Colin Clark Is Nice But How About The Boy Scouts?

After reading of the relationship between the Colin Clark issue and MLS relationship with the Boy Scouts on Dunord.blogspot.com, I began thinking more about it.

For those who don’t know Colin Clark was given a 3 game suspension and required to attend sensitivity training for calling a ball-boy at the Houston Seattle game this past week a faggot. A very serious punishment WAS laid down, and a fitting one. An adult who is representing the league should not be yelling epithets at children. A mature adult shouldn’t be using epithets such as these as an unabashed attack on anyone. A mature adult should not be encouraging this kind of behavior and as a league MLS made a big statement support of these points. They went much farther than when Kobe Bryant was merely fined, although fined a lot, for yelling the same kinds of things at a referee.

On the other hand, while making a e about these issue, MLS still has a standing, and recently announced, relationship with the Boy Scouts of America. While the Boy Scouts are almost ubiquitous in some areas, they’re statements sound fairly similar to Colin Clarks to a lot of people. It’s a noteworthy issue that people aren’t quite recognizing, in part because people aren’t aware of the extent of the issues with the Boy Scouts.

If MLS wants to be involved with the community, which is a great thing to do, they could look to other groups with less controversial issues behind their curtain. The Girl Scouts, The Boys and Girls Club, and Big Brother, Big Sister are a few examples, who as far as I know, serve very similar functions and don’t have any issues with discrimination.

Stealing Q’s from the rich and bringing A’s to the poor.

So I was reading the open Q&A on Soccer By Ives and started reading the questions. I realized I was answering them all in my head, but didn’t want to fill up their board with my less thanimportant answers, so I figured I’d leave them somewhere.

Dainja said…

Ives…I think I need therapy after this Olympic qualifying failure. For real. First the U-20 fail, now this fail. Are hardcore U.S. soccer fans becoming a little shell shocked?? But more importantly, what are these failures doing to the overall “winning” mindstate of the US program?? Sincerely, a big Joell Ortiz fan.

I’ve always thought that the idea of a winning program is a little bit of bull-shit. Good players come out of losing youth systems, bad players come out of winning ones.  U-23′s are about development, and I was super happy with the development we had over the course of qualifying. For me its not “losing program as much as losing playing time. These kids could have gained a lot more playing time together, and against better opponents, just by qualifying

ec said…

When I watch Tim Ream, I get the feeling that he should switch to defensive midfield. He’s such a good passer, and is a good defender… just prone to mistakes which, when made by your CB are catastrophic, but he’d be really strong from the midfield. Thoughts?

I’ve always thought the same thing, but he’s spent so much time in the cb position and still doesn’t seem to have the positioning down. Imagine how long it’d take him to relearn a new position.

Sebastian C-M said…

Hola Ives. I’m still PO’d from the US Olympic team’s failure to qualify for the London games. Anyway, who can you see from this team (including those could have been on the team but weren’t such as Gatt) do you see actually contributing to WCQ & Brazil in ’14 (assuming we qualify).

 Hamid, Adu, Mixx, Boyd, Gatt and Gyau all have a shot I think. In that order of likelyhood. Obviously along with Shea. Corona had a good qualifying, but a hat trick against Cuba is still against Cuba. If I were coach he’d still be a ways out. As far as Union players Williams has a shot, although the back spots are filling up quickly. I expect Fabian, Lichaj, Dolo and Chandler to hold them down for a while. MacMath would have to break Hamid’s stranglehold on the second keeper spot and Okugo has impressed for the U-23′s but has a real mountain to climb to get past the reel of names in front of him.

Stephen said…

Ives,

In my opinion, one of the biggest downfalls of not qualifying for the Olympics is that is wastes a chance for our younger stars to be showcased in front of European eyes. Do you believe that the failure to qualify lowers the stock of some of our young players in the eyes of European clubs?

Definitely this, I don’t think it lowers the stock, but they all missed a chance to raise their stock. They were mostly going up, so they’re still on the right track. It hurts their development but definitely doesn’t stunt it.

BSU SC said…

Feel free to answer one or all. Thanks for bringing back a Q&A session.

Question 1: What’s next for Caleb Porter?

Question 2: Is Herculez Gomez the best striker in the USMNT player pool and should a MLS make a move to sign him in the near future?

Question 3: Based on what you’ve seen thus far, which MLS team has the best chance to win the Concacaf Champions League next year?

Caleb Porter could do anything in my eyes. He’s been one of the best American coaches and one of the best youth coaches around for a while. I’ve seen him compared to Jogi Low in Germany. This guys important and is going places.

I’d lvoe to see Herculez in MLS although you never know where he ends up. If you consider Dempsey a striker definitely not, if you’re just comparing him tot he likes of Altidore and Agudelo though, I think he’s as good a bet as anybody to be the best we’ve got. I’d call him and Jozy more or less a toss up.

