Caught in Possession

Well, well, well. Tuesday's little goatrope might have a few more intriguing developments ahead.

I won't waste time repeating what Messrs. Tenorio and Stouffer have explained about what is happening now. And it's a shame that Comcast SportsNet's highlight segment has been taken off youtube by MLS...because 'insider blogs' are all well and good but there's just no substitute for primary source material, is there?

(Before I forget, it's worth noting that DC United officials, starting with Tom Soehn, seem just as aggrieved about John Thorrington's, shall we say, agricultural tackle on Jaime Moreno just a few minutes before the Blanco incident as they are about the Blanco incident itself.)

But make no mistake: the video footage United is submitting to Major League Soccer contains solid evidence of three separate acts by Cuauhtemoc Blanco:

1) a swipe/punch at Clyde Simms in an angry attempt to take the ball out of the D.C. midfielder's hands
2) a subsequent jab of his fingers into Simms' face, specifically his eye
3) a clear head butt to the cheekbone of a prominent member of United's gameday field staff, who was attempting to guide Blanco towards the locker rooms, per the laws of the game.

All the other talk/accusations/gossip blazing its way around the internet -- some are saying Blanco grappled with the Montgomery County law enforcement officers present, to name just one rumor -- is hearsay at best, and should be taken with substantial chunks of sodium chloride.

So there is a body of evidence available to MLS and the US Soccer Federation. But beyond that, we're in uncharted territory -- and it's a good time to step back and once again, marvel for a moment at the inherently convoluted structure of the game here in the United States. If this incident had taken place in the FA Cup in England, it would still fall well within the Football Association's umbrella even if it involved two Premier League teams. But not here...

As has been noted already, Tuesday's match was not an MLS competition, so the league's standard disciplinary procedures do not apply. The US Open Cup is a USSF event, but its mechanisms are particularly toothless in this case b/c Blanco and the Fire will have a nice chuckle at the idea of a suspension -- even a lengthy one -- for him in the 2009 USOC. That would probably just make coach Denis Hamlett's task of resting and rotating his players even easier next summer.

So what happens? What can MLS really do here?

In two words or less...Who knows? The league is renowned for making things up as it goes along, which has many times been somewhat unavoidable b/c it has so often wandered into unforeseen and unprecedented situations over the past twelve years. If Don Garber and co. feel particularly embarrassed or aggrieved by Blanco's behavior, they'll find a way to punish him, and in doing so will set a precedent, whether they like it or not. And if they do nothing, they'll be judged to have decided the opposite, whether that's how they really feel or not.