Tradition. Honor. Passion. None Of The Above.

So now Luis is reporting on something I had heard on the proverbial "down low" -- that the only players John Guppy even asked about as compensation for head coach Juan Carlos Osorio were Jozy Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel.

On the one hand, I'm still skeptical that this is even true, owing to the fact that Angel is a Designated Player, and picking up an extra DP slot as compensation seems like a fairly ridiculous negotiating position, even for Guppy. On the other hand, this is the guy who reportedly tried to play hardball with Bridgeview Bank on stadium naming rights and ended up leaving some half a million dollars a year on the table. Allegedly.

Putting aside the awful negotiating tactics that this rumor entails, though, I'm damn near insulted that, if true, Guppy simply went for the two highest profile and highest scoring players on the team. For all the talk of tradition, honor and passion that front-loaded the "state of the team" address that the Fire President/CEO/not General Manager gave last Tuesday, he's coming up short for one reason and one reason alone.

He should have inquired about Dema Kovalenko.

Dema still loves Chicago. I hear second-hand reports all the time that he'd love to come back to Chicago. He bleeds Fire red. He makes opponents bleed Fire red given half the chance. New York would probably like to get his salary off their books. He can play right midfielder. And if he pinches in, a central defensive midfield tandem of Kovalenko and Wilman Conde would send opponents screaming for their mommies.

If there's anyone who embodies this notion -- that I really, really should have trademarked -- of "Tradition. Honor. Passion", it's Dema. For him not to be a part of the Osorio compensation talks is a pretty clear indication that Guppy is paying that slogan nothing more than lip service.

And on the off chance that Dema's salary is prohibitively high -- although with Chris Armas' departure, that's unlikely -- what about Dane Richards? I'm not even saying that New York would part with either of these guys, but to not even be interested? I'll cut Guppy some slack if we cock-block Osorio with one of our first two draft picks and use them as bait for a trade for either of these guys, but I'm not counting on it.