I don’t see it in the cards for Toronto in 12 if thats what you’re asking.  La and Seattle are always a threat for anything though. If I had to bet it’d be those two because of experience and willingness to run at it. Also because Salt Lake is getting older.

Roehl said…

One would have to think that NBC has to be upset the men didn’t qualify for the Olympics. Does this have a potential effect on future deals MLS/SUM makes with NBC?

Absolutely sure they are, they lose a ton of their audience without the national team being in it. It’ll be rough, hopefully they understand that. I can’t imagine its a huge issue yet.

SKChad said…

Smooth or crunchy peanut butter?

Jelly (& flavor) or honey?

Crunchy and Honey

James said…

Do you think there is a serious risk of US Soccer regressing back to pre-Klinnsman ways because of the OC disaster, or do you get the sense that most people within it realize the long term success of the reimagined youth setup is worth more than the 2012 Olympics?

A big question, I think everyone outside realizes that this teams style was the reason Klinsi was brought in. They’re still commited to him. If these kinds of things keep happening (read: senior team fails in Qualifying) then I could see some more serious steps backwards, but as far as development programs go, its not a big deal.

jay said…

Can’t win championship if you don’t play DEFENSE, as much as I love the 4-3-3 formation as the beautiful attacking style, the U.S. under 23 team didn’t have that destroyer of a D-Mid to control the middle and a weak back 4, knowing that would be the case, why expose yourself? Do you think some of the blame falls on the Caleb Porter not working to his team strengths?

I thought this teams strengths were their creativity and ability to hold onto the ball. Porter played straight into that. Morales, might have done a little better, but I don’t see it being the difference maker. The destroyer has been dying a slow death for a while in international ball, and we’re all better for it.

werner said…

Ives, the Under-20′s team was a good team, but failed to qualify, the Under 23 team is a also a really talented team and also failed…

Our team right now, also boast tons of talent and is expected to qualify, but with teams like Costa Rica, Honduras, and Jamaica doing well should there be some of kind of fear of not qualifying to WC2014?

Perhaps, these two tournaments should wake us up to have a healthy fear of other concacaf teams.

These two and the Gold Cup, CONCACAF is definitely getting better. It’ll never be UEFA or CONMEBOL, but its taking significant steps forward. The US and Mexico should continue to be giants among men, but they’re no longer giants among babies.

Michael said…

If Adu continues to grow and develop do you see him as a realistic replacement for Dempsey, when Deuces time is done with the national team?

I like Adu more than most, and am definitely a biased source, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I think it could happen but Freddy has been way too inconsistent for me to say he’ll be capable of replacing one of the best players to ever play for the Nats. Its a big step and I’m not quite readyt to give him that much.

Ryan said…

1. Why hasn’t the media taken Porter to task on failing to make one field player substitution until the 88th minute? I’ve heard people mention it, but no one has adequately called him out in my mind. This was inexplicable and unacceptable considering they played 3 games in 5 days. We all know tired players make bad decisions (i.e. Brek’s giveaway) and cannot possess the ball nearly as effectively.

2. Why do you think Joe Gyau was utilized so little in this tourney? By all accounts, he was one of our best players agains Mexico.

Legitimately the most interestin question so far. Looking forward to Ives answer. I got nothing.

Andy said…

Where does Clint Dempsey play next season?

My money’s on him staying put although there are a lot of reasons for him to leave. Liverpool seems the most likely landing spot, but I just can’t see him going anywhere.

JW said…

Zombie apocalypse. Who is the USMNT/USWNT player that you feel you have the best chance of survival with as a partner. Bonus: which player would make the most dangerous zombie.

Past or present? Because there’s a few names from the history books I’d like to have. McBride, Lalas and Clint Mathis are definitely top picks. Although Dempsey would absolutely be the current guy, even if I think Tim Howard could eat a zombie for breakfast. On the women’s side I’d probably go with Shannon Boxx or Tasha Kai from the current team. Boxx’s agression and spatial awareness are the reason here but Kai’s speed and general craziness put here a half step ahead I think. All time women’s pick is probably Brianna Scurry, there was the same look in her eyes that Dempsey had with his patented angryface.

Dan said…

Thanks as always for the awesome website. Who do you think will get more senior team caps in 2012: Corona, Adu, or Boyd?

Boyd or Adu, I still don’t think Corona has quite earned it yet. I know that’s hard to say, especially in comparison with Boyd, but maybe its having seen Corona in Mexico for longer and never having been particularly impressed.Combine that with the fact that the midfield is so much deeper than the striker spot. I think that unless Jurgen wants to call in Gomez then Boyd could be as far up as number 2 or 3 on the list where Adu is around 8 in the midfield and Corona is even lower.