Quick soccer post

Two quick soccer notes: Joey Franchino and Gary Flood's "incident" at Fenway Stadium, my account of the Revs game at New York.

First up - last week, Revolution midfielders Gary Flood and Joey Franchino got tossed from Fenway Park last week for public drunkenness. Usually Franchino gets ejected from games when he is a player, not a spectator. Supposedly Flood peed on someone, but that report has been denied (it'd be denied either way, frankly).

Franchino had some personal issues last year, and the Revs and us fans gave him his privacy to allow him to deal with his issues. Apparently he hasn't, so the Revs organization got fed up and traded him to LA. Flood played in the reserves game this past weekend. I think Flood will be allowed to stay with the organization for two reasons. First, coach Nicol thinks Flood has big potential. Second, the Revs seem to give one freebie - Franchino used his last year, Clint Dempsey used his when he got in a fight with Franchino in training (Dempsey was apparently at fault). This is Flood's freebie - shape up or you're gone.


I get irked when people who get paid to play a game for a living turn out to be numbskulls.

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I went to the Revs game in New York last Saturday with a bunch of friends, some of whom came from out of town. It was a fantastic night. The Revs went down to a Jozy Altidore goal, then went down a man when Mauricio Castro had a fit of stupidity and kicked a Red Bull player in the balls, but Brown University 2004 graduate Jeff Larentowicz tied it up with a free kick in the 2nd half. It was perfect, as I was even wearing my autographed Larentowicz jersey from his rookie year. It ended a 1-1 tie, but it was a moral victory for the Revs as New York couldn't hold a one goal lead at home with a man advantage. An ugly yet gutsy result.

Regarding Castro's red card: Castro has been in MLS for only 5 games, and is used to much less physicality and more protection from the referee. He was getting pushed around a lot on Saturday and in all 5 games. I think the foul directly proceeding Castro kicking Goldthwaite in the balls was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to Castro's moment of madness. This isn't to excuse him, but I think once Nicol yells at Castro and makes him realize that he isn't going to get the same calls he's used to, Castro will be a more effective player - less time on the ground crying, more time on his feet scoring goals and making assists.

We had an interesting incident with some home fans sitting in front of us. We were all cheering for the Revs and engaging in some friendly banter with neighboring RBNY fans, although there were some other Revs fans around too. We even grudgingly applauded Altidore's goal.

Then after Larentowicz's goal, all of a sudden people turned on us - we were "spilling beer" (untrue) and yelling swears (also untrue). A soccermom in front of us turned around to yell at us for these perceived offenses, and another guy called security on us. The security guy showed up and was pretty wise. I think it helped that nobody else near us seemed to back up his story. He said "hey guys don't do it again [wink]" and that was that as far as security was concerned.

However our new friend sitting in front of us wouldn't let it go. He then yelled at us for "destroying US soccer" because back in the NASL, someone threw a beer bottle at his grandmother's head and then his grandma didn't want to go to soccer games anymore. Apparently cheering for the away side is a comparable crime to chucking beer bottles at grandmothers heads. However his accusation of "destroying US soccer" was actually a close one, as one of my friends confessed later that he actually had attended the soccer game for the sole purpose of destroying US soccer. Plus, seeing as the NASL ended the year many of us were born, I guess a credible case could be made that we destroyed the NASL as well. So I guess we got away with one there.

Here's the video of Larentowicz's goal: