FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Khano Smith broke one of the primary directives of being a professional athlete: You don’t engage fans who are trying to provoke you.

After Saturday night’s tilt between the San Jose Earthquakes and the New England Revolution, I was probably the only journalist who saw the Revs’ big Bermudan striker (pictured) angrily hurl a full bottle of Gatorade at two Quakes fans who were heckling him as he headed toward the locker rooms.

Smith made a lot of enemies in the hostile crowd during his team’s 4-0 loss to the Quakes, mostly for shoving San Jose winger Ronnie O’Brien and continuously trying to bait the Irishman. Every time the 6-foot-3 Smith touched the ball, Quakes fans booed him mercilessly and kept the Bronx cheers going as the humiliated Revolution left the pitch.

But you’ve got to leave that stuff on the field. Smith didn’t. Two fans kept taunting him from the other side of the partition that separates the stadium from the practice field, and Smith played right into their hands, first by inviting them to meet him in the parking lot, then by trying to go after them (a pair of his teammates actually had to restrain him). So instead, he hurled the bottle right at them from about 30 feet away.

Granted, the fans may have been acting like idiots, but that’s no excuse to resort to that form of retaliation. If Major League Soccer gets wind of this, the league could suspend Smith and/or fine him. This wasn’t exactly Eric Cantona karate-kicking a Crystal Palace supporter, but by and large, MLS players don’t assault -- or try to assault -- fans. Stay tuned.

• Add Chris Albright’s name to the list of people who aren't exactly sad to see Ruud Gullit out of MLS. Albright, who was traded from Los Angeles to New England in January, says he knew the second the Dutchman was hired as Galaxy coach last November that he’d be out before the season was over.

“My thought was that he’d be gone by midway through this year -- I thought that two days after meeting him,” said the 29-year-old defender, who was part of the Galaxy squad that made preseason trips to Australia and New Zealand.

What was the problem? “Lack of respect for the players. No real concern about wanting to know MLS or caring to know MLS. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff [he did].”

That echoes very closely some of the comments made by Galaxy star Landon Donovan last week in the wake of the L.A. shakeup.

Yet again, the New York Red Bulls couldn't have timed it worse. Claudio Reyna is going to retire -- not surprising and long expected, considering how injury-plagued the former U.S. national-team captain's 1½ seasons in MLS were.

First, the good news: Reyna's retirement frees up the Red Bulls' Designated Player slot, which had been effectively wasting away as Captain America just couldn't stay healthy (Juan Pablo Ángel occupies the team's second slot, which it traded for last season). That gives New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio an enormous toy to use as he continues to rebuild the biggest underachievers in the history of MLS (13 seasons, zero titles).

It's no secret that the Red Bulls need their own version of David Beckham and Cuauhtémoc Blanco in the U.S.' most important market, and they need one fast. MLS' New York franchise isn't only suffering on the field, it's far from the "superclub" MLS has dreamed of fielding since its inaugural season. About the only time the former MetroStars come anywhere close to filling Giants Stadium is when Beckham and the L.A. Galaxy, or FC Barcelona, are in town. The sparse crowds of 5,000 need to stop, as does the losing.

The latter problem is Osorio's to bear. And I still believe he can do it. His midseason makeover of a team that was more or less built by Bruce Arena will eventually produce attractive, Latin-flavored soccer. But the other problem -- the awful Q rating -- well, that's Red Bull's problem.

Jozy Altidore is officially gone -- the teen sensation left for Spanish club Villarreal last month. Now, with Reyna out of the way, it's time for Red Bull to puts its money where its mouth is and go hard at the biggest name it can get its hands on. Thierry Henry is a real possibility (though probably next summer). Andriy Shevchenko is another name that's been floated. Ronaldo's still out there, too, as is Mexican star Jared Borgetti. Dreamy possibilities, to be sure.

Now the bad news: The Bulls missed the boat. Or more specifically, they missed the Titanic. Until Tuesday, an even bigger option was out there: Ronaldinho (above right). There is perhaps no bigger name in the world that was legitimately available to MLS. The two-time FIFA World Player of the Year finally ended his drawn-out transfer saga, agreeing to a $30 million transfer from Barcelona to AC Milan.

No matter what you think of him -- overweight, over-partied or just plain over -- he may be the best player around to put rears in seats in this country. And, in fact, he's already done it: Giants Stadium was sold out when 'Dinho and his former club played the Red Bulls in a friendly two summers ago.

Where were the Red Bulls during the Ronaldinho saga? Milan and Manchester City spent the past month driving up the Brazilian's price tag. If, as it has been reported, the Bulls knew Reyna's retirement was an eventual outcome, why didn't they throw everything they had at convincing Ronaldinho to make an earth-shattering move to the U.S., perhaps bigger than even Beckham's? 

Maybe they did and maybe they were rebuffed by another high-profile player who wasn't quite ready to take a leap of faith on Major League Soccer. The point here is, the Red Bulls need do something big, and they need to do it soon. They've got the money, they've got the marketing power and now, there are no more excuses. Dare to dream, as they say. (Actually, it was a former Red Bull who told us that once.)

