The cold rain that whipped across my face when I went out to retrieve my newspaper (Tony Soprano-style) Wednesday morning brought back some fond memories.

I began to think about an October afternoon in 1997, a day when I stood out in a similar driving rain for 90 minutes (plus injury time). It was the day when Bruce Arena stepped to the podium, basking in the glory of D.C. United's second MLS Cup, a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids in front of a drenched sellout crowd of 57,431 at RFK, and proclaimed, "We've made it. Who could've envisioned something like this five years ago?"

And who could blame Arena for feeling so giddy? The atmosphere that day in D.C. was unbelievable. That so many people would come out on such a day, to cheer for something so new. I had ESPN Maggers (The Magazine was just forming a staff back then) who knew nothing of soccer tell me later they'd seen the game by accident and were riveted by the atmosphere. It became a sporting event they could not turn off.

	Ruiz has been money for L.A.

The next four MLS Cups were pretty good, too. But nothing has ever compared to the '97 final for one specific reason. The '97 final was the only time the host team played in the game. Really, it was impressive that 51k-plus came out to see the Chicago Fire and D.C. play at the Rose Bowl in '98. The '99 final in Foxboro (44,910) was not too shabby either. I actually remember having a cup of coffee with a few members of D.C. United's Barra Brava at the Dunkin Donuts outside the old Foxboro Stadium. They'd driven through the night to see the match. In 2000, with the final returning to RFK, D.C. United failed to make the final (or the playoffs, for that matter) for the first time in its history, so for anyone who'd been there in '97, the 39,159 who turned out to see Kansas City beat Chicago, 1-0, was a disappointment. Then, last year, a revamped playoff format pushed two California teams, San Jose and Los Angeles, into Columbus Crew Stadium, where 21,626 watched.

And, "watched" is the key word in that last sentence. See, in '97 the fans "participated" in the game, because 90 percent (D.C. fans) had a personal stake in the outcome.

So, as I picked up my Asbury Park Press this morning, and thought of '97, I started to think of the potential for this Sunday's final, when the New England Revolution go for the title at Gillette Stadium, their home field, against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

No, the game won't sell out all 68,000 seats, that's too much to ask, but an MLS Cup record (something more than the 57,431 in '97) is not out of the realm if the weather is decent. But it's not so much the sheer number of fans who will come out on Sunday that gives this game a world of possibility, it's the rooting interest of New Englanders. There are already a good number of hardcore Revs fans -- people who can still affectionately spout the names of Giuseppe Galderisi, Alberto Naveda and Jim St. Andre. Consider that group the cheerleaders. The rest will be welcome riders on the Rev bandwagon. Put the two parties together for one afternoon and you could have something close to '97.

Of course, it all seems borderline unfair to the Galaxy, who are looking for their first MLS Cup in their fourth trip to the final and their third trip to a final in Foxboro. But, judging from the season the Galaxy have had, they're way too focused to complain.

Ironically, it will be the Galaxy -- the visitors -- who will play this final with the "home" mentality. They're the side that has to win the match, the side that must push for the first goal. I imagine coach Sigi Schmid's team is feeling a lot of pressure to finally take home the big prize, but I doubt that pressure's going to affect them adversely. I've seen just about all of the Galaxy's games this year (and last year) and they're as resilient as they come. They also seem to know if the game's close late, somehow, by hook or by crook, Carlos Ruiz is going to score a goal that lifts them to victory. They are the favorites.

The Revs, really, are playing with house money at this point. Sure, a few of us thought they'd be Cup contenders back when MLS decided to clip it's two Florida teams and, basically, give the Revs and Colorado Rapids dibs on their best players. But in mid-season, when the Revs were floundering worse than ever, we all wrote them off. In the end, they've gotten some mileage out of the Fusion/Mutiny players (Carlos Llamosa, Adin Brown), but more out of their old guard grinders (Joey Franchino, Jay Heaps) and their pickups (Daouda Kante, Daniel Hernandez, Brian Kamler). They've also been riding some incredible kharma, scoring on their first chance in five of six playoff games, which has enabled the Revs to stick to a strong defensive game-plan. It's worked perfectly. The only glitch for New England is that Taylor Twellman, the Revs MVP and the leading point-getter in MLS, is questionable for Sunday with a knee injury. If he can't go, Revs coach Steve Nicol (aka Stevie Nicks) will! push last year's leading MLS point-getter, ex-Fusion forward Alex Pineda Chacon, into his slot. Not a bad option.

So, add it up. A big home crowd cheering for an underdog team. A desperate favorite, on the road, trying to finally snatch what's been so close to them for seven years now.

May the winners feel as good as Arena felt back in '97.

(Says here it's L.A.'s time, 2-0 to the Galaxy, goals by Ruiz and Danny Califf.)

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espn3.com.