LOGICAL and REASONABLE: The most MLS thing other than MLS

Major League Soccer has several charming qualities to it that make it distinct from other soccer leagues around the world. Even relative to other sports leagues in general it may stand alone due to these factors. For the most part, the league is defined by its players and the wild range in quality on the field within teams.

A roster may include a former World Cup winner, a player on his way to Europe, a college graduate making the league minimum, and a player who has spent a decade in the league flying coach on cross country flights. There are teams that are made up of players that are much better than their peers thanks to creative roster maneuvers, but there are no super teams and in general every team in the league could look the same if the team’s owners all had the same ambition.

The result is a product that at times is hard to watch with the game devolving into players endlessly heading the ball to one another in midfield, but at times is also thrilling because a player like Will Bruin can turn the fortunes of a game in an instant. It also produces situations where a team of anti-soccer zealots managed by Ben Olsen can at times achieve success against much more talented and ambitious clubs.

There isn’t another league or sport really that can really boast this kind of inconsistent talent at the highest level within the country. Except, that is, for the World Cup... oh, and in the case of the NCAA tournament. There are very few events in which absolute superstars destined for sporting greatness can share the same playing surface with other athletes whose grade point average is relevant to their future careers. Some guy from Arlen Christian University did horns down when they knocked out Texas but he’s probably going to be a financial advisor one day while Kai Jones plays in the NBA.

It’s probably something that draws people to the NCAA Tournament, everyone likes the idea of the gym rats making music with the big boys. Somehow, MLS hasn’t seen the value in leveraging the fact that Alex Roldan can start at right back in the MLS Cup Final. So, I say to you dear readers... wait, hold on. I said I’d put up the best comment from the last post, here it is.

Congrats BenPierce79 you win $10000000 Scarfcoin because this is for sure a Galaxy Brain idea and this is the right place for that kind of thing. At the very least it would probably work in Football Manager in some of the lower leagues. Use the Scarfcoin to put in a bid for Alan Franco.

Anyway...

As I was saying, do you think MLS would be more popular if it embraced the reality of being a product that brings this kind of unique experience to American sports? Or is there some other thing that is compelling about the league that could bring it more popularity?