No, No, And a Thousand Times No
It is presumptious for me to question either the accuracy or judgement of Dave Lifton, but the idea of comparing D.C. United players to Yankees is abhorrent.
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posted by D @ 8:42 AM
07 July 2008
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13 Comments:
As an original SJ Earthquakes fan (and yes, an early Landon Donovan fanboy), I really used to hate DCU because they won the Cup ALL THE TIME and in my mind, the league's early allocation system was set up to ensure that they would always win it - four straight finals with three wins tends to invite conspiracy theories. Since I've moved to DC I have of course seen the light, but I can imagine that the Yankees comparison is an apt one for many fans.
D, you can destroy the Emperor. He has forseen this. It is your destiny! Join me, and together, we can rule the galaxy as Yankee fans! Come with me. It is the only way.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I'll never join you! I just want to go to tasha station and pick up some power converters!
Thank you for reading Booked For Dissent.
Big C - As an original Quakes fan, do you remember Arnold Cruz? He was allocated to us in 1997, and midway through the season we traded him to you for Ben Iroha. Cruz was the last Senior player allocation United got until 2001 (which they traded to NY/NJ in the Williams-Ammann trade).
Admittedly, United was able to use its success to get Olsen and Albright. But the league has acknowledged that in the early days, they were giving cap exemptions to the Metros and Galaxy to put winning teams in the two biggest markets.
I just hope my Ben Olsen keychain never gets buried in a pothole under a foot of asphalt. Holy cow!
Anyone?
You know... somehow hiding an Olsen jersey inside of the new RBNY facility is a tempting idea...
Where would we find room with all the dead mobsters?
Mr. Lifton -
You have me at a disadvantage regarding Arnold Cruz...then again, I still have trouble keeping the current DCU lineup straight, what with all the Gonzalos. My fandom generally doesn't extend to specific players and acquisitions, but only to the team itself - as the great philosopher Seinfeld once said, I am usually just "cheering for laundry". Landy-Cakes was a big draw for us back then, and I fondly remember Joe Cannon between the pipes. Other than that, I didn't really care, to be honest.
As for the cap exemptions and allocations being divvied up between LA & NY, if either the MetroStars or Galaxy had had the early success that DCU did, I would have felt the same way about their seemingly unfair domination. My main point is that for other MLS fans throughout the country, it didn't feel like the playing field was exactly level. I wasn't aware of the intricacies of the player allocation system (and I still claim ignorance), but when one team shows such a complete domination so early in the life of a professional sports league - a league that has to market itself and work for recognition and acceptance much harder than other more established leagues - one might get the sense that it's not a fair fight. Whether that was intended by the league or not is immaterial...winning breeds contempt and jealousy, and other bad thoughts, and I think its a fair comparison (from the outside looking in).
Ah but winnning breeding contempt and jealousy is precisely the reason why its great that DCU dominated early. If a different team had won each of the first few years, it would have felt a bit too AYA "everyone gets a trophy." DCU absolutely dominating made the other teams have to pick up their games. Plus every other MLS city has DCU fans-- also good for the league. Thankfully DCU has done all this while being a class act, not going the Raiders route of dominance and thuggery.
-K
Kind of silly to compare anything about a team that's been around for 12 years to one that's been around for more than 100, IMHO.
Big C, I agree United got some breaks in the early years. As I recall, in the first few years of the league, MLS tried to place players with teams where they had regional ties and popularity. That's why United got a lot of UVA players, and UVA under Bruce Arena (yeah, we got the coach, too) was a dominant program.
Mel, Albright and Olsen were the only UVA people who were "given" to United. The others were drafted by Arena because he had success with them and they knew his system. Not all of them panned out (Crawley, Huwiler), but those that did (Agoos, Harkes, Williams) were the backbone of the early DCU teams.
Big C - Lifton has us all at a disadvantage when it comes to history. He's the Will Durant of MLS.
Mel - While I agree that there is something silly about comparing a decade of history to a century's worth, by real concern is about comparing us to the Yankees. Blech. Of course, what else can you compare MLS to? Lacrosse? Nothing really fits.
Technically, Harkes was "given" (or allocated) to United, too.
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