Thank you, Shawn Francis (guiding-force-behind-The-Offsides-Rules), for today's moment of Photoshop Zen.

Sigi is, indeed, at the controls.









Thank you, Fredua Adu, for today's moment of youtube Zen.





And thank you, volume controls on espn360. Click to continue reading...

It's a new day in America, right?

Your faithful correspondent was certainly given that impression by the spontaneous party that unfolded before his very eyes in the District of Columbia on Monday night, specifically on U St. NW.

As any soccer tactician will tell you, change, innovation and imagination are key ingredients in beautiful, winning footie. Click to continue reading...

Is that the proper term for the offseason that now beckons the Black-and-Red denizens of RFK? (As opposed to the large, furry black-and-brown denizens that scurry among the shadows in the place's damp underbelly.)

I don't know, actually. DC United's last few seasons have ended prematurely, too, as squads that were highly-rated championship contenders stumbled at home in the playoffs. Click to continue reading...

British Columbia, not Brian Carroll.

Wouldn't you want to play soccer in Vancouver, especially if it also meant not having to eat ramen noodles and canned tuna all the time?

Justin Moose and Jay Nolly decided to give it a try, and I get the sense that they feel good about the decision. Click to continue reading...

Tempus Fugit.

Time.

Flies.

This simple yet mystical phenomenon of existence keeps slapping me in the face, metaphorically speaking, in several different spheres of my life. But it takes place in, and in front of, all of us. This week offers just a few examples within this soccer subculture of ours:

*We have just one full weekend left in Daylight Savings Time;
*Fall regular-season play is winding down, and in some cases almost over, for Potomac-area youth leagues. Click to continue reading...

BIGGEST. RESULT. OF THE SEASON.

Sometimes crappy soccer really can be entertaining as h*ll.

OK, so I only got to catch the last half-hour of the match, via internet. But regardless of how g*wd-awful some of the touches were, and what a g*wd-awful influence poor artificial turf can wreak on a game, there were some vibes. Click to continue reading...

Well, of course I had to drop in on the U.S. Men's National Team training sessions this week, since they're in town and all, and World Cup Qualifiers don't happen at RFK all that often (anymore). And of course I had to join the rest of the writerly herd in pestering USMNT media shepherd extraordinaire Michael Kammarman for a few quick interviews, and of course the ever-sardonic but equally-helpful Kammarman came up trumps -- I got good stuff from the likes of Bob Bradley, Troy Perkins and Gooch Onyewu, so stay tuned for future copy on those fronts. Click to continue reading...

DC United, as of the fifth day of the tenth month, 2008 AD:

Pick your metaphor.

Does this sum it up?

Or perhaps you prefer these.

Hard to watch? Or must-see TV? It's a bit of a rorschach test, isn't it? Click to continue reading...

Fall is here, and even I can no longer avoid or deny it.

It's been raining more or less all day here in the District of Columbia, and in a few hours DC United will send a second-choice squad out into this damp mist over at RFK Stadium to face Club Deportivo Social y Cultural Cruz Azul. Click to continue reading...

Attention MLS fans (ESPECIALLY those in the Washington, DC area still clinging to any residual smugness towards the "Yellow Football Team"): Columbus Crew jokes are officially off the kosher list.

That's a good squad playing over there at the Ohio Fairgrounds and regardless of how "small," "boring," or "middle-America" the city may or may not be, its soccer club has finally assembled a talented, successful team that's also fun to watch. Click to continue reading...

...day in, day out, month after month, for years in succession? Your brain and heart making your body perform consistently, sustainably, and at a high level for months on end, powered by the inexorable daily grind: training, conditioning, production, recovery (and repeat X times). How does the mind of the professional athlete take that on? Click to continue reading...

Good g*d, it is hot.

Lately I feel like I am reminded of summer's slow fade nearly every moment of the day, with days getting shorter and nights growing cooler. As a devoted warm-weather junkie, this pains me.

But here in the RFK press box it's utterly still (for some incomprehensible reason, all the wall fans were removed when the Nationals moved into the building, even as the baseball press box got A/C, comfy chairs and various other perks), and with all the heat in the stadium's lower bowl percolating up towards the rafters this rickety box clings to, the air is every bit as stifling as you could imagine. Click to continue reading...

...to his own blog?

I've been living in the DC area for nearly five years now. Yet I continue to be annually amused by one of the city's biggest quirks: the sluggish emptiness that drapes itself over the metropolis during the month of August, when muggy heat combines with Capitol Hill's typically light legislative schedule to push thousands into a languid semi-tropical lifestyle, or just drive them out of town althogether. Click to continue reading...

Former DC United boss Peter/Piotr Nowak, presently leading the US footie delegation in China, had a number of important phrases he would use as touchstones/talking points when talking to media during his time in DC. One of his favorites ran something along the lines of, "always ve haff to do tree tings: run, fight ant play good zoccer," essentially emphasizing a sort of holy trinity of fitness, spirit and technical/tactical quality as central tenets of his team's style. Click to continue reading...

Click to continue reading...