Even Better Than The Real Thing

Yeah, it's a cheesy title, but it's true...

Let me kick things off by saying if you have a chance to catch U2 -- and there are tickets available for tonight in Charlottesville, VA -- do it! It was an amazing show, the first time I’d seen the Irish quartet since PopMart in ’97 and this stage is worth the price of admission (as you can see above from my seats on Tuesday at FedEx Field). Fortunately my trip to Snyder Castle wasn’t as bad as the one Mark talked about on Monday, but that may be my least favorite stadium I’ve ever been to.

Onto the futbol…

- So United won their third in a row in Champions League. But, in the 20 minutes I saw at the end of the first half last night, it’s sad that San Juan Jabloteh is in the tournament. Two of those three United wins are against the T&T side and the third was home to Marathon, who were exhausted from extensive travel in getting to RFK. In a nutshell, these results nothing to write home about.

- In league play, United followed the Skins by losing to a team with an extensive losing streak going. New England losing to Dallas helped their cause to make the playoffs last night, but can you really say that D.C. deserves to be in the postseason at this point? If they do somehow make it, they’ll wind up playing Columbus or Houston and be out just two games later. I’m not so sure missing the postseason and losing in Toluca to let Marathon into the knockout stage isn’t the worst thing for D.C. in the long run. I’d say blow up the team and build around a core group of younger guys with a new coach and front office, but I’ve heard that Gomez and Emilio have contracts running through next year. So that plan doesn’t work so well unless they can fleece someone for Christian again and/or pay Luciano more money since that’s when it seems he scores.

- One last bit of United news, I heard that Josh Wicks had his disciplinary hearing yesterday. With all of the video evidence Wicks might need to summon Johnnie Cochran from the dead and either use the Chewbacca defense or claim “if the boots don’t fit, you must acquit” while showing Wicks trying on an old pair of Nick Rimando’s cleats.

- Elsewhere in MLS stuff, I was just talking to my boy Kevin about Jeff Cunningham. He makes a good point that, with more consistent playing time, he should be well past Jaime Moreno for the all time lead in goals scored. He’s certainly one of the streakiest players in the league’s history in addition to having some great hair. However, he also can be a bit of a cancer from what I’ve heard and has bounced around since Columbus got rid of him after 2004 (when they won the Supporters’ Shield, and also the only time Cunningham has played in 30 games in the same season). He scored the only goal last night in FCD’s win to give him 16 on the year to go with seven assists on a team that has three winnable games left. With nine more points, they would finish with 42 and be on the bubble of the playoffs, though probably on the wrong side looking in. Shalrie Joseph and Landon Donovan would be 1-2 in my MVP vote this year, but shouldn’t Cunningham be in the discussion?

- Thus far Man U aren’t missing Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of results. But you have to assume the will the more Champions League goes on. Real Madrid are certainly happy to have CR9 though. Two goals in 69 minutes -- where are you Esten Perez, huh? -- isn’t too shabby and that gives him eight in his last six games, though with subs his playing time equals out to less than five full games. Chelsea also showing a chink in the armor with a loss away to Wigan and beating a team I’ve never heard of before just 1-0 away in Champions League; not that they should win every game or blow everyone out, but just goes to show they won’t be running away with the Prem even if they have the deepest midfield ever.

- I’d talk about some football, but as far as I’m concerned Maryland and the Redskins are dead to me this year. I think Mark covered the Redskins and at this point they’re kinda like the Orioles for me in that I’ll root for them, but it’s tough to put my heart into it when the team’s owner sucks the life out of the fanbase. I’m fully expecting Mike Shanahan to be hired this offseason, but I’m holding out hope for Mike Holmgren who I think still has some good things in the tank. As for Team Fridge, you can say Terps football is better this decade than it has been since Bobby Ross left in the post-Len Bias cleaning house. Ralph is a good coach, but has suffered in recruiting and has never developed a QB like he was expected to. Being mediocre is fine (read: going to bowls and making millions), and it would be nice to contend for a title every few years, so financially I don’t see both Fridge and coach in waiting James Franklin being canned. But that’s still not going to fill Byrd except for when teams like VaTech come to town.

- One last bit. My friend slash old boss from Goal.com Greg Lalas is one of the people putting on a film festival coming to D.C. in mid-October. There's four films, including a midnight showing of Victory! Check out their website creatively named after the festival: Kicking and Screening.

- Pat Walsh