The Canadian Soccer Association sent around a bare-bones little e-mail last week, inviting the media to join a conference call with D.C. United drink-stirrer Dwayne de Rosario. He’d be offering his thoughts on winning the MLS Golden Boot, as well as Canada’s upcoming World Cup-qualifying home-and-home with St. Kitts and Nevis.
I’m not a press conference guy. Driving out of my way to get the same story everyone else gets has never seemed either necessary or efficient to me. Whenever they held a press conference about the construction of BMO Field, I just wandered down to the building site instead. Building sites never try to spin ya, ya see.
And even though there was no driving involved this time, I had an instant, visceral reaction to this particular presser invite.
Turns out I just don’t give a sideways damn what a 2011 Dwayne de Rosario has to say – about anything.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Obviously, I’m in TFC-fan mode here. And clearly, I’m still ticked.
On the one hand, Golden Boot, possible MLS MVP, local lad makes good, blah, blah, yaddy, so there.
On the other hand, a selfish player who couldn’t forgive or forget the dysfunction of the Mo Johnston regime, and forced the Aron Winter brigade to dump him to the Pop Cans.
The Pop Cans, of course, turned around and dealt DeRo to D.C. – at a considerable profit. DeRo, of course, put in your basic MVP season.
It’s the second time in three seasons a dude dumped by TFC has walked off wearing the Golden Boot. But that’s not especially DeRo’s fault.
So here’s a short, heartfelt riff on the word “valuable.”
The man’s skills are sublime. He frequently lacks patience on the pitch, though, and way too many 30-yard no-hopers have flown over far too many crossbars for my liking.
He’s impetuous for a team captain, but again it really isn’t his fault that TFC really didn’t have any captain material on the roster after Jim Brennan was put to sleep.
I just don’t know how anyone who gets traded twice in the middle of the same season can ever be the league’s most valuable player.
If he’s so irreplaceable, why did his home team dump him? And why did another team flip him for a better offer just a few weeks later?
At D.C., damn right he’s valuable! He did great there – and this is a struggling side that may not even have a home right now. A season like DeRo’s, against all that as a background? Yep, howdy, that’s some kind of valuable.
Of course, the man had legitimate peeves in Toronto. But the way he handled them – the cheque-writing fiasco against San Jose, the illicit side-venture at Glasgow Celtic, the relentless focus on “the contract” – well, I know the awards get settled on the field – as they should – but geez Louise regardless.
Yes, Toronto FC is still wandering in the wilderness. But there’s a map now – a compass even. A truly valuable captain might have found a way, I think, to tough that out, and help his team go legit.
I don’t think getting dumped by your hometown team because your talent’s not worth your attitude makes you particularly valuable.
It certainly doesn’t make you an MVP.
[ /fan mode ]
Onward!