Good Grief!

At Least He Isn't Picking His Nose Like Jerry Jones

I know this is supposed to be a soccer site most of the time, but I have to admit I didn't watch much this past week. All I know is that DC United blew a golden opportunity to stake a claim in the MLS playoff sweepstakes, and FIFA and CONCACAF have once again given U.S. Soccer the shaft by keeping next week's crucial World Cup Qualifier in Honduras, despite the continued civil unrest. Hope the boys are ready for the multi-hour bus ride into the country. We could possibly fight it, but then that would jeopardize our chances to get the 2022 World Cup, right? Don't tell me there isn't much of a difference between FIFA and the IOC. Everybody's got a price, huh?

Anyway, I'm in the mood to talk some football, particularly the Washington Redskins. Now, at one time I was almost as big of a fan as anybody else. Like thousands of others, though, I have withdrawn my support from the overpaid, underachieving team; with an dickhead owner who doesn't give a rat's ass about the fans; and an organization that just doesn't seem to "get it."


My final straw was December 2006, when I watched Tiki Barber run for 225 yards in his final regular season game with the New York Giants. As bad as the team was that night, the whole "gameday experience" was worse. It took 3 hours to get there, $35 to park, then take a shuttle to get to the stadium, had to walk several hundred yards to get to the gates once we actually were dropped off, then another 20 or so minutes to get in as only a few of the gates were open, and they only had 5 or 6 people staffed at each entrance.


But wait, there's more...

Another $20 for a hot dog, pretzel, and a coke. My friend and I didn't even TRY to get a beer.


So after this, we at least knew we had good seats in the club level, as my friend's father had given them to her as a Christmas present. The seats had a good field of vision but were so small that we were literally hanging out of our chairs (and no, neither one of us is fat!)... Then we're subjected to the drunken idiot "fans" who curse and swear and try to fight guys w/ the opposing jersey, even though their kids are sitting next to them.


The final straw was when I had to use the bathroom. Remember, we're in the club seats, which are supposed to have nicer facilities. It was at the end of the 1st quarter, and I walked into a bathroom where urinals and toilets were overflowing, water was all over the floor and nearly ankle deep, and there were no towels in the dispensers. I went and pointed this out to one of "ushers" at the stadium (who easily weighed 300 pounds, and if she ever had to haul ass, she'd have to make 4 trips), who told me "it's like that every week. What do you want me to do about it?"


That was it. I was done w/ that team, Snyder, and the rest of them. It's gotten so that I won't go to Fed Ex for ANYTHING anymore, not the DU United/Real Madrid game this past August, not Paul McCartney, not U2, not even my favorite band, The Rolling Stones, when they embark on their 2010 World Tour (no, I'm not kidding; they've got one more in them, apparently).


Dan Snyder has ruined this fanbase and doesn't care as long as there are sellouts for the games and there is money in his pocket. However, I'm saying right now there will be 20,000 empty seats for the "home" game this week against Tampa Bay, another struggling squad that has a good chance to pick up their first win of the year.


Thank God I've always been a Colts fan. If you want a "real" gameday experience, go to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis sometime. It has working bathrooms, friendly employees, reasonable tickets and concessions, fun and happy fans, and most importantly, a franchise that understands and knows how to win. Nothing was more apparent than their beatdown of Arizona last night.


Other football thoughts:


1. That was a really nasty (but clean) hit Tim Tebow took Saturday night. All of Gainesville held their breath for a few minutes, especially when you see a trainer bring out a stethoscope. It's at that point where it stops being a game and your genuine concern is for the health and safety of the player. Kudos to the Kentucky fans who gave him a loud ovation as he went off the field and into the locker room.


2. There goes your Heisman campaign, Jahvid Best, as well as any chance California had for the big prize. Now they get to play an agitated USC team with renewed life as all of the other top schools are losing as well.


3. When Maryland plays Virginia later in the season, is anybody really going to care? I'm going to see U2 this Thursday at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, and a UVA. fan told me it'll be the only time this year the place will sell out.


4. Damn you , Brett Favre!!!!!


5. Pittsburgh Steelers are 1-2 with a visit from San Diego coming on national tv Sunday night. They really don't want to drop any further behind Baltimore...


6. ...who is the best team in football through the first 3 weeks.


