Josh over at ThroughBall linked in to a fantastic interview that Christian Franek recently did with Eric Wynalda before the USMNT v. Ecuador match. I know I normally quote a bit here and there, but the entire article is quotable. Go read the entire thing if you haven’t already.
I have to say I really enjoyed reading the interview and it’s classic Wynalda. He makes some very direct statements about US Soccer, the MLS, and how soccer can grow in America. His insights related to MLS branding are fantastic. Can’t resist picking my own fun quote:
Now what happens if Sunil Gulati gets off his ***** pedestal, calls Don Garber and says, "That’s it. We now mandate that nobody is allowed to name their team the Butterflies or Grasshoppers or the Little ***** Litterbugs or whatever they want to call them.
Seriously. I encounter a lot of people who don’t know soccer or only know soccer through their kids and are looking to watch more soccer. One of the most common questions is "Why are the team names so pathetic?" Not just in the MLS, but the USL as well. It subconsciously re-enforces the idea that soccer is a sissy sport or a non-contact sport. Every year, as kids in our league move into U10 and U12 where the play gets more physical, I have parents irate that their kid got taken down hard (and usually it was ALL ball the defender trapped) or caught a flying elbow. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard "Why are you letting our soccer program degenerate into a contact sport" or "I never thought soccer was a contact sport". Um, yeah, it is, even with 10 year olds. When you have athletic kids chasing the SAME thing at full speed in cleats – contact is going to happen.
Our youth league has 65+ teams in it where the coaches and kids pick the names. Storm, Thunder, Strikers, Eagles, Dragons, Rockets, Fury, Lions, Fusion, Flames, etc. Why are the MLS and USL so worried about naming teams with local historical significance? The Pioneers? Battery?
Eric’s insights about the marketing to kids are spot on. When I see kids in our league, the ones who live and breath soccer, wearing jerseys, they’re almost always EPL or USMNT jerseys. A few have national team jerseys that they think look cool. That’s a marketing aspect the MLS is completely ignoring.
So grab a cup of coffee and read the entire interview. Then print it out and send it to Sunil and Don with some helpful hints written on the margins 🙂
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April 5th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
“That’s it. We now mandate that nobody is allowed to name their team the Butterflies or Grasshoppers or the Little ***** Litterbugs or whatever they want to call them.
When I read that last night, I thought, “onthepitch is going to love that quote.”
I love Wynalda.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Man, am I THAT predictable? 🙂 Seriously though, that interview was pure gold.
That’s the way to end an interview!
You just know some guys suddenly figured out why some random guy named Derek in their league is so freaking good 🙂
April 6th, 2007 at 4:43 am
the ‘butterflies’ take is pretty good. i hate the MLS names. those names don’t have to be militaristic, but nor should they be completely feminine, completely boring, etc.
and what’s with this ‘Klinsmann has ulterior motives’ and ‘i am an American’ spiel? is Wynalda some kind of ultra-nationalist? is he trying to start world war 3? is he trying to paint Klinsmann as some sort of Nazi who will take over American soccer and sugjugate it to the soccer forces of eastern Europe? wtf? it’s like bizarro world in Wynalda’s head. does this mean Awnuld will never be preznit of the United States, because he secretly has ‘ulterior motives’? that’s _just_ this side of bat**** crazy.
and picking on Jim Rome for his take on soccer is asinine. it’s like strapping on full body armor and going to battle with a hot fudge sundae.
whether Jim Rome likes soccer or not is pretty close to irrelevant. people who like soccer will like it and watch it. those who don’t, won’t. regardless of what Rome says.
personally, i often find his attacks on soccer to be spot-on, and often very funny. there is so much wrong with the sport on so many levels. the deeply-ingrained cheating/anti-sportsmanship/simulation culture of soccer is just one aspect of how profoundly wrong soccer is in its current state. but the list goes on and on. bigotry. racism. violence. terror. murder. maybe Wynalda thinks fussing over these things is not worth the effort? maybe we should all just stand-back, lower our heads in reverence, and applaud sheepishly the ‘masters of the (soccer) universe’ who demand that we enjoy modern-day professional soccer?
on lots of other counts outside of these most extreme cases, Rome’s takes on soccer are correct, too.
