The Governor will be there, handing out free pickles

When I was a kid, probably nine years old, I played on the Mello Yello, Wicomico County rec league soccer team. Our coach was Mr. Gutierrez, a foul-mouthed fire hydrant of a man who screamed a constant litany of indecipherable commands (think Spanish meets Delmarva Peninsula chicken farmer patois) at us that we never quite managed to follow.

The under-10 Mello Yello soccer team went the entire season without winning a game. In fact, we went the entire season without scoring a goal--unless, that is, you count goals scored in our own net. The games generally ended with marginally respectable scores of 4-0 or 5-0, but would have been infinitely worse if not for Chuck, our goalkeeper, a pudgy, freckle-faced, blonde-haired kid of improbable grace. At age 9, Chuck already had the weary stoicism of one who is resigned to spending his life cleaning up other people's shit stains. By the end of the season he'd more than earned the posture.

Which somehow inevitably leads to this: Minnesota Thunder v. Colorado Rapids, 7 p.m., tonight at The Jimmy!

See you there.

(Anthony and I interviewed Rapids' coach Fernando Clavijo last evening. You can read the phenomenal results here.)