It's not just me. I didn't know this but Chelsea's chairman is an American from New York. He's in the states right now for tonight's match against DC. He spoke with Voice of America yesterday and had some interesting comments about MLS and the Americanization of the marketing of the sport in England. One comment in particular caught my attention.

"The salary cap (in MLS), generally speaking, is a good idea because it saves the owners from each other, if that's the right way of phrasing it. But it does prevent you from getting the best players, and there's got to be some balance between the salary cap and getting the right players."

Of course, this is more or less something I've been saying for a long time. It's nice to know someone in a position like he has agrees.

There's too much attention in MLS paid to one or two star players on each team and the rest of the squad is made up of filler players. If teams were to spread things out better they'd be more of a TEAM and the quality offered would improve.

"Americans, we're very good at promoting. We're very good at the glitz and glamour of sports."

But Buck adds that as important as promoting a team is, results on the field are always more important.

"Football is first. No matter how great your promotional people are, and how beautiful your replica shirts look, you're not going to sell any of them if your team is last in the league."

So true.  ¶ 2:43 PM