You Can't Teach Speed

I know I shouldn't be surprised by this, but 17 pages of discussion have sprouted on BigSoccer since 3am today when a German magazine reported, or perhaps speculated, that U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan is coming back to Major League Soccer.

The thing that makes me laugh the most is how this has been decried from some corners as a baseless rumor because it hasn't been plastered across the front page of ESPN, or at least ESPN Soccernet. The initial rumor itself isn't even twelve hours old. It's not that nobody is touching the story, it's that nobody has touched the story yet. The American soccer universe isn't as connected to the major media as, say, the blogosphere and the news media. There's also not really enough demand to warrant that this stuff has to get vetted in Internet time.

Which isn't to say it's true, but the different ways the scattered interest groups on that site are getting bent out of shape about this would make a yoga instructor blush.

Somebody even quoted a certain local "independent Fire news source" for clarification on international transfer rules. The mind boggles.