and his fans' -- disdain for all things about New York soccer and symbolizing it with one classic gesture. It wasn't poor sportsmanship, it was just great entertainment.
Shock of all shocks: Not every one loved it. Take Bob Bradley, who is like the former Minnesota Twins manager Tom Kelly of MLS: one of the, if not the, best in the league -- but has a kind of stoic public persona of a man decades older than he really is.
"I don't like stuff like that," he told the Daily Breeze out on Planet LA. "I don't think players like (AC Milan striker Andriy) Shevchenko would do it."
Shev it, Bob. It was just in good fun.
Now I know the MLS powers that be felt they had to fine him for it with one hand, but there were other hands high-fiving each other for a great piece of footage and another example of a player connecting with fans and building up the much-needed rivalries in this league.
Now if only Esky could phone up my boy Kenny Cooper and teach him how to act after you score a goal. When Cooper headed in a goal last weekend against Kansas City, he ran around like bees were on him and then kind of meekly high-fived the crossbar.
Yup, the bar has been raised on post-goal celebrations. Topping this one won't be easy.
TCS PERSON OF THE WEEK:
Every week we're going to pick one person to give a little love, a little special recognition for doing something to really stand out. Could be a player, coach, broadcaster, you name it. Sometimes we may even have to venture outside of the soccer world. Feel free to e-mail in with your nominations.
The Baltimore Blast of the MISL lost head coach TIM WITTMAN for a few years thanks to a ban after he put a referee in a choke hold after a game in March ... then the Blast went on to make the championship series. Nice.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Alan Shearer had to hang 'em up a few games early, but that takes nothing away from the career one of the most prolific and honest strikers ever to play the game. ... Aaron Pitchkolan came off the bench to score the game winner for my Hoops against the Wizards, then went out and played 90 minutes in a reserve game less than an hour later. Solid.
GRAB A COLD BUD (OR AQUAFINA) AND PUT YER FEET UP:
WHAT I'LL BE WATCHING:
REAL vs. GALAXY (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET on The Deuce): Both these teams need a win bad. Or take the last word in that sentence and put it between "these" and "teams."
TWO AND A HALF MEN (Monday, 9 p.m. on CBS): I don't laugh out loud at much, but I usually do so at least once or twice per show. If you have TiVo, pause it on the screen right after the show is over and catch the diatribes written by show creator Chuck Lorre, they are often classic. If you really want to laugh though, go read about what's going on between Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards.
SPORTSCENTER (Tuesday, 6 p.m. on ESPN): The Bruce picks the team. We break it down next week.
FLICK-ONS:
• Speaking of celebrations, I have to say once again I hate the yellow cards for ripping off a shirt. When Marlon Harewood scored a late goal against Boro to put West Ham United into the FA Cup Final, his act of pure joy was perfectly within the bounds of what could be expected given the crucial nature of his goal to settle a wonderfully-spirited match.
• Even Vladimir Klitschko, who looked downright dominating last weekend knocking out Chris Byrd, couldn't punch the smile off Sigi Schmid's mug if he tried right now after the Crew win out here last weekend.
• There is a company in England called Dale Air that is hawking scents like grass and sweat of the changing rooms to soccer fans who cant make it to Deutschland this summer. Oy vey.
• Just what the world needs: another Britney Spears offspring.
• The Bruce says if he can't find a coaching gig after the World Cup he might want to be a sportswriter so he can eat for free at games. How great would that be ... finally someone more negative and sarcastic than your old pal, Tino. Bruce, if you want to cut your teeth, I will gladly turn my column over to you for a week when you get back this summer.
• We talked about rivalries last week (and I'm loving Bob Bradley vs. RBNY this weekend), but how about Eric Wynalda and Alexi Lalas? Thanks to the Newark Star-Ledger, we have us an old-fashioned humdinger:
Waldo, on Alexi's move to Planet LA: "It's very difficult for us to believe anything that comes out of his mouth anymore. When you deny the rumors and two days later you get the job, I'm going to call you a liar."
Alexi's response: "I love Eric. At best, he can be misguided. At worst, delusional. I'm sure I'll see him down the road and we'll talk and open up that little mind of his. Some of us have grown up, and some of us haven't."
This just in -- MLS has never had better storylines. Ever.
• ESPN.com was calling for Tony Meola to get the third goalkeeper spot for the Yanks this summer, but his performance on national TV last weekend did not help his chances, to say the least. Waldo was having a tough time not hammering Meola on the broadcast.
• Scott French in the L.A. Daily News has a new soccer column worth a read. In it, he puts the over-under on RSL sacking John Ellinger at eight games. As I said last week, and note the capitalization, if RBNY cans Mo Johnston, he might not be out of work for Real long.
During the season, The Clean Sheet runs each week on MLSnet.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com. Send any questions and comments to tcsresponses@yahoo.com.
