Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players Games played doesn't equate to greatness in my book. Cal Ripken was a great player in addition to being an iron man in baseball. He wasn't great because he played so many in a row. Personally, I just don't see Clark in his prime being able to crack the starting lineup of our team from '08-'10.
Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players i understand your point, but are you saying that you would purely base selection on how good a player is, rather than based on their service to the Crew?
Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players Frankly, Gino and Frankie were *done* last year. But them's apples and oranges. The league is a lot better now than it was back in the day. You cannot judge an original player based on what things are like now. We also forget that the Crew was probably the second best team in the league for much of Clark's tenure--but the road to MLS Cup ran through DC in those early days and we were in the same division. You realize, of course, that Clark was always held up as an example to the new players on the team of what it meant to be Crew--long after he retired. There's a reason for that--and it goes beyond sheer talent.
Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players Throw in a Leandre Griffitt and you have yourself a deal! That last bit gets me to consider him. Yes, hard work and good play get your name in the hat. Long term impact especially get you considered. But when you're talking about hard work getting your foot in the door, then you open up slight arguments for folks like Lenhart and Muppet. Sure, their character was great and certainly entertaining and they worked their asses off, but the overall quality is what sets them far below a standard. But, with what you mentioned, I think we all know their long term impact will certainly also pale in comparison to that of Clark's.
Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players I think St. Dunc makes your case a little better as far as the "slight argument" goes. Lenhart and Muppet were just not here long enough--and neither were selected to *two* All Star games either, like Clark was.
Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players Sergio Herrera. 1' of league play. Gonna be hard to break that record. And Lenhart gets in, not for work rate, but for most nicknames!!
Re: Honoring Former Columbus Crew Players if herrera gets in then we must also post select quotes from this board saying a) he is the next coming of christ b) why did we let christ go, see now he is turning water to wine in venezuelas bundeserie eredivisie premerio leagueo. banging them in for fun.
Herrera has been doing pretty well since leaving the Crew : http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/43051/sergio-herrera?cc=5901
How comparable is that league to MLS? I remember reading Zayner's blog early last year where he talked about how Guille and Sergio played so well with each other and were a great duo up top. Glad to see Robert gave the guy a chance.
Worse. Easily. Venezuela is known for baseball not soccer, though they do have a few useful players and have been better in recent years. If a Columbian player is playing there rather than in Columbia....