Here are a couple of items left over from the U.S.-Mexico match (which I covered for an out-of-town news outlet) that might be of interest to Revs fans. Pat Noonan's parting words: http://goldenboot.blogspot.com/2008/02/pat-noonans-parting-words.html Foxboro's future: http://goldenboot.blogspot.com/2008/02/foxboros-future.html
Revs' Cristman might get his big break Adam Smartschan, Cape Cod Times, 2/9/2008 http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/SPORTS/80208024
looks like we have Heaps till the year 2011 and 35/36 years old. I think he'll relinquish his starters role and just be a mentor for younger guys (if thats a good thing or not im not going to get into ) edit: so the next line int he article said the exact same thing i did - I believe that Adam is ready for this spot on the team, lets see what he can do before we all jump on his back.
I have to admit, I've been keeping an eye out for Jim Dow's promised interview all week and am a little bummed it hasn't shown up yet.
fantastic! There's just so much great information in there. I appreciate Coach Mariner's openness and honesty. He really shed some light on the whole situation. Obviously, there are still some unanswered questions, but his responses helped to explain the process and the parameters that he and Stevie are working under. Great work!
It was interesting to read that some of the Dempsey money went towards getting Thompson. A bit of a risk and hopefully it pays off.
The Official Mid-February Transfer Freakout, RevsNet Blog As you might guess, I'm a little concerned.
I recommend you read Jim's article, and if you also take a warm bath, have a glass of milk and get a good nights sleep you'll feel much better in the morning
Mariner: "We don't have a loose cap like some of the other teams do." Anyone care to explain this statement? Because a "cap" can only be imposed by MLS, right? There's only one cap and that's the MLS cap--RIGHT? We have Dempsey allocation money left even given $100K for the Wells deal, which seems excessive. So.....????
He means that the Revs dont get the liberties with the cap that teams like LA and NY get. If LA wants a player, but his salary puts them over the cap, MLS basically moves chairs around cap-wise and allows it. If the Revs wants a player, but his salary puts them over the cap, MLS basically says tough shit, find a cheaper player.
A glass of milk, a warm bath, a good night's sleep, are all fine things. So why go spoil his chance for bliss by recommending the equivalent of a double dose of castor oil and epsom salts to a man who is suffering the full agony of the Two Year Rev Dysenteric Flu? Jim's articles ain't comforting at all, Doc, they be just nice and harshly illuminating. Like the sun over Brownsville, TX, on an August afternoon.
I've read Jim's article twice now. Nothing against Jim, who does a wonderful job, but what new information is in there? What's supposed to make me feel better? FWIW, the Revs don't make me physically ill, and my self-worth isn't wrapped up in how well they do. But I care about the team, and I want them to do well.
Nothing terribly special, but hey, it's there, right? http://capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080210/SPORTS/80209001
Jim's stories reflect that the Rev High Command recognize this a year where they must not only insure they replace the players they lost but with the additional games in the schedule they cannot afford to go with only 11-14 like last season and need to insure they have a full roster of players able to play. His stories also reflect that the Revs are in the active phase of finding and signing the necessary players to meet their needs. I don't read anything in his stories to make me thing the sky is falling. What I got from your Blog was that you were anxious that they wouldn't be able to make that happen. What I read was that you were anxious about the future---ie something that had not yet happened. I suggested you might want to just relax a bit and see how things unfolded before you hit the panic button. Rest assured there isn't one Rev fan poster on this Board that doesn't want the team to succeed, to have a stellar, full roster and to run the table.
If the defensive draft pick works out, I bet we do see Albright up top. After his years focused on possession, he could be very dangerous up there - where he originally attracted attention. That's probably why Nicol isn't panicking about a new striker a month before the season starts.
