The thing they always say about Watergate is that it wasn’t the crime that destroyed so many careers but the cover up.
I mean, the crime didn’t help obviously, but the sense of wrongdoing was exacerbated by an unwillingness to accept fault and that unwillingness cemented the notion of guilt deep into the mind of the general public.
And after that there was no way back to respectability for the main actors involved.
Obviously nobody would argue the way the Vancouver Whitecaps played those two games against the Seattle Sounders was an actual “crime” (although if a political party ran with that as one of the main policy agendas I could be tempted to look at their overall platform with a forgiving eye) but what’s made those games an itch that just can’t be scratched is that everybody within the organization, from the coach on up, seems intent on insisting that it really wasn’t too bad.
Almost from the moment the final whistle sounded the official line has been that Vancouver did very well to be where they were and were actually (if you squint a bit, tilt your head to one side and then press your fingers against your temples really hard) quite close to getting a result.
We all saw the games.
They were nowhere near getting a result (although I guess a loss is a result of sorts?)
So one can only asssume that this constant insistence on how splendidly it all went is due to one of two things.
Either it’s an attempt to soft soap those in the local media who don’t really take an interest in the Whitecaps while at the same time supposedly pulling the wool over the eyes of the more casual fans in the hope they can be persuaded that all is well.
Or it’s because the people at the club who really matter, from the coach on up, genuinely believe those performances were acceptable.
If it’s the former then they are fooling nobody who matters to the success of the team and are simply adding to the vague cloud of mistrust that occasionally puffs up from their Gastown offices like an inept mockery of the nearby tourist attraction.
If it’s the latter then heaven help us all because there’s nowhere to go next year but along the same bland and featureless plateau of tolerable competence and intolerable timidity.
The Vancouver Whitecaps were genuinely awful against Seattle and the fact that nobody of note within the organization is willing or able to speak that seemingly unspeakable truth will taint the vision and cloud the minds of supporters for so much longer than ever needed to be the case.
Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut) 
Truth
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I cant agree more. I thought it was just me. I thought the Caps have played awful for the last few months. With the exception of one or two games we were out played by wide margins even when we managed a win. Thankfully we had set piece goals as they were the only thing that kept us afloat.
I know possession stats are not conclusive of a teams performance however only 30 – 35% possession over many games does tell us something and that is the team is not playing very well.
It seems like if we win no matter how the Caps play everything is great. Take for example the Kansas City game. The Caps looked more like the USL WFC2 team than their first team. The Caps looked awful and it was a miracle they stole the 3 points yet all i heard from the media and club was how great a performance it was ‘to go into such a tough place and get the win”. No they stole it. It was plain and simple one of the biggest crimes in the Caps history.
Even during the Caps home stand in Sept they got 10 out of 12 points but they played all the bottom feeders and were out played in all the games except vs Minnisota. All the away games they lost and were out played badley. The playoff vs Seattle was not unexpected and if Brian Smetzer hadn’t given the Caps so much respect they could have destroyed us in both games. This was probably as result of the San Jose result even though it was more of an abberation than normalality.
It seems that all the media, few as it is, that have back stage passes all seem to pander and throw soft lobs at Robbo and the club and wouldn,t say shit if their mouth sas full of it. I am glad that at least that you Russell are not afraid to speak the truth about this team.
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Watergate -“And after that there was no way back to respectability for the main actors involved.” After walking on hot coals and cutting a deal, John Dean has been and still is seen on MSNBC or CNN – for a few, time can line your pockets…..
As spoken on Footy Soldiers, Robbo can contradict – “deepest squad” to “we weren’t good enough” but not to worry, from Brandon Timko’s fingertips via Robbo’s vocal cords , acknowledgement …“No excuse, we weren’t good enough.” hmmm that does sound like an excuse, followed by the promise of a brighter day…“I know who I want to try to sign now… if we can add these three, four players to what we’ve got already, we’ll be fine.”
I believe he prides himself in being a truth teller, so don’t get too down, fire up the tunes , draw the shades and do a little dancing….
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