For Once I am on Eric Wynalda’s Side. What’s Up With That?

By: Laurie | January 22nd, 2008

I realized something weird this month. I have mixed emotions about Eric Wynalda. What’s going on here?

I spent all of last MLS season just wishing he would Go Away. Wishing that ESPN2 would bring in some real announcers who would just Announce. The. Game. Period. Like they do in Europe. Announcers who would tell us what player was on the ball at any given time, and then shut up. As opposed to spending the entire broadcast trying to impress us with how clever they are.

It appears I have gotten my wish. The rumor mill is reporting that Wynalda is out of the booth and former US international John Harkes is in. I will probably love this change once the season is underway.

So why am I now feeling that Wynalda has been treated unfairly?

Granted, a lot of the information I’m seeing comes from the rumor mill rather than official sources. But the rumored reasons for Wynalda’s supposed “reassignment” come down to two things: That Jim Rome thing, and the California wildfire comment.

In case you’ve forgotten, Jim Rome is a notorious soccer hater. Wynalda is not a Rome fan. And last year, in what I’ve read was supposed to be an off-the-record conversation, he invited Rome to…um…get up close and personal.

Most soccer lovers wouldn’t want to allow Rome that close. Because…ick. But my point is, it was off the record. The fact that it was recorded and made available worldwide, leading to a Wynalda fine and suspension?

A) It was off the record, and
B) Shouldn’t the fact that he was already suspended and fined for this mean that he shouldn’t be further punished?

Except that now it’s being discussed as one of the main reasons he’ll no longer be in the broadcast booth.

The second brouhaha came during the California wildfires, when Wynalda saw fireworks (or were they flares?) and commented that it looked like California. Oversensitive people took great offense, not bothering to remember that Wynalda had an endangered home in Southern California himself. He saw flames, that’s automatically what he thought of. I heard the comment when it happened, and I didn’t consider it al all odd or insensitive.

If Wynalda does get “reassigned” for these reasons, it will accomplish what I never though possible: It will actually put me on his side.

I guess I’ve come to think of Wynalda like a big, gallumphing black lab. The kind who tips over coffee with his tail and destroys things without trying, but deep down doesn’t have a bad heart. Okay, so yeah. He gets in trouble. He deserves an occasional swat with a newspaper.

But I guess I just have a hard time with permanent banishment.