Sometimes chores aren't too bad

I have to admit, I was almost looking for legitimate reasons to not attend last night's Crew-Chivas game. It was already a long day with a personal commitment in the morning and a game that I reffed at 1:00. Looking at the forecast, I wasn't exactly filled with joy. And with how poorly the Crew have played over the last three seasons, attending the game was looking more like a chore than something fun.

In the end, I guess everything worked out about as well as could be hoped. The 4-3 win was, as best I can remember, about the most exciting game that I've seen at Crew Stadium in years. The rain never really opened up, thank goodness, because coupled with the cold that would have sucked, and not in the good way.

The lesson that everyone needs to take from this game is that yes, I am an idiot. I have a decent track record of successfully predicting positive outcomes for my teams. For example, last summer I was at a Reds-Pirates game in Pittsburgh. Sirk was there, too, but we weren't sitting together. As the game entered extra innings I called Sirk to tell him that they were plenty of open seats around us, so he should come down right after Adam Dunn goes yard. A few pitches later, Dunn hits an HR and Sirk wanders down a couple of minutes later.

Last night, though, my game was off. Perhaps it's because of the Crew's struggles over the years, but for whatever reason I was terrible last night. It started with the Crew's second goal. As Guillermo Barros Schelotto "raced" toward goal, and the Chivas defenders closed in, I said aloud that there's no way we were scoring in this situation. I hadn't anticipated Schelotto finding a "streaking" Alejandro Moreno; I just assumed Schelotto would get dispossessed.

On the fourth goal, I thought the Crew played the more difficult ball by switching completely across the field to Robbie Rogers (from Danny O'Rourke, I think). It looked to me that playing the ball on the floor to Gino Padula, while still switching the field, was the smarter play because it wasn't as ambitious and would maintain possession. Little did I know that O'Rourke's ball would somehow get over the defender's head, allowing Rogers to eventually make Brad Guzan look terrible.

So there you go: 0-2, and I look like an idiot. Not as idiotic as Prince Fielder with his ridiculous clown pants, but still pretty bad. However, walking out of Crew Stadium reveling in what was instead of lamenting what should have been, an all-too-common experience lately, makes up for everything.