Dust and Cobwebs

Alright, let's shake off the dust and cobwebs a bit and get back into the blogging groove!

The waiver draft came, the waiver draft went--few were aware of its passing. But it did dump a defender on our doorstep as Jeff Curtin's rights were picked up from Chicago after two unremarkable years with the Fire. Curtin brings serious size, defensive depth, and a small wage hit, all of which make him an attractive (well, not that attractive--check out the photo--looks like he'd be more at home on our "special" reserve squad--ugh, I'm evil, I know) target for United.

Kelly Gray was also available, and probably would have been a decent pickup for the number of roles he can fill, but I'm assuming that the front office doesn't want to waste a senior roster spot on a defensive role player like Gray. Besides, they've got basically the same model in a similar package with McTavish. I'm also not entirely aware of Gray's current salary, but the cap hit may have been a deciding factor as well.

I feel that I've also been a bit remiss in not yet commenting on the return of Q1 to the fold (pictured with Seria A-ready locks!). Despite his deplorable behavior at RFK while with Lalas' Abomination and his injury-marred, freeloading first run with the club, if he's focused, fit and willing to accept a reasonable wage based on performance and not reputation, Quaranta could be an absolute steal. He's only a few years removed from garnering caps for the full national side, has the skill set to succeed with this team, and seems to be taking the profession a bit more seriously. Not to mention the fact that he brings us experienced, quality depth on the wing--currently the area that I would consider our biggest weakness. Hand-wringing apologies are fine and all, but if Santino can just wrap his head around what it takes to be a professional and work his way onto this team, he can only add to the depth and talent on this roster. That kind of depth heats up the competition for places in the starting eleven and should give us the ability to make it through the 50+ game marathon ahead.

From all indications, the team is focused on doing some damage at the pre-season Texas tourney that they'll be starting tonight, and I for one am extremely interested in seeing some balls start to hit the back of the net. All this jazz about "we're getting the fitness down" and "the results aren't important" are beginning to wear thin as we approach our first competitive match in, let's see . . . a week? (gulp!)