Media Companies Go Too Far in Curbing Consumers' Activities

DRM systems are empty vessels -- they can enforce any rules copyright holders choose, or no rules at all. Apple's DRM rules are liberal enough that few consumers object to them. In fact, obtaining relatively liberal DRM rules from the labels was the key to Apple's success in selling music. But some other uses of DRM technology aren't so benign.

Steven Goff reports that the team is healthy and ready for playoffs.  The Adu whine fest seems to have blown over, hopefully before it distracted the team from the playoffs. United's first playoff match is tonight at Chicago, where the team has had some success this season.  The regular season games against the Fire were hard fought and exciting, now that each team's season is on the line expect the intensity to ratchet up a few notches.  

Freddy Adu complains in an interview that he isn't getting enough playing time. He's scored some beautiful goals this season, but he's frustrated that his performance in games and practices isn't translating into more playing time.

"I got [MLS] player of the week, and the next week I'm sitting on the bench," Adu said. "I'm like, 'What is going on here?'

I'll have to chime in as a DC United fan. Freddy has made some spectacular plays this season, and created a win in LA out of nothing earlier this year. On any other team, you could argue that he'd be getting much more playing time. But in just as many games, he's been invisible or ineffective both as a starter and a sub. At forward, Jamil Walker has been much more effective in limited time in creating chances and scoring goals.

The United midfield is also crowded: Christian Gomez is right now a better player, Santino Quaranta is consistently more dangerous, and on the wings Josh Gros and Dema play both offense and defense. That is a hard group of players to displace. His inconsistency also means that its hard to rely on him having an effect in every game that he plays in. Until his consistency is better game to game, he'll be on the bench a lot more than he wants to be.

I wonder where in MLS he'd go, he's not old enough to play in Europe yet. The Metrostars are an obvious candidate. Who would we be forced to trade for - not Razov, Guevara is leaving, Rey is on the block but we don't need a forward. Meola and a box of doughnuts? No thanks.

Other thoughts on the matter:

• Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen argues that Freddy may not be wrong after all. Despite the stats they mention (9th in minutes, 4th in goals, and 5th in assists), that doesn't mean he's a consistent threat in every game that he is in.
• DCenters has a more insightful analysis on how coach Nowak hasn't mananged Freddy well this year - as Nowak was surprised by Adu's comments.
• BigSoccer discussion is here.