Alllow me to confess: I don’t really care about the MLS Superdraft, which in case you have forgotten is scheduled for Thursday in St. Louis.
Frankly, I don’t find it super at all.
I am in the minority, I know.
Other soccer blogs have dissected the combine, held mock drafts and speculated about trades and the eventual draft order.
All I can say is – yawn.
It’s not just because I’m English born and there’s no such thing there.
Back in the dark ’80s, when there was no real football in the U.S. and I was a big fan of the pointy-ball version I loved the NFL draft.
Mel Kiper. Live ESPN coverage. All of it.
But MLS is not the NFL.
In American soccer, most of the best players leave college early to sign with pro teams.
In MLS the draft is arguably the least relevant of any held by a major American sport. And that’s how it should be. It speaks to the continued maturation of the league that the draft is becoming less and less important.
Want proof?
Here’s last year’s draft picks.
How many of those players made a major impact on MLS last season?
Well, yes, No. 2 pick Brek Shea is still just 18 years old (for instance), so I’m being a little unfair.
But still, is the draft hype anywhere close to reality?
Um, no.
I was reminded of that recently after a Galaxy official pointed out how successful the draft was for the team last year compared to other MLS clubs.
The team’s first three picks were Sean Franklin (No.4 overall), Ely Allen (No. 21 overall) and Julian Valentin (No. 29 overall).
All played quite a bit for the Galaxy. And look at the impact they had. My, didn’t the Galaxy do well last season?
My point: the apparent success of the Galaxy’s draft picks was more reflective of a weak team and desperate management than anything else (quick, name the top Chivas USA pick last year).
Frankly, even those who purport to have insider knowledge of the draft don’t seem to know what they’re talking about.
I read one recent article that talked about how the Galaxy’s most desperate need was for a goalkeeper, the author apparently not remembering (or rating) veteran Donovan Ricketts, the Jamaican international the club picked up in the off-season. Frankly, with playmaker Landon Donovan all but gone and the memory of last year’s Swiss cheese-like defense lingering, the Galaxy need a helluva lot more than another goalkeeper at this point.
But look, now that I’ve pissed all over the importance of the draft, it’s still going to be held.
So here are the basics: there are four rounds and 60 selections beginning at 11 a.m. live on ESPN2 (only the first hour is televised).
The Galaxy on Tuesday traded away the MLS rights for 2007 Defender of the Year Ty Hardin (who retired last year to enter the nonprofit world you’ll recall) to Colorado for another third round pick. That gives the Galaxy five picks: one in the first round (3rd overall), two in the third round (33rd and 35th overall) and two in the fourth round (48th and 49th overall).
Chivas USA picks No. 9 and No. 19, BTW.
Want rumors and speculation? Go here.
Expect lots more today as the pre-draft wheeling and dealing gets under way in earnest.