Month: June 2010

mma, olympic sports, soccer, track and field

Monday Myriad: Marry Lolo, beat Phelps

Posted on by Beau Dure

A few things aside from the World Cup, the USA Track and Field Championships, the MLS weekend and Strikeforce, all of which will be covered in greater detail later.

Poker: The World Series of Poker’s Tournament of Champions has run into a small problem: No one’s getting eliminated.

Tennis: The top four men’s seeds — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — are all through the quarterfinals, along with No. 6 Robin Soderling. No. 5 Andy Roddick lost in five (fifth set: 9-7) to unknown Taiwanese player Yen-Hsun Lu. He took it well, as always.

The women’s quarterfinals consist of the Williams sisters, Kim Clijsters (winner of the grudge match against Justine Henin) and five players you’ve never heard of.

MMA: No UFC future for Jamie “Crabman” Yager?

Action sports: Shaun White aggravated an ankle injury and couldn’t compete at the Dew Tour/International Skate Federation World Championship, so he did some commentary and signed some autographs. Nice guy, articulate, humble — he’s an action sports-hater’s worst nightmare.

Swimming: Michael Phelps is quite human in the middle year between Olympics.

Track and field/MLS: As MLS commissioner, Doug Logan presided over the start of youth program Project 40. Now with USA Track and Field, he is overseeing the berth of Project 30. Scaling back?

And in more track and field/MLS news, Lolo Jones is bidding to be the funniest Olympic athlete on Twitter.

Soccer: Soccernet’s scoreboard for Wednesday reads “No matches on this date.” That just means Soccernet doesn’t get scores for the U.S. Open Cup or WPS All-Star Game (7:30 p.m. ET, FSC). This game never, ever stops.

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soccer

Twitter, tabloids and Landon Donovan

Posted on by Beau Dure

One aspect of Twitter that we’re all slowly discovering is that a major limitation of the 140-character world is that others may infer, imply or outright guess what you’ve left out to fit in that Tweet. That’s why this post is, in part, a clarification of one of my own Tweets.

I was very surprised to learn today from The Big Lead that Grant Wahl has heard an unnamed British tabloid is set to announce that a U.K. woman claims she is pregnant with Landon Donovan’s child. I was also surprised that I hadn’t already heard about it on Twitter, which has become the fastest medium to spread such news, especially since the report has a bit more substance (Wahl’s direct quote from Donovan, who doesn’t deny the possibility) than, say, a typical TMZ or British tabloid report.

And so I marveled aloud on Twitter (see above Tweet) that this news wasn’t all over the Twitter feeds I follow.

I got a few responses right away, many suggesting a plausible soccer hangover, some saying it was none of our business, and at least one saying U.S. fans don’t engage in scandal-mongering.

Those responses are valid, and I expect the U.S. team will land on home soil without a phalanx of reporters yelling ridiculous questions in Donovan’s direction. This isn’t England, and Donovan isn’t John Terry.

Still, I was surprised because Donovan’s personal life had already been scrutinized a few days ago. That scrutiny stemmed from an emotional postgame interview a few minutes after his dramatic goal sent the USA to the round of 16, in which he said hello to ex-wife Bianca Kajlich.

After that, U.S. fans unfortunately did engage in scandal-mongering, with a few Tweets, blog posts and comments positing that he was giving a snide shoutout to show up his ex-wife. Anyone who knows Donovan in the least knows that’s not his nature. Yahoo’s Martin Rogers followed up with Donovan and found that he treasures his relationship with Kajlich, and what’s more, people close to the couple wouldn’t be surprised by an outright reconciliation.

So to go from that report to Wahl’s report is a shock akin from leaping from a sauna into an ice bath. And it’s astounding to think of the pressures on Donovan over the past month. His attitude, demeanor and performance have been fodder for U.S. fans’ clinical dissection for a decade, and all that pressure was coming to a boil as he played for a U.S. team that rarely gets anywhere without his influence. To have serious developments in his personal life on top of that heading into the World Cup is staggering. To put it mildly — anyone who ever questioned his mental/emotional fortitude and called him “Landycakes” should consider a full-fledged letter of apology.

But while the news, if validated, would be a shock, it would not be a scandal. Donovan told Wahl he would take responsibility if the claim is true. Any questions beyond that are indeed nobody’s business.

Many athletes are less willing to accept that responsibility. That was well-documented in a landmark SI story from 1998 written by young reporters L. Jon Wertheim and … Grant Wahl.

