It's the Sons of Lamar playing tonight.
You never know what's going to happen when FCD and the Crew get together. Last time, it snowed. In Dallas. In the Spring. That was so unlikely it rates just below alien invasion on the 'Likely to Happen' scale. It made for some great photos, however. As would an alien invasion, to be fair.
If there was, in fact, an alien invasion during a match at Pizza Hut Park, the Inferno and El Matador would see to it the visitors made it to the Tailgate, then they'd proceed to get them good and drunk before kickoff, and all you would see on the national news would be little green men in Hoops jerseys, waving flags and chanting the theme song to “Dallas” at the top of their lungs.
That, as the young people say, would rule.
Kevin Hartman in the goal for the injured Darío Sala. I'm glad to have Kevin in goal. He's the David James of American soccer; a top-shelf keeper who is remembered unfairly for one or two aberrations which were both costly and highly visible. It's a bad rap on both of them, and any team with any sense would take them in a time of need.
Atiba Harris just misses from distance in the 14th Minute. Yeah, I dare you not to put a man on him. I dare you to give him space anywhere near the goal. Please, please do that. Do that one thing for me. I'll be happy.
In the away supporters corner, it looks like about a dozen Crew fans made the trip in to Dallas for the match. They're from the Nordecke supporters group, if I'm not mistaken. That's a long haul to make for an away game. Very impressive.
Speaking of fans, on the home side, there is nobody at this game. There are six million people in the Dallas Metroplex; how can the front office not find a way to put 20,000 of them in the stands for a home game on a consistent basis? This is getting embarrassing.
Heath Pearce may be the key to Jeff Cunningham having another big season. His service from the left side is going to be lots of trouble for lots of teams this year.
Oh wow. Philadelphia beat DC United. It is going to be a long season for DC. To all my friends in Barra Brava, let me just say: I feel your pain, people. I feel your pain.
Feirreira draws a PK in the 28th minute. We look so very dangerous offensively tonight. It both delights and frightens me. It's new territory. We actually possess a multi-player, multi-positional, unpredictable attacking style of play.
Cunningham drills the PK, we're up 1-0.
Hmm. Was that optimism I just felt just now?
Must. Repress. Feelings.
Dax just took a full-blast clearance right in the mush. He may have broken his nose. I've had that happen before; it is as disorienting as it is painful. Yeah, I just compared myself to Dax McCarty. And, yes, I feel a little ashamed of myself, thank you for asking.
Speaking of Dax, it is really a pleasure to watch him work the midfield. It's like watching Carlos Valderrama, but with about 10 times the energy.
In contrast, watching me play soccer was like watching Wilmer Valderrama, the guy who played Fez on “That 70's Show”.
Wow, a 1-0 lead at the half. I'll take that.
So, I now understand the meaning behind the “Yellow Card Row” which is next to the Inferno/El Matador section of the Pizza Hut Park. It is, so it seems, sponsored by Yellow Tail wine. So now, unlike last week, where I was puzzled and disapproving, I am now 100% behind the concept. Because Yellow Tail is really good. I am a big fan - especially of the Shiraz.
That, by the way, was an uncompensated endorsement. However, if there is, by chance, a Yellow Tail distributor reading, you know, I'm just sayin' . . . being a sponsor of this column could generate literally, oh, tens of people seeing your logo each week. Tempting, isn't it?
Anyway.
Zach Loyd is from Oklahoma? That's greatness; I had no idea. Probably the first Okie in the league since Joe-Max Moore. Though they're both from Tulsa. Now we just need someone from Oklahoma City (or, as we like to call it, “The City”) and all will be right in the universe.
Columbus equalizes through Adam Moffatt in the 52nd minute. We've come out flat in the second half, after coming out gangbusters in the first. Bah, I say. Bah!
Defensively, Columbus has come to the conclusion that fouls are only strategy available to contain Dallas in the midfield. Lots of shirt pulling and shoulder grabbing going on. Although to be fair, Heath Pearce just got a yellow for a hard foul on Steven Lenhart. But that's different. Somehow. In my little world.
I kinda like that Lenhart kid by the way. Tenacious and skilled. I wouldn't mind seeing him in hoops.
Speaking of Crew players I like, Frankie Hejduk is something like fifty years old by now, and I don't think there's a player on the field he couldn't run right smack into the ground, in terms of pure endurance. Is he in the mix for going to the World Cup this summer? He should be, if just for the experience factor.
Eric Avila on for Jair Benitez. Schellas Hyndman must be pretty happy to have the kind of depth that keeps Avila in a late-substitute role. Not to mention Bruno Guarda, who is a Hyndman favorite. I don't know much about soccer, but I know enough to know depth is important in a league where half the teams make the playoffs. No one is really out of the running if they can just make it to the post season and peak at the right time. Stay healthy and have a bench, and you have a shot in MLS.
