Congratulations to the Crew!

On Thursday night the Columbus Crew won the Eastern Conference Finals, and won their first trip to the MLS Cup Final (the championship for Major League Soccer in the U.S.A.).



As a Columbus native, and a supporter of the Crew since their inception in 1996, it was a great moment to see the Crew finally break through and make it to the final game. (For those not familiar with the history of the Crew, the three prior seasons were losing ones, with the Crew finishing out of the playoffs. Even in their prior, more successful seasons, the Crew faltered in the playoffs. Four times they lost in the game before the final; and in 2004, despite the best regular season record, the team lost to New England in the first round of the playoffs.)


What has been particularly delightful about this season is that the collection of players who comprise the team is actually an admirable bunch of men. Despite a collection of high quality players, big egos don't seem to dominate the team. When team captain Frankie Hejduk (a regular for the US National team) had to sit out a game in September, he came early to the game to tailgate with the fans, and cheered on his teammates sitting in the "Nordecke" (the section where the most ardent, and vocal, fans sit).


Many players came to the Crew, at least in part, because they preferred to raise their children in a city like Columbus. Guillermo Barros Schelotto is a veritable superstar in South America (he's as recognizable there as someone like Brett Favre would be in the U.S.A.), yet is universally described by fans as polite and cordial by anyone who meets him in a coffee shop or store. While he likely enjoys having the relative anonymity of being with his family in Columbus (as opposed to Buenos Aires), he certainly could chose to snub anyone who comes up to him and pretend to not be who he is. And forward Alejandro Moreno seems to be not only the team's goodwill ambassador (a Venezuelan native who came to the 'states to go to college, he's the team's unofficial interpreter for new Latino players), but also the consummate family man. One of the most heart-warming moments of the season for me was seeing Moreno after the July 5 game against Chicago, sitting on the field enjoying the fireworks display with his five year old son.


Congratulations, Crew! It's great to see such an admirable bunch of players reap the reward of their hard work.