Woke up in the middle of the night in the wrong place having not written this, and with a headache for punishment. Adulthood!
Here are the links:
Muriel Bowser says she will remove Reeves Center sale from D.C. United stadium deal | Washington Post
Maybe you view this development as good news. The Washington Post, which is a newspaper that reports on local and national concerns, certainly does. Yesterday's huge news is that mayor-to-be Bowser is only just now, with two remaining dates for the city council to vote on the issue in 2014, going to disassemble a deal that took two years to put together, take out the foundational transaction involved, replace it via mysterious means and/or magical thinking, reassemble the deal, get the parties involved to agree to said deal, and get it voted on before the year is done.
Oh, but the Post would love for you to know that United is "the big winner" because now we have a verbal promise! From a DC mayor. That hasn't happened before. Anyway, my back is sore, because this one time I thought someone was going to treat me honorably because of their public, spoken promises and instead they put a knife in my back. Totally unrelated.
Hostility aside, it's nice to hear Bowser claim to be on board with a stadium deal that involves public money, but to do what she's trying to do in the timeframe that is left would require a series of individual miracles happening in a sequence that in and of itself would be miraculous. My guess: Bowser's proposal doesn't get passed this year, and we're still playing in RFK in 2017 or 2018.
I don't think leaving town is atop the list of likely outcomes, but before yesterday I thought it was a single-digit possibility. Now? That is no longer the case. I'm not saying things won't work out. Maybe Bowser's plan really does thread the needle somehow, in which case we should commission a statue of her in the moments after the stadium bill gets signed. I just don't see how it's possible this year.
Bowser Pledges to Pass D.C. United Stadium Deal by Year’s End, Without Reeves Swap | Washington City Paper
Here, we have a note about how Bowser's attempt at what is basically alchemy will be helped by Mark Tuohey:
Bowser said she'll be assisted in her efforts by attorney Mark Tuohey. As former chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, Tuohey helped bring the Nationals to D.C.; he's also worked for Ken Starr and represented Jeanne Clark Harris, who admitted to a role in the alleged shadow campaign to help elect Mayor Vince Gray.
The Sports and Entertainment Commission is now EventsDC, the group that is bleeding United to death with an exorbitant rent in a building that they also fail to properly maintain. The deal to bring the Nationals here cost the city over $700 million dollars and is a huge reason why United can't move more easily on the political side of things.Is this really the guy who is going to help make this stadium deal happen in already preposterous circumstances?
I'm going to go smash my computer, hold on.
Stadium: A statement from Jason Levien | DCUnited.com
Diplomatic response from the boss man. It'd be nice if we didn't have to be "look forward to seeing her proposal" and instead were, you know, involved in it. I guess it's good that Levien's response wasn't just screaming and thrashing about given what's at stake.
Dud in Dublin: U.S. national team thumped by Ireland, 4-1 | Washington Post
Our own Bill Hamid got his second cap for the USMNT. Unfortunately, the team's defense was a complete disaster, and some bad luck on the attacking end - a shot off the bar for Jozy Altidore, and another off the foot of the post from Fabian Johnson - contributed to a blowout loss to an Irish B team that would not - I repeat, would not - qualify for the World Cup out of CONCACAF.
The goals against weren't Hamid's fault; the first required some bad defending from several people and also Matt Besler looking even worse than he has for KC in recent months. Later, a shot deflected off Geoff Cameron. It's good that Hamid got the start to cap his wonderful 2014, but his teammates let him get shelled. Ireland could have had five if not for a great Hamid save on a 2v0 midway through the first half.
The USMNT sucked against Ireland. It doesn't matter. | SB Nation
In a vacuum, this is correct. A USMNT game played without Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, and others is obviously not a game that featured our best squad, and sometimes experiments go wrong.
However, I do have to note that we've been saying things like that a lot lately when it comes to the USMNT, and at a certain point we have to stop isolating games from the context when each performance is tactically off, and each roster isn't really structured that well, and each game involves losing via late goals.
Out-of-contract USMNT goalscorer Mix Diskerud "open" to potential move to MLS in 2015 | MLSsoccer.com
I happen to think Diskerud could fit in quite well with United's 442 if he bought into consistently meeting Ben Olsen's positional demands, but a) that's a really big if and b) by all accounts, Diskerud is looking for what would be the biggest salary on the team. Remember, it was only a few months ago that Taylor Twellman - who is now bulletproof when it comes to breaking big news - said that the Crew offered seven figures only for the deal to fall apart.
It might be nice, and there would be no transfer fee involved, but Diskerud's long hair will be not caring in some other city most likely.
Jamaica capture Caribbean Cup in shootout win over Trinidad & Tobago; Union's Andre Blake makes key save | MLSsoccer.com
Let's have some good news, shall we? Michael Seaton and the Reggae Boyz are Caribbean Cup champions, which means they have qualified for both the 2015 Gold Cup and the 2016 Copa America Centenario. Seaton ended up missing a penalty kick in the deciding shootout, but it ultimately didn't matter (other than to serve to dilute our one piece of truly pleasant news).
And with that, I've gone over 1000 words. Ranting and raving will do that. I'm done, have at it in the comments.