So the mlssoccer.com guys on Extra Time Radio podcast are doing a Mount Rushmore for every MLS team. MLS Mount Rushmore: Honoring the most influential players for every club March 31, 2020 6:29PM EDT Andrew Wiebe They haven't got to the Revs yet. Who is on your Revs Mount Rushmore? (Note, their rules state players only) Without giving it much thought, mine would be Twellman, Joseph, Ralston and Reis.
The only way it becomes interesting for the Revs is if you remove the “players only” stipulation, because then Nicol becomes eligible and I personally think he has to be up there. But who do you remove in that case? TnT and Matt are locks imo, so it’d have to be either Shalrie or Ralston - a dilemma. I think I’d give the edge to Shalrie as a Rev from the start. But I can’t say going the other way would be wrong.
I think JJ has to be in there. He put this team on his back and took them to two MLS Cups. One might say thats more than Joseph of Ralston
As much as I acknowledge that that is exactly what he did, he also prioritized playing for the Nats over the Revs (he played hurt on Nat games, knowing it would cost him Revs ones). So for me personally, that would rule hime out.
JJ was only here for a season and a half, and he only went to one MLS Cup with the Revs. His second season was meh. Twellman and Ralston went to 4, Joseph and Reis went to three, and all four of them - even though some spent some time elsewhere - are synonymous with the Revs. All of them won the Open Cup and Superliga here. 2014 JJ was one of the most impactful players in the short term that we've ever had and for that 2014 run alone I believe he should be in our best 11, but I don't think there is really any debate on these four guys being our Mt. Rushmore of players. They were the rocks upon which our best sustained period in team history was built.
My fifth choice would be Clint Dempsey. Had he stayed another couple of years (or come back to NE when he returned to MLS) he'd be in serious consideration for a spot.
Yeah, I would have to agree that it would have to be Twellman, Joseph, Ralston and Reis. Jones is a factor for what he did in his time here, but not enough to displace any of the above. It depends on who is making the selections, but if any of those mo-fos try to argue that Lalas should be there because he was the "face of the franchise" at the start of the league, Imma throw my shoe through the computer screen. Maybe that won't happen since that was so long ago, probably when the current writers were still in diapers, but if this was 10 years ago, someone would make that argument....
Joe-Max Moore should be in the conversation. I think, given the era he played in, he played a pretty critical role in the growth/survival of the team.
I agree, but I think 'in the conversation' is about as far as he gets. I loved him (and a lot of other Revs), but don't see him displacing any of the four.
Joe -Max is my all time favorite Rev. He was my first favorite and that always stays with you. Really him and Deuce are my two all time favorite American players, that said I can't argue going with my head instead of heart, that 4 listed by pretty much everyone are the right choices for weight of their contributions.
JMM, Nguyen, JJ, Zenga, and a few others would be in the mix if this were a Mount Olympus and not a Mount Rushmore.
I agree that Taylor, Shalrie, Matt, and Steve are the top 4. Very little debate in my mind. But if there was room for a fifth spot I would nominate "Empty Roster Spot." It's hard to argue that any player better exemplifies the Revs' ineptitude and inability to produce a championship, especially between Nicol and Arena, other than ERS. That one name covers about 20% of the club's roster over a 20 year period, and clearly represents the club's long-non-existent scouting department, their unwillingness to spend money, and their stubbornness to try to add players until the very last moments of the annual summer transfer window. If that is not allowed, I nominate Mike Burns - who better explains why the Revs are where they are other than him?
So, the 4 were named relatively quickly. Not much argument. So in the interest of making it a challenge: 1. The 4 Presidents represent, loosely, the first 1/2 of our history. Limit yourself to players in the first 12-13 years and pick from that pool. 2. Wikipedia says that the four presidents were picked to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively. So, replace nation with league (or team) and try to name them. Birth: That puts Lalas and Beto Naveda in the mix. Growth: Still plenty of room for this. I struggle to name a player. How would you carve a contraction draft into a mountain side? Development: Hmmm, Nicol? Preservation: Arena? I had all but given up on this team.
The Mount Rushmore of Rev's threads 1. Soccer Specific Stadium (now on thread LXXI, I think), Still coming in 12-18 months. 2. Is (fill in the blank) a bust? 3. Heaps/Burns/Kraft must go! 4. The thoughts that don't require their own thread (The Seinfeld of threads)
A lot of greybeards on this list. A testament to the steadfast approach through the years by the Revs.
OK, so if those are the rules, it would mean roughly the end of our great run of almost MLS Cup championships. So my top 4 would still be the same, but for one change--Twellman, Dempsey, Joseph, and Reis. Sorry, Steve Ralston, if you count that period of Rev history, I have to give the nod to the man from Nagadoches. But you can probably break down Revs history into 4 different eras: The early years -- the time we played at Foxboro Stadium, in the pre-contraction era The Nicol era -- which pretty much coincided with the opening of CMGi Field through 2008. The Dark Ages -- 2009-2019 The Arena Era, May 2019-present You can argue that the Jermaine Jones era was the bright spot in the Dark Ages, and we can certainly speculate that the period wold have ended a lot sooner if we had done something, anything, to build on the momentum of the 2014 cup run. Alas, after that disgraceful night at RFK when Mark Geiger candy-assed his way out of staying on the field in the cold rain for another hour, it all boomeranged back to the "new normal" of the Heaps-Friedel era.
Seems to coincide: #WallpaperWednesday for some of this club’s best to ever put on the shirt 📲 #NERevs pic.twitter.com/zgATJWsBUr— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) April 15, 2020
They finally got around to doing the Revs. No surprises here, same 4 we all picked. MLS Mount Rushmore: Honoring the most influential players for every club May 3, 2020 10:38AM EDT Andrew Wiebe
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...david-beckham-marco-etcheverry-landon-donovan So they did a league wide Mount Rushmore now. I think Landy Cakes is an easy unanimous choice. Becks is pretty much a given as well just based on giving us the DP ,raising the profile of the league etc. I"m really not sold on the other two though. What do you all think?
I would swap out the more effective in MLS "rent-a-veteran" in Robbie Keane for Beckham, but Landon of Nazareth has to be #1. I think the most dominant player, Marco Etcheverry, on the most dominant team of MLS 1.0 has to be a selection (MLS would probably pick Moreno, but that's just the "chicks dig the long ball"-- I mean goal scorer logic). My final choice would have to be Chris Wondolowski. I have to think Twellman would have exceeded Wondo on career stats had he stayed healthy. How about the Mount Rushmore of Revs' opponents -- guys who played the best against us? Just a quick off the top of my head: 1. Carlos Ruiz 2. Sebastian Giovinco 3. Dwayne Derosario 4. Schelotto