Plenty of grinders in MLS helping to make it stronger
David Beckham, David Beckham, David Beckham.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Landon Donovan, Carlos Ruiz, Luciano Emilio, Juan Pablo Angel, Christian Gomez, Taylor Twellman, Dwayne DeRosario, Ante Razov.
There, it feels good to get that out of the way. MLS fans know these names. These are the guys featured in the marketing campaigns, the guys getting most of the media coverage.
Dasan Robinson, Brian Plotkin, Jed Zayner, Leonard Griffin, Joey Franchino, Dane Richards, Joe Vide.
Even diehard MLS fans might be hard-pressed to identify these guys. Quick, which team does Joe Vide play for (yes, Joe Vide really is a professional athlete)?
Here's the point: The soccer snobs might look down on the second group of players, call them thugs or hackers, but without them MLS withers away into NASL obscurity.
The first group of players makes the big bucks, by MLS standards, at least. Six figures, maybe seven. They draw the kind of salaries Americans now associate with professional sports.
The second group, the unknowns, also are pro athletes, yet they all have a base salary of $50,000 a year or less, according to figures recently released by the MLS Players Association. That's nowhere near the minimum NBA, NFL or MLB salaries. They draw the kind of salaries Americans associate with fast-food restaurant managers.
The smallest of the MLS fish make as little as $12,900. Try living on that in Chicago.
And there's a lot more of these guys than there are the Beckhams, Donovans and Blancos.
This league is built on the Robinsons, Franchinos and Vides.
They are the here and now, the good, solid soccer players who won't dazzle anybody.
And then there's the future, the young kids toiling away on the newly formed reserve teams, serving an apprenticeship, learning the intricacies of their chosen trade until they are ready to play for the senior team.
Look at Colorado -- coming to town Saturday -- and the reason for its good start. Yes, the Rapids have big-salaried Christian Gomez, but they're also getting a boost from the likes of Nick LaBrocca, Colin Clark and John DiRaimondo. These players led the Rapids to reserve division titles the last two years, now they're helping save coach Fernando Clavijo's job.
The economics of this league dictate that there is only so much room for the high-paid stars. Each team gets only one designated player. All-star teams like Manchester United and Chelsea won't be replicated here anytime soon.
Players like Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko can talk about playing in the United States, but don't get your hopes up.
When Dane Richards' injury heals, he could grow into an exciting player. Clark, DiRaimondo and LaBrocca might earn callups to the national team.
Enjoy what we have here. It may not be as good as the English Premier League or the Bundesliga, but it's strong and getting stronger every year.
And by the way, Vide is a midfielder for the San Jose Earthquakes. Maybe someday he'll make enough money to afford living in Silicon Valley.
Fire adds a keeper: The Fire on Monday announced the signing of 23-year-old goalkeeper Tyler Kettering to a developmental contract. Kettering takes the spot of 2008 first-round draft pick Dominic Cervi, who decided not to sign with the team.