Joseph S. Blatter

WANTED: FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

I Hate England For Her Greatness

US-Mex Tix Available at Claddagh, Practice Cancelled

If you didn’t get tickets to the Feb. 11 USA-Mexico game or you didn’t want to spend the $90 plus surcharge and tax at Ticketmaster, try this special deal at Claddagh Irish Pub (585 S. Front St.): $75 gets you a ticket to the game, special deals at the pub before the game (discounted drinks, appetizers, etc.) and a seat on the bus that will be running between the pub and Crew Stadium. Call (614) 224-1560.

There’s now more information and a page up on Facebook for the Feb. 12 Crewzers Pre-Valentines Day Pajama Party. El Luchador may make an appearance.

The Crew has released the full 2009 schedule. Buzz kill: There are a lot of Sunday games, and not a whole lot of TV coverage.

The Crew started reporting to preseason camp on Sunday, and their first training was scheduled for today. However, it was cancelled because of the snow. Stay tuned.

The Dispatch's Soccer Coverage Sucks

If you relied exclusively on the Columbus Dispatch for your sporting news, you wouldn’t even have known that the U.S. National Team was playing on Saturday, much less that several Crew members were on the roster.

OK, here it is brothers and sisters. I don’t want to hate the players or the game, but Ohio’s “Greatest Hometown Newspaper” actually has contempt for soccer. It’s not indifference or ignorance, it’s contempt.

El Luchador has sat on this one for a long time, but Saturday brought it to a head. The U.S. Men’s National Team was facing off against Sweden on national television. The Crew’s Robbie Rogers was set to make his debut with the senior team. Three other Crew players were on the roster.

The Columbus Dispatch didn’t even list the game on its “On Air” section. There were listings about obscure women’s basketball games and some bullshit golf match in Abu Dhabi. But there was no mention of the U.S.-Sweden game. Then on Sunday, there was no game recap.

Routinely, the Dispatch ignores major soccer news, doesn’t feature the games on its listings, and instead covers silly Ohio State minutiae. Just look at their Web site: They have a listing for “OSU Sports” and a separate listing for “More Sports.”

The fat Republican philistines who comprise the Dispatch sports desk sit and jerk off to every last detail of Ohio State football. You can read entire articles about the injured ankle of obscure NFL players. But when it comes to coverage of soccer, they are willfully ignorant.

Columbus has a huge soccer community and a gigantic audience for coverage of the beautiful game.

Sports Editor Ray Stein’s refusal to acknowledge this and his fetish-like obsession with Ohio State Football is an embarrassment to journalism.

Memo to Shawn Mitchell: If the provincial, narrow-minded douche bags in charge of your newspaper don’t get a clue, they are in danger of extinction.

USA v Mexico Feb 11 Crew Stadium

The rumors were wrong. US Soccer has done the right thing. As much as El Luchador disdains nationalism and xenophobia, he will be at Crew Stadium Feb. 11 to cheer the US National Team to their third consecutive home victory over Mexico. Our brothers and sisters south of the border are deserving of our respect, but this is business. South Africa calls. USA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phnj1wDcGE8

Players Union Case Against League Bosses Moves Forward

A date has been set and an arbitrator selected to hear the MLS Players Union’s grievance against the Big Boss Men of the league for their exploitive decision to short change the players on the supposed $1 million SuperLiga Tournament purse.

Players Union Executive Director Bob Foose told El Luchador today that respected sports arbitrator Shyam Das has been selected by both the union and the league bosses to hear and decide the case under Article 21 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“The arbitration proceedings will likely be held in Philadelphia and they will not be public,” Foose wrote to El Luchador in an email this afternoon. Foose, a friend of working men and women, said the arbitration is tentatively scheduled for late February.

The dispute stems from the league bosses’ decision to imply in numerous public statements that the $1 million purse for the tournament would be split among the workers (i.e., players), when in typical capitalist fashion, they really schemed to keep most of it to satisfy their bottomless greed and avarice (i.e. league management).

“MLS is misleading its great fans,” the players union said in a statement in July. “What has not been revealed by the league is that its New York office has unilaterally set its own bonus structure for players, who will receive only a small fraction of the $1 million. On top of that, the league has gone even further by prohibiting its teams from providing their own bonus pool for their players, despite the fact that this right is protected under the league's CBA.”

“It's a shame that MLS doesn't pay its players – the persons responsible for making the tournament exciting – their fair share of the proceeds. Their refusal to do so has left the players with a bitter taste in their mouths as they enter the tournament,” the statement said.

