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What? You're A Columbus Crew Fan? It's Better For The League If Your Team Sucks
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I'm a soccer fan -- yeah, I know, un-American, that's me -- but I don't really follow MLS, even though I live a short drive from the two L.A. franchises and I'd normally be a Philadelphia Union fan by osmosis from my other sports loyalties. That's because the league still, after all these years, has that single-owner, everything's-directed-by-the-league-office feel to it, and the distinct smell of 1967 ABA in how they make sure key players go where they want them to go, which tends to be L.A. or New York, but in Clint Dempsey's case turns out to be Seattle. And how that happened was that Dempsey, leaving Spurs with an eye towards coming home, let it be known that he'd accept going to L.A., Toronto, or Seattle, and the league pushed him to Seattle by telling Toronto and L.A. to back off. Toronto was nixed because they felt it would be better for the league if he went to a U.S. club, and L.A. nixed because they didn't want to be accused of being a one-club league after Donovan and Beckham ended up there. If they'd have just left it to the natural allocation draft, Portland -- Seattle's rival -- would have gotten him, but that's why they have a "designated player" mechanism to bypass that. Anyway, he's a Sounder now, and that's good for Seattle and the league, but it still seems a little off to me. (Sports Illustrated)
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