So another reason I was so surprised by this news today was that I was thinking, “What are the odds?”

And so on many levels, the news today is shocking. But not “shocking” in the sense that tabloids use. It’s “shocking” in the sense of being surprising on so many levels. Not scandalous. Not something that will warrant the rooting-out of every lurid detail.

To fully express all that on Twitter, we’ll need a few new emoticons.

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mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field

Friday Myriad: Enjoy the USA-Ghana game for what it is

Posted on by Beau Dure

At some point, it’s just about the game.

If Landon Donovan scores a hat trick in a crushing 5-2 win over Ghana tomorrow, it won’t suddenly fill every MLS stadium and push Fox Soccer Channel’s MLS broadcasts to NFL levels. Nor would a 3-0 loss send U.S. soccer back to 1985. (The year, not the excellent Bowling for Soup song.)

Saturday’s game is a great opportunity for the USA to match its best modern-day World Cup finish (no, I don’t count 1930 as modern-day in this case) and perhaps move on to more. Nothing more, nothing less.

And it’s part of this complete weekend, which includes the return of MLS.

HEADLINES

Poker: Most recent world champions are Ayaz Mahmood (heads-up no-limit hold’em) and Valdemar Kwaysser (pot-limit hold’em). Phil Ivey won his eighth WSOP bracelet in H.O.R.S.E., but he’s not in the H.O.R.S.E. world championship due to end Friday. The tournament of champions starts Sunday with 27 players and will be whittled to a final nine to resume next Sunday.

MMA: Like occasional U.S. wrestling teammate Ben Askren, Joe Warren has won a Bellator tournament. Russia’s Alexander Shlemenko is the middleweight winner. (MMA Fighting Stances)

FRIDAY

2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, Chile-Spain. Chile has two wins but technically isn’t safe — a loss here and a Swiss win would send us to goal difference (currently Chile +2, Switzerland 0 – so the Swiss would at least tie them with a win and Chile loss), goals scored (Chile 2, Switzerland 1) , then head-to-head (Chile). Not lots. Spain, the pick of many to win it all, would advance with a win or likely by matching Switzerland’s result (points AND goal difference on the day). The other wild-card scenario that would keep Spain out: a loss and a Honduras rout. ESPN/ESPN Deportes/Univision/ESPN3

2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, Switzerland-Honduras. See above. A rout would clinch Switzerland’s spot, but that’s not their style. Realistically, they need a win plus any of the following: Chile win, Chile-Spain draw, Spain rout. A draw does Switzerland no good unless Spain loses. Honduras needs a rout and a Spain loss. ESPN2/TeleFutura/ESPN3

9 p.m.: MLS, Salt Lake-San Jose. Welcome back to league play with a good one. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

SATURDAY

7 a.m.: Wimbledon, ESPN2, over to NBC at noon

10 a.m.: World Cup round of 16, Uruguay-South Korea. Winner gets USA-Ghana winner. ESPN/ESPN Deportes/Univision/ESPN3

1 p.m.: Track and field, USA Championships. ESPN

2:30 p.m.: World Cup round of 16, USA-Ghana. No more to say. ABC/ESPN Deportes/Univision … NOT ESPN3

3 p.m.: Track and field, USA Championships. Should include men’s 400, men’s 400 hurdles, women’s 1,500, women’s 100 hurdles. NBC

4 p.m.: Action sports, Dew Tour Skate Open/ISF World Championships. Shaun White and Ryan Sheckler expected. NBC

7:30 p.m.: MLS, Toronto-Los Angeles. Can the Galaxy keep winning without Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle against the excellent Dwayne De Rosario and the less-excellent rogue’s gallery that fouls effectively? Fox Soccer Channel

10 p.m.: MMA, Strikeforce, featuring Fedor Emelianenko-Fabricio Werdum heavyweight bout. Also a women’s title fight between Cris Cyborg and Jan Finney, a rematch for Cung Le against Scott Smith, and a lightweight bout between Josh Thomson and Pat Healy.