Big save by Hartman to preserve the tie.
Oh, no. George John called for a foul in the box. PK to the Crew. Great.
Come on, Kevin, be a hero.
AHHHHHH! Hartman made a heroic save, but Schelotto nods in the rebound.
Howls! Howls of inappropriate language and expressions of unhappiness!
(Sorry, this is a family column, that's as close as I like to come to swearing. Usually.)
We're still pressing and looking dangerous, but I'm afraid we're not going to be able to tie this thing up.
Man, Heath Pearce looks good overlapping from the back. Kind of reminds me of Paul Broome, from the old Burn days.
The boys are really playing hard trying to equalize; its good to see the fuego back, if nothing else. I've talked about the fuego before, that intangible quality of intensity and commitment that's been lacking at times the last few years. Even if we lose, it's a good sign.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! DIPSY SELELOWANE! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
ERIC AVILA IN INJURY TIME!
That's what I'm talking about! Yes! That was beautiful, that was magic. Avila with a low swerving shot from 24 yards out.
Columbus wants a hand ball call on the goal, but no dice. Danny O'Rourke, who, judging by his beard but not his demeanor, is the first Amish player in the history of the league, gets a straight red card for his protestations. Good.
It was definitely ball-to-arm contact by Eric, but it was hardly intentional, as the laws require. Good no-call.
Well, some nights, a draw is as good as a win; this is one of those nights. In terms of confidence, team spirit, and plain old good fortune, this was a good draw.
I'm happy.
See you next week for the away trip to Red Bulls.
You never know what's going to happen when FCD and the Crew get together. Last time, it snowed. In Dallas. In the Spring. That was so unlikely it rates just below alien invasion on the 'Likely to Happen' scale. It made for some great photos, however. As would an alien invasion, to be fair.
If there was, in fact, an alien invasion during a match at Pizza Hut Park, the Inferno and El Matador would see to it the visitors made it to the Tailgate, then they'd proceed to get them good and drunk before kickoff, and all you would see on the national news would be little green men in Hoops jerseys, waving flags and chanting the theme song to “Dallas” at the top of their lungs.
That, as the young people say, would rule.
Kevin Hartman in the goal for the injured Darío Sala. I'm glad to have Kevin in goal. He's the David James of American soccer; a top-shelf keeper who is remembered unfairly for one or two aberrations which were both costly and highly visible. It's a bad rap on both of them, and any team with any sense would take them in a time of need.
Atiba Harris just misses from distance in the 14th Minute. Yeah, I dare you not to put a man on him. I dare you to give him space anywhere near the goal. Please, please do that. Do that one thing for me. I'll be happy.
In the away supporters corner, it looks like about a dozen Crew fans made the trip in to Dallas for the match. They're from the Nordecke supporters group, if I'm not mistaken. That's a long haul to make for an away game. Very impressive.
Speaking of fans, on the home side, there is nobody at this game. There are six million people in the Dallas Metroplex; how can the front office not find a way to put 20,000 of them in the stands for a home game on a consistent basis? This is getting embarrassing.
Heath Pearce may be the key to Jeff Cunningham having another big season. His service from the left side is going to be lots of trouble for lots of teams this year.
Oh wow. Philadelphia beat DC United. It is going to be a long season for DC. To all my friends in Barra Brava, let me just say: I feel your pain, people. I feel your pain.
Feirreira draws a PK in the 28th minute. We look so very dangerous offensively tonight. It both delights and frightens me. It's new territory. We actually possess a multi-player, multi-positional, unpredictable attacking style of play.
Cunningham drills the PK, we're up 1-0.
Hmm. Was that optimism I just felt just now?
Must. Repress. Feelings.
Dax just took a full-blast clearance right in the mush. He may have broken his nose. I've had that happen before; it is as disorienting as it is painful. Yeah, I just compared myself to Dax McCarty. And, yes, I feel a little ashamed of myself, thank you for asking.
Speaking of Dax, it is really a pleasure to watch him work the midfield. It's like watching Carlos Valderrama, but with about 10 times the energy.
In contrast, watching me play soccer was like watching Wilmer Valderrama, the guy who played Fez on “That 70's Show”.
Wow, a 1-0 lead at the half. I'll take that.
So, I now understand the meaning behind the “Yellow Card Row” which is next to the Inferno/El Matador section of the Pizza Hut Park. It is, so it seems, sponsored by Yellow Tail wine. So now, unlike last week, where I was puzzled and disapproving, I am now 100% behind the concept. Because Yellow Tail is really good. I am a big fan - especially of the Shiraz.
