MLS Daily Sweeper 12.20: Atiba Harris Traded; RSL’s Future in Doubt*

* I think the punchline here is that this, literally, constitutes the biggest news of the day…at least in the soccer-playing world. Steve Goff’s Soccer Insider won blog of the year from someone or another – and that’s cool, ’cause he’s really good – but…I don’t know. It is what it is. I don’t think much about awards.

In totally unrelated news, I think I’ll can the Sweeper for tomorrow, my last posting day of 2007, in order to post the best look back on the year I can manage given the virtual war I’ve waged against my brain cells…the bastards must pay…

– Getting back to the soccer stuff, it is indeed true that Real Salt Lake (RSL) traded Atiba Harris for…let’s see…a six-pack of warm Joose. No, it was for a draft pick, the 37th overall…FYI, I’d take that six-pack…even without being completely sure Joose comes in six packs. Chivas USA Offside covered this and led with concerns about RSL’s team-buidling philosophy; RSLFM Report clocked the Harris trade plus much, much, much more. To follow up on some of the comments left on The Offside post, I’m of the camp that sees Harris as a midfield destroyer.

– The Offside Rules flags Austrian Markus Schopp’s retirement…an event that came a year too late, really. But SF gets to the important stuff as well: Red Bull New York now has some rebuilding money for that defense.

– 3rd Degree fleshes out some chatter into a report on some promising players that FC Dallas might sign from brother-club Club Atletico Paranaense of Brazil

– Turning to the bigger picture – e.g. the U.S. Men’s National Team – Clemente Lisi compiled a list of eight players who deserve a look-in with the full national squad for USSoccerplayas.com. And, topping that list….dammit: Eddie Robinson. So, yeah, I give up: Robinson deserves a shot. It’s not like the defense looks strong and settled of late; anyone who has watched the U.S. in 2007 should appreciate that – and that goes double for the center. So, by all means, give “E-Rob” his shot.

– Fun stuff now: The Black Panther Blog linked to a site where one can discover his (or, presumably, her) Brazilian soccer name. Mine was “Beta.” And, as always, my number was 13.

– Finally, for some reason or another, Oz City has been poking around alternate logos for the Kansas City Wizards. They did something yesterday (I think), but it was the big rollout of options posted today that finally prompted me to post it. No offense intended to anyone on that site, but all the options look freakin’ awful…or, more politely, none fit my scheme. Personally, when I think “wizard” I think heavy metal – hence, something inspired by the first image one gets in a google search for the word “wizards”; again, that’s not the actual image, but inspiration for it. Even within what I presume to be the sporting world, the Waco Wizards came up with something better. Still, something like this, or even this, comes closer to what I’d paste on the Wizards’ jerseys.

Then again, I’m a big fan of the current, um, “rainbow theme” and all that implies…even if it lacks the “Welcome to the Bathhouse” vibe that makes Columbus Crew’s badge the pick of MLS.