Doc, no one is questioning whether Nicol and Mariner (select any that apply) realize, want, or need to bring in new players who can make an immediate impact. What I am concerned about is whether they will actually be able to. Let's review: Mariner goes into great detail on the process they go through to identify, scout (and hopefully sign) players in overseas leagues. Interensting stuff, to be sure, and no doubt they are trying. Also, it's pretty clear that, despite having a good relationship with Jim, he's never gonna mention a player by name, or even by club--someone will be able to figure it out and it will become public, or at least a very strong rumor. The two things that really concern me is saying that he's basically very happy with a midfield that consists of Joseph, Ralston Larentowicz, Thompson and Smith, with guys Mansailly, Franchino, and Flood also getting minutes. The first two names are as good as you'll find in MLS, and Laro is also well above average. Now, I'm OK with giving Smith and Thompson encouragement and a public vote of confidence, but to think that you don't want to bring in anyone better than them? Or is he just waiting to sign a couple of defenders and a striker before he addresses this issue? The other thing is this mantra that assumes that every young prospect really is as much of a "can't miss" as you hope. The simple numbers alone prove that for every Noonan, Dempsey or Parkhurst you draft you'll get three Willie Sims. And to not have a plan B to fall back on when (notice I did not say IF) not every one of these guys pans out, is simply irresponsible. Maybe, but you can also look at it another way. LA or Red Bull want to sign an expensive player, and when figuring out how to do this they ask themselves how. They try to find a way to work around the parameters, such as giving up a player who is not in your plans for an allocation or cap relief, or asking existing players to take a pay cut and giving the player's wife a job to make up for the lost income. And yes, some of this may invovle whinging and moaning to the leauge about how you are either the "Jewel of MLS" or a "SuperClub." Hey, whatever works. The point is, these teams will at least try. For us, not only will we never even ask about ways to go over the cap, we never even get to the point where it is ever more than a hypothetical question. This has never happened, so we don't know. My guess is that the league would say, "sure, go ahead and sign the player as a DP if you really think he's worth it." "We don't have a loose cap like some of the other teams do." -- Paul Mariner You can take this a couple of ways. Suppose you said: "I don't have a fancy car like some of the other people do." It could mean that you live in the city and don't need a car of any kind, or you have a more modest car because you choose to spend your money on more worthwhile things, like beer and soccer tickets, or it could mean you are totally impovrished, and need to collect empty bottles to scrape together your next meal. For all we know, this is a self-imposed budget limit dictated by the club, not the league. The League is a lot less heavy-handed about these things than they used to be. I'ts kind of like capitalism in Shanghai, where the country is really still "Communist." MLS has certain controls, but if a team wants to go nuts like LA and NY and make really poor, expensive signings because they want, go ahead. Likewise, if a team like the Revs wants to run itself on a USL-1 budget, fine, good luck to ya.
Thats a reasonable concern based on the fact that the Revs have done little in the way of bringing in SI's in the past 5 years. But where I go from there is a bit different than some other posters. I tend to agree with the Revs when they say they did make some effort in years past but since "we had a solid roster so we knew we could be selective and didn't really find any significant, affordable upgrades". IMO, in short they didn't push that hard to sign anyone. BUT THIS YEAR IS A DIFFERENT STORY. While this is a roster with a good strong spine this years it's missing some key pieces and for the first time with our expanded schedule will truly need a roster deep enough to play 50 matches. As opposed to the last few years where they felt they could go with 14-15 players they KNOW THEY NEED MORE MATCH LEVEL PLAYERS. I have pointed out in others threads that here in Jan and Feb we are not the only team with significant needs and other than the flood of players from south of the boarder into DCU news of significant signings have been few and far between. We are more than six weeks from opening day and none of us has anyway of knowing what the Revs have in the pipeline. In short the Rev roster like most other teams in MLS is still a work in progress. Am I a bit unsettled with the lack of information about signings? Sure. But I also trust the judgement of our coaching staff and their fierce commitment to field a team that will again be playing for the Cup. Lastly let me share something I think is of significance. There is very strong scientifically proven evidence that "What I hold in mind tends to materialize". (anyone who wants information about this PM me). I cringe when I hear the most ardent Rev supporters running out a constant stream of negatives about various aspects of the roster and the organization in that they may in fact be contributing to the happing of what they fear the most. This key principle is why I attempt to be as realistic as I can in reading the data but as positive as I can about where I think the data leads: Ergo: A realist with a positive attitude.