Chad Marshall re-signs with Columbus

On Friday, 12/26/08, Columbus announced that 2008 MLS Defender of the Year, 2008 MLS Cup-winning goal scorer, and 2008 bad-ass Chad Marshall answered Maurice Williams's plea and re-signed with the Crew. As usual, no terms of the deal were immediately announced, though it has been rumored that Marshall is entitled to one fine lady of his choosing after each home game, a small price to pay, really.

I would not definitively say that I am a club-over-country soldier, at least not as solidly as my good man Sedley. Then again Sedley's 2008 sports nirvana includes a Phillies World Series title, a Crew MLS Cup victory, a Notre Dame bowl victory, and an Eagles playoff berth in the same season in which their starting quarterback didn't know the NFL allowed ties, so he might be believing in and living the good life. However, I will say that I am selfish in my sports support in that I more-or-less care about what is best for my team, letting the other pieces fall where they may.

For example, I root for Ohio State in football. Once a Buckeye leaves OSU, though, I'm not all that concerned about their NFL stats unless they're plying their trade for the NFL's best team over the final three weeks, the Cincinnati Bengals (3-0, baby!). The fact that few OSU quarterbacks enjoy NFL success doesn't concern as me much as Joe Germaine winning a Rose Bowl or Troy Smith winning a Heisman (um, a national title might have been nice, though). I want Buckeyes to succeed in the NFL only so far as to continue to encourage top-level talent to attend OSU.

My soccer support is quite similar in that I am concerned first with the Crew, with the national team coming in second (and it's not a photo finish). Don't confuse such a statement with apathy or dislike of the national team, though. I take their results as hard as most sane people, but I feel more connected to the Crew in that I have season tickets, I watch them 30+ times each season. I root for the national team as hard as I possibly can, and I want it to succeed so badly.

Many US soccer fans and BigSoccer posters will contend that for the US to ever become a serious, constant contender on the international stage its best players must play in the toughest competition available, generally found in Europe. In the absence of such competition, the US players will never develop enough skill to lift the US out of its second-tier level, and any US player capable of heading overseas - take Chad Marshall, for example - who stays in the US is doing a disservice to both himself and his national team.

I'm not going to argue if that's completely accurate or not. I think that compelling arguments can be made for each side of the discussion. But what I can say is that I, the Crew fan, WANT to watch Chad Marshall play for Columbus next year. If that supposedly affects the national team, so be it. Selfishly I want what's best for Columbus, which is why I wanted Marshall to listen to Maurice Williams. It's why I can enjoy DaMarcus Beasley having an off game in Crew Stadium against Columbus with European scouts in attendance. I wanted the Crew to win, not let Beasley show off his talent for the supposed betterment of the national team at the expense of the Crew.

I will always, always pull for the national team to succeed each time it plays, in each competition it enters, and I will attend every match that I can. Selfishly, though, I want what's best for the Crew first. If that means that I put club-over-country definitively, then, I guess I'll wear the label guilt-free.