Thierry Henry and the Future of MLS


Red Bull New York have officially announced the signing of French Star Thierry Henry.

This move comes as no surprise, it had been rumored for over a year. Being a Rapids fan, you would think that I would be upset, or anxious that this hurts the Rapids chances of a title. That is not my emotion this morning. I think this is a great move. Much better than that of David Beckham. I really hope this works. I hope that it pays off for them in the form of multiple championships...even at the expense of our Rapids.

Am I off my rocker? Yes, but still, this move can mean so much to the future of soccer here in the USA. Say RBNY wins 2 maybe 3 championships with Henry and Juan Pablo Angel, and another DP whom they're rumored to be bringing in this summer. How is that good? Well, my hope is that it will create an elite in the league and other owners will have to be more proactive about their clubs in order to survive. Competitive balance sounds great, but really it creates reason for management to stand firm and continue toward mediocrity, knowing that maybe next year will be "our turn" to win and make it to the playoffs. With Henry signing, the league continuing to expand, playoff spots becoming more of an achievement, the owners who choose to sit on their hands will be left behind. As well they should.

So I tell this to you Rapids fans, continue to cheer for our boys. I hope for a win every game. But also know that if you want the Rapids to make significant changes, and maybe one day actually sign a Designated Player, the success of the Thierry Henry move has more of an impact than you may think.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

USA Soccer's Logo

Image
There's been an interesting discussion going on over on The Shin Guardian regarding the USA's soccer logo. The one now is bad, real bad. I've been talking about that for a while now with friends. The colors are wrong. The use of "US" instead of "USA" is wrong. The clipart looking soccer ball is wrong. It's just bad. So, I decided to come up with some alternative ideas and using my limited graphics knowledge, put some of them together. So here it goes. Version 1: I made minor changes to this, using the correct colors and the correct nomenclature and eliminating the soccer ball. I like it, kinda plain though. Version 2: This version is based on Nike's Don't Tread campaign badge. It has a snake on it which I don't like so I took it off. I also corrected the colors and added "USA Soccer" to it. Version 3: For this I was looking at other USA symbols and came across this and loved it. I added the badge to it and gave it more of the h...
Read more

On The Merger

You may have heard by now that the 3 (4 if you count the Colonials), are merging into one mega super duper awesome supporter group. #OneGroup There are many reasons that have been given for the merger and many that seem like this would be a great idea. However, I stand against this merger. You might be saying, wait, you're a contrarian to everything so why is this news? Well, here's why I think it's a bad idea. People are different. The people that represent the current Class VI and Pid Army and BSG are just different types of people. This is not to say that people can't put their differences aside and work together, but when it comes to identifying yourself and/or representing a group, there will be plenty of issues that arise from trying to blanket a diverse group of people within one. These conflicts will not bode well for the long term viability of this mega group. We don't have to all be the same. It's ok to be different. It's ok to have differe...
Read more

2/3rd Season Grades

Image
This Rapids season feels just like the past few Rapids seasons. Off to a great start and then crawl to the finish. If you break it down into 3 ten game segments, the Rapids started off great with a 6-3-1 (W-L-T) record and 19 points. If you look at the second 10 game segment, it hasn't been very good. The Rapids were 1-3-6 (W-L-T) with 9 points in the last ten games they've played, including the 3-1 loss in Columbus over the weekend. Let's take a look at who's been on the field and how I grade them. (In order of minutes played) G - Matt Pickens (1800 mins) B+ He's been pretty good in goal, he's started every game thus far. He and the defense have had good communication. I would say has been one of the top keepers in MLS this year. D - Drew Moor (1800 mins) B+ I don't think that Rapids fans, myself included, knew just how good this guy was when the Rapids traded for him. He's been a rock in the back line, whether it be in central defense or on the wing,...
Read more