Reed - "utterly wrong" sounded a bit schoolmasterish (or twattish). Sorry about that. Maybe "a bit wrong". At least you had the option of falling asleep. I negotiated a long metro ride home where two nutters (one angry, one laughing manically) were playing off each other - that was okay as it meant they weren't paying any attention to the travelling public, until the angry nutter ("THESE PEOPLE ON THIS TRAIN GOT NO FUCKING HOMES TO GO TO!") got off and left the manic nutter shouting out loud how they could make as many laws as they wanted but "more and more negroes are just gonna keep coming into this country heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee."

And then, at the other end, I got stopped at the gate for not having enough money on my ticket - I thought $5.10 would cover me there and back to RFK, but fares have gone up lately (again), and as the helpful member of metro staff barked at me like I was a fucking imbecile (when I said $3.30 was a lot of money for a single journey): "You went down there in the rush hour!" Still, at least Blanco was worth the money. All praises to Uncle Don's DP rule.

Our David is slow on updating his blog, he's only got as far as describing his two goals against RSL - one of which was voted in the top ten goals of the week on 101greatgoals.com.

QUOTE:
Hi everyone,

To top a great birthday on Friday, we managed to get a good draw against Real Salt Lake on Saturday, which was very pleasing, because we didn’t have the best of starts against them. We didn’t play well for the first 20 minutes and it took a few tackles before we livened up and got ourselves back in the game.
I’m delighted to have scored again. My game is mostly about making goals for others, but obviously if a chance does come along I’ll happily take it, so I’m pleased I could contribute with a couple of goals and help us draw the game away from home.
We have Red Bull New York next and we’re at home again, so we’ll be looking for another good performance to keep us up near the top of the league.

Speak to you all soon
Take care,

David

Strange that after Chicago's second goal, the ESPN cameras seemed to focus exclusively on the Screaming Eagles. I turned it on about 15 minutes before the second goal, so they might have been showing them a lot earlier, but it was weird to do so when it was clear DC had no chance of winning.

Cos they're The Greatest Fans In The League, inca. Even when they're losing, they're still singing!!!! Look America, this is what soccer's all about, fans who are losing are just having a ball - come and join in the fun and make us more than a minor league sport. Pleeeeease.

QUOTE:
Look America, this is what soccer's all about, fans who are losing are just having a ball

Well, that kind of fan culture is kind of football's main distinction as a consumer product in the NA market, no? Lord knows, choir practice was the only reason to keep going to TFC matches last season after O'Brien got injured.

Treating people like imbiciles is the only joy those Metro people have in their job, I think.

Blanco is clearly the best DP signing so far, and perhaps the best overall foreign addition to MLS in recent years.

His was a brilliant goal. But Mapp's goal was as much about terrible man-marking as quality offensive play by Chicago.

Yeah, but sometimes it seems to me that fans here (in DC) are trying a bit too hard to make it look like they're having a good time because they think that's what's expected of them, and that they have to mug to the camera the whole time to show how different they are compared with 1. the dozing suburbanites in dead stadiums like Columbus and Colorado and 2. the steak-chewing, bull-necked jocks of gridiron who leave early if their team's not winning. They're fanatical about showing off their fanaticism, and I find it a bit wearing sometimes. They should have spent the last 30 minutes last night booing this shocking bunch of fucking wasters. You know, send a message. We're fans, but we have our limits too.

In Section 8, we have an informal rule that if they point a television camera at you, you give it the finger. They soon stop showing you then. Supporters are there to support the team during the game.

I too would like to see a bit more fan backlash against this current team. DC's had losers in the past, but I don't recall them being this dire.

The Ray Hudson era at least had the odd buccanneering run from Bobby Convey and Abdul Conteh would often come on late and do something exciting.

This is just mind numbing.

USA 6 (six)
CAN 0

Kai x3, Tarpley, Lloyd, Osborne.

When Leslie Osborne made it 6-0 in the 87th, they kept going for the extra point. That was the best I've seen us play since about 2000. Canada were completely anonymous and overrun.

I take it neither Sinclair nor Lang were playing for Canada?

So, is Tommy Soehn going to get fired or what? The whole situation seems like a coach-sacking in the works. Who is out there that could replace him?

Steve McClaren? I'm semi-serious.

It's possible. Do you think he'd be any good in MLS?

SGE is looking for work too, isn't he?

AG: CAN: 18-Erin McLeod; 6-Sophie Schmidt (4-Clare Rustad, 46), 9-Candace Chapman, 10-Martina Franko, 11-Randee Hermus; 8-Diana Matheson, 19-Jonelle Filigno, 7-Rhian Wilkinson (5-Robin Gayle, 73); 12-Christine Sinclair, 14-Melissa Tancredi (17-Brittany Timko, 90), 15-Kara Lang (21-Jodi-Ann Robinson, 70).
Subs not used: 1-Karina LeBlanc, 2-Kristina Kiss, 13-Amy Walsh.


That's pretty much the varsity, right? I recognize a lot of those names.