The Last Word
Major League Soccer opens its ninth season today. Ho-hum. So, how about those Maple Leafs, eh? Face it, the opening of the MLS season creates about as much excitement as getting kissed by your Aunt Bertha. Around these parts, hockey players walk on water; soccer players are about as famous as used car salesmen.
That may be about to change. If you believe the hype-machine, North American soccer's saviour will make his debut today.
Of course, they said similar things about Sir Stanley Matthews, and all he did was trip over our hockey culture trying to popularize the sport a generation ago in Toronto. But unlike Matthews, the Franz Beckenbauers, and half a dozen other European stars who were at the end of great careers when they arrived on this end of the pond, soccer's newest phenom is 14 years old. Meet Freddy Adu.
Think the Wayne Gretzky of soccer. Think Pele. Think Maradona of the Americas. Adu, born in Ghana, came to Maryland with his parents at age eight and will become the youngest major U.S. sports team player in more than 100 years. He became the first pro ever to hold out of training because his mom wouldn't let him come out to play until he'd finished his homework.
Adu's debut will be flashed nationwide by ABC. TV news hour 60 Minutes has done a feature. He has been on Letterman at an age when most kids are barely past believing that good TV consists of Bert, Ernie and a big bird into some bad steroids.
He makes $500,000 US a year, the highest salary of any MLS player, but his mom still takes him to practice because he's too young to drive.
"I'm not here to be the saviour of American soccer," Adu told reporters this week in a conference call.
Many believe that's precisely what he will be. Nike, with a little pocket change left after playing sugar daddy to LeBron James, has signed him to a $1-million endorsement contract and Pepsi is doing the same.
They are betting Adu will become as big as Barry Bonds and Wayne, or at least Mark Messier. It couldn't happen too soon for soccer. While it is the No. 1 participation sport in Canada, it has struggled to grow from grassroots level. Pro leagues in the U.S. and Canada draw marginal interest.
But, everybody loves a Cinderfella story. And, unless someone finds a dog-eared birth certificate showing that Adu is doing a Danny Almonte, he could be the most salable commodity in kid-dom since Shirley Temple.
United's pre-season game in February was not only a sellout, but it attracted scalpers -- a first for a league suffering from an identity crisis. Playing against men twice his age, Adu took only 11 minutes in his first game to score. As heartthrobs go, even Brad Pitt can't work that fast.
BITS 'N' BITES: Kevin O'Neill has one shortcoming as coach of the Raptors. He's not 7-foot-4 and he hasn't been any good playing in the paint since he was in kindergarten ... Ken Dryden urged hockey to clean up its violent outbreaks. The hockey establishment disagrees, noting that fighting and violence is part of the game. Of course, taking a puck in the mouth is part of the game too; that doesn't make it a good thing ... Speaking of indiscriminate violence, isn't it about time baseball got serious with it's suspensions against pitchers (and managers) who try to bean hitters? If you're going inside to hit someone, hit him in the back, the butt or the thigh. Throwing at a hitter's head is just as much a deliberate attempt to intimidate and injure as a hockey punch upside the head. Yeah, yeah, it's all part of the game -- until someone gets killed, or hurt. Then everyone's sorry and, then, it's too late ... Not sure whom the Leafs will have to sing the national anthem but Ronnie Hawkins would be good -- you know, someone who's about the same age as the starting lineup.
