Rocky Mountain Cup Chaos
September 10 - 2006
This years’ installment of the “Rocky Mountain Cup” ended in chaos as owner Dave Checketts went in for some close-talking with Pablo Mastroeni after the match. Checketts, angered by the shirtless Mastroeni’s taunting of RSL fans, had to be separated from the Rapid midfielder by Clint Mathis. NOTE: When a man that calls himself “Cletus” is the one providing moral clarity, the situation has come undone.
The match itself was spirited, if not ill-tempered, and chock full of late tackles, yellow cards, and minor misbehaviors. The break came when Colorado’s Nicolas Hernandez headed home a Dan Gargan cross in the 48th minute. Even the goal itself developed on the shoulders of controversy when the talented but fragile Mehdi Ballouchy went down injured. His teammates seemed to hesitate in the hopes Colorado would kick the ball out of bounds. They didn’t, and instead made a quick move that ended in the game winner. RSL was incensed, and the game fell apart from there.
Whatever drama preceded it would pale in comparison to that accompanying the after-party. Mastroeni led the rapids celebration with what can only be described as “simulated masturbation with a shirt.” Observe:
Two thoughts here:
- Pablo Mastroeni is proving to have a penchant for douche-baggery. His taunting of Utah fans comes as no surprise, as he clearly struggles to distinguish appropriate from inappropriate behavior. His discipline record is among the league’s all-time worst, and his “song” is clearly the worst ever recorded by an MLS player. The league would have done well to ship this guy off to the Italian second division when they had the chance.
- Dave Checketts is a back pedaling-pussy. After the confrontation with Mastroeni was broken up by an overweight Southerner, Checketts offered this to the media: “This is not what this league is about, nor is it representative of what Real Salt Lake or MLS stands for as we provide family-friendly entertainment and spirited competition.” Dave, your team seems to have a nice rivalry going with its neighbors. The action was clearly spirited enough to get your wealthy-ass in a shouting match with an opposing player. The normally subdued Rice-Eccles crowd was in full voice behind their team. Why would you want to spoil it with “family-friendly entertainment?” Make yourself useful and sneak some beer into that Puritanical stadium of yours. I swear: years from now, when the MLS is a successful enterprise, we’ll all reminisce about how an obsession with marketing almost drowned the league in boredom.
[...] Create single, inorganic home-and-away games with winner take all, and the shit is guaranteed to fly. True to form, Pablo Mastroeni and the Rapids went on an obscene gesture binge after the final whistle, cementing their position as the league’s standard-bearers for post-match debauchery. This eventually sparked a truly ridiculous display by Dallas keeper Dario Silva, leaving the moral high-ground glaringly empty. In Houston, it was an outrageous tackle in the dying seconds that sparked a relatively mild fisticuffs. No one went quietly into the night. [...]
Pingback by soccernista.com » Pass the Valium — October 31, 2006 @ 9:39 pm
[...] Largely Ignored Negative: Let’s hope these best practices don’t extend to team discipline. Arsenal are consistently among the worst behaved squads in England (here, here, and here), and Colorado share a similar reputation in MLS (here and here). Dare I say they deserve each other? [...]
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