Each year has had great moments, but overall which season has been the best? My vote goes to the 2000 season. For the following reasons- The winner of the Supporters Shield was in the final, I guess you could say I'm a purist and I don't like the playoff thing where your seasons best team could get knocked out if they have a couple of bad games. It was the first year without the shootout and the clock counted up. It was definetly a year of celebration. The Earthquakes replaced the Clash. Better name, better uniforms and better logo. The Fusion were still with us and we still had the joy of watching them play in a proper stadium. Uniforms as a whole had improved from the past two or three years. LA, Dallas, Tampa, and NY/NJ got rid of those jerseys with the thin vertical or horizontal lines. They began to go with styles that they are still currently using. ESPN gave us MLS Extratime, for the first time we had somewhere to turn for highlights. And finally, MLS Cup 2000 was a hard fought battle, eventhough it ended only 1-0, it was a great game with Meola putting on a great defensive performance.
So far the 1998 season seems to be the most preffered but the only season highlight from that year would be the addition of Chicago and Miami. Chicago took over the league and ran all over DC in the final, good memories yes, but I still think 2000 was the year the league advanced the most. Keep the votes comming though, thanks.
To me 2000 = the year KC won the MLS Cup playing some of the most boring soccer I've ever seen. My favorite year is 1999 since it was highlighted by perhaps MLS' most exciting match ever, Dallas' 3-2 victory over Chicago in Game 3 of their playoff series.
2000 was the year we finally saw a champion team play at the level of the great world clubs. KC was unbeatable. Brazil couldn't score a goal off of Meola & company. Simply the finest soccer America has ever produced.
In Columbus, obviously 1999 was awesome with the opening of Crew Stadium, but personally, nothing will beat year 1 (1996). Although the Crew played in Ohio Stadium, which makes Spartan Stadium look wide, there was such a new buzz and every player was still larger than life, because the only ones we knew right off the bat, we'd only seen in the World Cup! The opening game for the Crew was a 4-0 drubbing of DC in which McBride scored one of the most brilliant MLS goals of all time. The second home game was a loss to Tampa Bay, but it was cool to see Carlos Valderamma playing in Columbus, Ohio. The third home game ever was the best, it was 35 degrees, and 25,000 fans watched the Crew, down 2-1 to the Revs with 90 seconds remaining (remember, the clock still counted down then), pull off an amazing come from behind victory, and then almost all of the 25,000 stormed the field! It was awesome! Nothingwill beat that first year for me, until the Crew wins a title, or until I make my pre debut with them. I'm sure they are in the market for a 26 year old, overweight middie, who can't jump and is completely without pace!
For that reason alone, I vote 2002 the worst. And not just because MLS assassinated those teams -- which is bad enough -- but because the league lied about the assassination before, during and after it occured.
Knee jerk reaction, I'd go with 2000, obviously. Overall I'd say '98. *If I though about it, I'd say 1996 was best because it was first and wonderful. You never forget your first. *KC was great in '97 and played like Miami did in 2001. Brad Friedel was worth watching, as were Zenga, Pope, and Preki. Run and gun soccer. *'98 was great for many reasons: LA's dominance. The highest scoring year in MLS if you like offense. Expansion and two new teams. One good SS stadium(MIA). One excellent concept for a team (Fire). Stern John and McBride were highlites to watch. The LA goal scoring show was an awesome thing to behold; as was Chicago's run in the season and playofffs. Novak, Stoichkov, Kubik, Welton. McBride's goal of the year. *'99 - Was there any good soccer in 1999? There wasn't much of anything memorable. Kreis was MVP, 12 average (or worse) teams. A crap All-star game and poor playoffs where close games were rare. Even the final was rainy and cold. *'00 - Diallo and The Tony Meola show. That said I enjoyed watching the run-and-gun Ron Newman led KC team much better. KC's defense was solid all season. Tony touched everything that came his way and took the MVP. Their late season/playoff run saw many 1-0 and 0-0 scorlines. People assume that KC played back all year. They didn't, they just couldn't finish until after :75 minuntes. Chicago outgunned KC and probably deserved more. Molnar and Meola were clutch. But peolple want goals. 2000 remains the only year the best two teams ended up in the final. (Someone will bring up '99 dc/LA. I don't agree, DAL was better than dc that year, CHI has an arguement to the point. dc in the West does not go 23-9, no way. They gave up 5 in the East final. dc went 15-1 v horrible NY/MIA/NE/TB all 4 times. In a 32 game season only TB had as many as 30 points. Take out a sweep of 8-win KC and that's 6-8 v good teams. West 5th place SJ swept dc. On the short list of dominant MLS teams dc '99 gets barely an honorable mention. dc got lucky and won the Cup. Worst team to win one? Maybe, it's a runoff with dc '96. There's a good reason why MLS went to the seeded format after this debacle.) *'01 - How can you argue with getting to watch Miami all season? Howard and Thornton stepping up. Since Miami didn't win anything but the shield, this season will be remembered for mismanagement and the contraction of TB and MIA. Pity. *'02 - So far we have (like '99) 10 average or worse teams at a much higher quality level (play during a Cup year which never helps). Small rosters and injuries to decimate everyone, especially dc and CHI. Schedue congestion to decimate Dallas and KC. The biggest ever MLS trade, El Flopidito, and Twellman aside, this season is more notable for failures of certain types and negative streaks than for what LA and SJ have accomplished. So far. There is the promise of a great playoffs loaded with Game 3 drama. Let's hope it comes to fruition.