Lenny Bruce Arena

I direct your attention to the Grant Wahl interview with Bruce Arena (ex-DC, ex-USA, etc...). Now, there are some great quotes in here:

[USSF President] Sunil is a great guy. He's always been a good friend. I think he's a superfan who now is president. That's the way our organization is. That's unfortunate, and you add another micromanager to an organization that's already micromanaged. I don't think that's necessarily good. He's a guy who loves the game, who wants to be important and be around the world of bigwigs at FIFA, and he's going to get that opportunity.

Ouch... Say Bruce, how about being a bit sarcastic for everyone?

SI.com: Who do you think should be the next U.S. coach?

Arena: I don't care, and it's none of my business.

SI.com: You care about the U.S. team, don't you?

Arena: Oh yeah. They're going to win the next World Cup, from what I'm told. So I wish them the best. Because we did so poorly over the last eight years, I'm sure they're going to win the next World Cup.

Now, here's the thing. I get the feeling that Bruce Arena is part soccer-coach, part performance-artist/comedian. Not in the clownish Alexi Lalas way, but in the dark Andy Kaufman/Lenny Bruce way. He's not sure how much he means at any given time, but it keeps you interested, keeps you guessing. At some point, for some fans, the act ultimately wears too thin. Suddenly the veneer of sarcasm is spread so fine that you wonder if there is any substance or just varnish. I think that's why Bruce upsets so many people: You're never really sure what he means, or even what he believes. But, there is substance there, and Bruce is a hell of a coach. NYRB may not be instantly better with him, but give him an off-season and I'm sure he'll put something together. You just have to ignore the misdirection from Bruce's mouth, and pay attention to the field.

So that's my advice. Bruce's interview should not be taken with a grain of salt. Instead, they need to be taken with a glass lined with salt, then drowned with a margarita, and preferably a few tequila shots. Bruce wants you to pay attention to the wrong things. So for DC fans out there, if he makes an oversimplification like:

The difference between D.C. and the others right now is Jaime Moreno and [Christian] Gómez. They're two fairly elite attacking players in the league.

Well, don't get up in arms. I think there's more to it than that, and I imagine Bruce does as well. But it's just a distraction. Think of it like this: "If I can get DCU and my own team to believe that the only difference between DC and them is Moreno/Gomez, and then I hack/slash Gomez and Moreno to knock them out of the game, I can motivate my team and demoralize the opposition." It's a clever ruse. I don't think it will work.