbus. And I'm speaking as someone who has been in those locker rooms. The Fire LR on the other hand seemed pretty jovial and festive. FWIW.
I think this has much do with the fact that Mike [Frost 'n Tip] Petke and Steve [Kathy Rigby] Jolley are letting in almost as many goals as the Revs these days. What was Hernandez quote, "They traded the wrong guy..."?. Well he might have been right. I doubt think there's any problem with the recent Rev emmegre's - at least the ones who play offense (Chrono may be another story). We can ignore the fact if we want, but the Revs have turned over more players in the past three years because of perceived "attitudes" that effected on-field performance (that is, players who everyone acknowleged had talent - but just weren't playing well here) than any other team. Some of these players have gone on to play well and and not to prove to be destabilizing influences on other teams. The Revs have stayed the same - a bit of a circus frankly. [Here's an irony - as I type, BigSoccer is running a web-ad for Captain For Life in it's "store" window. It's like having Captain Hairdo looking ovr my shoulder...]
Best line of the interview, from Todd Smith: "That had to come from Sunil, and under the circumstances, for other reasons, he was on a different continent." says it all doesn't it...
Re: Re: Rev news, 8/2/2002 Maybe he has a coach who isn't afraid to play "real Americans". Or maybe he looks better because Cunningham and West have the speed to run down some of his "passes".