SUNDAY

10 a.m.: World Cup round of 16, Germany-England. Just a bit of history here. ESPN/ESPN Deportes/Univision/ESPN3

1 p.m.: Track and field, USA Championships. Should have a healthy dose of live field events and taped track events. ESPN

2 p.m.: Beach volleyball, AVP Belmar (N.J.) Open, women’s final. ESPN2

2:30 p.m.: World Cup round of 16, Argentina-Mexico. For Spanish-speaking U.S. viewers, this is the non-USA game of the tournament. ABC/ESPN Deportes/Univision … NOT ESPN3

3 p.m.: Track and field, USA Championships. Includes men’s and women’s 200 finals, plus men’s 1,500 and 110 hurdles. NBC

4 p.m.: Beach volleyball, AVP Belmar (N.J.) Open, men’s final. Universal Sports

5 p.m.: MLS, Seattle-Philadelphia. ESPN2

6 p.m.: WPS, Bay Area-New Jersey (Gold Pride-Sky Blue). Front-runners break in new stadium against defending champs. FSC/WPS online

OLYMPIC SPORTS

  • Softball: Well, it’s still an Olympic sport to us. The World Championships are in progress in Venezuela. USA opened with 1-0 win over China and will continue pool play against New Zealand (Friday), Venezuela (Friday), Botswana (yes, really — Saturday), rival Australia (Sunday), Dominican Republic (Monday) and Czech Republic (Monday). Japan and Canada are in the other pool. Live stats at USA Softball.
  • Water polo: Women’s World League Super Final starts Monday in SoCal.
  • More events: Canoe/kayak World Cup, U.S. Rowing championships.

MORE MYRIAD

  • USA Track and Field Championships: Webcasting when not on TV.
  • World Series of Poker: How to follow.
  • College World Series (NCAA baseball): UCLA, TCU, South Carolina and Clemson remaining. ESPN/2/3 splitting coverage.
  • Full soccer listings at Soccer America.
  • Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
  • ESPN3: Plenty of Wimbledon matches, Australian Rules football and poker, plus World Cup and college baseball simulcasts.
  • Tennis Channel: Wimbledon analysis and classic matches.
  • Universal Sports: Beach volleyball and triathlon.
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tennis

Isner-Mahut and Wimbledon: Triumph of will or failure of tennis?

Posted on by Beau Dure

Mahut-Isner: 40-40. No, not deuce. That’s the score in the fifth set of this match at Wimbledon that has captured the attention of Americans recovering from Landon Donovan’s goal.

The stats boggle the mind. John Isner has 83 aces to Nicolas Mahut’s 69. Match duration: 458 minutes. ESPN’s crew has run out of superlatives.

Then come the stats that raise questions. Mahut has won 22% of his receiving points, and he’s 1-for-1 on his lone break point back in the second set. Isner has won 21% of his receiving points, and he’s 1-for-12 on break points … 0-for-3 in the fifth.

In other words, neither guy can return the other’s serve.

The way tennis has been going over the past several years, with racket technology and ramped-up serves, is that a surprise? And is that what we really want to see in tennis? Or is it time to tone down the rackets or move back the service line?

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mma, soccer

The single-sport future

Posted on by Beau Dure

A few days ago, I set up a second Twitter feed at @duresportmma.

That’s not something I plan to do often. You won’t see @duresportchess, @duresportbiathlon or @duresportmodernpentathlon. I just sensed that, despite a rush of interest from some MMA buddies in the World Cup, I had little overlap between MMA followers and those who know me mostly from soccer.

Splitting my Twitter audience doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the notion of a multisport blog here at Sports Myriad. If I were going all out for high traffic, I’d probably pick a focus. Frankly, it’d most likely be MMA — even with the glut of MMA blogs out there, many of whom get the same access to athletes that I get with my USA TODAY cred, I still get the highest traffic here for my MMA content. The recaps of The Ultimate Fighter outdraw everything by several multiples. The link from USA TODAY helps, but it’s also search traffic — the same search traffic I’m hoping to get for other sports when I really get moving on Olympic sports.

It wasn’t just that I was getting unfollowed when I posted about MMA, though that happened quite a bit. (Yes, a couple of them are fellow journalists.) I was also trying to reach an MMA audience that had little interest in other sports.

Anecdotally, I find MMA fans tend to ignore other sports unless they’re closely related on the sports family tree. Many follow wrestling, especially with college wrestling slowly turning into MMA’s amateur ranks, and quite a few maintain a healthy respect for boxing.

That’s not too surprising. MMA offers a different experience than other sports, and it’s selling itself as an alternative lifestyle. It’s a postmodern hybrid of traditional martial arts self-reliance and “action” sports’ self-expression. For some reason, those attitudes manifest themselves in expensive, ornate T-shirts.

But MMA fans aren’t the only ones who tend to sequester themselves with a single sport. Soccer fans are getting that way as well.

That’s also not too surprising, given the newfound capability for soccer fans to immerse themselves in their sport year-round. Two soccer-specific channels keep the games flowing constantly. European clubs barely take a break between the end of the season and preseason friendlies in the USA.