7. Still, Pittsburgh has 1 more win than Tennessee.


8. There are some truly terrible offenses this year. Oakland, Kansas City, Cleveland, St.Louis, and , oh yeah, the Redskins. It's almost like the forward pass is something new that they're trying to figure it out.


9. If they want to learn, just watch Peyton Manning.


10. Vegas this weekend for a few days of football wagering. I never win, but just watching 8 games at 1 time on big screen tv's at 10 am on a Sunday might be the coolest place on Earth...

Monday Musings

"Just Go Ahead And Add Mike Shanahan Under Zorn"

Jam-packed weekend of sports. College Football, Week 2 of the NFL, Champions League action, MLS is in the home stretch, as is baseball; seriously, does it get any better than this? And we've got several more weeks to go. Not going to focus on anything specific, just a bunch of random things from the past few days.



1. Is there any clear cut favorite to win the MLS Cup this year? Columbus and Houston are leading their divisions, respectively, but I wouldn't bet the house on either one of them to win it all. The Galaxy and Seattle are arguably the 2 best teams in the league over the past several weeks, and Chicago, despite some apparent in-house issues, has more than enough talent to go on a winning streak and bring home the trophy. Is this the most parity we've seen in MLS before? If so, then the league has accomplished its' mission.



2. Also liked the announcements last week from the league that they are suspending play during the 1st round of the World Cup next year. Like the home and home 30-game schedule next year even better. Then you add Portland and Vancouver in 2011, go to a 34 game schedule, and that, folks, is your single table that most fans want to see. Now if only there were a way to do something about the playoffs?



3. When I watch Real Madrid play so far this year, their offense reminds me of the '99 St. Louis Rams, when they were known as the Greatest Show on Turf. They might give up points, but they'll score more than you... Anybody know the La Liga record for goals scored in a season?



4. USC knocks itself out of the BCS Title game once again by losing to an unranked team. Does Pete Carroll actually try to motivate them the week when they play a supposedly crap team? I actually had them losing in 2 weeks to California anyway (Jahvid Best is my early Heisman winner right now), so this paves the way for the Golden Bears to enter the Title hunt.



5. Tim Tebow and Florida didn't look great against Tennessee, but a win is a win in the SEC, right? Oh, yeah, and Lane Kiffin is still a douchebag.



6. Way to go Terps football. Does Fridge get fired if this team goes 3-9 or 4-8?



7. If you had Chris Johnson on your fantasy football team this weekend, you won. His point total had to be one of the highest in Fantasy history. I know it's in the top 2 or 3 in my league, which has been around for 12 years.



8. The Redskins are going to lose in Detroit on Sunday. I'm saying it right now, so come next Monday, nobody will be surprised. If I were a betting man (which I am), I'd be interested to see what the numbers are right now for Zorn to finish the season. Firing a coach midseason is just so...Snyder-like, isn't it? Maybe we can look at the over/under on when it might happen? Maybe by week 8?



9. Back to soccer for a minute, Chelsea looks like they're clicking on all cylinders, don't they? They dismantled a solid Tottenham side yesterday. Too many weapons, and it look like Petr Cech has once again become a world-class goalkeeper, despite the silly helmet he has to wear.

10. Watched Floyd Mayweather dismantle Juan Marquez Saturday night. Mayweather hasn't fought in 17 months but it looked like he hadn't taken any time off. He won EVERY round on the scorecards and landed around 55% percent of his punches compared to 12% for Marquez. And Marquez is a GOOD fighter, as he gave Manny Pacquiao all he could handle in 2 bouts. Now if Manny beats Cotto in November (far from a sure thing, as Cotta, in my opinion, is a beast), then you're got the "Super Fight" between Floyd and Manny. Question is; if Marquez took Manny to the limit, and Floyd mopped the floor w/ Marquez, then how can Pacquiao hope to stand a chance? Watch Mayweather whenever you can, folks. You might be watching one of the top 4 or 5 fighters of all time in action...



11. Last thing; we were in Chicago last week for opening night of the U2 tour. Great city, great stadium (Soldier Field is amazing!), great food, great people, and most of all, a great band. If you have the chance to see them on this tour, don't hesitate to drop a few bucks. It's well worth it, and I can't wait to go to Charlottesville in 2 weeks time for another show.



Yeah, it's a half-assed column, but I'm in a half-assed frame of mind today. Thanks for reading!

