There are a lot of things you can say about 2009 MLS Champion Real Salt Lake and their improbable - impossible? - run to the Cup.

But one thing nobody can ever say is that they got it on the cheap.


In order to earn the right to stand on that teeny-tiny little stage they always erect for the awards ceremony so that the photos look like a mob scene instead of 25 people standing on a few sheets of plywood in the middle of a big empty field,...

Although it hardly qualified as a secret that Toronto was hot on the trail of Predrag (as opposed, I guess, to POSTdrag) Whats-his-face (AKA Sensei Preki), nonetheless, credit where credit is due it was the esteemed Ives Galarcep who first posted that it was a done deal.


(Apparently Mo Johnston is taking the approach that hey, if you can't beat 'em then you might as well kick, trip, gouge and punch 'em. )

Much more out of left field is HIS SCOOP TOUTING STEVE SAMPSON as having...

Being unable to make it to Seattle on Friday has more benefits than just the serene knowledge that someone flying standby out of Cleveland got a good break, one of them being that I watched the Supporters' Summit.

I went to one once. It was nice. But I've never gone since, and I've always felt guilty about it. If you're right there anyway, it seems like your civic duty, sort of like voting only with Sam Pierron handing out the stickers.
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My previous comments notwithstanding, I wanted to pass this along. I'm not going to waste a lot of time commenting, but I thought an update was appropriate

As predictably as rain in October, the FAI today formally appealed to FIFA for a replay of the Ireland/France match that was won on an admitted Thierry Henry handball.



I understand the impulse, and sympathize with the motives, but if you can sit through this entire video you're a far braver man than I, or...

Since John (see below) is on the Thierry Henry story, I'm taking a pass on it, for two reasons:

First, because we really don't need two posts on the same topic and second because, frankly, there's just nothing to say. The referee is directly behind Henry and so has no chance to see what occurs. The linesmans' view is blocked, so ditto.

Soccer is a lot like life: it's unfair. Your heart breaks for Ireland, who've gotten the shaft in this whole deal from Day One, and after 500 or so years of misery you'd think the Irish could catch ONE break in something but I guess that's...