birthday weekend
the Revs lost the final 1-0 to LA in overtime. This is the same thing that happened in ’02 except that year the game was at Gillette, overtime was sudden death rather than 30 minutes and the Revs were just happy to be there. They’d played a mediocre season and getting to the final was a win-win situation. But when you have the best season in club history and are playing the 4th place team in the West (who’s record would have seen them miss the playoffs altogether had they been playing in the East), well that’s a game you expect to win. And yet it didn’t turn out that way.

Donovan had some chances but was generally handled pretty well. Matt Reis and the defense had a pretty good game in the back. The front 8 players however just seemed lost out there. Constantly second to every ball and not able to string simple passes together, the offense was just terrible.

So the best team in Revs history didn’t seem to show up to play in the championship game and that is a bit painful. But what’s worse is the guys on the winning side. Foremost among them is head coach Steve Sampson. Steve was once the Chosen One of US Soccer and the first US born coach to qualify the US for a World Cup, losing only a single match during qualifying to gain entry to WC 1998 in France. Following that successful run-up to France ’98, Sampson proceeded to cut long time team captain John Harkes from the squad, change the on field formation to the infamous 3-6-1, bench veteran defender Jeff Agoos (who burned his uniform after the tournament), reduce other team veterans to substitute roles, start 2 virtual unknowns in the midfield and lose all 3 matches of group play (including a loss to Iran) while only scoring a single goal and finishing last out of the 32 teams entered.

Couple this with the fact that the guy is an egomaniacal asshole and has never admitted fault for France ’98. He was given the LA job last year, with the Galaxy firing their coach despite the fact that they were in 1st place in MLS at the time. Then at the start of this season he had the best player in the US (Donovan) fall into his lap because Landon wanted to play in LA so the league let him go there.

To have this odious know-it-all douche bag be vindicated somehow by winning the league championship is just a bit much to swallow right now. There’s more to it too, like having the player with the worst shots/goals ratio in the history of MLS (not hyberbole) score the lone goal in the match. This friggin’ guy (el Pando! Ramirez) had literally become a running joke in the league. Once trumpeted as the next great talent from Central America, it became great sport to watch him take shot after shot from long range and never, EVER put the ball on target let alone score a goal. He scored his only goal in the regular season on a penalty kick where he hit the post but the ball ricocheted across the goal mouth, off the keeper’s back and into the net. He hadn’t played a single minute in the playoffs after having finally been benched towards the close of the season. I actually said to Reen “Oh good” when they showed him being subbed into the match. And so what happens? He scores a really nice goal on a volley from outside the box in overtime. Super.

So we’re left to suffer the "Pando-monium!" headlines and wish that it had turned out differently. Now here’s the good news: Preseason starts February 20, getting to MLS Cup qualified the Revs for the regional club championship tourney in March, yesterday Reen and I bought our season tickets for next year and MLS Cup 2006 is scheduled for November 12. Could be a special Happy Birthday next year…..



…much like my happy birthday this year. We had a fine time up in New Hampshire. It was about a 3 hour drive to Ashland, NH and the B&B Reen had booked us was really nice. Most of our time was spent reading, driving around the Squam Lakes and Lake Winnipesaukee and eating. We were introduced to the persistent presence of the Common Man Restaurants throughout central NH. It seemed that we couldn’t go anywhere without seeing one of their establishments. Luckily they serve some decent food, so it’s not a bad thing. We also had the pleasure of meeting Snickers, which was the horse I rode on Saturday. He seemed mild mannered enough, gnawing away at the fence rail when I first met him. While adjusting my stirrups, our guide explained to me that old Snickers had been acting funny lately and that I shouldn’t let the other horses get too close behind him on the trail. “Watch his ears,” I was told “and get him moving if they start to lay back because that means he’s about to kick.” Riiiight. I’ll keep an eye on them ears. Snickers was fine in the end and the ride was nice enough. We basically walked single file along the trail, some of it with a nice view of the Mad River as well as the brief jaunt along the side of I-93 for a little free advertising.

Our time was very relaxing and good fun. The guy Jim that runs the Glynn House is really nice and did a fantastic job at remembering everybody’s name and other details. I was very impressed.

In addition to the getaway up north, Reen also hooked me up with a mandolin style slicer which is a fantastic addition to our kitchen. I will have to whip up some potato gaufrette as a thank you. Many thanks to Pete also, who I am told provided some top notch research assistance.