He’s Not Coming Back

Yo, Johnny! I'll see you in the next life!

After a weekend that saw United lose for the first time at home in league play, the first weekend in the National Fantasy Football League, and some crazy outbursts from Kanye and Serena, Monday brought some bad news. And that had nothing to do T.O. only pulling down two catches. Oh wait, that wasn’t bad news.

Patrick Swayze passed away after battling pancreatic cancer like it was Warchild. On this blog, he’s not brought up because of his roles in Ghost or Dirty Dancing, for obvious reasons. However, he was one of the Wolverines (and not the Michigan variety) in Red Dawn, a bad ass bouncer in Roadhouse, and -- my favorite -- a surfer/bank robber in Point Break (sorry, couldn’t help on the link). Bodhi was his best role, barely topping the Chippendale he played on SNL, and the best meatball sub I’ve ever had was while watching a live action play of Point Break. Vaya con dios, Senor Swayze.

Now onto the soccer…

- D.C. lost to Seattle 2-1 for the second time in ten days at RFK. Both game-winners were scored by Fredy Montero (though this time he avoided the wrath of Wicks who might be the first soccer player to be showing signs of roid rage). And both games saw Sigi Schmid ingest roughly 5,000 calories in the post-game meal. At this point it’s clear that this United team needs to be blown up, to whatever extent that’s possible in a salary cap system, in the offseason. Which means you might as well bring in a new coach because it’s not like Tom Soehn is working miracles with this group. Sure he’s dealing with injuries, but this team is regressing defensively and can’t figure out what’s going on up front. It would just be a shame if Soehn comes back and Santino Quaranta is jettisoned for calling a spade a spade.

- As you probably know, I haven’t seen much MLS play this year. But I do know this: championship caliber teams don’t give up a 6-spot at home. It’s tough at this point to go against chalk and not predict a Houston-Columbus MLS Cup. My sneaky two, and I guess they could both wind up there depending on how the brackets play out, are Seattle and Colorado. The former would be GREAT for the league with the game at Qwest Field and the latter wouldn’t be sexy, but has a solid attack and relatively cake schedule to jump up the standings.

- Champions League proper starts this week. Quick predictions for the 8 groups (with lots of chalk here):

Group A: Juventus, Bayern, Bordeaux, Maccabi

Group B: ManU, Besiktas, Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow

Group C: Madrid, Marseille, Milan, Zurich

Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atlético, Apoel Nicosia (who?)

Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen (again, who?)

Group F: Barça, Inter, Dynamo Kiev, FK Rubin Kazan (for the turkey, who?)

Group G: Sevilla, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni, Rangers (the weakest CL group ever?)

Group H: Arsenal, Olympiakos, Standard Liege, AZ Alkmaar

Some notes: Rangers are on the bottom only because I hate them; Groups A and C are the best top to bottom; Porto given the edge over Atlético only because of Hulk; I’ve literally never heard of four of these teams -- who decided the new qualification that pitted Celtic against Arsenal in a prelim stage was a good idea? Michel Platini, I’m assuming; could Oguchi Onyewu see his old team (Standard) be playing in CL next year while his current (Milan) are knocked out?

Early (unsurprising) pick to win: Barcelona

Early (relative) surprise pick: Porto

- Eduardo had his two-game ban in Champions League overturned. At this point, why even bother issuing suspensions? It’s ridiculous to me that the same people who dole out suspensions are the same ones that hear appeals and, at this point, it just seems that initial suspensions need to be doubled so that they can be halved upon appeal and the appropriate judgment is handed out in the end. In this one, UEFA got it wrong and diving needs to be dealt with more harshly in the future, especially with all the camera angles we have these days.

Some non-soccer stuff:

- I hope Jason Campbell and Ron Zorn are renting. Or they should at least be lining up a real estate agent. They have a slightly better chance of being here this time next year than the Terps have of being in a BCS bowl this year, but only because the latter is impossible. The Skins have a relatively easy schedule coming up with five straight very winnable games. After that, though, maybe two W’s in the final ten and Denver and Oakland are looking frisky.

- So Bushman was in Chicago for the North America opener of U2’s new tour. Me? I would’ve rather been in Carnegie Hall. I’m a big fan of Bono’s Boys, but Trey Anastasio (lead singer/guitarist in Phish) played with the New York Philharmonic and absolutely crushed You Enjoy Myself. If you’re a music fan, give it a listen. That’s the second half of the song and hopefully Carnegie Hall won’t claim copyright like they’ve done on all the YouTube clips.

