The Weekly Dis
On the 40th day, Steven Moreira finally rests. RIP to The Referee. What is Blue Jackets Hockey Network?
Steven Moreira, who played a key role for Cape Verde as the Blue Sharks captivated the world in June, returned from that experience of a lifetime and, back with his Columbus Crew teammates, played 11 games in 40 days – including nine in the month of August.
Earlier this week, Moreira got two days off for the first time in nearly two months. And he realized that he was a little tired, mentally more than physically. A four-game league losing streak, capped by a dreadful team performance in a 3-1 home loss to New England last weekend, added to the drag.
"For me it's mental, and like the motor control (aspect)," Moreira said.
He described something like being a half beat behind in his reads and reactions. He mentioned the duality of being on a World Cup high (everyone wants to talk to him about his experience) and then crashing to earth with the Crew (everyone is talking about the losing streak).
"I can't complain because I have the chance to play almost every game, play the World Cup and everything," Moreira said. "(But) it will be the first time we just have like two days off in a long time. And I can tell just from my mind, like, how I feel more fresh to come to training and put my hand down and say, 'go.' It's really time to wake up and give my best and talk more to the guys, even if he's a new guy. And like I said, the two days for this week helped me a lot."
The MLS schedule is naturally congested on either side of the World Cup break this season. The Crew, by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup tournament, got an extra game in Los Angeles – where they played well in a 2-0 loss to Club America. Four days prior to L.A., they played well in Nashville but choked away a lead in second-half stoppage time. Four days after L.A., they bombed against New England.
Then, they took a breath.
Perhaps, they took some time to process the staggering amount of change they've undergone this year.
They got a new coach in Henrik Rydström on New Year's Eve. He was fired in mid-May, when interim-not-interim coach Laurent Courtois took over and began molding his own staff.
From mid-May then until now, seven players, including top scorers Diego Rossi, a Designated Player, and Max Arfsten, have come off the roster, and nine have been written in, including two new DPs – forward/mid Brais Mendez and attacking mid Santi Rodriguez.
Two of the new guys, winger Anass Zaroury and Rodriguez, signed contracts on Wednesday, just before the MLS summer transfer window closed. Zaroury has yet to get to Columbus, and it may take a couple-three weeks to do his visa paperwork (we shall see).
Some fans are agitated about Crew general manager Issa Tall not doing enough to bolster the back line. Some don't see how all of these parts are supposed to fit together. Some are angry that the 2026 Crew are not the 2024 or 2023 Crew, who put trophies in the case. They see a team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference with 12 league games to play, and they blame the GM.
Among the items in my social media feeds this week:
I'm going to give it a minute. I want to see how this plan comes together. I believe it has potential.
I give Tall credit for having the cajones to admit two big mistakes by correcting them with the firing of Rydström and the buying out of Daniel Gazdag. (Wilfried Nancy LOVED Gazdag.)
I give Tall credit for the effort, not insubstantial, he exerted in overhauling his roster. I acknowledge that selling Rossi and Arfsten put two big holes in the roster, and I submit that Mendez and Rodriguez are major additions, and that Zaroury may be capable of offsetting the Arfsten loss.
I believe that this Crew team, with some bolstering (center back, please) in the winter transfer window, is well set up for the 2027 sprint season.
I will also suggest that the Crew can get back on the rails as quickly as they've flown off. Can they claw back into the playoff race? They're six points out of ninth place. Why not? Will they make the playoffs? Odds are they won't, but this is a crazy league. It wouldn't be unprecedented if they mounted a serious challenge.
The Crew still have at least one trophy to play for, the U.S. Open Cup. Their semifinal game is here in Columbus against Orlando on Sept. 16. Win that, and Columbus will host the final on Oct. 21. I think Courtois will have this team ready for that challenge.
I have faith in veterans like Moreira, 32, the 2024 MLS Defender of the Year. He has had his ass cooked over the past couple of weeks. That doesn't mean he suddenly sucks for good. He is much the personification of this Crew team – accustomed to winning, not averse to hard work, competitively fiery, self-aware and spiked with humility in equal measure.
He is the kind of man to follow onto Fertilizer Field.
He said, "Football changes very quickly. The other teams play well, they adapt to the way you play and everything. I feel like that's part of football. Sometimes you have a crazy year, sometimes it's a bit tough. It's just like this (now), but you have to stay in your principles, give everything and try to turn the page."
He said, "When the results are not good, you're like, damn, wow, that sucks, we lost and everything. We have the chance to play soccer. Some people don't have this chance. You have to be grateful and I feel like when you have like maybe one day or two days (off), you're like, wow, that's amazing what I did. And like, let's go back, let's go. And I really love what we're doing. So let's enjoy."
Enjoy? You're talking enjoy?
RIP Bob Burke
TheDisrespected.com will celebrate its first anniversary next week. I needed a lot of help to get it off the ground, and my friend Bob Burke and his wife, Suzanne Marilley, were there at the start. As I got along, they stuck with me.
I've raffled off a set of primo tickets for big Crew games and credited The Referee and The Professor for their donation to the cause of local, independent, Disrespected media. Well, Bob was The Referee, and Suzanne is The Professor.
Bob died on Aug. 25 after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
Bob grew up in South Boston, and while you can take a boy out of Southie, you can't take Southie out of the boy (think: Good Will Hunting). He was a graduate of Gate of Heaven Parish School, Boston Latin High, and Harvard University.
Bob called Harvard hockey games on radio. He was well acquainted with old Boston Garden, Fenway Park, Notre Dame Stadium, old and new Crew stadiums, and Nationwide Arena, to name just a few.
He was a football official for decades, from the high school level up to Division I college. He could pick out the good zebras every time, and the bad ones, no matter what game was being played, at any level.
His knowledge of sports, especially Boston sports, the worst kind, was vast. He could corner you and talk about Ted Williams for an hour, and along the way switch from Southie brogue to Back Bay Brahmin and then back again. He was excellent company when Guinness and his encyclopedic brain were on tap at the same time, especially when hockey was on the screen behind the bar.
Bob was a beautiful human being, as his obituary attests.
Today, as college football begins to propel us toward autumn and NHL training camps draw nigh, raise a glass to his wife Suzanne, and their daughter, Celia, and with the other hand pour one out for Bob.
Sláinte.
This week in Discasting
We're a dozen days from the start of training camp, nearing the end of the longest offseason in the history of the franchise. Feels that way, eh?
Absent a contract extension for Adamo Fantilli, the only news to be had here at the end of the dog days is the unveiling of the Blue Jackets Hockey Network. Really, all you've got to know is they're not done putting the whole thing together, and so it's probably best to hang on for a minute until it becomes clear which linear television and streaming services will carry BJTV. Then, you can judge whether you definitely have to pay for it.
The press release:
There's a FAQ thing at BlueJackets.com/Tunein that is helpful.
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic and I broke down the press release on the latest episode of the Cannon Balls podcast. Thrilling stuff, to be sure. We also mention Fantilli at the end.
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Michael Arace
