Soccer - Doug Hamilton R.I.P.

I had been procrastinating to put something up, but all the stuff that's been happening with US Soccer & MLS in general & the Los Angeles Galaxy in particular, I can not resist.
The most immediate item is the sudden and untimely death of Galaxy President & General Manager Doug Hamilton. To say that Hamilton's loss is both tragic and worrying is understating the case. Hamilton was a rare jewel amongst the rocks that have passed through the corriders of Galaxy-land. He was an almost unique combination of soccer guy & competant business manager. Having met & spoken with in one form or another all of his predeccessors (Danny Villanueva Jr., Sergio Del Prado, Tim Luce) in my former capacity as the Galaxy beat writer for the various internet soccer sites I wrote for, Hamilton was finally the right guy for right job. It is seriously doubtful that any of his predecessors would have had the 'nad to fire former Galaxy Head Coach Sigi Schmid (though that firing was at once nine months too late & premature). Hamilton had the sole distinction of presiding over a profitable season in MLS.
This reminds me of two antectdotes that I wish to share (what they mean is up to the reader to interpret). Just after his arrival, the Galaxy organized a press luncheon with the beat writers where we would be free to chew the fat, then question him on the record. Hamilton arrived unbeknownst to me, while I was in the midst of an animated conversation where the general gist was the lack of competant refereeing at the high school level. As a former high school soccer coach, I had plenty of grist in my mill that caught Hamilton's attention. When it came time for questions, I had to go with one of my favorite themes, money. I had been made aware of a study conducted at the USC Marshall School of Business that concluded in order for an MLS franchise to start making money, they have to average 21,500 attendance. At that point (the Galaxy were still playing at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena), he shot me a dirty look, then poo-poo'ed the question. Needless to write, I now challenge anyone to check the average attendance figures in that season that the Galaxy made money, 21,658). Hamilton had played his part here...no good corporate warrior ever admits publically to financial specifics.
The other took place at Titan Stadium at Cal-State Fullerton. The Galaxy were playing Cruz Azul. The long-rumored move of defender Greg Vanney to FC Bastia was nearly completed. To confirm that move, I looked up the L'Equipe website...and loe and behold, there a short blurb confirming that fact. I shared this with the assembled beat writers. Later on in the evening, Hamiltion was cruising through the press box and sneaked up behind me. He saw that I was still online and asked if I had been shopping. I related that I had been on the L'Equipe website & they were reporting the Vanney move. Understand this, L'Equipe is the foremost French language sports newspaper on the planet. I asked Hamilton if he could confirm this (it would allow myself and the other writers to include that in our game stories). Hamilton went straight into denial mode. The punchline here is that during the post-game question and answer session with Schmid, the ex-UCLA headman confirmed that Vanney had moved to Bastia.
I understand well that disinformation dealing is a standard part & parcel of the sports business...and Hamilton did it pretty well. It was a reflection of his overall competance. I fear that any replacement will be nowhere the disengenuator that Hamilton was. Considering that soccer in these United States is still far from a permanent fixture in the sports media scene, his loss really hurts.