And so we have a paradox. Given unlimited choice, with practically every sport in the world streamed somewhere, are we really going to focus on just one sport?

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soccer

Defending Italy — no, really

Posted on by Beau Dure

Far be it for me to defend Italian soccer in general. Every stereotype your soccer-bashing friends throw in your face is prevalent in the Italian game — nasty fans, match-fixing scandals, bad hair, exaggerated injuries and, of course, diving.

But diving to imply a foul that doesn’t exist and falling down to draw attention to an actual foul are two different things. The first is reprehensible. The second is more difficult to judge.

In the first half today, New Zealand’s Tommy Smith had a good handful of Daniele de Rossi’s shirt. De Rossi fell. Referee Carlos Batres of Guatemala whistled for a penalty kick.

Those are the facts. The interpretations varied.

While it’s easy to pile on Italy and particularly de Rossi, whose most notable contribution to a World Cup is a rearrangement of Brian McBride’s face, de Rossi’s actions don’t change the fact that a foul occurred. De Rossi could’ve pulled out a guitar and vuvuzela for a new folk song decrying the injustice that had befallen him, and he may have received a yellow for unsporting conduct. But the PK was still justified.

It’s not as if shirt-pulling in the box is some newly outlawed activity. Remember 1998, when U.S. referee Esse Baharmast was vilified and then exonerated when evidence emerged that he had indeed seen a shirt pulled in the Norway-Brazil game.

Wouldn’t all rather see refs be even stricter on such plays? After a few days of discussing Slovenia defenders bear-hugging American players in the box, a stronger stand on such contact seems justified.

Batres, to his credit, made the right call here. And he ignored a lot of less justified Italian tumbles.

Now if only we could go back and get rid of the blatant dive that saw Italy past Australia in 2006 …

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cycling, mind games, mma, olympic sports, rugby, soccer, tennis

Friday Myriad: World Cup by day, MMA by night

Posted on by Beau Dure

Going back to the chronological look at the weekend, after some …

HEADLINES

Rugby: NBC and Universal Sports will show the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. Huge step forward for the sport in this country. And the UK media will surely appreciate having another sport in which they can do stories about American ignorance — the soccer-ignorance stories are turning into more of a challenge these days.

Chess: Searching for Bobby Fischer is a terrific film. Exhuming Bobby Fischer merely prolongs the sad demise of a troubled genius. If you want a happier story, check this piece from the NYTimes‘ excellent chess blog on the post-chess careers of several phenoms who decided not to stick with it.

Poker: David Baker emerged from a final table that included Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda and Erik Seidel to win the 2-7 Draw Lowball world title. Sammy Farha took an Omaha world title. The limit hold-em world title will be decided by the time we all wake up to watch soccer Friday morning.

MMA: A few days after competing in USA Wrestling’s team trials for the upcoming world championships, 2008 Olympic wrestler Ben Askren went back to MMA and won Bellator’s welterweight tournament over veteran Dan Hornbuckle. (MMA Fighting Stances)

Soccer: World Cup are also on ESPN Deportes, Univision and ESPN3.com. DirecTV also has countless broadcasts and re-broadcasts in several languages.

FRIDAY

7:30 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Germany-Serbia. Germany routed hapless Australia 4-0 in their opener; Serbia lost 1-0 to Ghana and may need a miracle here or some help from Australia tomorrow. ESPN

*** 10 a.m.: World Cup soccer, USA-Slovenia. Can the U.S. men win a game they really should win? One that would go a long way toward seeing them through to the next round? Will soccer fans across the country collectively lose it? ESPN ***

2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, England-Algeria. The other two teams in the U.S. group are in action. Broadcast bumped from ESPN by U.S. Open golf. ESPN2

7 p.m. (highlights): Cycling, Tour de Suisse, seventh stage. The story so far: Fabian Cancellara showed his Swiss pride after learning of Switzerland’s staggering upset over Spain, but he abruptly fell out of contention in Thursday’s mountain stage (Velo News coverage). Lance Armstrong, gearing up for France (the Tour, not the underachieving soccer team), is in seventh place overall after a good showing Thursday. The race finishes with a time trial Sunday. Versus

SATURDAY

7:30 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Netherlands-Japan. Numbers wizards Nate Silver now has the Dutch as the second favorite in the tournament after Brazil. Japan also has three points from its first game. ESPN

10 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Ghana-Australia. No pressure or anything, but Ghana looks very much like the African team most likely to do something in this tournament. ESPN

