Writing on the wall….

There are certain things in history that make you think.  There are certain things in history that make you think and then you wonder why you bothered to think about it.  For example, take the various Russian Csars (or Tsars, if you prefer).  There are litterally dozens, but within that list of Csars (or Tsars) you’ll notice that some have qualifiers.  Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Ivan the Terrible, etc.  But notice there’s no Steve the Passable, or Bill the Mediocre, or William the Adequate.

Goalkeepers are the same way.  As years go by, if you remember them, they were fantastic, or they were complete failures.  You don’t remember the adequate ones.  Sadly, Luis Crayton was merely adequate in his year with DC United.  He was better than the man he replaced, Zack Wells, but never really seemed to be able to grab hold of the starting GK spot, and then was injured in pre-season, further hindering his chances.  His large salary (for an MLS player) also means that the team couldn’t afford to keep him on the bench.  MLS is about roster economy, and having anybody on the bench every week who’s making over $100k is just suicide.  Also consider that Josh Wicks took advantage of his opportunity, got rid of some unnecessary weight (his copius amounts of pre-season hair) and grabbed the roster spot.  It really wasn’t that much of Crayton losing his role as much as Wicks taking it.  And it’s likely that Crayton, while disappointed that it sealed his fate, will tell you that that’s the way it should be.

It was getting to easy to see United’s roster plans as Crayton wasn’t even making the game day roster, and Milos Kocic was taking the backup role.

Louis is as nice of a guy as you can expect, especially considering he could have come to MLS with a chip on his shoulder, good luck to him in his future endeavors. 

The question is now begged: What does DC United do with the empty roster spot and money?