you name it -- for years. Queen of the Palace just won her fantasy football league this fall, although her competition was a bunch of yentas from the Weddingchannel.com message boards, so take that for what it's worth.
Just the idea of trading players back and forth at your pleasure is just plain fun. So for any fantasy fan, this week in MLS has been phenomenal. I gotta believe the only person having more fun than a fantasy fan this week is whoever owns the moving company that gets paid to move MLS players' stuff when they get traded.
Yeah, it's Friday afternoon out here on Planet LA and my head is spinning trying to keep track of all these deals. Another SuperDraft has come and gone and while it is a bit too early to start talking winners and losers, we can begin sorting through some of the rubble from a wild week in the MLS silly season:
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I was watching that weighted lottery like a hawk midweek, just hoping the gods would send Alex Yi to FC Dallas so I could write just one thing:
YI-HAW!!
Sorry, couldn't resist. Now that we have that out of the way, I gotta say I like the little shakeup going down Frisco way. Pulling in an All-Star goalkeeper in Henry Ring is strong, I like the solid acquisition of Richard Mulrooney, I'm interested to see if Yi can play, and I wonder if Cornell Glen, rumored to be the player acquired from the MetroStars, can shine a little bit in The House That Tex Built.
Plus, in the fourth round, my boys took a kid from Creighton called Julian Nash. Now I have no idea if this kid can play, but according to his bio, he apparently modifies his car for a hobby -- so he clearly should be the first MLS player on "Pimp My Ride." That alone is worth spending the pick on him.
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The Steve Sampson rebuilding project is clearly underway with the deal with San Jose earlier in the week and trading away Sasha Victorine on draft day -- plus Sampson is telling people close to the organization that there is much more wheeling and dealing to come. (Those Carlos Ruiz rumors just don't go away, do they?) Anyway, whether it's more trades in MLS or the influx of young Costa Ricans that many are expecting, Sampson knows all eyes will be on what he does with this team given how high his club has set the bar for success ... especially given the nice buzz (including the opener on ABC) around the Chivas USA organization.
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Whatever happened to Ricardo Clark? For a while there it was not if, but where, he was going to play in the U.S. national team side. Now he is an afterthought trade on a busy day of MLS movement? Here's hoping he rediscovers the form in San Jose that previously had so many taking notice.
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Little programming alert for y'all: Check out Tim Howard on "60 Minutes" on CBS Sunday night. While the story is mainly about his battle with Tourette's syndrome, I'm more interested in his battle to get back in the Manchester United side after Roy Carroll's howler. Then again, this is CBS News, so they'll just make up whatever they want, anyway.
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Made the drive through Planet LA rush hour traffic Wednesday to check out the first U.S. under-20 CONCACAF qualifier. All I have to say is this: thanks, Sigi. Three goals in the first 10 minutes? Took me that long to go about a half-mile on the 405 freeway. Glad I made the drive for that nail-biter.
I don't want to say that was a blow out, but I could have sworn with about 10 minutes left in the first half, I caught Sigi working on his next MLSnet.com column right there on the bench.
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Speaking of MLSnet.com columnists, I don't like to give credit to the other hacks on this website (let's be honest, how often do they really deserve it?), but you really should have a read at Greg Lalas' piece on getting drafted in 1996. It's pretty funny stuff. And if you are wondering like I was: Kevin Grimes, Walter Bustamante and Carlos Garcia. Those are the three players actually drafted after Greg.
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Happy to hear Dema Kovalenko is recovering nicely from surgery on his injured left foot. D.C. United doctors say Kovalenko will be 100 percent fit to serve his red-card suspension at the beginning of the season.
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So RSL draftee Nikolas Besagno, who is like 11 years old and the top pick in the entire draft, picks fruitcake Lindsey Lohan as his favorite actress. Cleetus, sort that kid out, please.
The Clean Sheet runs each Thursday 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 its clubs. Send any questions and comments to tcsresponses@yahoo.com.
