Saying Goodbye Tomorrow

The final home game of the season is tomorrow and while our slim playoff hopes left last week, tomorrow is going to be a home departure for a couple of notable Rapids.  The big one will be Drew Moor, who announced his retirement today.  After an 18 year career its ending (at least at home) almost where it started, with the Rapids hosting his original team FC Dallas.  Drew is an absolute club legend and he retires with the 2nd most starts, appearances, and minutes in team history, trailing only Pablo Mastroeni in all three categories.  He's also one of only 6 field players in league history to reach 400 appearances, more than half of them with the Rapids.  A member of the 2010 MLS Cup winning squad, he's going to go into the Gallery of Honor in the future, and the Rapids press release about his retirement mentions "celebrating him early next year", so expect an induction ceremony at halftime of one of our first home games.

On top of all that, Drew has been a fan favorite since his arrival in 2009 and his return in 2020.  I expect one of the subs tomorrow has already been reserved to get him into the game (if they don't start him, because why not?), which will be his 210th regular season appearance in burgundy.  There's been a lot of talk about what he might do next, everything from coaching to media, but whatever it is I hope the Rapids find room for him to do it here.

Speaking of media, that's the other farewell tomorrow.  Centennial 38 will be giving our favorite commentary duo a sendoff at the tailgate tomorrow, with Fleming and Balboa calling their last game together next week with the Austin away game.  The Apple TV deal means there won't be any "home" and "away" commentary teams next season and it seems unlikely that the duo will be hired to work for the new MLS/Apple streaming setup.  After 10 years they are wrapping it up and since tomorrow's game is on Univision and not Altitude, Richard Fleming has the day off, while Marcelo Balboa is working the game in Spanish.  Despite that, they are going to make time in the hour before scheduled kickoff to stop by the C38 tailgate and get the sending off and love they richly deserve.  Please try to stop by and thank them for everything.

With all of that going on, and with Colorado being out of playoff contention, the actual game seems secondary.  The game is scheduled for kickoff at 1:30, but since its a Univision game there will be about 20 minutes of pregame and actual kickoff will be around 1:50.  It will also likely be wet.  Seems appropriate that a home season that started with disappointment in the snow will end with resignation in the rain.