You ever watch a soap opera? Don’t you get the feeling that you’ve seen that same story before? It’s because you have.
Defending Donovan. Sigh. We’ve seen this flick before, eh?
It's in that frustrating, cyclical bent that I (again … sigh) find myself defending Landon Donovan. See? We’ve been here before.
I was on Marcelo Balboa’s radio show last night and, yep, there I was once again, hearing complaints about the guy. (Landon, that is ... not Marcelo.) Man, I might as well be on Donovan’s payroll. Say! Does such a thing exist?
I’ll say it for the 89th time (and that’s just this month!): I don’t understand all the outright hostility toward Donovan. But here was more it, this time coming from Marcelo's co-host. I respect people's opinions and I try to hear their arguments, but some of them just don't wash. I do truly think some of it is the province of group-think. It’s fashionable within a certain set to knock the guy, and it’s dangerous within the group dynamic to go against the grain. So people pile onto Donovan in order to establish themselves in the order.
One of Marcelo’s co-hosts dragged out the argument that “Donovan coasts through MLS games.”
Oh, Sweet Jesus, we haven't put that one to bed by now? While we’re at it, let’s start arguing about Friendster vs. Facebook, too. In other words, that argument died an inglorious death around 2007. I thought. But it helps makes my point that people are so attached to a herd mentality here that they continue to lob grenades that have clearly been identified as duds.
To wit: There was certainly a time when Donovan did have difficulty retaining focus over an extended period. I wrote about it. That was a clear deficiency in his game. But he copped to it and then worked to improve it.
He may not be as quite as sparky on a given Saturday as he was on the previous Wednesday, but that's the same with every athlete at very level. I really don't think he shrinks over entire matches, as once was the case. In April and May of last year, for instance, he absolutely carried the Galaxy offense for about a third of the season. He performed on high rev match after match, scoring or assisting on all but one Galaxy goal over one long, early stretch.
I also heard that he’s a drag for the media, that he comes across as something less than a likeable guy. Personally, I don’t see it. When I’ve asked to speak to Donovan, he gets on the phone. When he sees me in a locker room, he says hello. If I ask him for a few minutes, he stops what he’s doing and chats. When U.S. Soccer folks ask him to stop in mixed zone settings for a group that has requested him, he does.
Believe me, I’ve been around athletes who “big time” reporters and fans with a fierce regularity, and he’s not one of them. I have a real chip on my shoulder about athletes who don’t want to do their part for fans and reporters. The implication is this “I’ll take the money, the lifestyle and the fame, but I’ll do it on my terms. I’ll let everyone else deal with the media and such … I’ll just take the good stuff.”
Donovan isn’t one of them. He does his part and then some.
So, again … If you don’t believe Donovan is the 100 percent, complete player that he could have been had he remained in
(I’ll be in
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