What's done is done. There are other options out there. Regardless, Reyna just gave the Red Bulls a huge gift. He rid his team of its biggest albatross: himself. Now it's up to the club to get a celebrity that will make the casual sports fan care. Because right now, no one's watching.

File this under the "for what it's worth" category. I'm sitting in the press box at McAfee Coliseum, watching the Oakland A's take on the Los Angeles Angels [of Anaheim]. Between the second and third innings, the JumboTron featured a "Choose Your Highlight" gimmick for the fans on hand here. The choices of clips:

* The Chicago White Sox' 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers, the team 2 1/2 games back of the second-place A's in the AL West.

* Kansas City's 5-4 win over AL West cellar-dweller Seattle.

* The San Jose Earthquakes' 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids.

Guess which highlight the fans chose with their applause? Yep, the Quakes -- over games that impact the A's standing in their own division. I guess that's worth telling the suits at MLS?

Here's a better memo for Don Garber & Co.: The A's are four games behind the Angels in a heated race for the AL West crown, and these two teams are archrivals, at least in their division. Tonight's attendance? Less than 28,000 -- quite a bit fewer than the crowd here for last month's Quakes-L.A. Galaxy game that drew 40,000 fans out to see David Beckham.

Brian McBride is coming home to Major League Soccer. To be completely honest, this makes me happier than hearing David Beckham or Cuauhtemoc Blanco were joining the league -- even more so than when ex-U.S. captain Claudio Reyna came home.

Simply put, McBride is pure class. He's without ego, a tireless hard worker, ageless and a proven goal-scorer. In short, he is perhaps the best export MLS has ever sent out into the big leagues of Europe. Having him come home is a surefire sign that we've come full circle and that the league has garnered enough international success that one of its children thinks it's worth his time to finish his career here.

Yes, McBride isn't a young kid -- he's 35 -- but he is by no means finished. Despite his injury problems with his knees, the Chicago-area native can still score and is the kind of aerial threat MLS is lacking (apologies to Brian Ching). He became a folk hero at Fulham for his work ethic and willingness to sacrifice his own body to help his team.

Now the big question: Where is McBride headed? Toronto FC has first dibs in the player-allocation pool, but could you really see McBride going there? He told SI.com last May that, when the time came to head home, he wouldn't mind ending up with his hometown Fire. But Chicago has virtually no cap space and would have to trade for a second designated-player spot (Blanco occupies its current one).

Columbus? Possibly. McBride enjoyed enormous success with the Crew during his eight seasons in MLS, scoring 62 goals while wearing the gold-and-black. But Sigi Schmid has finally found a winning combination in Columbus and might be loath to tinker with it. But how much would you love to see McBride in front of goal, heading in crosses from Guillermo Barros Schelotto?

So where else could McBride go? One thing I do know -- he wouldn't be coming home to MLS without some sort of understanding from a team of his choosing. And no matter where he goes, he's without question deserving of a designated-player spot. My guess is Toronto FC signs him as a DP and trades him to Chicago, perhaps for a package of players including Chris Rolfe. Stay tuned.

When the Baltimore Ravens returned to Cleveland in 1999 to face the new Browns for the first time since moving away, they were booed mercilessly and subject to more one-finger salutes than Hillary Clinton.

It was one of the best subplots of the NFL season: a relocated team returning to the city and fans it left behind, but with a new name, different uniforms and representing all the evils of the greedy owner who jilted the loyal fans to begin with.

When the Houston Dynamo visit the San Jose Earthquakes on Thursday night (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. ET), it’ll be a similar dynamic. Just don’t expect the same vitriol. Many Quakes fans still pull for the team that moved to Texas in ’05. (See the last two MLS Cup title games as evidence: Hundreds of blue-jerseyed fans could be spotted in the stands, cheering on the Dynamo.)

On the contrary, it’ll be a nice homecoming for the Houston players, many of whom were idolized during their time in San Jose. “It’s nothing but good memories for me,” says Dynamo midfielder Richard Mulrooney, who won two MLS Cups during his six seasons with the Quakes. “A lot of us have friends or family there.”

But there won’t be a ton of fraternizing this week. “[Coach] Dom Kinnear said it best,” Mulrooney explains. “The Houston Dynamo bought us plane tickets to go and win a soccer game, not to reminisce about the past. This is our job.”

In the other locker room, it’s much of the same. “For most of the guys, the novelty’s worn off,” says San Jose’s Ryan Cochrane, who came back to the Quakes from Houston in the expansion draft. “I’ll probably shake a few more hands before the game than normal, but once the whistle blows, it’ll be business as usual.”

Indeed, the Dynamo already did their victory tour of their old stomping grounds back in February, with two preseason games in the Bay Area against the new expansion Quakes. There was definitely more carousing and socializing with each other back then, Mulrooney says.

Now, it’s just a case of both teams needing points. The two-time defending MLS Cup champion Dynamo are buried in fifth place in the Western Conference, while the new Quakes are dead last, with a league-worst four goals scored in six games.

“There’ll be friendly smiles before the game,” says Mulrooney, “but they’re trying to beat us as hard as we’re trying to beat them.”

Fans take note: In that first Ravens-Browns encounter, Baltimore blew out of town with a 41-9 win. Maybe Quakes fans are going to have to yell a little louder.