Tales of the Galaxy “Youngsters”

By: Laurie | October 14th, 2007

(Left: Draft picks Harden and Tudela, with the much-missed Robbie Findley.)

These last few weeks have left me feeling pretty attached to the whole Galaxy team, but especially to the lower-paid guys who’ve managed to step up and get the job done despite in some cases not making enough to pay for both rent and food. So I particularly enjoyed this article by Billy Witz of the LA Daily News:

Galaxy rally is not in the stars, about Galaxy players Mike Randolph, Josh Tudela, Ty Harden, Troy Roberts and Gavin Glinton

Glinton, who is making $50,000 this season, is the only one whose salary would come close to covering the cost of Beckham’s Cadillac Escalade. Harden and Roberts earn $30,000, the league minimum for players on the 18-man roster. Randolph and Tudela, each categorized as developmental players who supplement the main roster, earn $17,700 – or about what they’d make working at the Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street from Home Depot Center. Add those salaries up and it’s still less than six Galaxy players are making this season. …

Tudela swings the rent on a Redondo Beach apartment he shares with Harden because his girlfriend lives with him and “she’s got a good job” – a sales rep for a bio-medical firm.

Randolph’s sugar mama is his mom – he lives with his parents in Chino Hills, a 60- to 90-minute drive. “If I didn’t, I’d have to work at Wal-Mart,” he said.

And then there’s Glinton, who’s become one of my favorites this season, maybe because I love a comeback story.

Most appreciative is Glinton. After playing for the Galaxy and FC Dallas in 2002 and 2003, he presumed his career was over when he broke his ankle for the second time. He went back to his alma mater, Bradley University, and coached, took classes and spent two years considering his future.

“For most guys, being away from the game makes you hungrier, but I didn’t think I was playing again,” Glinton said. “I thought that was it.”

Slowly, though, he began to notice his ankle didn’t hurt. He continued to rehab and felt more comfortable running around with Bradley players. So he signed with the A-League’s Charleston Battery and scored 13 goals last season, which got the Galaxy’s attention.

I think what I love most about what these guys have accomplished is that in a year when it looked like everybody would be heading out the door, it looks like they may have managed to hold onto their roster spots, and maybe managed to save the spots of a few veterans as well. (Like, say, Frank Yallop.)

My maternal area is filled with this soft, warm, fuzzy pride thing.

(Don’t tell anybody.)