Fighting Talker

My hands shake as I prepare to write a sentence I never thought I'd have to write. Today, we witness an event that shakes the foundations of society. The moment we dreaded most and expected least has finally, finally come to pass.

It appears that the New York Red Bulls made a competent coaching hire.

God help us all.

In all seriousness, I really like Hans Bakke's resume. He's had lots of success in Scandinavia working under similar financial restraints to MLS and...

At least, that should be the prevailing sentiment, shouldn't it?

Every time a USL team somewhere upends an MLS team, as Puerto Rico did to Toronto FC in the CONCACAF Champions League first round, we hear about how the USL is awesome and MLS is a fledgling Sunday kegger league that's on par with the Midland Football Alliance.

And yes, Toronto's failure was bad. They not only were eliminated, but they lost their home leg, 1-0, then were held to a 0-0 draw at Puerto Rico.

New York were the latest to fall to Trinidad opposition, bowing out last night...

This guy Viper502 has been featured here before for his postgame lamenting after Red Bull defeats. Today I stumbled upon his comments at halftime and after the recent NY-LA game, and let me tell you, as a United fan, and simply as a human being, this is hugely funny stuff. I can't quite decide what is funnier, the comments themselves, which include the immortal phrase, "what an abortion of a team we have," or just the people themselves, who look and sound directly out of a Bon Jovi concert or an extras call for the Sopranos. (Except for the one older guy who looks like John Bolton's jersey cousin)....

So, I lead a rather unspectacular life. I have a lot of time on my hands these days, and as part of that, I've decided it would be good to get out an exercise more - good brisk walks and some of the many trails in the area. I want to still be around for the 50th anniversary season of MLS.

Yesterday, I was walking around, dodging thunderstorms, and something caught my eye off to the side. I was hoping it was money - because I always hope that someday I'm going to find a couple bucks dropped along the trail, or maybe a suitcase from a wise guy with stacks of 100s in it (OK, I have...

My personal favorite is the guy who sounds a little bit like Andrew Dice Clay yelling about what a "disgrace it is." If you wait until the end, you get to hear Giants Stadium described as a "temple of football" too.

Am I piling on the Red Bulls fans? Of course. But with Carver making the best decision that TFC will make all year, I felt an urge to shake-up my targets a bit.

This weekend offered us three vibrant examples of what happens when teams fall apart. One of the games had well more at stake than the other two, but while the trio were three of the more talked about games on the weekend, I think it's interesting to look at what happened in a larger sense.

The three games, of course, are Saturday's Manchester United-Tottenham match, which had Premier League title implications; as well as the Real Salt Lake-New England match that night; and then the DC United-New York match on Sunday afternoon.

All three games offered glimpses of...

Someone is going to have to pay for New York's hideous one-win, one-meltdown, 0.60 goal-per-game start, right? Will it be Osorio? Will it be Conway? When will the remaining few RB fans turn on this bunch?

My hunch is that no one will because RB management views this as yet another "interim season" before the Red Bulls "get serious" next year at the new stadium.

I dunno which is worse, the fact that team is a joke or that no one outside of Osorio in that organization seems to...

I know, I know, the Sounders punked New York in the season and their franchise opener tonight, winning 3-0. Great job.

I am never sorry to see the Red Bulls lose for a variety of reasons, and I was glad to see Seattle get off to a good start. Great crowd, good atmosphere (I'm OK with the band thing) and some neat finishes made the Red Bulls look bad.

But, consider another question.

How hard is it to make the Red Bulls look bad?

I know, I know, New York made it to the MLS Cup final last year as the "Western" Conference champions. Once...

Kevin Goldthwaite not pictured, having fallen down on the left

Thoughts at halftime of the Seattle-NY opener:

• So JC Osorio would do well to introduce his defenders to each other before sending them out there. They looked both slow and disorganized, and really have zero excuses for either goal. Montero's finish was great, but how on earth does NY leave Seattle's top scoring threat completely unmarked?
• It's a great atmosphere at Qwest Field, though I am still unsure about the marching

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