Dear Mr. MLS Commissioner ...

An open letter to Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber:

Dear Don,

I'm sure by now you've had a long talk with referee Kevin Stott about his outrageous performance in Saturday's 2-1 Chicago win at New England.

You probably called him into your office, barked at him to get his feet off your desk, didn't even offer him a cup of coffee.

What he did in the 74th minute with New England leading 1-0 cannot go rewarded in MLS.

That's when the Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco went to throw in the soccer ball, only to have the Revs' Shalrie Joseph strip it from behind with his hand before Blanco could inbound the ball. Stott responded by showing Joseph a yellow card, Joseph's second of the game, and sending the New England midfielder to an early shower. The Fire then scored twice in the next 12 minutes to reverse the result.

What was Stott thinking? Didn't he get the memo? Sometimes it's OK to use your hands in soccer, and what Joseph did is the kind of thing that happens every game by players on all 14 of your teams.

You used to work for the NFL. In American football terms Joseph was just trying a little delay of game. A stern wag of Stott's finger should have sufficed, and the game could have continued with everyone pretending Joseph wouldn't do it again - until the next time.

Now you could have chaos.

You know the kind. Dogs and cats living together. The Cubs and Sox both in the playoffs in the same season. Gas at $4 a gallon. MLS players playing soccer the way it's supposed to be played.

This can't be allowed to go on. At the Fire's last home game, a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA, players on both teams freely stepped in front of the ball to prevent free kicks from being taken before their teammates were prepared to defend. Fans even got to see a shoving match or two.

But if Stott has his way, and other referees follow his lead, free kicks and throw-ins might go unimpeded. The ball will be quickly put back in play, before fans can catch a quick yawn. Defenses will be caught too far forward, with walls not perfectly placed.

There might be more scoring in MLS.

I'll take a line or two for that last sentence to sink in.

What commissioner wants more scoring in his league? It'd be like Roger Goodell telling referees to throw penalty flags for pass interference occasionally. It'd be like Bud Selig looking the other way when manufacturers put a little extra cork in the baseball.

You'll be the laughing stock of the Commissioners Club. Gary Bettman might finally get someone to pay attention to him, and not just to ask Bettman to fetch another plate of quiche.

If guys like Joseph can't slow the Blancos of your league, you might have Blanco showing off his creativity with cheeky back-heel passes and bending shots to the far corner of the goal.

That's what all-star games are for. Regular-season games aren't supposed to be entertaining.

You can't have that, Don. Can you?

oschwarz@dailyherald.com