Hey everybody,
Hopefully everyone has made it through that nice stretch of cold weather. I was very glad we didn’t have to train those days. I don’t mind training when it is cold, but diving around on frozen ground isn’t a lot of fun. It reminds me of a time when I was playing in Spain. The end of November one year, we had a UEFA Cup game in Moscow. The night of the game the temperature got down to -16 degrees Celsius so that’s around 3 degrees, not your warmest night for a match. The pitch was as hard as concrete and the Spanish players had so many layers on it was amazing they could run at all. To warm up at half -time they started a fire in a garbage can in the locker room. It wasn’t quite that cold here the other day, but it was nice that I wasn’t out diving around.
Before I forget, I want to wish Sebastian all the success in Philly. He will be missed. Seba gave everything he had every time he stepped on the field. Players that have his kind of commitment are always wanted, and it was no surprise to me when The Union took him in the expansion draft. It is just unfortunate in this league that players can be traded in this way, and that the team can’t protect everyone. I wish him all the best with his new team and this new chapter in his career.
You will probably start to read more and more about the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that is up at the end of the month. Negotiations have been under way between the players union and MLS for some time now. I wish I could report that we were close to signing an agreement, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. As players we have been told of a probable lockout date of Feb. 1st. What’s most disappointing to me is, this isn’t a negotiation for a bunch of players wanting 8 million a year instead of 7 million a year. The main points revolve around us being given the same rights under FIFA as the rest of the players around the world. As an MLS player you have to sign away your FIFA rights before you are allowed to sign your contract. We would like a moderate rise in the salary cap, but the major points for the players are: guaranteed contracts, free agency, and the right to negotiate with other MLS teams. These are some of the basic rights the players in all the other leagues around the world have that we have to sign away. With the huge strides MLS has made since the last CBA this seems very reasonable. I would hate to see anything get in the way of the great success of the Sounders had this year, and the respect we earned in our first year as a franchise. I would think that MLS and US Soccer would be proud to announce that the sport has developed so greatly in the last few years that we are ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the world.
Kasey
