Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Annual MLS Predictions (and other stuff)

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO: A bit o' Sinead O'Connor, because nothing compares 2 her. Also, a Spongebob Squarepants CD, with a surprisingly moving tune called "Gary's Song".

WHAT I'M READING: Predictably Irrational, which is interesting. You wanna cry, go read Where Does Your Money Go, which I just did. Scary stuff that government.

WHAT I'M WATCHING: Working my way through the 39 episodes of The Honeymooners, and prepping for the start of MLS Season Thirteen!

THE OSCAR PREDICTIONS:
Guess it has been awhile since I blogged. One of my last blogs was my annual Oscar predicts. Let's see how I did: I guessed fifteen correct out of the 24, so not all that great. What do I know?

On to more important matters!

THE 2nd ANNUAL DUNG! MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER PREDICTIONS
Always fun to guess how the season will turn out. Never fun to look back and see how poorly I guessed. But here's how I see it shaping up this year.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. DC United
2. Chicago Fire
3. New England Revolution
4. Kansas City Wizards
5. New York Red Bulls
6. Toronto FC
7. Columbus Crew

Hard to say really, as all teams have made changes. DC brought in a lot of South American talent, and I think they'll gel and turn up the heat come the summer months. I think those top five will make the playoffs.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. Houston Dynamo
2. Los Angeles Galaxy
3. FC Dallas
4. Club Deportivo Chivas USA
5. Real Salt Lake
6. Colorado Rapids
7. San Jose Earthquakes

I see the Dynamo running away with this one, and most likely the Supporters Shield. L.A. will be a distant second, but I think Beckham's second year will be better. With Becks, Donovan, and Carlos Ruiz, there is no excuse to not make the playoffs. Though I will be shocked if Ruud Gullitt is still in LA come December as the coach. Chivas USA will just miss the playoffs, and I think RSL will push for a spot this year. I don't see much out of the expansion(returning) Quakes. Haven't been impressed with the players they've got so far. Colorado will be happy San Jose returned, or else they'd be propping up the league.

Top two in each conference make the playoffs, plus the next best four. So I see it:
EASTERN CONFERENCE: DC United, Chicago Fire
WESTERN CONFERENCE: Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy
NEXT BEST FIVE: New England Revolution, Kansas City Wizards, FC Dallas, and New York Red Bulls.

PLAYOFFS-EAST
1. DC United v. Kansas City Wizards
2. Chicago Fire v. New England Revolution
CONFERENCE FINAL
1. DC United v. Chicago Fire

PLAYOFFS-WEST
1. Houston Dynamo v. New York Red Bulls
2. Los Angeles Galaxy v. FC Dallas
CONFERENCE FINAL
1. Houston Dynamo v. FC Dallas

MLS CUP 2008
Chicago Fire v. Houston Dynamo
MLS CHAMPIONS: Houston Dynamo

That's right. I'm calling for the three-peat. Never been done before, but Houston are a rock solid club. They will need to find scoring replacements for Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya, but I think the midfield will help out there.

Just for fun, US OPEN CUP CHAMPIONS: Kansas City Wizards

That's how I see it happening. And as you can see from my Oscar picks, you don't want to trust me too much here.

Season kicks off March 29th. I'll be there, having already renewed my Direct Kick sports package for the fourth year in a row, plus tossing Fox Soccer Channel back onto the satellite. I'll be keeping track of my Direct Kick viewings just to see what a bargain it is again.

Be seeing you.

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