2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, Cameroon-Denmark. This was an odd pick for network TV. ABC

2:30 p.m.: Rugby, Churchill Cup final, England Saxons (their B-team) vs. Canada, in Red Bull Arena. Universal Sports

5:15 p.m.: Rugby, Churchill Cup third place, USA vs. France B. Universal Sports

** 9 p.m.: MMA, The Ultimate Fighter season finale. Court McGee faces Kris McCray in the tournament final. The non-tournament co-main event has two intriguing light heavyweights who aren’t quite in contention: Matt Hamill, a deaf fighter whose rise is chronicled in a long-delayed film, and Keith Jardine, whose fighting stance suggests a drunk swatting away flies. But the most-anticipated fight might be Jamie “Crabman” Yager vs. Rich Attonito, who won a hotly contested race to oppose the brash loudmouth who has shown a tendency not to back up his words. The card also has reliably entertaining fighters Chris Leben (vs. Aaron Simpson) and Spencer “The King” Fisher (vs. Dennis Siver). Spike **

10 p.m.: Boxing, Super Six super middleweight tournament, Andre Ward vs. Allan Green. Check the USA TODAY preview. Ward is 1-0 in the tournament; Green replaced Jermain Taylor. Showtime

SUNDAY

7:30 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Slovakia-Paraguay. Each team drew its first game, though those games have been erased from my memory. Might still have nightmares about them. ESPN

10 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Italy-New Zealand. Might ask the family if there’s anything else we can do. ESPN

** 2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, Brazil-Ivory Coast. Ahhhhhh. Actual soccer might be played in this one. ABC **

4 p.m.: Beach volleyball, AVP Virginia Beach men’s final. Universal Sports

5 p.m. (same-day delay): Cycling, Tour de Suisse, final stage (time trial). Versus

9 p.m.: MMA, WEC returns with a lightweight main event between former champion Jamie Varner and up-and-coming fighter Kamal Shalorus, who has had an interesting journey from a small town in Iran to an international wrestling career for Britain to mixed martial arts. The card also has two bantamweights with gaudy records — Josh Grispi vs. LC Davis. Versus

OLYMPIC SPORTS

  • Modern pentathlon: Margaux Isaksen and Will Brady are in the World Cup Final.
  • Volleyball: The U.S. men beat Finland twice in World League play last weekend to get their record up to 2-2. Egypt visits this weekend in the Charlotte suburb of Concord, N.C.
  • Track and field: Basically an off week before the USA Championships.
  • More events: Canoe/kayak World Cup, badminton N.Y. Open

MISC

  • World Series of Poker: The most intriguing event of the weekend is the heads-up no-limit hold-em world championship, which starts with 256 and runs like a slow-moving basketball bracket. How to follow.
  • College World Series (NCAA baseball): ESPN, Saturday and Sunday.
  • Full soccer listings at Soccer America. (OK, it’s all World Cup right now.)
  • Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
  • Tennis Channel: WTA Eastbourne, with Friday semis and Saturday final. Nothing Sunday; Wimbledon starts Monday.
  • Universal Sports: Swimming (Santa Clara Invitational) is on TV and online.
  • Cycling.TV: Live audio and highlights from Tour de Suisse

And for the final word on South African history this weekend, we check in with Little Steven. And Bono. And Pat Benatar. And Bob Dylan.

2
soccer

The ball, negative tactics and the World Cup

Posted on by Beau Dure

Wrapping up a couple of Twitter discussions here:

Through two games — not exactly a large sample size — it appears the second game for each team in the World Cup will be a bit livelier than the first time through.

And so the question being posed to me is this: Does this disprove your concerns about the ball and negative tactics as you watched the first 16 games?

The short answer: No.

Frankly, I’m in a no-lose situation in this argument, and I don’t say that to be arrogant. If teams are indeed adjusting for the second 16 games, that bodes well, but it proves that the concerns I had over the first 16 — which surely tried the patience of soccer fans around the world — were valid. If teams fail to adjust even when they’re facing elimination, the debate is surely over.

Here’s why:

– Tactics, macro level. I’ve been reading Inverting the Pyramid, and it has left me quite gloomy. From the historical point of view, it seems like we’ve been heading down a path toward overly cautious soccer for a long time, and I don’t see how it’s going to change.

To give an example: Some of the best attacking soccer we see these days is actually on counterattacks, particularly after corner kicks. What happens when coaches start to figure it’s not worth sending players forward on corner kicks? Suppose the risk of giving up a counterattacking goal is perceived to be too great?