- One last bit. Kanye proved again he’s an asshole. It’s just a shame they didn’t have a close up of Mike Myers at the MTV Awards show when he stole the microphone away from Taylor Swift. At the U.S. Open, Serena Williams did her best Johnny Mac -- and it wasn’t jumping over an on-rushing car -- but can’t blame it on being coked out. I can’t stand the family, especially their dad, and the lack of apology following the match -- going so far as to claim she didn’t remember what happened -- followed by a full apology after winning a doubles title many people felt she should have been suspended for rang hollow to me. In a sport that allegedly relies on conduct codes so much, once again Serena was given too much of a benefit of the doubt.

Bushman should be back later this week. That is if I’ve left anything to talk about.

- Pat Walsh

Goal, Goal, Goal For The Red, White, and Blue

Rico pulled a Babe Ruth and called his shot!

So in the end it turned out to be a pretty good night for the good old U.S. and A. Not the best performance in Port of Spain -- how badly would Spain have beaten that team? -- but combined with a couple of other results and qualification is a mere two points away at most. Here are some thoughts:

- Clint Dempsey isn’t deserving of a spot on the field right now. No matter how many times John Harkes started to call him out and then either backed away or gave an excuse, Dempsey has been the worst player for the Yanks in the past two games. Mark texted me and asked if Clint was worse than DaMarcus Beasley, to which I replied that he wasn’t, but I should’ve added that though woefully out of form, DMB at least hustled. Numerous times the camera would pan through the midfield and Dempsey would be seen walking, epitomized in the dying minutes last night when Ching sprinted past a standstill Dempsey to put pressure on T&T’s right back. All of this could be justified if he was a Fernando Torres and scoring goals left and right, but he’s not. Too often Dempsey cheaply turns the ball over in midfield putting pressure on an exposed defense and misses easy chances he can take going forward. If it’s going to come down to needing a result at RFK, I’m rooting for a yellow for Dempsey in Honduras.

- Of course the reason Dempsey played 82 minutes is because of Bob Bradley. Once again we saw no tactical changes from the head coach at half time. Shockingly the team has scored in the second half in back-to-back games, but last night the goal scorer was set to come off. At least the younger Bradley was playing well enough to merit staying on and Bradley the elder was going for a goal with offensive subs, but once again you can’t feel confident going to South Africa with BB on the bench. A good read, summing up some points I’ve made here in the past, is over at The Big Lead. I think some things are taken too far -- for instance, the Jaime Trecker thing is overblown and he deserves it to a certain extent -- but the grand point that the national team has leveled off, if not regressed, is true.

- My last bit of criticism is aimed right at John Harkes. I don’t know if ESPN has neutered him, but I want Wynalda back. At least Waldo would have called out Dempsey and Bradley and not backed away from those statements later on. It seemed like every time Dempsey made a poor play, there was an excuse given, wondering if he was exhausted or fighting a cold or forgot to take his tampon out. Ok, I made up the last one, but still. The point that stood out to me was a long shot by Dempsey taken right into four defenders late in the game when we should have been killing it off and Harkes didn’t say anything, yet when Charlie Davies had an open shot, albeit from an angle, he’s criticized for not crossing where there were multiple U.S. attackers, all marked by T&T defenders. It plays into the idea that there are untouchables for the Americans, both by the coaches and commentators.

- On a positive note, that was the best I’ve seen Tim Howard look in months. He made some big saves and, though he was nearly beaten on Cornell Glen’s chip in the first half, he did well to come out and pressure him. Much more confident in T-Ho, though it’s not like there’s a suitable second option behind him.

- Also, Landon Donovan is at his best level right now. See what happens when you’re single? He assisted all three goals and, as Grant Wahl said, he’s the only consistent offensive option right now. Granted, you wonder how that changes if Torres is given time over Dempsey. Or even Holden for that matter. As it is, I wonder if karma is gonna get him after a couple of undeserved Honda Player of the Year awards and give it to someone else the year he truly deserves.

