Spun another way

By: Sabin | April 3rd, 2007

The Boston Herald — via AP Newswire — has a good write up here (Revolution eager to put MLS Cup disappointment behind them) about the team’s feelings on their chances for the season. It’s a good read, especially for the info we get about the team from Nicol.

“Pat [Noonan]’s not injured,” Nichol [sic] said. ”He’s fit. He’s lacking a bit of sharpness.” Huh. I should think that a hernia surgery (LINK) counts as an injury. Note, also, Pat Noonan’s inclusion as a notable example of sports injury. It could be, of course, that Nicol is just explaining the reason Noonan’s being left out of Saturday’s game. One can always hope, eh?

And how’s Michael Parkhurst doing? ”It’s a case of getting some confidence where he can put his shoulder into it,” the coach said. The article does say that Parkhurst won’t need surgery, so that’s good.

And lastly, we learn a bit about how the Revs have been doing in their hunt for a way to spend their Clint Dempsey allocation money.

The Revolution still have the right to add someone under the ”designated player” that allowed the Los Angeles Galaxy to go beyond the league salary cap to sign David Beckham. Nichol said the team has looked around, but hasn’t found the right guy.

”The one major stumbling block is the expectation of the money that’s available,” Nichol [sic] said, alluding to the deal that will pay Beckham a base salary of $5.5 million a year. ”Obviously, Beckham’s getting top dollar. That kind of money isn’t available to everybody.”

I like that bit. It indicates that the Krafts are being fiscally responsible (of course they are, it is New England, here), but that the team’s aware of their need/desire to find a player. I would urge the Revs, though, to not spend a dime of their money on any player older than 31.

Here’s why: the MLS is not a “play your golden years of soccer here” league. At least, it shouldn’t be. The league should be scouting for the new talent. The raw magic that so few of the current players possess. If MLS did that. If they sought out a way to improve the quality of the game first, and the number of fans second, maybe Dempsey would’ve stayed, and maybe there would be more choices in the draft who weren’t whisked away to Bundesliga, Denmark, Belgium, or English Championship sides.

At any rate, no matter what I think of the league, or what the league does, it’s nice to see the Revs holding back — even if it is over money. Maybe they should spend a little of that on Shalrie Joseph, though.

PS: For those of you with iCal or similar, I compiled a .ics of the Revs’ schedule this season. It’s in ET (GMT-5), but it should be easy to convert. Get the calendar here.