We can thank the Revs for taking care of the Fire...now the crew needs to take care of business come Saturday.
By chance, was anyone at the pointyball doubleheader last Saturday? If so, how did the field look after those 2 games? I'm obviously concerned about how well the pitch will look for Saturday's game. The Metros do have a game in hand over both the Fire and Crew, however, if they don't WIN that game, the Crew do have their destiny in their own hands. They get the #2 spot and they won't have to face SJ until the finals, and they won't have to play in that little sandbox ERRR Spartan Stadium either.
New England shouldn't be taken lightly. Especially after their win at Chicago. Also, Sunday is the MLL Championship game, so that will add further tear to the field.
With 9 days time between the lacrosse game and the next crew game I think our grounds crew will do okay. But actually, what are the chances that the Lacrosse lines would already be painted onmto the field for Sundays game before Saturday's match. I wouldn't think they'd hold off till Sunday morning to do this, but I have no real knowledge of how they'll work that1.
The previous MLL games left only small thin spots directly in front of the Lacrosse goal. No big deal.
According to my friends who were at the Kilbourne game on Saturday night (2nd of the two games), the field appeared to be in find shape, save for the usual divots, that are easily replaced. You'll probably see the usual lines, if you look hard enough, but the field ought to be in good shape with a weeks time to get things in order.
I was at that game too, but we called it the DeSales game. There were alot of divots, the middle of the field was fairly well trampled, and my backside was quite uncomfortable after sitting through a very boring game. On the plus side, the really fair weather we are having will go a long way towards having a top notch field by game time. I'm telling ya, folks, speaking of my backside, the Crew have me spoiled forever as a sports fan. Sitting for any time longer than two hours and I'm picking my underwear out of my crack, scanning the stands for the surreptitious boob shot, and basically just twiddling my thumbs and contemplating the drive home. Add the fact that it was a high school football game and I was stuck wondering (sometimes aloud) the true purpose of cheerleaders when they aren't actually 'leading' anyone in their cheering, contemplating the caloric intake of teenage flag team members, uncomfortably noticing that my nephew doesn't quite fill out the back of his football pants which leaves this baggy area closely resembling a loaded diaper, and trying to figure out why there were both black and gray costumed horses prancing around the sidelines when having those same two kids in one horse oufit would have made more sense anatomically and financially. Well, come to think of it, I do most of those same things at Crew games except for the underpants picking. Odd how one pain-in-the-ass can color a whole evening.
Keep in mind the revs have a game Wed night vs olorado. That could go either way for us, they could be tired as hell during their third game in 8 days. Or, they could feel a sense of urgency after a win or loss and be running on pure adreniline. If they win on WED and we don't tie saturday one team will have the first three game winning streak this season. Crazy to think about.
There is no way that we can allow the Revs to come back into our house and steal another 3 points from us. Greg better have the boys fired up for this one and playing with all they got. It's bad enough that we haven't been able to handle them properly this year w/o adding in that we're giving them (verbally at least) a shot of winning this one. We better get that 3 game winning streak. Besides, isn't August supposed to be our month? I think the Wednesday game can only help us. Revs can pick up cards (& suspensions), they could get injured, fatigued so we can kill them in the 2nd half, etc. If they lose on Wednesday, I think their season is pretty much over, like DC. I'd look for more teams to start clinching playoff births this weekend. For example, if the Revs don't win on Wed night, then Dallas and LA both clinch playoff spots, and if it's a loss to Colorado, then they clinch a spot too.
Hell, even a tie on Saturday does us good. By good I mean getting into the playoffs. Right now winning the division is still a pipe dream for me...
Interesting now that the Revs ran over the Rapids tonight. If there's a winner at CCS on Saturday, MLS will have their first 3-game win streak this season. This is a must win game for the Crew to put some distance between them and both NE and KC; and with SJ and the two Fire games coming up.
I agree its definately a must win. As hot as the Crew has been, I still look atr those last three games of the season and would not be suprised if we lost all 3. A win here and we are pretty much guarenteed in I think. I'd rather not sweat out the San Jose game and two fire games. I watched the Revs game last nioght and though they won 3-1, were they actually that good or did the Rapids just roll over and die. They looked asleep in the first half. That being said, we can not allow Griffiths or Ralston Room on the flanks. Also, Llamosa went out of the game early and Twelllman limped off late, both are possibly tweaked and thats only good news for us
As posted by Johnny Rev on teh Revs board... Gus Martins in the Herald: "Twellman limped out of the locker room on crutches with a pair of injured ankles he said he might have X-rays taken on today." Not exactly a bad thing for the crew. He took a couple awful tackles that game.
I'm certainly not too happy that NE won last night, but then again, who knows how it will all play out in the end. I don't want to revel in the misfortune of others, but having Twellman sidelined would certainly help our cause quite a bit. Also, Griffiths came out way early too (36th). Is he also injured? I almost think that we should keep Jeff and Buddle up top and not mess with what worked so well against KC. I'm afraid that with McBride having taken so much time off that he won't be as cohesive up front.
That's what happens when you run into the Rapids hacks. Titus and Stewart are bringing the legacy of John Doyle back into the league.
Griffiths isn't hurt. He was just terribly ineffective in the first 36 minutes of the match, and Nicol brought in Brian Kamler to replace him. The word is that Twellman's ankles are only bruised, and they're hopeful he can play on Saturday after a few days of rest. Llamosa pulled something in his thigh, and is much less likely to play.
In this morning's Dispatch Merz mentioned that nearly 20,000 have been sold for tomorrow's match. Hopefully Columbus sends us home happy.
im expecting a great game from both sides, more from the revs though. Revs playoffs hopes is on the line, while the Crew just need some points to clinch. Watch out for Harris, he will pull some defenders off Twellman, which will open him up, and will score. (Just look at the colorado game). Series is 2-1 in favor of the revs, with scorelines being 2-0, 1-2 (OT) and 4-1.