Just move them already As much as I complain about lack of media coverage, I may have had my fill of Ann Killion and her 'homer' view of all things in Smurfville. I may have had my fill of Ann Killion and her 'homer' view of all things in Smurfville. Her editorials have just gone over the top.

They've been knocked down, kicked around, ignored, neglected, all but abandoned.

But when you look at the standings, there they are, right on top. Your San Jose Earthquakes are in first place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference, the only team in the league to have clinched a playoff spot.

Doesn't that make you wanna puke?

Kinnear and his Earthquakes are making AEG look bad. Laughable, almost. This is the team AEG hates, wants to abandon, would prefer to move to a sexier market. AEG has stripped the team of its star and its general manager, has tried to scare fans away from its stadium by constantly reminding everyone how woefully inadequate it is.

And yet, all the Earthquakes do is win.

Earth to Ms. Killion, Smurf Stadium is a dump. Pure and simple. Granted, the Rose Bowl wasn't great, but it was still miles better than what's being offered in Smurfville. If no one in the area is willing to step forward and help with a location to build something, why should AEG keep the team there? Heck, how long have they been trying to find a buyer for this "storied" franchise? No one wants them...at least in San Jose.

...In an ironic twist, the Earthquakes may have been temporarily saved by a hurricane. As late as Aug. 23, AEG reportedly was talking to Houston about moving the Earthquakes there. But a week later those talks became virtually irrelevant. Houston is busy responding to the needs of thousands of displaced New Orleans residents. Its government would look a little foolish right now, making acquisition of an MLS team a priority.

Don't you love it when someone in the media reports rumor or speculation as fact?

So the Earthquakes remain in limbo -- winning, drawing crowds (22,311 last week), heading to the playoffs and perhaps another championship. Certainly it's a worst-case scenario for AEG.

I'll give you that the boys in blue are playing well, but c'mon, that's one game's attendance. Let's look at attendance over the entire season and then let's talk.

Donovan, of course, wanted to defect to Los Angeles, in part because the Earthquakes' situation was so wretchedly unstable. The insecurity has hurt the Earthquakes in other ways. When top players become available -- Clint Mathis, Eddie Pope -- they have no interest in coming to San Jose for much the same reason.

Do you have once single shred of evidence to back up anything you said in that paragraph? The fact that San Jose is an over-priced dump just just as likely a reason no one want's to play there. After all, you said yourself earlier in the piece that San Jose is hardly glamorous.

Kinnear has done such a great job that Earthquakes fans have no choice but to be nervous. Alexi Lalas, who moved to the MetroStars -- a more important AEG team -- is expected to fire his coach, and he probably would try to hire the league's best. That would be Kinnear. That worst-case scenario would fit perfectly with AEG's Machiavellian master plan.

So, Bradley is going to get fired and replaced by Kinnear? I don't see it. Now that I think about it, perhaps Ms. Killion should move to LA and become a screenwriter. Her fantasy and fiction here should could make some interesting movies.

The Earthquakes, sadly, are accustomed to such mistreatment. They also are accustomed to something else: success.

Ok, there went my lunch.

Note to self: stop reading the Smurfville Mercury News....and least any editorial written by Ann Killion.  ¶ 1:59 PM