- Having said all that, if the U.S. can clinch a spot in South Africa with draws in their past two games. Mexico squeaked by Honduras on a PK and El Salvador did the other “Big Three” a mighty favor in knocking off Costa Rica with a last minute goal. A tie at Azteca would have been better according to Bushman, but I’m not so sure. I like that Honduras will have to come out and win and allow us to counter attack. That’s the best-case scenario with Jozy and Davies up front, allowing them to use their speed. Even better for us is the fact that three Hondurans -- Amado Guevara, Danilo Turcios and Osman Chavez -- picked up their second yellows of qualifying and will miss match day 9. On this form, Mexico is going to pick up six more points and easily qualify with 21. Costa Rica hosts Trinidad & Tobago next and should get three points at home, but who knows in their current funk. Either way, a win at RFK seems likely for the Americans, though it would have been nice to have won that game in El Salvador and not needed the final game to decide things.

- The NFL kicks off tonight with Tennessee traveling to Pittsburgh for more than a case of I.C. Light. I really can’t see the Titans keeping up the level of last year and like an easy Stillers win. I might be on to something as the line opened at Pittsburgh -5 and has gone up a point or two.

As for the regular season, if Schaub -- who might be John O’Brien in disguise -- stays healthy, I really like that Houston team. But that’s not a position you want that kind of question with, especially with Rex Grossman as your backup. San Diego will easily walk away with that division -- think New England in the East two years ago -- but have no chance with Norv as their head coach. I do like LDT to have a monster year though, mainly thanks to facing the Raiders, Chiefs, and Broncos twice each.

I think the Skins could be sneaky good, but I almost feel like Jim Zorn needs to pull a Lou Brown and find a way to rally the team, especially Jason Campbell, into thinking management doesn’t believe in them. I certainly don’t want to see Mike Shanahan here next year, but it seems inevitable at this point.

As for division winners, my differences with Bushman would be Seattle over Arizona, Atlanta over New Orleans because I don’t believe the Gregg Williams hype anymore on defense, and the Giants over Philly thanks to karma.

And just because, my Super Bowl pick: Pittsburgh over Green Bay.

- Pat Walsh

Predictions, Predictions...

"Me Love Steelers, nom, nom, nom!!!"

Not much bs-ing today, folks. Got my take on round 8 in tonight's CONCACAF hexagonal, as well as what my Magic 8-Ball told me about this year's NFL season. Let's start with the main forum for this site; soccer.

U.S. - Trinidad & Tobago - I'll be honest; I didn't watch a single minute of the U.S./El Salvador game Saturday night, so i only have people's opinions about what they saw. From the sounds of it, the U.S. wasn't great, but they weren't lousy either. That gives me some worry heading into tonight's road contest against a team that, even though they've essentially been eliminated from qualifying, would love to play the role of spoiler. For the Americans, Onyewu is back and should pair with Bocanegra in the middle to shore up the defense. That's the good news. The bad news? Michael Bradley will also start, and will continue to show his recent piss-poor form. I'd rather see Ricardo Clark and Benny Feilhaber in the central midfield, but one of them will sit as Sideshow Bob's son will never come off the field. What's going to happen next month when Jermaine Jones and Maurice Edu, both of whom play the same position as Bradley but are in better form, are available? Yep, I think so too... Still, the Yanks find a way to squeak this one out, meaning they really only need 1 point in their last 2 games to go to South Africa.

Prediction - U.S. 2 - T&T 1 - Goals by Donovan and Davies

Costa Rica at El Salvador - The wheels have come off the bus for CR, losing their past 2 games by a combined score of 7-0. They're probably better than than their opponent tonight, but El Salvador has played very well in this tournament, even though they have also pretty much been eliminated. i think the home side gets the win, which will tremendously help the U.S. Thanks, guys! Prediction - El Salvador 2 - Costa Rica 0

Honduras at Mexico - This has got all the makings of a classic, as the 2 hottest teams in the region face off in the Azteca. Fortunately, Honduras will not have to contend with the daytime heat and humidity the U.S. had to play in last month. However, Honduras has never won in Mexico, which is no shame, because Costa Rica is the only team to do it, back in 2001. Giovanni dos Santos has been an absolute terror for Mexico these past few games, and might be playing better than anybody else in CONCACAF right now. Mexico's depth will be tested as Team Captain Gerrado Torrado and Guillermo Franco will both sit due to yellow card accumulations. The Honduran offense is rolling on all cylinders right now, but will they attack Mexico or bunker in and slow it down? I think their best bet is to attack, which is why they won't do it...

