So, here we go again, into the SuperDraft, not knowing if this year's biggest impact rookie will be selected in the first round, as Chad Marshall and Clint Dempsey were in 2004, or later on, say, in the fourth round, where 2006 Rookie of the Year Jonathan Bornstein was picked up a year ago. Never into the whole "mock draft" thing, First XI this week will traipse down memory lane, recapping the glorious and not-so-glorious moments from the first 11 MLS drafts.
11. 1996. The story has been told before, but there was no more amazing reaction from a first round pick than of the MetroStars second-round pick, Troy Dayak, who didn't say "thank you" or even "woo hoo!" No, Dayak said, "I'm not playing there," which left some pretty blank expressions on the faces of the MetroStars staff (yours truly included). Alas, Dayak became involved in the first-ever MLS trade, going to San Jose with the Metros getting Rhett Harty in return.
10. 1997. Ah, the good old days, when you had the "supplemental draft" and the "college draft." The MetroStars inexplicably passed on local player Carlos Llamosa, but selected a talented player nevertheless in Ezra Hendrickson. Problem was, the Metros never saw to play EZ as a right back (where he'd go on to excel for the Galaxy) and spent the better part of the 1997 season trying to decide whether or not to cut him. Not to beat too hard on my old employers, but they took a Harvard player named Will Kohler in the second round, only to have Kohler go all Harvard on them and declare his Wall Street ambitions. Ah, but the egg on the Metro faces could not match that on the faces of the Tampa Bay Mutiny, who selected Virginia's Mike Fisher, who had already declared his intentions to be a doctor.
9. 1998. Tough to match the quality of the College Draft Class of 1998, with players like Chris Klein, Clint Mathis, Mike Petke and Wade Barrett. What's hard to figure out is how Pablo Mastroeni was left untouched until the second round, where he was taken by the Miami Fusion. Less impressive was the pool of that year's Supplemental Draft, where it appears the only man left standing in the league is No. 1 pick C.J. Brown.
8. 1999. Looking back, 1999 was the year of the solid, serviceable player, in both the Supplemental and College Drafts. In the college phase, you had lifers like Jay Heaps, Bobby Rhine, Richard Mulrooney and John Wolyniec, while in the Supplemental Draft you had Brandon Prideaux and Orlando Perez. As for a team that just should've taken the College Draft off, the Galaxy took Tony Soto, Sam Franklin, Seth George and a fellow named "Pass." Of course, the Galaxy would go on to win the West in 1999.
7. 2000. The first SuperDraft is held in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and, man, is this draft deep. The first round produces one big-time player after another: Nick Garcia, Adin Brown, Carlos Bocanegra, Danny Califf and Sasha Victorine. Of course, the MetroStars will never live down the fact that they had the No. 1 overall pick that year and passed on all of the aforementioned players to take Steve Shak. Hey, it happens. The Galaxy redeem themselves in a big way in 2000, coming away with cornerstones like Califf and Victorine and Peter Vagenas. Of course, they gave up DaMarcus Beasley in the process.
6. 2001. Now, let it be said that I like Chris Carrieri. Have always enjoyed talking to him. But I can't help but remember his bravado on draft day. I can't remember his exact words when he was the first selection, but let's just say he wasn't shy about the impact he was going to make. The MetroStars make the draft's shrewdest selection, taking Brazilian-born striker Rodrigo Faria from tiny Concordia College. The reaction among coaches and GMs is that Faria might have been the worst player at the combine. They wonder if he tanked. Later on, it's revealed that Faria was under the weather at the tryout. Of course, what's a draft without some element of intrigue. Faria goes on to become the best rookie.
5. 2002. The player everyone knows will be taken first is Chris Gbandi, who is the consensus best player on the board. That leaves a no-brainer in the No. 2 slot for the New England Revolution. Taylor Twellman, fresh off a stint with 1860 Munich in Germany is the selection, and the rest is history. My favorite pick from this draft, however, looking back is at No. 50, where Kansas City takes Davy Arnaud. That's called a nice pickup.
4. 2003. It doesn't get much better than what Chicago pulls off in this draft. With the 18th pick, on the advice of his son, Ian, Dave Sarachan takes a striker out of UConn named Damani Ralph. Apparently, Ian liked what he saw of Ralph in the Big East Tournament and dad was willing to take a flyer. Ralph tears up MLS in his first season and it gets overlooked that the Fire took late-bloomer Nate Jaqua higher than Ralph.
3. 2004. Of course, it was all Freddy Adu all the time in '04, but the big winners on the day might have been the team that had to give up Adu for D.C.'s allocation slot. That team would be the team then known as the Dallas Burn. Colin Clarke came away with Clarence Goodson, Ramon Nunez and David Wagenfuhr, in addition to picking up the allocation that would make Cory Gibbs a part of his team for a year. Solid day's work.
2. 2005. Let's just say that Real Salt Lake's first-ever SuperDraft pick was, uh, shocking. No knock on Nikolas Besagno, but for an expansion team that needed to fill starting slots, it was curious for them to select a 16-year old prospect. Chicago proves once again that it's not all about the first round as they pick up Chris Rolfe in Round 2 with the 29th overall pick and Gonzalo Segares at 35.
1. 2006. Real Salt Lake redeem themselves by making a solid first round selection in Mehdi Ballouchy, who goes second after Chivas USA shocks everyone in Philadelphia by trading consensus No. 1 pick Marvell Wynne to the MetroStars for Jason Hernandez and the No. 5 pick, which becomes central midfielder Sacha Kljestan. As stated up top, the biggest sleeper of the draft has to be Jonathan Bornstein, who is taken with the first pick of the fourth round, but the biggest regret down the road might come from the teams that let Josmer Altidore stay on the board until the 17th pick. Heading into this year's SuperDraft, here's a word to the wise. Don't act like you know too much until, say, July of next year. The evidence to support my advice is laid out for you above.
Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Send your comments and complaints (200 words or less, please) to Jeff at jbradleyespn2003@yahoo.com and he promises to read (but not respond to) all of them. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
