Sunday, March 30, 2008

Quality video or quality analysis?

Last night I faced a difficult decision: enjoy Los Angeles at Colorado in glorious HD on HDNet (and listen to Marcelo Balboa) or enjoy Los Angeles at Colorado with glorious analysis on Fox Soccer Channel (and watch their awesome feed). It was a tough decision because I really like Christopher Sullivan's analysis. Sure, sometimes he says some mind-boggling things - like how a ball "disbalances" the defense - but for me he's a good color man. Brian Dunseth's addition as a sideline reporter - hopefully giving him enough experience to become another quality color man - was another mark in the pro column for FSC.

I guess it was like being in a bar and having to choose between two chicks for the evening. There's the eye candy chick who's likely to be fun, but not really take-home-to-mom material. And then there's her competition, a chick who's also good looking - not as hot, though - but is probably better for you in the long run.

In the end, considering this one-night stand, I decided to go with HDNet, the hotter chick with the bigger rack but the smaller brain. And I have no regrets, either.

[Oh, that second paragraph - purely hypothetical. I'm an engineer, for goodness sake!]

Toronto FC needs Under Armour

On Saturday, Columbus opened its latest MLS regular season by taking on the continent's latest Red Menace, Toronto FC. As I entered the stadium and found my way to my seat, I heard Toronto's supporters start chanting "This is our house!" for the first of at least 852 times. Of course, "house" sounded much cooler with the rockin' drunk Ontario accent, but I can't spell "house" in Canadian.

Whether Toronto FC was playing the part of gracious host or home invasion victim remains to be seen, but what's definite is that the Crew bagged two goals and, perhaps more important, the full three points. It was an impressive performance by Columbus, taking all three points while Toronto FC fans defended "their house" with the Canadian air force (a single-engine banner plane), streamers, projectiles, and smoke bombs. Guillermo Barros Schelotto was obviously shaking in his boots, the Argentine being unaccustomed to first-strike weapons like streamers. As a Crew fan, I'm concerned about the next time Columbus takes on Toronto FC in "their house." If streamers aren't a strong enough defense, what's next? Paper airplanes? Confetti? The fear of the unknown is, frankly, staggering.

In all seriousness, while Toronto's away support was impressive from a numbers standpoint, the tendency of so many Toronto FC supporters to stroke themselves over their support is extremely annoying and makes it difficult to find the good in that group. Perhaps the Toronto FC fan in front of me said it best when, after being hit by something thrown by a Toronto fan in the 200s, turned around and shouted, "Stop throwing stuff. You guys are the gayest supporters section in the world."