ESPN the Magazine, that is.


They needed an angle, a World Cup story to pull in the casual American fan. Stories about the Yanks and their stars are trite and overdone (apparently), and the team needed something edgy, controversial.


What better than a profile of the young New Jersey-born star who spurned the country of his birth for the nation of his parents?


The story, and Giuseppe Rossi's agreeing to be the focus of an ESPN the Magazine cover piece, are not in and of themselves the problem. Many American had probably never heard of Rossi, and a story on his decision to leave American for Italy and a dream of playing for the Azurri is interesting and provocative on its own. ESPN didn't screw up by sending Jeff Bradley (brother of National Team head coach Bob, by the way) to do the story; they screwed up by choosing to drape the story in World Cup imagery while backhanding American soccer across the face in the process.


Read the tagline on the cover. ESPN went wading in dangerous waters, not only in an effort grab their readership by the balls and lead along them rather than walk them down the story's natural path, but also because Rossi was never a lock to make the Italian team.


So we don't feel too bad for them today, considering the rather blatant shot they took at U.S. National Team fans and American chances. Whether the line was true or not doesn't really matter; ESPN's tact was questionable at best. If U.S. fans were ever going to get over Rossi's "betrayal" (not my word), it was going to take some time; it's unfortunate then that ESPN extended the process by reopening the wound so dramatically.


I say get over it. ESPN didn't help my cause.