News and Notes 1/12/10

A couple of interesting tidbits from today:

• Denver made the "final" cut for the U.S.'s bid to host the 2018 or the 2022 World Cup. Countries are submitting one bid for both as FIFA will choose the hosts for both at the same time (one last money grab for the older FIFA board members). 18 cities are in the bid, but only 9-12 will actually be used during a World Cup, so another 6 or so cities will be "cut" if the U.S. wins the bid. The cities I think are most likely to be cut are San Diego, Phoenix, Baltimore, Nashville, and Tampa. The 6th city is a toss up between Kansas City, Atlanta, and Denver IMO. Denver isn't near any of the other cities likely to make the cut and I'm not sure what FIFA will think of the altitude. On the flip side Colorado would be a good training base for teams with the number of complexes around here, and its a good mid-way point for teams that may have to play games on either side of the country.

• The Rapids will be removing the temporary bleachers from above the stage pad on the North end of DSG Park and replacing them with tiered terraces. The North end will become the new home of the supporters groups (other than Class Vi who will keep their spot in Section 108). This is a great move for everyone involved. It gets more viability for the groups, it gets them away from the "family-friendly" crowds that complain about their antics, and it gets them closer to the team, who enter and exit the field through that section. Honestly I can't figure out why they didn't design The Dick this way from the start.

• The MLS Superdraft is Thursday. It will be streamed on ESPN360.com. The Rapids hold two 2nd round picks, along with a 3rd and 4th round pick. A common target for the Rapids in mock drafts is Nick Cardenas, a Colorado native playing at San Diego St. He's a center back though and we already have 7 of those on the roster.

• The 2010 jersey designs were released by Adidas. There are no real changes to the Rapids jerseys, as expected since this is the 2nd year of the standard 2 year cycle for jerseys. The only noticeable change in the graphic mock-ups in the catalog is that the long-sleeve home jersey replaces the 5280 on the back with a Rapids in a script font and the road jersey doesn't show anything on the back. Since these are just mock-ups and not pictures of the actual jerseys I'm think they are just showing off what other possibilities could be added. I expect we'll see 5280 on the back of all the jerseys this season.
  

Mid-Season Roundup

So, time to get caught up with my other teams. Obviously the Rapids are still in the off season, but my other 4 teams are all int he middle of their seasons.

Queen of the South - Queens is having its best season since the year they won the Second Division and are on course to finish higher in the league pyramid than ever in their history. The lousy weather in the UK has played havoc with their schedules though, they've had 3 games called off in recent weeks. QoS have played 18 of their 36 games and currently sit in a 3-way tie for 2nd in the First Division, due to goal differential they are winning the tiebreaker. Unfortunately they are a full 8 points behind leaders Dundee, but the Doonhamers have 2 games in hand and later this month Dundee will be traveling to Palmerston Park for a top of the table clash. Queens has already beaten and drawn Dundee this season, so there's a real chance that we'll close the gap. QoS has been eliminated from all 3 of their Cup competitions for the season.

Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn has had a better start to this season than last, with the exception of bad losses against the 'Big 4'. At the mid-point of the season (20 of 38 games played) Rovers are 13th, 3 points above the relegation zone. This is better than last year when they spent most of the season in the relegation zone, only to escape at the end. Currently though Blackburn is on a 8 game win less streak in league play, with a game at Man City scheduled for Monday. Over the New Year's weekend the Rovers were eliminated from the FA Cup at the hands of Big Bad Brad Friedel and Aston Villa, but they face them again in the 2-legged semifinal of the League Cup starting on Thursday.

CD Tenerife - Tenerife is having a rough time in their return to the Primera Division. After a strong start to the season, especially at home, they've struggled with only 1 win in their last 8 games. Still they've done enough to still be out of the relegation zone at this time, sitting 17th with a 2 point cushion after 16 of 38 games. There's a big match up tomorrow as Barcelona makes its first trip back tot he Canary Islands since CDT was promoted. The game can be seen on ESPN360,, and I'm really looking forward to it. After that 3 of the next 4 games are against teams int he bottom half of the table, so hopefully they'll be able to get a run going. The Los blanquiazules have been eliminated from the Copa del Ray already

Melbourne Victory - Melbourne are about 2/3rds of the way through the season, with only 7 of their 27 games remaining. They currently sit 2nd. 3 points behind rivals Sydney FC with a game in hand. The final game of the regular season is at Sydney, so this one will probably go down to the wire. There is no Cup competition in Australia yet, just the playoffs for the top 6 teams after the season ends.

