Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Bienvenido Muneco, and the Trials of Benny
Attended another eventful, um...event today, as DC United made Marcelo Gallardo's star status clear by giving his press conference the silverware-and-cloth-napkins treatment at the National Press Club, as opposed to the more basic finger-foods-at-RFK setup provided at Monday's four-player unveiling PC. But if "El Muneco" delivers as United expects, it will turn out to be an eminently appropriate introduction to his elegant style.
There's been a lot of thoughtful debate (and some healthy skepticism) around the DC blogo-zone regarding United's decision to invest DP money and DP status on a 32-year-old replacement for Gomez. I hope to touch on that in the coming days, but first I wanted to pass on a few tidbits, starting with a brief note about Ben Olsen.
Olsen was at Monday's training but did not work out with the team, or even put on a pair of cleats. Having undergone surgery on both ankles shortly after the close of the '07 campaign, he expected to be back to normal by this time but is experiencing lingering pain in his left ankle, where a thumbnail-sized bone spur was removed. He's not yet cleared to run or jog and his cardio regimen is largely limited to pool workouts.
He sounds pretty frustrated by the situation, but after umpteen ankle operations, Ben has developed a pretty keen sense of what pain is bearable/acceptable and what isn't. He's traveling to Florida with the team this week, but said that if the ankle doesn't improve soon he'll come back to DC and work on his own.
Later tonight, I'll be posting some bonus quotes from Monday's player intro as well as today's Gallardo shindig.
There's been a lot of thoughtful debate (and some healthy skepticism) around the DC blogo-zone regarding United's decision to invest DP money and DP status on a 32-year-old replacement for Gomez. I hope to touch on that in the coming days, but first I wanted to pass on a few tidbits, starting with a brief note about Ben Olsen.
Olsen was at Monday's training but did not work out with the team, or even put on a pair of cleats. Having undergone surgery on both ankles shortly after the close of the '07 campaign, he expected to be back to normal by this time but is experiencing lingering pain in his left ankle, where a thumbnail-sized bone spur was removed. He's not yet cleared to run or jog and his cardio regimen is largely limited to pool workouts.
He sounds pretty frustrated by the situation, but after umpteen ankle operations, Ben has developed a pretty keen sense of what pain is bearable/acceptable and what isn't. He's traveling to Florida with the team this week, but said that if the ankle doesn't improve soon he'll come back to DC and work on his own.
Later tonight, I'll be posting some bonus quotes from Monday's player intro as well as today's Gallardo shindig.
Comment posted by Charles Boehm @ 6:43 PM 
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