The spoon ain’t for stirring…when someone gets out of line, you crack them on the head with it until they shut up.

Also, you can eat pie with it.

Which is a lot better than just sticking your dirty old thumb in there just to see what you can pluck out.
I mean, all that does is leave is a big mess of rotten thumb-stained fruit laying around in a dish…and no one wants that…
Unless you’re English, of course…and then…(and you can back me up on this)… I think it’s OK.

Plus – A lot of other people are probably sitting there patiently with their little plates…and maybe even a fork..
Did I Mention The Spoon?
It’s a lot less scary than sticking a bunch of spikes on a stick in your face, even when you’re eating pie..or especially a custard or tiramisu or something like that. Those are non-militaristic things that spoons are definitely also quite useful for.
I will concede that, for instance, most fruits – at least in their raw or unprocessed forms – you would usually be OK just using your hands… I totally agree with that. I won’t argue it one bit. I’m not here trying to push Spoons down your throat or anything…
But even then, why would you use your thumb? At the risk of offending the monodigital crowd – that just doesn’t seem to be very efficient, does it?

Anyways, all I’m trying to say is this: In the right hands, a Spoon can be quite the tool.
Well, actually, probably in the right hand…hahaha…
….or in the left too I suppose, but that’s beside the point all I’m really trying to say is this: You never know when someone might come along with Whipped Cream.

The Fan Of The Game In This Country has grown exponentially…even the Quality Of The Game has grown more than sometimes appreciated…
But Quality of the Organization is sometimes, at too many levels, so sorely lacking, that it honestly makes me a little bit sick to my stomach.

That’s just it. There is no other decision USSF could have made. I’m surprised that more people didn’t see this as the inevitable initial outcome.

Also, there is usually substantial difference (or at least unspoken information, in any scenario) between what’s in a press release and what’s actually happening. There’s no reason to think USSF isn’t also arbitrating to resolve this while putting public pressure now to force the hands of all parties.

You are right about the Thunder being non-existent.

You are wrong about there not being a D-II here in Minnesota as the National Sports Center has the infrastructure, ability and no how to have a team next year. No matter what league is sanctioned they will be in it. The NASL needs to stop utilizing the Thunder name in their press releases and start referring to the team from Minnesota as being owned and operated by the NSC as has been reported on the amazing site: http://www.insidemnsoccer.com

Why?

First off (and to the other point): We’ve long known that FIFA makes the rules. If you want to play, you play by them, or you don’t play. They are far too strong and far too entrenched to make anybody’s attempt to reform the system anything but a long, tedious, expensive process. Any FIFA reform is going to have to come from within with a new leader, and God knows when we’ll see that.

Secondly, you’d be surprised what people will put up with when they have few other options. Remember – it’s not just NASL that has just been told they’re out of the game for now – USL has a vested interest in some sort of agreement, unless they want to have Portland, Austin and Puerto Rico play exhibition games all summer. What they have going for them is that their business is about much, much more than just the top professional division. The actual money in USL is in the leagues below that – but the bellwether, the one that gets the most attention (and a hell of a lot more of it in the last 90 days or so than it has gotten to this point) is the top pro division.

I wish everyone would look at the ACTUAL number of viable teams the NASL has for one second: Montreal, Vancouver, Rochester and (to a lesser extent) Carolina have some history and infrastructure and track record. Vancouver’s out in 2011, to be replaced by Edmonton, a team that, at this moment, does not have a name or a ball or anything but an idea, in a market that I’m sure no one is going to mistake for Seattle, for example.

Then there’s Miami and Minnesota – Minnesota has nothing and Miami has next to nothing, despite having been around for the last few years. For all intents and purposes, there is no Minnesota Thunder anymore. Counting them is like counting the votes of dead people in an election in Chicago.

Tampa Bay and New York are expansion teams, announced in’08 and ’09, respectively. Tampa Bay has a coach with no coaching experience, a GM with no GM experience, no stadium, some vague list of players they may have identified at a combine in Liverpool, and green-and-white hoop socks (we assume – they haven’t unveiled uniforms yet). New York has even less than that, and has had, since the beginning, the look of something that had no chance to work.

Atlanta would be coming back from a year’s hiatus, and, let’s be honest here – they weren’t exactly setting the world on fire when they were active. They do have their own stadium, which they control, and if it had plumbing, it would be even nicer.

And St. Louis came into existence (or so it is said) about an hour and a half ago, and has a Europosing name and a manager who couldn’t handle Raith Rovers.

Does THAT look like where you want to throw your hat for 2010?

No. Neither, quite frankly, does USL.

But while I’ve been typing this comment, USL put out a statement, part of which reads:

“Although USL is respectful of the need to ensure that decisions being made are in the best interests of soccer and player development in the United States, it has detailed in its recent USL-1 2010 season re-sanctioning presentation that it is both willing and able to meet all published USSF Division II Men’s Professional League standards, including fielding a minimum of eight teams.

“In support of USSF’s efforts to find a resolution for the upcoming season at its Division II Men’s Professional League level, USL very recently agreed to one of the proposals made by USSF requiring USL-1 and the contemplated North American Soccer League (NASL) to come together for 2010. USL remains willing to proceed with this USSF-proposed scenario in order to enable the 2010 season over the course of the next several days.

“Meanwhile, USL will continue to move ahead with its preparations for the 2010 USL-1 season in the appropriate membership category.”

USL is:

Prepared to have eight teams (they’re about five short, by my count);
Willing to come together with the NASL for 2010, per USSF’s request, but the offer’s only good for a little while; and
Ready to move ahead, regardless.

NEITHER side is 100% right or 100% wrong. Neither side is the obvious choice going forward. Neither is without its flaws.

A compromise, which either results in a renewed relationship down the road or gives each side time to plan its own affairs for 2011, seems the best and most likely scenario at this point.

As long as Selby Wellman gets his rental car deal, we should be good to go.

Also – Hard to see any path to resolving this that doesn’t involve the TOA writing a big check to Nu-rock/USL if they want to get sanctioned.