Looks like the Colorado Rapids ended their pre-season on a high in the lower part of our fair nation: they beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 on a goal scored by Stephen Keel. And, to quickly flag some details in the write-up ), note the frequent appearance of the following names in that linked-to article: Ciaran O’Brien, Jose Burciaga Jr., Omar Cummings, and, later, Herculez Gomez. Personally, I find the first two names most encouraging. And the win seems like a good thing too.

A View from the Couch offers up the starting line-up and formation, a 4-5-1 with Cummings on top. The same piece also contains word on who’s gimpy and who’s not.

Speaking of said opener, the article at the other end of the link above also reports that not too many tickets remain available. If you’re in the Denver area, have next Saturday free and a heavy coat (plus hat, gloves, and scarf) why not head out to The Dick to take in some soccer. David Beckham may or may not play…think about it. That’s all I, or any other fan of Major League Soccer, ask.

And, speaking of games, Bonji of From College to the Pros fame, posted a first-hand account of this year’s Burgundy and Blue game on Rapids Class VI. In there, you’ll find injury updates (hello, Dan Gargan!), thoughts on individual players’ performances (it seems they have a decent back-up at ‘keeper), and the latest on beer prices at The Dick ($7.25? Is it 24 oz. worth of Schlitz Blue Bull? Better be!).

All for now. The fun starts next weekend…and, to think, I get to watch this one on the TV! Yee-haw!

I seriously need to write team-specific previews for both the Colorado Rapids (here) and the Columbus Crew (there) before the season starts. But I’ve got a couple big items I promised myself I’d do prior to the start of the season as well. But because I take the verb “need” seriously, I’ll be cranking out the Rapids and Crew previews over the next two days.

By way of format, I’ll break down each team in the two vaguest possible ways: defense and offense. And I think that’s appropriate: midfield complicates position-by-position reviews because what is a midfielder but a forward playing farther from goal or a defender pushing the bubble of safety further upfield? Don’t answer that, by the way. It’s just rhetorical justification.

So, look for previews of both team’s defenses tomorrow and for both team’s offenses on Friday. The Big Picture stuff, conference previews and the ever-dodgy preseason power rankings, come before Thursday next week. Odds are, that Big Picture stuff will go up on Center Holds It, but I’ll get links set up here…as well as following all the Rapids news with which The Official Organ decides to shower us. (Sorry…just…sorry.)

I kid, I kid. In truth, I was hella busy yesterday and wanted to do a little digging before posting. Fortunately for my preoccupied ass, FC Rocky not only provided the latest status report, but did the only legwork that occurred to me: they checked Dunfermline’s site for MacManus’ profile – and the player stats contained therein.

So…the numbers…what to call them? Underwhelming, perhaps? On the upside, MacManus saw decent, regular action with his previous clubs; it’s his haul of goals that sews doubts. Putting the numbers in perspective doesn’t come easily given I know little about the Scottish Premier League beyond the Glasgow clubs’ semi-permanent dominance – and MacManus didn’t play for either. For what it’s worth, the numbers argue MacManus had his best days in about 5 years ago with Hibernian FC, though he did return to regular action more recently with Dundee – the club that made Sir Alex Ferguson’s reputation…I think. In the current campaign, he’s managed more yellow cards than goals – a claim that one expects from a defender, rather than a forward.

Still, you get the feeling the Rapids like him well enough and it’s not like they’re over-stocked in the forward department. So, what’s the harm? It depends on what they pay him, I suppose (let’s just say everyone deserves a shot, but they have to earn a fat paycheck). In any case, good luck to Tam. If he does half as well as the last Scot to play for the Rapids, they’ll do fine.

In other Rapids news, The Official Organ hypes the Rapids’ effort at spreading word of the team’s existence. Good for them, though I’ll have to ask local Rapids fans how this latest P.R. campaign looks against past efforts (and did Ugo Ihemelu get a sharp-looking haircut?). Second, it looks like the Rapids decided to return from England by way of Bermuda: they arranged a mutually beneficial warm-up with the Bermudan National Team this Friday. Having covered the New England Revolution in years past, I know a couple Bermudan media outlets, which should help with digging up match reports. I’ll pass those on when I get ‘em.

Bottom line, if I’m not talking about what I saw on the field the weekend before, chances are I’m just passing on news from The Official Organ – which, like their home field, we can all refer to as The Dick. No…wait. That would cause confusion. Let’s stick with calling Dick’s Sporting Goods Park “The Dick” and calling the Colorado Rapids/Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE), anything to do with the public face of the team, “The Official Organ.” There, that makes for some nice thematic consistence.

With that out of the way, here’s the latest from The Official Organ. Last Friday, the Rapids faced Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Real Salt Lake…in Florida. The game ended in a 2-2 draw. Now, there’s something else you should know about me: I hate match reports. They read like friggin’ instruction manuals, with names replacing parts. The Official Organ turned in one, which will tell you who scored when and how they did it, as well as who played and for how long. Sure, that’s good stuff to know, but that just gets me back to my issue with match reports, not mention copy handed down from in-house outlets: I need to see something – e.g. things, people, and soccer teams – with my own eyes before formulating an opinion on it that I trust; and, with the issue of trust still in mind, I don’t trust The Official Organ to give it to me straight. That’s like putting stock a government report titled, “Everything Is Great – Including You!” And we’ve had a few of those to ponder these last eight years.

With the Rapids heading to England and Arsenal fairly soon (if they’re not already gone), it seems worthwhile to put this latest draw into perspective. Picking through The Official Organ’s current archives (resisting temptation to be crude…must resist), I’m seeing three previous games…sort of: a goalless draw against Florida Atlantic University (who? ouch!); a win over Marathon, a Honduran team (more like it); and, let’s just say they took four points over two split-roster games against the United States U-17s (hence, the “sort of”). Add Friday’s draw with RSL and you’ve got a 2-0-2 record (W-L-T) thus far. And that’s against some, frankly, underwhelming opposition.

Let’s see what 10 days in London does for ‘em. I wouldn’t look for much out of their weekly updates, which seem inordinately interested in the weather…which, somehow, isn’t what I suspect fans are looking for.