During the week leading up to MLS Cup in Seattle, Don Garber lamented any talk of a strike by the players union as "irresponsible" and "detrimental to the process". His tone was forceful and his message unmistakable; the league knows what's best for the game and the players need to check themselves.


More or less. What Garber said back in November struck me as bluster and guff at the time, as did the noise the players were making about a possible strike. But here we are, more than a month later and just over thirty days from the expiration of the CBA, and little has changed. No progress has been made, the players are still talking strike, the league maintains a hard line and we're now all standing under the shadow of a delay (at best) to the start of the 2010 Major League Soccer season.


I'm just about fed up. For me, this isn't about taking sides anymore, and it's no longer about who's "right" and who's "wrong". I fall in neither with the owners, who despite the complicated and socialistic way the league is run should get credit for helping an iffy product along to stable status, nor with the players, who despite their sudden urge to force the toddler MLS into adulthood all in one shot deserve greater rights in determining where and for how much they'll play.


I fall in with soccer. That's right, I'm on the side of just figure the damn thing out so the league plays and we'll all have a season to follow, because it's the soccer that matters.


So, being on the side of soccer, I have a few questions I'd like to ask both labor and management in this little slap fight that unfortunately holds the immediate future of top level American and Canadian soccer in the balance:


To management front man Don Garber:


Does the league/management/owners have a cogent strategy for moving on from single entity, or will they always attempt to maintain a tight grip on player movement and salaries?


How much of the impasse with the players is related to in-fighting between ownership groups with differing opinions on how best to improve/grow the league?


Are there elements of the player demand list that league is willing to acquiesce to, or is everything presented a non-starter?


Are any of the expansion fees, both collected and future, being reinvested in the league to offset a potential rise in player cost, or are those funds simply being used to pay back Major League Soccer's original investors? If it's the latter, does that have any bearing on the hard line attitude for this CBA?


Are you aware of the PR hit the league is taking over your reported salary bump, which would have you making more than the total player salary expenditures for many teams in MLS?


Do you understand that no soccer, which will likely happen if you refuse to back down on certain things, is much, much, much worse than soccer under a significantly different CBA that might require an adjustment period on the part of the owners?


What the hell is wrong with you?


To the Players Union leadership:


Will it take across-the-board concession on every issue you've raised (free agency, guaranteed contracts, quality of life benefits) for an agreement to be reached, or are there issues you are willing to drop in exchange for one or more of the other demands being met?


Do you believe that threatening to strike necessarily improves your position, and do you have any concern about the damage such a threat could do to the league's image with MLS and non-MLS fans alike?


Is there consensus among your membership in regards to the strike, or are certain players still wary of such drastic action?


In light of the disparity in remarks by Kasey Keller and Jimmy Conrad over recent weeks, who speaks for the players, and which of the two mentioned is more accurately depicting the state of the negotiations?


Is risking the 2010 season, and potential putting the very existence of MLS in jeopardy with a protracted work stoppage, worth the 3-5 year agreement that will result from this standoff? Is there any sense that patience would be prudent only fifteen years into the life of the league?


Do you understand that no soccer, which will likely happen if you refuse to back down on certain things, is much, much, much worse than soccer under a significantly different CBA that might require an adjustment period on the part of the owners?


What the hell is wrong with you?

***


Color me worried. Very worried. I'm hearing from various sources that the players are resolute, that they fully intend to strike if the owners don't give in, and that there's almost no way a deal is reached by the expiration of the current CBA. That doesn't mean all is lost or that the season won't start on time, but it should give everyone with a stake in this league, be it financial, occupational, or emotional, pause.


One more question, for both parties, because it's important:


Don't you care about the soccer?


Never mind. I'm not sure I want an answer to that one.


I fully expect none of my questions to be answered, and to be not answered in a untimely fashion. Here's to being on the side of soccer.