It all went sour when the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year bumped into the MLS Coach of the Year following Thursday's Eastern Conference playoff final. But then Chicago Fire stopper Jon Busch and his former coach, the Columbus Crew's Sigi Schmid, have been at odds ever since Busch complained about the way Schmid traded him from Ohio to Illinois last year.
Busch, who had to be restrained in a confrontation with Schmid following the Crew's 2-1 win over Chicago, initially dismissed the incident as "nothing," but then later explained what happened to Luis Arroyave. "I was not the one that instigated it," Busch said. "I wanted nothing to do with him. He directly came after me to seek me out. He said, 'Congratulations on your goalkeeper of the year award.'"
Of all the mean and low things to say ... hang on, he said what? Congratulations? Well, maybe it depends on the tone, but was Schmid not likely in a generous enough mood after his Eastern Conference title win to be extending the hand of reconciliation? Probably, but it seems that it was the timing that bothered Busch. "I got that award weeks ago," he said. "Seven coaches sent me a text or called me within a week and a half. Why at that time? There was no need for it."
After being congratulated, Busch said that he "made eye contact and nodded. He [Schmid] put his hand out to shake my hand and I kept walking. That's when he told me to [buzz] off. I turned around and I told him to [buzz off]." All that buzzing, by the way, is the Chicago Tribune's family-friendly version of the exchange, and is not thought to be the way that professional sportspeople generally cuss each other out. We could not possibly even begin to imagine what words the two men actually used.
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