Rapids History By The Numbers: #27 & #28

After a break for real news we're back to our recap of 25 years of Rapids players.  We're now to the point where the lists are short enough and the choices obvious enough that I'm going to cover multiple numbers in most posts.  Tonight we get two fan favorites.  First, the list for #27.

Byron Foss (2005)
Kosuke Kimura (2007-2012)
Shane O'Neill (2013-2015)
Luis Gil (2017)
Deklan Wynne (2018-2020)

Yeah, this is obviously Koz.  The heart of the 2010 MLS Cup team and maybe the biggest difference between player value and fan love.  The only players I can think of that are more loved by the fans are all in, or will be in, the Gallery of Honor.  Honestly, Koz is probably more loved than some of them even.  He's the only player who's returned to the Dick with another team and had to take a lap of honor after the game to acknowledge the fans.  The only other candidate, O'Neill, played in about half as many games as Koz, never really fully locked down a starting spot, and left under less than ideal circumstances.

Oddly, despite his long time at the club he doesn't appear in the top 10 of any records and his only league honor, other than winning the Cup, was being a finalist for the Fair Play award in 2011.  He had the winning goal to put the Rapids into MLS Cup 2010, even it was meant to be a cross. 

Our list for #28

Alex Blake (2003)
Jordan Cila (2004)
Leo Cullen (2005)
John DiRaimondo (2008)
Davy Armstrong (2010-2014)
Sam Nicholson (2018-2020)

Ironically I was planning to post this on Thursday night, when the news of Nicholson's release pushed it down the schedule.  To show you how easy this pick is, Sam Nicholson had 48 appearances for the Rapids, and was clearly about to rack up more this season before COVID-19 and his personal issues at home led to his Rapids career ending.  The rest of the players who wore 28 had 53 appearances combined.