For all you Rush fans who've been filling my inbox with rancorous e-mails ... here's a gentleman who apparently thinks I'm noble enough to know what's right ... but weak enough not to choose it ... a guy who thinks I'm, you know, a New World Man.

Answers:

1. Yes, ExtraTime will begin again on June 25 with Rob Stone and Dave Dir. And speaking as one of last year's amateurs, let me say, we're happy to help you sustain.

2. Same format as last year. I suppose there will be more WWs. An aggregate system in the MLS playoffs would be foolish as it would devalue the regular season, where basically all you're playing for is playoff seeding. Seeds would not really matter too much if you were going to play a home and home.

And thanks, David. It just shows that one man's "f-ing Yank" is another man's pioneer.

In Tight Space

· The noose around Columbus coach Tom Fitzgerald's neck gets tighter and tighter and word is out that when Fitzgerald, the dean of MLS coaches, is let go, the Crew will look to bring in U.S. Under-17 coach John Ellinger to take over.

· Just a quick opinion on the league's three-game suspension of Mamadou Diallo, who went after a heckler following the Mutiny's loss to Colorado at Mile High Stadium. The league did what it had to do. There has to be a zero-tolerance policy for this type of incident. It is not the place of a professional athlete to play vigilante. Inform security and get off the field. That said, if the fan is found to have made the racial slurs that Diallo has alleged, he should receive a lifetime ban from future Rapids games.

· The Dallas Burn won the fax-battle with Tampa Bay for the Discovery Rights to Charleston Battery defender Scott Cannon, but Cannon has made it known that he does not want to play in Big D. The Burn are trying to deal Cannon to Tampa for a draft pick, but the Mutiny are holding their ground, expecting Cannon will eventually be waived.

· The Fire's search for a home for the 2002 season -- while Soldier Field is being renovated -- may lead to a new permanent home for the club. The Fire are looking into a "Lockhart Stadium-style" renovation to an existing Chicago facility. The club would then hope to produce year-to-year improvements to the facility, which would lead ultimately to their very own, fully-equipped Fire House.

· When asked if the Revolution were going to acquire Sporting Lisbon's Jovan Kirovski, Director of Soccer Sunil Gulati said, "I've spoken to his agent and there is NO chance."

· Eight of the 21 goals scored in MLS games Saturday and Wednesday were from the penalty spot, and all but one of those PKs was awarded to the home team.

· Disconcerting to the Chicago Fire is the fact that only three of their nine goals this season have come on the run of play. The other six were scored off of re-starts.

· It appears that if Kansas City really wants Jamaican striker Onandi Lowe, he will have to come as an allocation and not a discovery.

· Los Angeles is shopping for a reserve forward and may have some interest in Dallas' Aleksey Korol, who has played only eight minutes this season after suffering a hamstring injury late in pre-season.

Pub Talk

I relinquish my bar stool this week to Steve Gans, a Boston-based attorney, who along with partner Neil Jacobs, toyed with the idea of establishing "alternative representation" for the MLS Players, who are currently fronted by the NFL Players Assocation -- but the duo ultimately declined.

Jeff,

In order to explain why, after a long due diligence process, Neil Jacobs and I have decided not to pursue the establishment of alternative representation for MLS players at this time, I should explain the motivation for becoming involved in the first place.

I have been involved in soccer for over 20 years, and in my opinion, the American pro soccer labor movement -- far from advancing the cause of players (in the NASL, MISL or MLS) or the sport itself -- has retarded the growth of pro soccer in America.

The labor movement in each of the other four pro team sports (MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL) in this country developed at a time when owners were making money. This presents a great contrast to soccer, in which such movement has emerged in each case when the sport has been losing money. Therefore, the adversarial approach which has been exercised to date (and which, though always an option to be held in reserve, should not in my opinion be the first tactic in any situation) is most problematic given the small pecuniary pie that exists in American pro soccer.

The needy pro soccer situation calls out for mutuality rather than divisiveness; a joint effort between players and management to help finally inculcate the sport in our professional sports culture. From the NASL players' strike which opened my eyes to the problem as a college freshman in 1979, to the final straw of the antitrust lawsuit filed on behalf of MLS players in 1997, I have believed that these confrontational tactics have not been in the best interests of the players, management or the sport itself.

Neil and I approached this matter with the best of intentions -- simply, that by bringing harmony to the labor situation, the chances for success of MLS would be enhanced. Our vision involves compromise and commitment on the part of both the players and management. Indeed, the players must realize that they have a unique opportunity to help further American pro soccer by capitalizing on the alienation that the average American sports fan feels from the rich, distant athletes of the other four sports. But to do so, they will have to work closely with management and be generous about making community appearances on a grassroots level in each MLS market.

At the same time, management must realize that it must treat players more fairly (imagine a full-time professional athlete trying to survive in New York on $24,000 a year), and that by failing to do so, it undermines the credibility of MLS to the public at large as a truly professional league (in this regard, consider my old team, the Baltimore Blast, which had a higher payroll in 1984 than does an MLS team in 2001, and which was still sold at a profit).

In the end, we surmised that the league apparently wants to see through the existing litigation rather than to turn to collective bargaining at this point. As I have said before, it's only about the millionth time that an opportunity to help further American pro soccer has been lost by a lack of vision. It is a shame, and as usual, our great sport is a casualty.

Regards,


Steve

Memo to Boot Room Nation: The words pecuniary and inculcate will never, ever again appear in this column ... promise.

P.S. to MLS: That offer still stands if you want me to pass along the message to the players that you'll give them a form of free agency as part of a CBA.

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.