In August, the players on the Houston Dynamo and the New England Revolution announced an agreement that they would split evenly the bonus money at stake in the SuperLiga final.

“The players have made this decision to show their solidarity and in protest of the league's violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with respect to the negotiation of bonuses for this tournament,” the union said.

The SuperLiga was started last year by a bunch of suits in an effort to milk every last bit of revenue from the players’ hard work. The tournament pits top teams from the Primera División of Mexico and Major League Soccer.

El Luchador encourages all the united members of Crew Soccer Nation to observe a boycott of the tournament. Thankfully, this will not be hard to do this year, as an agreement with the league means the Crew will participate in the CONCACAF Champions League (a legitimate tournament) instead of the SuperLiga nonsense.

The arbitrator who will consider the matter in February, Das, 64, is a Harvard educated lawyer who works out of Ardmore, PA, near Philadelphia. He has arbitrated disputes for decades in many different industries, most recently making a name for himself in sports arbitration as the designated arbitrator for both the NFL and Major League Baseball. A list of recent baseball related actions Das has been involved in can be found at USA Today.

According to Eugene Freedman at the Baseball Think Factory: “Of his 120 cases decided, Arbitrator Das has sided with management 44 times, the union 51 times, and has issued a split decision 25 times.”

El Luchador predicts the following: Workers 1, Capitalists 0. Stay tuned.

Naked Cartwheeler Off to Deutschland?

Let’s hope Andy Iro can jump. The rookie Liverpool native who the Crew picked up in the 2008 Super Draft may have to grow up real fast in the Black and Gold defense.

MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall is in Mainz, Germany, today for a try out with FSV Mainz 05. He is scheduled to remain with the club through Thursday.

Mainz is in the second division of the storied German Bundesliga soccer league. El Luchador’s anonymous sources indicate Mainz are very interested in the 6-4 California native, and a signing there is likely.

Jeff Goff of Soccer Insider has reported that Marshall’s reps are seeking $500,000 for any oversees transfer. He earned $148,000 in 2008, not including bonuses and incentives, well over the average for an MLS non-designated player, but about average for a regular roster player.
Just one year after a nearly career-ending concussion injury, Marshall not only won Defender of the Year, but scored the equalizer over Brian McBride in the Eastern Conference final and made the go-ahead goal in MLS Cup just seconds after New York had scored an early second half equalizer.

"Chad has grown by leaps and bounds," said soon-to-be-ex Crew Coach Sigi Schmid. "I don't see how (U.S. National Team Coach) Bob Bradley can look past him anymore with the national team. He's a guy that definitely deserves a solid look. He's matured as a player and, on the offensive end, on set pieces, there's obviously not a player who's a better target in the league than Chad Marshall is right now."

Marshall is also known for his celebratory Naked Cartwheel, which he performed in front of countless media in the locker room of the Home Depot Center after the Crew’s MLS Cup victory.

"It's something I do sometimes to lighten up our spirits, so I am glad I could do it today in front of all the media," Marshall said. "I can't wait to see how many internet sites it pops up on."

Memo to Marshall: When you land in Germany, have the Mainz publicity boys shoot a new head shot. Dude, you look so baked.

Terrible Acting, Even Worse Judging

Steven Goff always finds the best of the best in worldwide football. In this case, the worst of the worst, a diver who makes Christiano Ronaldo look like an honest gentleman. Click here.

Guille to Remain in C-Bus

All the signs pointed this way, but it is now official: The Crew has re-signed Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

"Securing Guille's return was one of our top priorities entering the off season and we are pleased to get that accomplished," Crew President and General Manager Mark McCullers said. "It goes without saying that he was one of the keys to our championship season and, on top of that, he helps attract international attention to both the club and our region. We look forward to his continued dynamic contributions next season."

Schelotto was voted league MVP after scoring seven goals and making 19 assists in 27 games during the 2008 regular season. He earned six assists in four games in the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs.

We’re not worthy!

Expansion Draft

The MLS today released the list of Columbus Crew players eligible for the expansion draft. Just days after winning their first MLS Cup in its history, the Crew is willing to part with some of the young talent that got them there? Notables on the list: Eddie Gaven, Steven Lenhart, Stefani Miglioranzi, and Adam Moffat. Predictions: Moffat and Lenhart are both gone (Moffat makes $14K, Lenhart not much more and both are exceptional goal scorers, although Moffat was injured most of the season). This would be a shame. Gaven's too expensive and will stay. Sad to see Duncan Oughton on the list, but he won't get picked up.