Musings on this week's media

The RSL-Rapids game on Thursday was pretty uninspiring. I fell asleep in my recliner early in the second half and was pleased that I didn’t miss any more own goals.

Attendance looked pretty good at The Dick for a Thursday evening. It was better than during the freezing deluge last weekend when Dynamo Houston was in town. The stadium looks nice in the sunshine, although I'm not a big fan of the one goal line that has what looks to be a few rows of temporary bleachers rather than the wrap-around permanent seating seen behind the other goal line. That's still better than the barren concrete stage on one end of the Frisco Deep Dish, which is an abomination. The Frisco club should at least put up temporary bleachers there, or maybe put a party patio out there, kind of like at Crew Stadium. Empty sidelines and endlines are something the Dynamo Stadium should avoid.

My gripe with The Dick is pretty minor in comparison. That Colorado pitch looks pristine, even when torrents of rain are falling. A pitch of that quality can make up for a lot. We need a field like that in Dynamo Stadium. Someday; someday.

The ESPN crew had more of the same: endless prattling by Wynalda, pointless People-magazine trivia by DOB about the players, and more of the same from the sidelines by Allen Hopkins. Tommy Smyth was talked over most of the time because he would, you know, take a breath occasionally.

Frothing rant: DOB, for the love of all that is beautiful, please just call the game! Try it just one time, and if you don’t like it, you can go back to Soccer Brought To You By Entertainment Tonight. And do we really need three in the booth? Seems awfully crowded and encourages more idle talk.

How about Herculez Gomez (the diving El Pescadito-lite) having the goal called back around the 13th minute? Here's how it plays out: Colorado's Nicholas Hernandez shoots the ball at the goal while Gomez is onside. Gomez then runs past the final defender as the GK makes the save, knocking the ball back into the field of play. Gomez, past the last defender, is now in an offside position after the ball whizzes past him going the other way. The ball then deflects off a defender and goes to Gomez, who finishes the shot. The refs call the goal back due to offside. Wynalda says the goal should count because Gomez wasn't offside at the time of Hernandez's initial shot, and as the LOTG state, a player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by: (1) interfering with play or (2) interfering with an opponent or (3) gaining an advantage by being in that position. Well, when the ball was played by his teammate, he was onside; and when he was offside and collected the rebound off the defender, the ball wasn't played by "one of his team." Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Score one for Wynalda.

Ah, but Tommy Smyth was correct. FIFA's Decision 2 of Law 11 clarifies item #3, above: ... "gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.

When the ball bounced off the defender, Gomez was offside, so the call was correct. Whew! Another game not blown by the officials! (Don't worry, it'll happen. And probably to us.)

Must agree with Wynalda's opinion about De Rosario during one of the many conversations in the ESPN booth. Tommy Smyth brought up a discussion he had with Jeff Cunningham, where Cunningham mentioned he's the most underrated (or overlooked, don't remember which) player in the league, but Wynalda respectfully disagreed saying that DDR holds that claim. True.

Later, during halftime, Wynalda mentioned DDR's explosive game versus Colorado and commended DeRo on kicking it into gear and how DDR is now getting that contract bump he wanted. Huh? Does Wynalda know something we don't? I haven't heard anything about the contract negotiations being settled. Maybe Wynalda just meant that DDR's play had made the case for a good contract a no-brainer. Can't argue with that.

I think DeRo should be among the top paid domestic players in the league, but I don't know that he warrants DP money. His play is equivalent to a DP, but it's an unfortunate truth that there is more to being a DP than on-field performance -- for starters, a DP needs to have drawing power. Dynamo Houston aren't much of a team without DDR, and DDR is one of the most dynamic players in the MLS, but Dynamo can't afford to use DP-dough on him unfortunately. Luckily for him, the cost of living is cheap down here, eh? (The Census has the Houston area with a COLI of 88.9 and San Jose at 158.1. The national average is 100.)

Finally, cheers to Glenn Davis for his Dynamo Soccer Report, which has come so far in so short a time. How do you like him stirring things up by being in the parking lot across US59 from Minute Maid Park? Someday, hopefully. Someday.