I believe there's a big difference between Clint and the usual American soccer player. Most of our players are middle-class suburban kids, while Clint comes from a red-neck, trailer trash background in East Texas [I can say this because I came from the same background in West Texas]. This not only makes him even hungrier to succeed, but also gives him that "I have to prove every minute of every day that I belong here" edginess. I believe that this gives him more in common with your typical Brazilian, Argentinean, Italian, and African player, than it does with his fellow Americans. I still believe that he could be our first ever world class #10 type. Thanks for the link, brianasher!
Dempsey was definitely brought up in a different world than Landon Donovan, but I don't think we should be too dramatic about it. Dempsey did go to college as well, at Furman, which is a pretty affluent school. Then he lived in the Boston area which is affluent and educated. His hometown of Nacogdoches is even a college town, which probably is the only reason he played soccer. If had been from some other really small Texas town he would have never played soccer.
I liked the compare/contrast of Deuce and Landycakes. Clint looks like he's willing to pay the price to be in the starting XI. Kudos to the author for mentioning John O'Brien, who along w/Tab Ramos were 2 of the most gifted players the U.S. has ever produced, and ironically both forever getting injured.
Good article! They DO come up with some insight stuff. OTOH: TOP CRISIS WORSENS IN ALMERE That Amanda must be a looker.... but why isnt her pic in that article. No, I dont have a clue who's on top in USL, either. Well... I think Montreal and Rochester may be okay.
This is my first post and I can't believe I'm going to use it to defend the forehead. Oh well, here goes... I'm not sure what you mean by this. I assume you mean because Clint was poor and come from the wrong side of the tracks. Well, Landon's family was also dirt poor from Redlands, CA (hardly a bustling metropolis) and I believe he was raised by a single mother. So I guess there can be no socio-economic explanation for the difference between LD and Deuce. As a wise man once said, you have to have more than peaches for balls.
No one loves a Horatio Alger story more than I do... but this argument is bogus. Explain McBride... explain most of the previous generation of US stars, for that matter.