That, by the way, was an uncompensated endorsement. However, if there is, by chance, a Yellow Tail distributor reading, you know, I'm just sayin' . . . being a sponsor of this column could generate literally, oh, tens of people seeing your logo each week. Tempting, isn't it?
Anyway.
Zach Loyd is from Oklahoma? That's greatness; I had no idea. Probably the first Okie in the league since Joe-Max Moore. Though they're both from Tulsa. Now we just need someone from Oklahoma City (or, as we like to call it, “The City”) and all will be right in the universe.
Columbus equalizes through Adam Moffatt in the 52nd minute. We've come out flat in the second half, after coming out gangbusters in the first. Bah, I say. Bah!
Defensively, Columbus has come to the conclusion that fouls are only strategy available to contain Dallas in the midfield. Lots of shirt pulling and shoulder grabbing going on. Although to be fair, Heath Pearce just got a yellow for a hard foul on Steven Lenhart. But that's different. Somehow. In my little world.
I kinda like that Lenhart kid by the way. Tenacious and skilled. I wouldn't mind seeing him in hoops.
Speaking of Crew players I like, Frankie Hejduk is something like fifty years old by now, and I don't think there's a player on the field he couldn't run right smack into the ground, in terms of pure endurance. Is he in the mix for going to the World Cup this summer? He should be, if just for the experience factor.
Eric Avila on for Jair Benitez. Schellas Hyndman must be pretty happy to have the kind of depth that keeps Avila in a late-substitute role. Not to mention Bruno Guarda, who is a Hyndman favorite. I don't know much about soccer, but I know enough to know depth is important in a league where half the teams make the playoffs. No one is really out of the running if they can just make it to the post season and peak at the right time. Stay healthy and have a bench, and you have a shot in MLS.
Big save by Hartman to preserve the tie.
Oh, no. George John called for a foul in the box. PK to the Crew. Great.
Come on, Kevin, be a hero.
AHHHHHH! Hartman made a heroic save, but Schelotto nods in the rebound.
Howls! Howls of inappropriate language and expressions of unhappiness!
(Sorry, this is a family column, that's as close as I like to come to swearing. Usually.)
We're still pressing and looking dangerous, but I'm afraid we're not going to be able to tie this thing up.
Man, Heath Pearce looks good overlapping from the back. Kind of reminds me of Paul Broome, from the old Burn days.
The boys are really playing hard trying to equalize; its good to see the fuego back, if nothing else. I've talked about the fuego before, that intangible quality of intensity and commitment that's been lacking at times the last few years. Even if we lose, it's a good sign.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! DIPSY SELELOWANE! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
ERIC AVILA IN INJURY TIME!
That's what I'm talking about! Yes! That was beautiful, that was magic. Avila with a low swerving shot from 24 yards out.
Columbus wants a hand ball call on the goal, but no dice. Danny O'Rourke, who, judging by his beard but not his demeanor, is the first Amish player in the history of the league, gets a straight red card for his protestations. Good.
It was definitely ball-to-arm contact by Eric, but it was hardly intentional, as the laws require. Good no-call.
Well, some nights, a draw is as good as a win; this is one of those nights. In terms of confidence, team spirit, and plain old good fortune, this was a good draw.
I'm happy.
See you next week for the away trip to Red Bulls.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Buzz Carrick
Buzz Carrick has been the owner and publisher of 3rd Degree since it was founded in 1997. A graduate of Texas A&M and Boston University, Carrick has been in television production since 1992, primarily in the field of live sports. For two years Carrick was the co-host of Inside Soccer with Brad Sham. While 3rd Degree is mostly focused on FC Dallas, Carrick has also written MLS SuperDraft Rankings for ESPN Soccernet.
AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS
Soccer Today: 5/19
Soccer Today: 5/12
Soccer Today: 5/5
Soccer Today: 4/28
Play Podcast Hannover captain and USMNT defender Steve Cherundolo and ESPN analyst Robbie Mustoe guest on this week's episode of Soccer Today.
Play Podcast ESPN's Ian Darke breaks down the Premiership finale and former goalkeeper Kasey Keller reflects on his own playing days and weighs in on some of the hottest topics in the American game on this week's episode of Soccer Today.
Play Podcast USMNT and AZ Alkmaar striker Jozy Altidore, along with NBC's Arlo White, guest on this week's episode of Soccer Today.
Play Podcast ESPN's Steve McManaman and The Times' Oliver Kay guest on this week's episode of Soccer Today.
You must be signed in to post a comment