Let's start this season, yo.

Today, finally, the MLS season begins in earnest. I've been in kind of a stupor the past few months. I guess you can tell that by the dearth of blog entries. But I'm genuinely excited that the season is finally here.

Sure, I've been following the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, even if I haven't been blogging about it. That's perhaps the best and most challenging competition the Dynamo face in the year. It's better than the SuperLiga because SuperLiga is comprised of one-match legs in relatively comfortable stadia (often our own) versus teams in their pre-season form. CONCACAF gets us into grueling environments with hostile atmospheres, and against teams that are in mid-season form. I'll also go out on a limb and state -- and do so with unequivocal certainty, even! -- that CONCACAF is better than the US Open Cup, although the Open does have a cool nostalgia factor.

Time will tell whether the new CONCACAF tourney that debuts this season will improve on the current Champions' Cup, which is in its swan song year.

Yeah, I think winning the CONCACAF Champions' Cup would be the best achievement of the Dynamo. It would far exceed the accomplishment of winning the MLS Cup, and would be further enhanced by the fact that this is the final Champions' Cup. So the winner will be the eternal champion, so to speak. That's kinda cool. Kind of like the Longhorns football team winning the final Southwest Conference Championship. They're also Men In (burnt) Orange, btw.

Yet, it always comes back to the regular season, which pits us against our fellows across North America. The season is often described as being without a sense of urgency, but it's the regular season that determines who goes to the tournaments -- the competitions that include CONCACAF, SuperLiga, the US Open Cup (although entry to it is pretty liberal), and the Pan-Pacific Championship should it continue past this year. Even the MLS Cup can be considered a separate tourney that is set up by the results of the regular season.

And when talking about the top teams of a particular season, it begins with the winners of the MLS Cup (that'd be the Dynamo the past two years, y'all) followed by the winners of the Supporters' Shield (that'd be DC United the past two years).

So, while I hope the Dynamo can expand their success into fields other than the post-season MLS Cup tourney, it's the regular season that is the basis for it all; and when it arrives you know that the stage has been set for every team to vie for all of the accolades and the rewards that come with them. In other words: everything hinges on the regular season. It's the hops in the ale. It's the apple in the apple pie. It's the walrus. Word.

My brilliant prognostication
So how do I think the D-Mo will fare this season? Polite of you to ask, seeing as I know you don't really care what I think. Nor should you. People get paid to come up with meaningless pre-season and pre-match analysis. And it turns out that what happens on the field is not affected at all by the words in print. Strange, that. Still, I'll give you my unabashed guesses. No one paid me to make them, but they're as accurate as anything else you'll read. And you can take it to Vegas; I just wouldn't recommend it, yo.

Well, the obvious conclusion of the salaried media literati (as seen repeatedly in the media links below) is that the D-Mo have a dominant defense (including Onstad between the pipes) and a skilled, veteran midfield. Thus, they already have the most important pieces set. The big question mark is the striker corps. Right now we have Ching and some unproven players, including Reserve veteran Wondolowski and the young Argentinean Franco Caraccio. Still, with a strong backline and skilled central machine, the Dynamo are expected to be one of the top-tier teams, along with DC United.

My thoughts are that the media has it right, but are a bit too simplistic in their assessments. I think that our vaunted defense looked pretty shaky in the pre-season, despite upgrading our backs with Boswell to replace Cochrane. It still needs to find its feet and tighten up where it's slack. And I think our goal-scoring options aren't as different as in past years. We've never had a particularly robust goal-scorer, yet we still manage to win. I think our forwards will manage to find the net this year, although it would help if they could get a speedy option to complement Ching's play. And! It turns out forwards aren't the only ones who score in this game. It seems that D-Ro and Holden can put a few away, and our big boys in the back (BBitB) convert their fair share on set plays. It's true.