soccer sucks. at least, American soccer sucks. domestic/MLS sucks. and most national team games suck. only ‘true believers’ would suggest otherwise. the games are boring as all get-out. the fields are crap – too big, too small, mis-sized stadiums, crap surfaces, lines that can’t be seen, etc. play is often dull, lacks pace, lacks a high degree of skill, and lacks teamwork/passing. players need to hold second and third jobs just to make ends meet. American soccer fans bring nothing new to the game, either – besides the militaristic Sam’s Army, who I could gladly do without. in short, there is a _lot_ to be criticized with American soccer. crying and stomping your feet and telling people to shut up is not going to make the problems go away. it seems Wynalda was channeling his own description of Bruce Arena.
and don’t even get me started on the buying and selling of professional soccer players like chattel slaves – as in the Beasley case. what a horrific, anti-human process. are we supposed to just accept this state of affairs?
i have grown up playing soccer, here, up through college, and now casually – into my thirties. taking Rome’s or anyone’s denunciation of soccer or the state of it in America to the point where you’re talking nonsense about responding with violence should get you laughed off the radio and any and every other medium. when you start taking any sport too seriously, you should be told to pack your bags. there _are_ important things in the world. a sport is not one of them. i guess when people start getting stabbed in the neck at a Tampa soccer game, we’ll know that Wynalda’s view of soccer has finally taken hold, here.
and i’m fine with Wynalda doing a drunken interview. it’s good to hear someone tell the truth. but he still needs to be condemned for his at-least-implicit approval of all that is wrong with soccer.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Well, in all fairness, I think you’re reading WAY more into his brief passage about Klinsmann than what was meant. To me he seemed to be saying that an American coach who grew up playing in America nad knows how bad it is, would have the program’s best interests at heart. A foreign coach’s motives wouldn’t necessarily be the same. Granted he didn’t expand on why he thought Klinsmann wasn’t a ‘good guy’. But his point on motives is an interesting point. If a foreign coach came over to coach the USMNT, why are they doing it? Money? Rung in the ladder? Desire to help the hapless Americans? Nobody knows if it would be any, some, or all of those and I’m not naive enough to think any American coach taking the team would be doing so primarily out of nationalistic pride.
But no way did I sense any kind of uber nationalistic tones in what he said. He simply felt uncomfortable with a foreign coach because you didn’t know his motives while you’d hope someone like Bob Bradley (who Wynalda doesn’t think will be head coach anyway) would. But nobody knows.
Jim Rome is a twit and American Soccer could be the best thing in the world and he’d still hate it. Do some of his complaints have merit? Sure. But American soccer HAS made significant improvements over the past 20 years. It is far from perfect, but lets look at how many MLS teams now have their own stadium with nice fields and grandstands. Some of the new MLS facilities are gorgeous. Other teams still wallow in whatever field they can get. But things like this take time.
And yes the pay sucks. But there is only so much money to go around. MLS is trying to establish permanent facilities for its teams. This takes serious money. The belief is more fans will come to nicer stadium facilities tailored till soccer and I believe this to a point. This increases the income, and then they can start to pay starting players more. I for one wish it was happening faster. But it is happening.
I just didn’t see an implicit approval of all that is wrong. He seemed to condemn ALL parts of American soccer and talk about what he thinks could help. I mean he brought up a lot of concerns and things that need to be addressed.
As for the excitement of play – the only way that is fixed requires a lot of effort by a lot of people. Our kids grow up learning soccer from parent volunteers, many who rarely learn what is needed to coach kids. What we need is people who know soccer and take the time to train as youth coaches (be it ex players, motivated parents, whoever) and coach our kids about the beautiful game in a way that doesn’t turn out one touch automatons. We need coaches who aren’t afraid to teach younger kids ‘a pretty move’ and stimulate their creativity. Anytime one of my players comes to me and says ‘hey coach – watch this move I came up with’, I get goose bumps. Not because it’s some slick move that’ll leave defenders stunned. But because they are thinking about the game and trying to be creative. If we continue to stress this in our youth coaching curriculum’s (and they are to a point), these kids will do amazing things as they grow up.
But that is going to take a LOOOOONG time.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
If you are interested in a real American soccer fan’s honest and truthful follow-up to this interview, based on facts, please visit http://www.beerswith.com.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
DCF – That’s a fantastic post. I’ll be writing a followup on this shortly.