Prediction - Mexico 1 - Honduras 1

After round 8, there's still going to be 4 teams fighting for the 3 automatic spots, while the 4th place team plays the 5th place South American team, which could be Argentina, Colombia, or Venezuela. None of them would be a walk in the park.

Pro Football

I said Pat and I were going to do more than soccer on this site, so now I'm going to take a stab (no pun intended, OJ) at the NFL season for 2009. Teams are placed in order of where I think they'll finish in each division.

AFC East

New England - The defense might be shaky, but the offense will score 35 points a game.

Miami - A semi-Sophomore slump for Tony Sporano, but they'll still contend for a playoff spot.

Buffalo - I think T.O. throws Trent Edwards under the bus around week 6.

NY Jets - Rex Ryan won't work miracles this year, but the foundation will be laid for the next 5.

AFC South

Indianapolis - Joseph Addai needs to stay healthy, as I have him in both of my fantasy leagues.

Tennessee - Fisher is a great coach, but I don't think they have enough talent to be a threat.

Houston - Could be the surprise team of 2009. They have Pro-Bowlers on both sides of the ball.

Jacksonville - The swan song for Head Coach Jack Del Rio. It comes a year too late for the fans.

AFC North

Pittsburgh - No team in recent memory has been better prepared to defend their Title.

Baltimore - The defense is getting older, and the offense still has trouble clicking every week.

Cincinnati - Good offense, terrible defense, which is such a shocker under Marvin Lewis.

Cleveland - Mangini's team has too many issues to address before the team can move forward.

AFC West

San Diego - Lots of talent, mediocre coaching; the benefits of playing in the NFL's worst division.

Denver - Before Josh McDaniel can act like Belichick, he needs to win like Belichick.

Kansas City - One of the bottom 5 teams in the league still isn't the worst in their own division.

Oakland - The Head Coach sucker-punched an assistant; somewhere, Al Davis was smiling.

NFC East

Philadelphia - Trust me, Michael Vick will have NO impact on this team this year.

NY Giants - League's best pass rush, but I don't believe Eli will find a WR he trusts like Plaxico.

Dallas - Have most of the pieces in place, but not enough playmakers on either side of the ball.

Washington - Vinny and Dan are already looking to replace Campbell and Zorn after this year.

NFC South

New Orleans - Their offense won't lag too far behind New England's when all is said and done.

Atlanta - Won't sneak up on teams this year, but they'll still be really good.

Carolina - They have players who don't want to be there, and Jake Delhomme's arm is shot.

Tampa Bay - Don't have a good QB or RB, and the defense is old. Other than that, they're fine.

NFC North

Green Bay - Aaron Rodgers already has fans forgetting about that guy who's now in Minnesota.

Minnesota - Speaking of that guy, He Who Shall Not Be Named will greatly add to his NFL Interception Record.

Chicago - I don't care what they gave up for him, Cutler still hasn't won a thing in the NFL yet.

Detroit - Nowhere to go but up, right? I say they get 3 wins this year.

NFC West

Arizona - Will be the best team in the NFC West, which isn't really saying much.

Seattle - Have some decent playmakers, but health could be the big factor for this team.

St. Louis - Stephen Jackson must stay healthy because (see Joseph Addai above).

San Francisco - When your 1st round pick would rather take a year off than play for you, you're in some serious trouble.

And now to jinx both teams with my Super Bowl forecast:

New England over Philadelphia

As always, feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

A Worthy Final

That's how many times Drew Carey celebrated Sounders goals.

Maybe that was the game that could put some relevance back into the U.S. Open Cup. It had a dash of everything really, something that doesn’t always happen in finals that tend more towards drab affairs of teams playing not to lose, rather than win. All credit to the Sounders who were the better team on the night and deserved winners of the Dewar Cup.

If you don’t know that Seattle beat D.C. United 2-1 to win the U.S. Open Cup, go read the recap in The Post and see the highlights via No Short Corners.