– Tactics, World Cup microcosm. “But it makes sense to play for a draw in the first game and then play for a win.” Is that what we’ve come to now? You get to the world’s biggest stage and immediately try to kill the game? Perhaps it makes sense, but isn’t that sad?

– The ball. Overblown? Slightly, but it’s a legitimate issue. Can anyone remember seeing so many odd flights of the ball, misjudged crosses and flat-out bad passes at this level? It’s worth asking whether FIFA should reconsider introducing such a radical redesign so close to a major tournament. It’s a bit like showing up for The Masters and having Augusta National hand out balls that fly all over the place.

If the intent is to create more goals, it clearly backfires. For every goal that slipped through the fingers of Robert Green, we saw plenty of overhit passes and misjudged crosses, all to the detriment of the attack.

And several of the goals we’ve seen so far have been atrocious defensive misplays, not brilliant attacking plays. Is that what we want?

If teams are adjusting to it by Game 2, great. But doesn’t that prove the point that the ball was indeed an issue?

And the ball feeds into the tactical question. Would you play more cautiously if you’re concerned about the flight of the ball?

One observation from the first 16 games: I saw very little direct play. Some might say that’s a good thing — teams that rely exclusively on the longball can be dreadfully dull. But good teams mix up their play from time to time, and it creates more attacking options, particularly when play is bogged down in midfield. I may have zoned out and missed a few bits here and there, but I haven’t seen many long passes at all in this Cup.

Not all of the early games have been dreadful. South Africa-Mexico and USA-England weren’t bad. Germany and the Netherlands showed some attacking class in winning their games. And Group H — Honduras, Chile, Switzerland and the unfortunate Spain — produced better games than the 1-0 scores would indicate.

But it’s too soon to tell about the second time through. South Korea and Argentina, who just played a terrific game, were among the more positive teams in their first outings.

We can hope that Argentina and South Korea prove to be the rule rather than the exception for the rest of the tournament, and we can hope the knockout stages have little of the overcaution we often see in those games. But the long-term concerns will be valid no matter what. Negativity threatens the game. And FIFA should quit tinkering with the danged ball. What next — a ball that splits in half on the way to the goal? (Coaches would surely counter with the “sweeper-keeper” system, stationing a defender on the goal line.)

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soccer

D.C. United’s new star player … who?

Posted on by Beau Dure

D.C. United could use, among other things, an attacking midfielder. As Black and Red United points out, the current options don’t really fit the role. Jaime Moreno was never really the best player for that spot, and he doesn’t have the legs for it these days. Teen phenom Andy Najar’s too green. Santino Quaranta is better elsewhere on the field, as is Clyde Simms.

Here’s the question: Does D.C. United need an attacking midfielder so badly that they should use one of the budget-busting Designated Player slots on a guy who won’t see any extra tickets outside Washington’s Montenegrin community?

(I’m assuming there is a Montenegrin community here — we have a community for every other country in the world. Then I’m assuming the Montenegrin community could name anyone on Montenegro’s national team, especially someone who appears not to be the captain. I shouldn’t rely on Wikipedia for such information, but I’m not relying on FIFA, either. Or UEFA, which followed MLS in expunging the “history” section when it revamped its Web site.)

Does D.C. United need an attacking midfielder so badly that they’ll use that DP slot on a guy who couldn’t get much playing time at Paris Saint-Germain five years ago and has been toiling in the obscurity of the Austrian Bundesliga since then?

So while it may be too early to cast doubt on the abilities of one Branko Bošković, D.C. United’s new attacking midfielder, it’s not too early to wonder if such a signing is what the league had in mind with the DP rule. It’s the “Beckham rule,” designed to bring well-known players who might lift the quality of play and, not incidentally, lift TV ratings and sell a few tickets. Beckham does that. Cuauhtemoc Blanco does that. Juan Pablo Angel’s impact is harder to measure, but he had enough of a name to make a few people take notice.

Also, there’s no harm in using the DP slot to retain or reclaim an American who might have designs on Europe, at least the lesser European leagues. Granted, United doesn’t have an American player on the roster who could fill a DP slot, though Najar might be worth it in a couple of years if he keeps up his rapid progress.

If Bošković had come in as a discovery player making $200K, few would’ve thought to question it. But the new guy might face a bit of pressure if he’s the big-deal United signing while clubs to the north, geographically and in the standings, are talking about Thierry Henry or Robert Pires.

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