





“Describe the Time Warner Cable SportsChannel television deal.”

If you are a Crew fan of older vintage, you can answer in one or two words, with hard consonants. And if you are of this type, then you took note of what happened Wednesday, when D.C. United signed Federico Higuain to be a backup No. 10 and a valuable assistant coach ― for the bargain-basement price of $100,000.

New Crew management has pumped money into the roster. A new stadium and training facility are on the way. It’s the eve of the eve of Crewsmas, opening day is Sunday ― and there is a buzz about the Black & Gold.

But … Higuain signed with D.C.?

“I want to play one more season. I wish it would be Columbus, but I don’t think so now.”

That was Guillermo Barros Schelotto in October 2010, after then-Crew president Mark McCullers declined the option on the last year of Schelotto’s contract.

Schelotto was, at that point, arguably the best player in franchise history. He was the regular-season and MLS Cup MVP in 2008, when he helped deliver the first major professional sports championship to Columbus. He was still the team’s leading scorer in 2010. He begged to stay. He had to go.

Two years before that, Brian McBride ― the first member of the Crew’s Ring of Honor ― returned to the United States from England and was claimed by the Chicago Fire, his hometown team. But that was different.

This Higuain thing feels a lot like Schelotto. It’s sad.

It was in October when new general manager Tim Bezbatchenko announced that Higuain would not be retained. Bezbatchenko said letting go of a legend “was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make personally.”

Bezbatchenko was clear on the club’s reasoning: Higuain was about to turn 35, he was coming off a blown ACL and he was not the optimal fit in new coach Caleb Porter’s counterstriking system. He said Higuain would always be welcome in a front-office, academy and/or coaching role, but Pipa’s days in a Black & Gold uniform were done.

All of that makes sense. It’s still sad.

Higuain, under previous coach Gregg Berhalter, was among the smartest and most dynamic players in the league from the time he got to Columbus in 2012 to the moment his knee gave out on May 25, 2019.

Higuain is the Crew’s only 50-goal/50-assist player. He’s its all-time leader in assists (63). He and then-captain Wil Trapp led the players through the darkest hours in franchise history.

Now he’s in D.C.? Crew fans who can answer the question, “Who won the Eastern Conference finals in 1997, 1998 and 1999?” can identify the team’s original rival. And these fans felt a pang when they heard Higuain will now wear black and red.

To be fair, there’s much we don’t know about what happened last fall.

Higuain can be prideful. There was a day in August 2017, when he was unhappy with negotiations for a contract extension and spoke aloud about winning somewhere else. Pipa’s public pronouncement caught Berhalter by surprise.

We don’t know what Higuain might have demanded to stay in Columbus. What we do know is that the team was ready to move on from the player and, to understate the situation, the player was not happy.

Higuain runs hot, and if he felt slighted he probably said some strong words with hard consonants. Four months later, he landed with a rival team. And if any of his peers are asking him about Columbus, he’s probably not painting a pretty picture.

First, Trapp got McCuller-ed, and now Higuain. New management, as is its right, is slamming the door on the Berhalter era. Old Crew fans ― the ones who remember the Mutiny ― like to think those days were long gone.

You know, if D.C. United, with a certain attacking midfielder in reserve, and the LA Galaxy, coached by a certain former attacking midfielder, meet in the MLS Cup final, older Crew fans will enjoy the game immensely as they root for kicks.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1