Edu, Kinkead go head to head over "sources"

In case you missed it, there was an interesting exchange on Twitter between Union captain Maurice Edu and Kevin Kinkead of CBS 3.

It was no secret that there were issues with M'Bolhi during his tenure with the Union. Jim Curtin basically said as much during one of his weekly press conferences a few months ago.

"There's no one incident to point to, it's just a combination of performance on the field, interactions in the locker room with the rest of the group, the whole package," said Curtin about how the M'Bolhi situation came to be.

But outside of assumptions and reading between the lines, there were no quotes from the organization or Union players regarding their thoughts on M'Bolhi's time with the Union. Kinkead's tweet shortly after the release of the goalkeeper in addition to his follow-up tweets to Edu seemed to clear up any confusion about what some in the Union locker room thought of the Algerian keeper.

While the anonymous player's quotes about M'Bolhi were surely interesting, equally as interesting was the fact that Edu took to social media to publicly ask Kinkead to reveal who his sources were. As captain of the club it is not surprising that Edu would want to find out who these players are and ensure that no more information like this finds its way out of the locker room. It's Edu's job to protect the team and keep the locker room focused and, if possible, control the flow of information coming from that locker room. It could also be argued that Kinkead's release of this information is redundant and does little to further the narrative regarding M'Bolhi's departure while possibly causing strife and division within the Union locker room because of the "leaks."

On the other hand, as a journalist, it is Kinkead's job to seek out inside information and opinions from the Union organization and keep the public appraised of that which is often left out of press releases and official team tweets. Go to any major sports news page in any major city and you are likely to find scores of stories and tweets referencing "a source within the team," "an anonymous player," or "an executive who wishes to remain anonymous." If a beat writer or sports writer at a major news station or publication didn't have these sources or refused to use their information then odds are they wouldn't have their job for long.

While disputes such as this may be somewhat new to fans of the Union and MLS alike, things of this nature are not uncommon in the larger world of sports. Regardless of which side you agree with, this certainly provided some discussion during a Union season already full of interesting moments.