Submitted by Jason Wintz, Apr 4, 2007 00:53

I lived in LA and was a Galaxy season ticket holder when Hermosillo and Hernandez played in LA. Both of them *were* disappointments, especially Luis Hernandez. They were disappointments not because their Latin style; lots of people are DC fans, and they have a rather Latin style--just look at their game against Chivas tonight; how many short passes did they use in tight spaces? Nor were they disappointments due to their numbers. Hernandez especially had decent (but not great) production. In one of his seasons, I recall that Hernandez had 8 goals in 16 games. The problem was not the 8 goals, but the 16 games. Hernandez came over with zero respect for the league. He only played half the season, each year. And what did LA give up for him? Mathis, who scored a hell of a lot more goals and drew a hell of a lot more fans to the stadiums over the next two years; Franchino, who has been a vital member of a Revolution team that has made 3 finals in recent years, and Roy Meyers who, while less important, was still a starting player. If you come to a team and replace 3 regular players, you have to do a lot better than "decent" production playing in half your team's games. And how about in the locker room? I'll admit to having no knowledge about this but I doubt he contributed much to team spirit and unity.

I love MLS, and would love to see Blanco do well here, and bring Mexican fans to the stadium. It's just that I've been there before, and I don't think it will happen. And the reason for this has less to with MLS not respecting Mexican soccer and Mexican fans, but vice versa. If more Mexican players in their prime came to MLS and presented it as a challenge to them, then I think Mexican fans would find more of interest to them to attend the games. Instead, when you see that Spanish language soccer media in this country are full of snide comments and insults directed towards the qualtiy of American soccer (National team *and* MLS), it's no wonder that Mexican fans living in this country disdain it. I don't think that the arrival of a Mexican hero who is looking for a cushy deal before retiring will help that image much. If more Mexican players expressed opinions like that of Claudio Suarez, whose comments both before and after the USA-Mexico match in Phoenix were a breath of fresh air, and less like the opinion of Americans that Oswaldo Sanchez made clear in his shocking and shockingly unpunished kick of Eddie Johnson, it *might* help. But if Houston beats Pachuca on Thursday, that's much more likely to help.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.