Hirshey: Goodbye Landycakes, Hello Lan the Man

I admit it, there were times in the past decade when I looked at Landon Donovan and saw Ryan Seacrest in cleats. Here was a young U.S. player who had all the technical ability in the world but would wilt if someone sweated on him too hard or would throw a hissy fit if his teammates weren't up to his appreciation of his own excellence.

In other words, he played like a girly-man and defined every cliché about American soccer. Even his pretty-boy Galaxy teammate David Beckham seemed nails-tough by comparison.



I was very tempted to use the water fountain picture but our decision to put it to rest prior to the tournament has paid off. I'm not going to ruin it now...