Longevity

A quick look at the DC United roster brings up some names that we’ve known to be around a while, such as 1996er Jamie Moreno, or 1998 Rookie of the Year Ben Olsen. But look at the next in line…..Bryan Namoff. Yes, Bryan is in his 8^th consecutive year of service to the club. He’s played for every United coach not named Bruce Arena, he endured the dark ages (2000-2003), and he endured the weekend from hell when he played in matches for both the Richmond Kickers and DC United (back before the player’s union would have stepped in and stopped such madness….and when Ray Hudson incited such madness).

In some circles, United is still the ‘new’ team. But with Moreno and Olsen already putting in a decade let’s look at where they stand in the overall DC Sports scene.

For this table, any player with 5 years experience with their respective organization was considered (hence the * for the Nationals players, since anything beyond 4 refers to their Montreal Expos days). Also, Capitals, Wizards(NBA) and United players were given credit for their 2008 seasons, while Redskins were not. NFL rosters are very much in flux at this time of year, and it didn’t seem right to give a player credit for a season that’ll be played 6 months from now. Also, players who missed entire seasons due to injury (Jon Jansen and Ben Olsen) were credited with a year despite not playing….it only seemed fair. Also, while it doesn’t really show too much in this table, players were given credit for a season for any time spent with the team (this aided many Capitals in gaining a few extra years for that phase in their careers when they get shuttled back and forth between the NHL and AHL, as well as Nationals going up and down between MLB and the minors).

Looking at consecutive years of service:

Even considering that Moreno was exiled to NY for a season, his current run with the team still puts him in some rare company. And it’s probably one of the few ways to sort statistics to get Namoff ahead of Moreno. But it’s actually quite impressive that United has some of the most senior players of the five major sports in DC.

Much has been made of United’s turnover since last season, (and after Tino, the next most senior man on the roster is Clyde Simms) but there’s some good continuity and character in the ‘greybeards.’

Take this list out a little further, and realize that Bruce Boudreau had no faith in Kolzig and had the team bring in a French goatender for the playoffs, so with the end of the Cap’s Playoff run, Olie’s either hanging up his mask or he’ll sign on with someone else. Sadly, Ben Olsen is collecting business cards from every East Coast ankle specialist. And Jon Jansen, the warrior that he is, can’t have that much longer of a career….and then before you know it Bryan Namoff becomes the Dean of all DC athletes.

And that’s a long way from his mega-commute weekend back in 2003.