Day in Previews

With only - what? - three days to go till "First Kick" the previews truly are coming quick-and-heavy, from all over the place, and in all kinds of formats.

In one of the most noted items of the day, The New York Times, a.k.a. The Paper of Record, deigned to notice our little league. Moreover, they managed a concise, yet birds-eye summary of the league's status, which they dubbed somewhere between healthy and poised to take off.

The, um, Denver Post did something similar, albeit with different emphases - and that's the paper of record in some parts, ain't it?

Turning to other MSM outlets, Utah's Deseret News knocked out a pair of season previews for each conference. I'll let you click-through for the details, but here's their big picture take: East: 1. DC United; 2. Chicago Fire; 3. New England Revolution; 4. Red Bull New York; 5. Columbus Crew; 6. Kansas City Wizards; 7. Toronto FC. West: 1. Houston Dynamo; 2. Los Angeles Galaxy; 3. Real Salt Lake (homers); 4. Colorado Rapids; 5. FC Dallas; 6. Chivas USA.

My comrades-in-blog are keeping busy as well. Climbing the Ladder turned in a tidy Eastern Conference preview; I mean no disrespect by not typing out his rankings, but I'd have to do that two more times, so will pass for now. The biggest shock on this one is how highly scaryice rates Chicago. A preview for the West should appear in that space tomorrow. I came across another pair of conference previews (East and West) through the Rapids blog on The Offside, which linked to a new-to-me site titled, USA Soccer Spot. He makes some bold-n-spicy calls in there (FC Dallas, a legitimate contender! gasp!!), but that will only make this call sweeter if he nails it.

And, for those of you wondering why I'm doing all these previews, that's kind of the answer: someone will get these calls correct. If I read enough of them, I can find out who and make him (or her) give up their secrets.

Last, but by no means least, the Kin of Fish posted his predictions and, in a move I rather admire, he does so very, very briefly. Maybe Mr. Fishkin and I can arrange some kind of verbiage swap, like they're talking about doing with carbon-emissions....'cause, Lord, do I like to jabber. In any case, Fishkin makes up in boldness what he lacks in blabbing: he declares a repeat for Houston and says they'll top DC in the final.

All for today.

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