Thought #1: Yes, yes, Payne's comments on the possible effect of the stadium move on fans end with "But our fans are very, very loyal. ... We expect those fans to come with us." But that's mitigated somewhat by the preceding ""Our largest fan base is from Northern Virginia. ... We recognize that we may have to change our fan base a little bit." That's a fantastic reward for over a decade of passion, huh?
Look, I'm up here in my Pennsylvania mountain citadel, and I only get down to a handful of games every year, so a few extra minutes on the Metro is no skin off my back for a shiny new home, but that's not the kind of stuff you want coming out of your FO. How about something along the lines of the new stadium being a better fit for the noise and passion of the fans, compensations that will more than make up for the extra travel time, not "Well if they don't wanna come out anymore, we'll find somebody else"?
And while we're mentioning the Metro, I see that Goff says five out of the seven possible sites are "near" Metro stops. If anything breaks the camel's back for me, it's this particular straw. If there's no Metro, my stadium visits will be few and far between . . .
Thought #2: Jumping continents . . . did anybody catch Ryan Giggs' performance for Manchester United this weekend? I only saw highlights, so I'm wondering if anybody caught the whole match and can confirm that he was as outstanding as the highlights showed. He was playing in a more advanced central role--a sort of withdrawn, free-role forward. Dancing on the ball, facing goal, back to goal, slick little one touch stuff, and the standard dribbling wizardry. Those highlights were a joy to watch, even if it was Manchester United.
Thought #3: . . . And we're back to United. It's official. Wells has retired. And Boswell failed to make his Euro-move and has resigned with the Dynamo. Hindsight is 20/20, but considering the gaping abyss at center back . . .
The question now becomes: how many keepers are United going to keep? We've got three guys fighting for scraps, but will it be two-out-of-three or a Highlander-esque "there can be only one" showdown? With only 24 roster spots available, can you afford to devote an eighth of the roster to keepers when only one of them will probably see significant playing time? Probably not. If I'm the FO, I sign a backup and then rely upon the rotating keeper pool to provide an emergency third if necessary. If somebody goes down long-term, that's when you look to rejigger the roster.
One things for certain, barring the presence of any Scots, if it's a "there can be only one" scenario, my money is on the tall dude with the accent. Milos Kocic, what number do you want?
Wells is gone. Vide is gone. We now have 6 goalies in camp and Jamaica is apparently running a special on wings so Kasper decided to sample two instead of one. Add the fact that Tommy thinks we have a deep team and you have a lot of fodder for the next roster review.
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