by Ethan Johnson
August 5, 2007
Yee haw, it's the Colorado Rapids. AGAIN. Pretty soon, I'll have to get on their mailing list if I attend any more games that they're party to. Let's hope that never happens, because I hate, hate, hate the Rapids. Of course, now that Kyle Beckerman is relegated to Real Salt Lake hell, my burning hatred is more of a shrugging ennui, but to paraphrase Bill Cosby, I love to see Colorado gettin' a beatin'.
Fortunately, after the photographic debacle that was the FCD/Pachuca game, where blurry photos aren't just for breakfast anymore, I decided since I was in the "prawn sandwich" seats to be more ponderous with my photography and do things like apply the Rule of Thirds™ and other composition tricks to try and capture much better photos, rather than try to re-hash the game one frame at a time by way of Continuous Shooting mode. Guess what? Much, much, much better photos this time. But first, your investigative bullet points:
- My one nice thing to say about Colorado going into this match is that their goalie is actually kind of "clutch", at least that's my diagnosis after a few games both live and on TV. If there's one thing I respect on an opposing team, it's a clutch goalie, despite the frustration such a player delivers. It's for this reason that I am so looking forward to seeing Chivas USA later this year, hopefully with Brad Guzan in at goal. Still want FCD to hand them their asses, of course.
- Guess what? FCD has some talent in goal too. Dario Sala wasn't 100% for the SuperLiga game against LA, and it showed, but he wasn't 100% vs. Pachuca either (to the point of his knee buckling around the 78th minute of that game) so I wondered why Ray Burse wasn't in at goal instead. Hate to sound all fair-weathered around here, but Ray Burse? Actually kind of clutch, for a rookie. He got the start last night against Colorado, which means I have now seen all 3 FCD goalies in a season. Whee!
- There was a $10 ticket promotion for this game, which despite all of the nay-saying on the fan forum, delivered the coveted Butts in Seats™ in spades. And despite the reputation of the sideline seats of being "the library" or "prawn sandwich" sections, the fans really got into it (in their seats) and even did call-response stuff with the hardcore support section. But the fact is, compared to Section 116, it is quieter overall, to the point that I could actually hear the players talking to each other on the field. Whoa.
- I have completely given up on trying to figure out what Drew Moor's actual position is (defender, defending mid, mid, attacking mid, forward), but my position is, he can do whatever he wants to, so long as he keeps putting balls in the opponent's net. Due to his propensity to be literally everywhere, I got a lot of Drew Moor shots, as opposed to the usual Toja/Ricchetti combination.
- The sideline crowd loooooved the chant "sky blue is for chicks" after I told them that's what 116 was saying. The other one that was universally appreciated that required no assistance from me was "bullshit" after an incredibly lousy call.
- I have to say this: Love him or hate him, Herculez Gomez is really effing fast. Burse set the ball down to kick it away, and within seconds Gomez came from miles away prepared to kick it between Burse's legs and into the net. Burse snatched the ball away in time to prevent it, and while I would have been furious at the goal I would have given him grudging props for being so opportunistic. But he didn't, so lemme make an "L" on my forehead and say, "DE-NIED!!!"
- There was a handrail in my way, so no photo, but there actually was a guy reading in "the library" instead of watching the game. I question his patriotism.
- FCD aced Colorado 1-0 on a free kick by Dax McCarty, headed in by Drew Moor. Clutch this! Annnnnd, unless they're back around for the playoffs, we've seen the last of Colorado for the regular season.
Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized image. Enjoy!
Hooray, we're back in MLS mode! Next FCD game is August 11 against Columbus. <EM>
(Much, much more virtual ink has been spilled by me about Major League Soccer. The fledgling but growing MLS article archive may be found here.)
