Primetime: ESPN Doin' Good, Records, Pick

I like the way ESPN has hyped the Primetime Thursday matches. And it's not so much on TV - I know nothing; I only watch the games and generally know when they're on - as to how they handle them on their site. Every week, they've done a "special" preview, all of them written by Jeff Carlisle so far. And, in my estimation, he's done really solid work on these: he frames them well as well as highlighting players and storylines to watch. Check out the latest and see if you don't agree.

I did, however, note a weird comment in his "stories to follow" segment:

"2. Are the Hoops legit?"

"While New York's early success has made people take notice, Dallas' record of 2-1-1 might qualify as a bigger surprise. When [Dallas coach Steve] Morrow opted to dismantle the side put together by predecessor Colin Clarke, it was thought that the slew of new faces would take time to gel. But FCD has fashioned a solid start to the season, despite playing three of their first four games on the road. And while Dallas has been outplayed at times, it has still managed to get some good results.

In fairness, I think I know where he's going here - e.g. it's surprising because all the changes Morrow made in the off-season and the starting road-trip. But it goes down a little sideways because the absence of commentary on the fact that Dallas has a history of starting well: for instance, in 2006 and 2005 they started 3-0-1, and they weren't too shabby in 2004 either (2-0-2). The point is, Dallas doesn't have a problem with their starts; it's the endings that kill them (and get their players suspended, etc).

Also, for the record, Red Bull New York can make their way into the league history books if they can keep FC Dallas from scoring for 75 minutes - so that's kinda cool.

At any rate, this should be a good game, maybe even a great one - and there are previews out there (MLSnet.com (LINK) and Ian Plenderleith offered some good details as well).

Finally, time to name (guess?) the winner ahead of kick-off. This is a tough one, one of the toughest of the season so far. In spite of what I said for my entry in the predictions league run by Ian on the Real Salt Lake Offside (where I called a 1-0 win to RBNY), I'm making a DRAW the official call for this space.

On the other hand, since I failed to make an entry in this space for last night's game, my thoroughly accurate prediction in that league will stand for this space (for all those calls, scroll down to my second comment - the one that comes after my realization that I suck at predcitions). And that takes my total for the year to 9-11...getting better...