I guess I might as well throw in my reaction to the Joe Cannon move. Personally, I liked Joe - he was a stand-up guy who would take on most any question any reporter had. It makes me a little sad to think that his honesty and my reporting what he said ever got him in trouble, because the world needs more forthright people. Joe had a good sense of humor, too, and that's always nice to have around.
In some ways, though, Frank Yallop's move to trade for Joe put him in a tough position. I mean, everybody on the Galaxy felt pressure due to the trade for Beckham and all the attention on the team. Joe, though, got an extra dose of that - he was essentially taking over for the most beloved non-Cobi player in Galaxy history (Kevin Hartman). Not to mention that the trade for Cannon had cost the Galaxy their hero of 2005, Hercules Gomez ,and of course, the talented defender Ugo Ihemelu.
Did the expectations and stress get to Joe? Probably. He's a guy who wears his emotions openly (I had one reporter tell me he thought Joe might be a little crazy. I told him all goalkeepers were considered crazy. He said, "There's weird, then there's goalkeeper crazy, then there's Cannon - and he's on his own level.") It seemed in some games that Joe made mistakes because he was almost trying too hard. Goalkeepers have to be alert, yet relaxed and confident to have their best games, and Joe rarely looked as if he hit that comfort zone.
Frankly, I don't think the whole
incident with me reporting that he said he might like to play in San Jose one day would have been a big deal to him if he hadn't already been on edge. If Joe had been playing his very best, and the Galaxy were winning regularly, Joe would have mostly likely laughed off any reaction fans might have had. He was still talented enough to be one of the top goalkeepers in the league even with his difficulties, and he still had a blinder of a game to keep the Galaxy in the match versus Chicago at the end of the season until the very, very last moments. That's what I'll remember most, I guess.
5 comments:
Thisaway is good too, and it underlines the links, but as long as you can change the font colour for links on 565 & minima, that works too.
I would rank this colour #4 behind the other thisaway choices of blue, green and rose. Maybe you can change the colours each day that you leave this up? Maybe. ;)
I like this move for both teams. Personally as a Quakes fan, I think Joe's a great keeper! For LA, they get the allocation money which they seem to already have spent (mentally at least) on a new foreign star. Figo? We'll see, but we know they want to (again) make a splash. Well done.
IAlso, if you would like to trade links, let's do it!
www.SacUnitedSoccer.blogspot.com
Great post.
What I remember from last season are an awful lot of spectacular saves, and not just in the Chicago game. But there were plenty of goals, too, I guess.
But the LA defense went through some pretty serious upheavals last season, so both his experience and his ability to make the spectacular "I just saved you a$$, again" plays we exactly what the Galaxy needed and more than made up for (IMHO) his mistakes.
This season, the defense might be more stable (barring trades) since Randolph and Xavier both have experience iwth the team. They may not need Joe as much.
An I agree with SOS, it's great for the Quakes.
It's amazing to me that the best GK in the MLS keeps getting traded.
Something must be up...his attitude??? but Cannon is really solid.
I was dissapointed that DC didn't get him.
Doesn't seem like a good move for the Galaxy...great move for San Jose.
One has to wonder what the Galaxy are thinking..and if they bring in Ruiz they are even dumber than I thought.
Interesting that the Gals keep making these one-sided deals. Giving up Ihemelu and Gomez for Cannon was too much. Getting allocation money for him was too little. Bravo may be the "director of football" (whatever that means in the Gals' fantasy land) and Lalas might be the GM, but perhaps Leiweke is pushing these deals? He's the only constant between Bravo, Lalas, Yallop, Sampson, Schmid and Hamilton.
BTW, A.C., don't blame yourself for Cannon's remarks possibly fostering this trade. The Gals are screwed up beyond repair, right now. No sane man would want to be part of that organization, unless he's getting a lot of compensation elsewhere (and I don't necessarily mean monetary, either).
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