Checketts: I think he's done about as well as he could possibly do. 'Cause he's done everything. The day after the Kansas City game he flew to Argentina, he wanted to look these three kids in the eye, he wanted to watch film, he wanted to meet them face to face before we made a decision like that. I really admire that. This is a guy who's written me five- and six-page e-mails about strategy, player strategy, and managing the cap, and I've tried to tell him eventually he was going to have an ally in doing that, but he was going to have to give me some time to find the right general manager. He has this ability to work that is very much like my own. I like people who work really, really hard and stay at things until they figure them out. It's not easy what he's gone through at all, but he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and learning, and he's asking for help and guidance, and asking questions. He's very respectful always. I think overall we'd have to say he's laying the foundation for what I think is a very good future.

DMN: Do you think the previous regime took too many risks with player personnel?

Checketts: I don't want to say anything about them, because they're both very good men, Steve (Pastorino) and John (Ellinger). I do think their heart was in the right place. And I was pushing them, frankly, to get better and to give us a chance. They did their best.

DMN: It seems everything we hear about MLS these days is all rosy, with David Beckham, the ESPN TV deal, adidas jersey sponsorship, all the soccer-specific stadiums. What are some concerns you have about MLS?

Checketts: I think there are a lot of positives. ESPN is the biggest one, and their attitude about the game now. It's not impossible now for one of the top 10 plays to be a great goal, and that never used to happen before. John Skipper, who's running programming at ESPN, is a very big soccer fan, and he's made a huge difference. That's all rosy. We have some real rough spots. We have a lot of stadiums that don't look full yet. As long as that team's been in Kansas City, they've got to get a stadium solution there. It will be a very big deal for this league for the Red Bulls stadium to get done ... We've got to make decisions about how much of this designated-player talent we're going to attract and where they're going to come from. There's a lot of rough spots ahead. I'm still not sure about the level of officiating and the consistency of officiating. I actually felt bad for the 20,000 people in Toronto (on Sept. 15) because once you red card a guy like that, the rest of the game is different. You're going to have one team that's grounded to do everything they can from stopping you from scoring, and it's not a very fun game to watch. I express those thoughts to the league office on a regular basis. I bet they're tired of hearing from me about it.