So what am I saying? Here are my can't-fail prognostications. We don't break the defensive record we set last year. We go through at least one slump this season. We have some high scoring games and some games where we can't score on the weakest of MLS defenses who are a man down. We comfortably make the playoffs. And once we make the playoffs, anything can happen. At that point a team must win only a two-leg series then a single match in order to get to the MLS Cup. The Dynamo have proven they're among the best at this short tournament, and I think their season will be good enough that they'll be in that crapshoot of a tourney. Once they enter the post season, we'll deal with a renewed prediction; but they'll be in the playoffs, no doubt. Hopefully they do so with some other accomplishment under their belt. The Supporters' Shield? A tournament win? Something?

But it all starts tonight, versus the New England Revolution. So what's the dealio about tonight's match. Here it is: it's a rematch of the last two MLS Cup finals -- blah, blah -- Dynamo won both -- blah, blah -- something to prove -- blah and more blah. Fact is, the Revs have a better regular season record versus the D-Mo because they are effective at playing negative soccer. But! Win or lose tonight will mean nothing for either team -- and it likely ends in a draw. Both teams should be among the last standing at season's end.

Here's some media links on tonight's game
The MLS game preview.

Another MLSnet article.

You should always stop by the Chronicle. Here are its Dynamo Notes. While there, check out the new look for the Chron's Dynamo coverage. As always, the Chronicle is the best place to start for D-mo info.

Highfalutin' pre-season assessments of the Men in Orange that surpass mine:
The Chronicle's Dynamo beat writer, B-Fall, always has the best scoop and excellent insight. He's a Saprissa fan, though, so turn a jaundiced eye on his assessment of our performance in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup Semifinal these next two weeks. For the season he picks the Men.In.Orange. to place first in the Western Conference.

MLSnet's "quick hits"

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com has his take here. "As long as you're not looking for a striker, you can probably find what you need on the Dynamo bench… Houston is built for a deep run into the playoffs with its depth and experience. ... Don’t bet against a three-peat.

One of my favorite blogs, USSoccerplayers.com, has its summary of the bandwagon team of the season. That's us, yo. "It's Houston, a club that's known nothing but glory. They had you at hello."

Shaka Hislop -- wait a minute: Shaka Hislop? -- says "Neither LA nor Dallas, however, are favourites for the 2008 title. That honour goes to Houston Dynamo, who have won the championship for the last two seasons and now have high-profile financial backing in the form of Oscar de la Hoya. Their players tell me they enjoy playing for their decorated manager, Dominic Kinnear, and that is evident in their wholehearted performances. Such chemistry makes Houston the team to beat. Having been formed as recently as 2005, the Dynamo clearly show the kind of fast and fruitful development that the MLS as a whole is seeking." Shaka must know what he's talking about. He adds U's to favor and honor. That means he knows foutball.

Only slightly related media bits:
Goal.com has this observation about games that have an interesting side-story: In the April 19 match between Los Angeles and Houston, "Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark returns from his record nine-game suspension just in time for a trip to Lalaland to face his old nemesis Carlos Ruiz."

Kelly Gray won't appear in any more of Beckham's Soccer In The USA shows. He's with Colorado now. Good luck, Kelly.

Have you been been keeping up with the "10 hottest Dynamo games"? Here's the schedule on Channel 55:
Mon, MAR 24 - Game No. 10 - 8:00 p.m.
Tues, MAR 25 - Game No. 9 - 8:00 p.m.
Wed, MAR 26 - Game No. 8 - 8:00 p.m.
Thu, MAR 27 - Game No. 7 - 8:00 p.m.
Fri, MAR 28 - Game No. 6 - 8:00 p.m.
Mon, MAR 31 - Game No. 5 - 8:00 p.m.
Tue, APR 1 - Game No. 4 - 8:00 p.m.
Wed, APR 2 - Game No. 3 - 8:00 p.m.
Thu, APR 3 - Game No. 2 - 8:00 p.m.
Fri, APR 4 - Game No. 1 - 8:00 p.m.
My DVR channel listing doesn't have these listed, so you just gotta flip to The Tube at 8 PM yourself, I guess.