Why MLS isn't as much of a slouch as you think it is

	Charlton Athletic's paltry $1.5 million bid for New England's Clint Dempsey was an insult to both MLS and American soccer. AP
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While the rest of the world tittered about Ashley Cole-gate, the Juventus fire sale and West Ham's Brazilian coup, the transfer window skipped over the U.S. soccer scene as quietly as a Toyota Prius driving by a gas station.

For the first time since the start of American soccer's modern era -- the U.S. team's participation at Italy 1990, to my mind -- no American player made the post-World Cup move to Europe.

But there's nothing like the flat line of silence to spark a little sound and fury. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so too, it appears, does every Tom, Dick or Harry with a chat room (or bi-weekly column on SI.com) at his disposal.

By the time the European transfer window finally closed on Sept. 1, several tantalizing stories emerged:

1) MLS rejected a $1.5 million offer from English Premier League club Charlton Athletic for New England Revolution attacker Clint Dempsey, according to my SI.com colleague (and impressive wine connoisseur) Grant Wahl;

2) PSV Eindhoven midfielder DaMarcus Beasley expressed serious interest in returning to MLS, most likely to Real Salt Lake.

Immediately, the soccer reactionaries flooded the airwaves, chat rooms, water coolers and e-mail box of yours truly with opinions. The consensus seemed to be this:

1) MLS should've sold Dempsey; 2) Beasley should stay in Europe.

These two conclusions are, in fact, driven by this simplistic thinking: MLS is a "developmental league," and playing in Europe is analogous to getting your Ph.D. from Harvard.

Believers say the league -- mainly, because it is not in Europe and not stocked with Ronaldinhos and Shevchenkos -- should be in the business of developing young American players and then selling them to Europe, where, presumably, the players will improve in ways they never could here, which in turn will enhance the national team, which is the raison d'etre for most soccer fans.

I will concede some understanding to all of this because I, too, would like to see our guys improve by playing against the best of the best every week. But I will also point out two other things:

1) Sports is a business. Period. 2) Did you see Beasley play in Germany?