The Vig

I honestly didn’t Buy Hydrocodone Buy Adderall Buy Adderall buy codeine buy hydrocodon Buy Codeine buy hydrocodone Buy Adderall buy Hydrocodone a whole lot of attention to this week’s visit to Portland by Major League Soccer Commissioner Dan Garber. I Xanax is fairly easy to Buy vicodin Buy Adderall
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figured he was blowing into town to drum up some support for bringing his league to our fair city and that would pretty much be that. What we got instead was a bunch of “what are you willing to do to woo me?” Reading Boaz Herzog’s article in Wednesday’s Oregonian is like reading one of those personal ads on CraigsList.

Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson, who is negotiating with MLS to bring a team to Portland, said PGE Park could be updated to league standards for no more than $20 million, much less than the cost of building a new facility.

Right. The City just spent $40 million in upgrading Civic Stadium and now Paulson wants 50% more to lure a “major league” soccer franchise. And he wants a new stadium for the Beavers? Yeah, good luck with that. Paulson seems to believe he deserves the same perks (read: government dollars) the original Portland Family Entertainment received a decade ago. He doesn’t. He owns two profitable minor league sports franchises which he’ll be able to sell in a few years for a profit. No doubt those new owners will also wail that they need a check from the government to stay in town too. Those days are over. If you don’t believe me, watch what’s happening in Seattle right now with the Sonics.

Adding fuel to the fire is John Canzano. JC hosted the MLS commish on his radio show Wednesday night. Garber spent most of the segment trying to convince Canzano that not only is MLS a “major league” sport, but it also deserves some kind of special civic consideration. PGE Park, he argued, isn’t up to MLS standards and if we wanted the MLS, we’d better step up. Canzano nailed Garber to the wall by simply pointing out it wasn’t up to Portland to sell MLS, but it’s up to MLS to sell Portland. This sent Garber sputtering and Canzano ended the interview soon after. Canzano explains here.

All I said to Garber was that MLS is minor league, and he’s nuts if he thinks he can get public money to assist in bringing an expansion team here, and also, that if he’s not going to answer a simple question in a simple interview, we might as well move on and take calls from callers.

So I moved on.

He went on to explain:

I also don’t think MLS has the best soccer in the world. It’s not the best soccer. The product is inferior, even with David Beckham in uniform. And calling it “major league” is a stretch until it becomes the best in the world. I’d say the same thing of MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA etc. if those leagues didn’t have the best in the world.

The MLS is minor league.

He’s right on all counts. Paulson has the money to build a new soccer stadium himself. He doesn’t need the City to help him. And aside from giving local youth soccer teams a cool place to play when the Timbers aren’t around, there’s really no benefit to the city. None.

And despite what Garber wants us to believe, the MLS is minor league. Oh sure they have a national TV contract and play in several soccer-exclusive stadiums, but until the EPL and other European Leagues quit coming over here and poaching our best players, it’s going to remain minor league. Major leagues feature the world’s best players. And fans will seek those leagues out, which is why I’m watching the Man U match this morning.

Was it rude to hang up on the commish? Yeah, probably. And I have a feeling were his guest’s name Stern or Goodell or Selig, he may have shown a little more deference. But then none of those guys is trying to sell their product in Portland. Garber is. Canzano simply did what anyone should do when a salesman overstays his welcome. He showed him the door.