The Curtain Rises

At the press conference unveiling Curt Onalfo this morning some information of substance came out. (In a nutshell: Castillo is good; Onalfo shares team's values on latin players; plan is in place for the draft; Onalfo is going on a scouting trip abroad; Wicks back mid-March, Kocic to return, but starting keeper situation TBD; assistants to be announced tonight; Fred coming back to turn the ball over repeatedly?!)

What I would like to highlight here are three things.

First, in response to the question (paraphrased), "what makes you think you can do better with United than the Wizards?", Onalfo identified the difference between the clubs as twofold: (i) infrastructure and (ii) tradition. According to Onalfo, "infrastructure" appears primarily to mean the "homefield advantage from the fans." Ok, that's fine, but not enough of an answer to suggest that Onalfo is going to do much of a different job here than at KC. This impression is underscored by Onalfo's answer to the question, "what is your biggest lesson from your time at KC?", which amounted to, he learned that you can get fired in a "split second" and that he's going to work hard not to let that happen again. Not much a fan can take to the bank from these answers.

Second, after the presser Onalfo gave an interview to Tony Limarzi. In response to the question, "what can fans look forward from Curt Onalfo as far as putting his mark on the club?", Onalfo said he is:

• Hard working;

• Organized;

• Passionate;

• Aggressive; and

• Likes to take risks.

That's all good stuff -- hope it yields results.

Third, for some reason Kevin Payne continues to grind my gears. Maybe I'm too grumpy, but check out this quote he gave Limarzi re United's performance and fixture congestion in 2009:

"We had the best record in the league last year in weeks when we had a Saturday-Saturday schedule. . . .  We didn't feel like we had a level playing field."

But United's competition international tournaments was one of the metrics Payne used to measure United's success. You can't have it both ways. Maybe the fact that United fell short in MLS and CONCACAF indicates that the strategy isn't working and is cause for reexamination. That's one of my problems with Payne: either he is full of spin for the purposes of PR or he actually believes it. If he believes it, then we're in trouble, because, unless you're born rich or otherwise lucky, constant self-criticism and evaluation is a key to improving your rate of success. (Maybe he's just not into public self-criticism?)

"We are what is referred to around the world as a 'big club' . . . not only is DC United expected to win, but win big."

Oh, please, not this "we have the biggest dick in MLS" stuff again. It kinda sounds like Lalas, doesn't it? And what is the point of saying it in the first place? You need to walk the walk before you can talk, and United hasn't walked the walk for years. Oy.

Comments

[Fullback]

You're not alone when it comes to Payne. Oy indeed.

[Goose]

But is Payne wrong? Not many teams around this league have the expectations that we do. We're pissed if we fail to win any trophies. Tom Soehn won two in his tenure and people were still out for his blood even before this season.