Week 3 Picks: Mine + Others'

With Columbus v. New England already in the books - and with me taking a self-imposed hit (an own goal?) on the call - my prognosticatin' tally stands at 6-9. Clearly, it's time for improvement. With the ground rules already announced, let's turn to the rest of Week 3's action beginning with a roll of everyone else's:

- USSoccerplayers.com's Ian Plenderleith (nice counter on Herron's elbow to boot)
- Red Card's Luis Arroyave, who gets props for the phrase "Arroyave's Lock of the Week" (goes to Chivas over Real Salt Lake for the record)
- The nice kids at Sideline Views throw in their two... well, since there's two of them making calls, I suppose that makes it their four cents
- Who Ate All the Cupcakes weighs in with picks.
- WVHooligan (whose page I finally added to the blogroll) LINK

Oh, and I made some predictions here, but we'll ignore those for the purposes of my overall "score"...besides, I screwed up the New England call there as well. And don't say I'm cheating either; this is kind of like running two fantasy sports teams at once.

Now, seriously, moving on to my picks:

Red Bull New York v. Houston Dynamo (MLS preview)
HOUSTON WINS - With both teams more or less healthy - the only thing that raises an eyebrow for me is Craig Waibel showing as "questionable" for Houston - this one will serve as New York's first test in 2007 against league heavyweights. I'm thinking they'll fail it, though not by much.

Chicago Fire v. Kansas City Wizards (MLS preview)
CHICAGO WINS - We'll see just how far the Wizards "good vibes" go in overcoming the Wizards horrid history in Chicago (a mighty, mighty 1-11-1). A surly belief that the Fire is overrated has me pulling against them, frankly, but I think they're tough enough to prick, though not burst, KC's bubble.

Chivas USA v. Real Salt Lake (MLS preview
CHIVAS WINS - With everyone else going for Chivas, I almost used this game as a means to pick up a point on the pack...then I came to my senses. Take all those near-misses Chivas fired at Houston and apply them to RSL's occasionally jittery defense and this one adds up too easily. Still, looking forward to this game...

FC Dallas v. Colorado Rapids (MLS preview)
RAPIDS WIN - (Picking up the ellipses left above)...though not nearly as much as this one, which makes it a real pisser that I don't know where to find Telefutura on my cable dial. I know about the Rapids' long-time road, um, "issues," but between the the Colorado's team's general improvement and how deeply their dug into Dallas' skin, I'm thinking they're good for a tough win. Add FC Dallas' wafer-thin defense to the mix and I'm thinking the Frisco home-opener won't be a happy one.

That's it. We'll see how I did Monday.