Some thoughts:

- Look, I know goalkeepers are supposed to be an odd bunch, but Josh Wicks has taken that to a whole new level. Just days after flipping out on teammate Marc Burch in second half stoppage time, Wicks stomped on Fredy Montero’s midsection following the Colombian’s opening goal. Absolutely no reason and to a certain extent ended United’s chances. However, without Wicks in goal in the first half United easily could have been down 3-0. Steve Goff over at The Post didn’t even know how to rate Wicks as the halves were that polarizing. It will be interesting to see how long of a suspension Wicks will receive in future Open Cups for not only massaging Montero’s abs with his cleats but for losing his head with Alex Prus after being shown red. My guess is at least all of next season’s Open Cup games, if not longer. But he’s able to play on Saturday in Dallas, so he’s got that going for him. It also makes you wonder where United would be had they taken Chris Pontius and Stefan Frei in last year’s draft. Rodney Wallace has been solid, but Frei would have filled a gaping hole in the nets as the Cal netminder has done in Toronto.

One more thing on the red card: it took way too long to be shown. I waited for a minute or two after the goal, watched the replay multiple times on the TV in front of our seats, and then went to the bathroom, as it appeared it would be a few more minutes with no repercussions forthcoming. I’ve been told that only the 4^th official, Andy Chapin, saw the play and he’s the one who told Prus to send off Wicks. Was it the right call? Definitely. Did that delay -- especially considering these refs have ear pieces and mics now -- make me think Chapin may have seen something on the JumboTron? Yup. I can’t say what was being shown on the big screen, but the TV’s further up had multiple replays via the FSC feed. Ultimately the call was correct, I’m just not so sure it was done without bending the rules a bit. And Egypt knows what I’m talking about.

UPDATE: Just heard a bit more and I'll rescind what I said in the previous paragraph. Either way, I still hold Prus a bit at fault for not seeing this on his own and for a match as a whole that seemed to issue too many "talking to's" for Seattle players, but that's also probably a bit of United bias in there.

- Both goals came from some poor defending by United. On the first Clyde Simms lost Freddie Ljungberg making the run straight up the field. The second saw Jakovic get easily out-muscled to give up the ball deep in his own end. Even the chances early saw too many players run free right in the middle of the field. This team is still on the search for a central defender they haven’t had since Ryan Nelsen, and to a lesser extent Bobby Boswell, left town. Granted, some of that blame falls on Ben Olsen and Simms from their holding spots in midfield.

- As bad as United’s defense was, their offense was even more abysmal. They rarely threatened with their possession. The once “magic triangle” of Emilio, Gomez, and Moreno aren’t even close to being on the same page. It’s like the three are in a “choose your own adventure book” and every time they seem to be getting somewhere they turn the page to find out they’re dead. Gomez had a handful of set pieces and wasted every single one. Emilio looks lost and doesn’t move off the ball. Moreno was the best of the trio last night, but is showing his age. Santino Quaranta livened things up with his introduction at the half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome his teammate’s shortcomings.

I guess the plus for the front office is it shouldn’t be too tough figuring out who to protect in the upcoming expansion draft. For me at this point it would be Kocic, Namoff, Wallace, Pontius, Quaranta, and Simms for sure, which means you’d have five spots left (if I remember the rules correctly) on so-so players. Not a ringing endorsement for the team.

- The atmosphere was outstanding and I think we can all thank Seattle GM Adrian Hanauer. His complaining sparked United’s full press marketing of the game to more than double the number of fans from last year’s final. Granted playing an MLS team helped, but without the “We Win Trophies” campaign, cheap tickets, and cheap beers and hot dogs there probably would have been closer to 12,000 fans. The 17,329, which marked the third largest for an Open Cup final, saw a great game and was a better way to reel in fans for future MLS games than playing Real Madrid in a friendly.

One last thing about getting fans out. Times are tough and, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have gone had tickets been priced normally. My boy Kevin and I have long felt if D.C. had cheap tickets, say $10 for the behind the goal seats, they’d sell those seats out more often and make more money than selling a quarter of the ones that start at $22. Especially marketing this during mid-week games would help. And something else that would help: cheap beer. Trust me, from at least 15 minutes before kick off all the way through the 70^th minute there were beer lines at least 20 people deep for the $2 domestics. It doesn’t always have to be $2, but even at $5 it’s going to encourage more people to come out and that’s something that D.C. United and all of MLS could use, especially in times when pocket cash isn’t abundant.

- As a final thought, congrats to Seattle. Drew Carey was in town (with a girl who probably weighed as much as one of his legs) and there were a good amount of fans in attendance. Good stuff and something we need to see more of in MLS.

- Pat Walsh