I've attempted to stay relatively open-minded during the MLS CBA nonsense, I really have. I've been frustrated with both the players and the owners, and recently wrote a piece where I came down on the side of just getting the thing done so there can be a season.


I've defended MLS and their fiscally conservative stance to my radio partner Zach Woosley, in response to his unceasing and unwavering support of the players. I've castigated the players for harming the process by making noise about a strike. I've lamented the seeming lack of discourse between the two sides, even while admitting that we still really didn't know the tenor of the negotiations behind closed doors. For all I knew, progress was being made, and the players were just doing the usual dance that all labor unions do when facing down "The Man".


And then today happened, and word came down from Mr. Galarcep at SBI that maybe the tenor of the negotiations is as crappy as it has seemed, and maybe the league is refusing to even engage the players in discussion on the issues they've raised. "Compromise" isn't in the Major League Soccer operational handbook, apparently.


Um...what?


Forget for a moment whether the players' demands and legitimate and reasonable, and whether guaranteed contracts and free agency would thrust MLS into a free-spending danger zone that will have us ruminating about its glory days in thirty years the way we do now with the (original) NASL. This isn't about whether or not the players should get everything they want, this is about MLS showing a little collaborative spirit (something American soccer cannot survive without) and good faith and at least discussing the concerns as they exist while actively searching for a middle ground.


It's hard for me to come to the League's defense when they won't take their fingers out of their ears and stop screaming "LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" for even a moment. You're acting like know-it-all third graders, Major League Soccer management, and it's not becoming.


I've never been involved in "high level" negotiations, and my knowledge of professional sports CBA talks comes from simply growing up in a country where they happen all the time; but one thing I do know is that you can't reach an agreement if you won't even talk about the problems.


So, if the reports are true, and everything is bad as it seems, you've lost me, MLS. I'm not going to make the mistake of defending an intransigent, stubborn, pig-headed, and potentially destructively tight-fisted organization as long as we're hearing you're doing nothing to fix this rather large problem.