Comments on: DCU Rumblings

By: jon

jon — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:00:16 +0000

Joe,
Your criticisms of Emilio are warranted. Many of his goals were poached, and many more were the product of good play of those around him (namely the passing of Gomez and the playmaking ability of Moreno). Thanks for commenting.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:25:49 +0000

I guess I didn’t realize that some of the bloggers on The Offside were relatively new to the sport and quite frankly I was surprised that the writer here was unfamiliar with Veron. So perhaps my criticism was a little bit harsh.

With that being said, your intuition is correct Jon, DC would definitely not benefit from signing Veron as a DP. At best, he would fare as well as Claudio Reyna did at the Red Bulls (when he wasn’t injured). DC would be much better off looking for another Gomez-like player somewhere in South America. (note I didn’t say Emilio- or Fred-like player, as they are both completely overhyped…their goal tally says nothing about their abilities for anyone who has watched them play [like crap] on a consistent basis, with Emilio netting a bunch of lucky, ugly goals).
——-
Now that I think my criticism/your response can be put to rest, I’d like to point out that I’m a closet DC fan (even though I live in NYC) as they play hands-down the most beautiful brand of football stateside. Unfortunately we get the visual crap that is Houston-New England in the MLS Cup two years in a row…

Cheers.

By: jon

jon — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:55:40 +0000

you’re right, I should have said, “As we all know, Veron’s storied career at Man U, Inter, Chelsea etc, etc, will be continued here at DCU. I will now recite his goal totals for every year he has ever played, including youth soccer, from memory…..23,23……”

Melissa,
While I didn’t mean that, I would still agree with that sentiment. Actually, after looking at the salary numbers on DC, I don’t want any DP. We can’t afford it.

Thanks for the support fellow offsiders.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:06:58 +0000

Funny, I got almost exactly the same criticism for admitting I didn’t know all that much about Abel Xavier when the Galaxy bought him in May.

It would be so much easier to lie.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:58:41 +0000

And to emphasise what I think is Jon’s point when he wrote about Vernon above (Jon, please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong): in MLS and even back in NASL, so many *stars* come here to quietly end their careers. I think for many MLS fans, we want to bring in the big names and we really want them here when they still have their mojo. However far off it is for that to happen, I don’t know. Personally, if we can somehow keep our local top talent within the League and competitive, then I’m satisfied.

By: Inara

Inara — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:54:17 +0000

I don’t know a lot about Veron either actually and had no idea his Serie A career extended beyond Inter. It’s only natural that you know best what you blog about it, and why should a blogger know a lot about a player that’s irrelevant to his team? Outside my own team and a handful of players I enjoy following, I don’t know details about other players unless something prompts me to learn about them (usually when they come up against my team). And unless you are a fan of the teams Veron played for, where else are you going to watch him except for youtube?

By: jon

jon — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:37:43 +0000

Hello there.

Nice to meet you.

Now that we’ve met, I suppose I can address your criticism.

I’ll make no bones about the fact that I’m relatively new to soccer. About 2 years of following it closely. Do I know a lot about Serie A? Nope. How about La Liga? Nope. But luckily for myself, and you, I write the DC United blog. As Veron has kind of fallen from the level of super-stardom that he was at one point (at least to my novice-level of knowledge), he kind of slipped my radar as I was learning as much as I could about the current stars of the game.

Anyway, thanks for the snark.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:11:38 +0000

Nobody knows everything, or every player. Unlike a lot of writers, he admitted that this was one guy he didn’t have a lot of experience with, instead of reading a few articles and copying the gist of them as so many bloggers do. The only time not knowing any particular thing is a problem is when you pretend that you do.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:51:51 +0000

“I didn’t know a lot about Veron before his name started coming up in talks.”

I’m not saying his name (or abilities) rank up there with the Ronaldinho crowd, but the man has played for Parma, Lazio, Inter, Man U, Chelsea, and has represented the Argentine national side… To not “know a lot about Veron” before his name came up in MLS(?!?!?) talks, of all places, says something about this writer’s knowledge of the game. And, the fact that he based his opinion of Veron on a YouTube clip affirms that lack of knowledge…. Veron is a midfielder of the no-nonsense variety, hence I can’t see how looking at a YouTube clip of him would be enlightening as he’s not in any way a flashy player. Again, the writer should have known that.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:34:49 +0000

I’m not seeing the didn’t know who Veron was leap you made from Jon’s post.