Why Melbourne Victory?

As promised, an update to my list of teams that I follow. I've done previous posts about the Colorado Rapids, Queen of the South, Blackburn Rovers, and CD Tenerife. As well as the now defunct Kildare County and my brief following of My FC team Ebbsfleet United. This time we're heading to the land Down Under for the Melbourne Victory of the Australian A-League.

I had a passing interest in the Australian league for its first 3 seasons, mainly due to its similarities with MLS. Its a new league in a country that's been dominated by sports other than soccer. Its fighting a number of the same issues MLS did early in its life, like small crowds in large stadiums, possible over expansion, and trying to get respect on the sporting landscape. Since Rupert Murdoch seems to own all the TV rights to the league we get a game or so a week on Fox Soccer Channel here in the States so it made it easy to peek in on the league and see what was happening.

It wasn't until right before the 2008 MLS season that I really picked a team to follow. One of my other hobbies is strategic board gaming. If anyone has played Settlers of Catan you'll know what kind of games I'm talking about, along with what people think of when they think of wargames. The largest community for that hobby on-line is at BoardGameGeek. As with any large community discussion tends to spread beyond the original reason for the gathering and a forum for soccer fans was created. At one point the moderator of that forum, an Aussie, asked for suggestions of which MLS team he should follow. I suggested the Rapids of course, and my arguments were apparently convincing as he has taken up the burgundy & blue! I would assume he's the lone member of the Australian Rapids Supporters Group. ;)

After he decided to follow the Rapids I decided to follow his A-League team, the Melbourne Victory. They tend to show up on FSC every couple of months (more often than Blackburn lately) so I've gotten to see a handful of games the last couple of seasons. Their level of play is about equal to MLS, though I think the best MLS teams could handle the top of the A-League (which would include the Victory). Over the short 4 year history of the A-League the Victory have won the title twice, and won their version of the Supporter's Shield those same two years. Currently Melbourne are in 2nd place, 3 points behind hated rivals Sydney FC with a game in hand. There are 7 games left for the Victory before the playoffs and it looks like Melbourne will have a shot at being the first repeat champions.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry things went quiet last month. With no Rapids news and working 10 hour days a majority of a time, not to mention the in-laws visiting for the holidays, something had to give. All that is (hopefully) behind me though, so expect to see a more regular posting schedule here. This week I'm hoping to do an update on my overseas teams as well as introduce you to the Melbourne Victory, who I've started following.

There has been one hint of Rapids news this week. Supposedly Conor Casey has agreed a new contract with the Rapids instead of pursuing interest from Germany and Turkey. This is all contingent on the union signing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league. Terms have not been leaked yet, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was over 300K.

Here's to a 2010 where the Rapids lift at least two cups, the RMC and either MLS Cup or the USOC!

Rapids Town Hall

Last night the Rapids held a Town Hall at the Dick for season ticket holders. I was planning on going until an unexpected problem at work had me working late. They provided a live stream on their website though and I was able to watch from my computer.

honestly it was mainly Jeff Plush' end-of-season letter in a live format. A good deal of talk about how KSE is committed to building a winner, how last season was not the result they were looking for, etc. Other than seeing some friends who I haven't seen since the last home game I don't really think I missed anything by not being there.

I did try to get the following question asked by emailing to the address they provided for questions, but it wasn't read:

After the 2007 season Jeff wrote a letter saying that the results that season were unacceptable. 2008 and 2009 looked much like 2007 with our season ending in the last game at the hands of our rivals. After the 2009 season Jeff wrote another letter saying the results were unacceptable. Why should we expect anything different in 2010, and what are you going to do different this offseason than you have done the last couple offseasons?

Other than that the only real news was that they were a bit surprised that Harvey was taken int he expansion draft and that they left him exposed as a "calculated risk". They also said that they see Gibbs being a valued member of the team going forward, which is why they chose to protect him. I disagree on their decisions on both players but what's done is done.

Plush talked about the Dick maybe not being the answer for big international friendlies and that they may consider laying those games at Invesco int he future. Its better for the visiting teams because of the location. To me that just sounds like an excuse. He also said that they didn't bring teams in like Milan because it would have required raising ticket prices to pay for them.