First RAIN Impressions - DC United RAIN : RAIN Houston Dynamo

I know, the game's not canceled yet. But having been out of DC for pretty much the last month straight, I was looking forward to this as a way to reintegrate myself back into the thick of things. To get right back into The Now. Instead, the rain, combined with Bruce Arena's presence in the Comcast Sportsnet studios, has turned this into a nostalgia fest for the 1996 and 1997 cups. Which is great, don't get me wrong. I love our tradition. But doesn't it kinda rub it in... you know... that there was a time when this team was really, really good.

I'm going to give this game as long as possible to get started, but if it's after 2AM, I'm afraid I may have to plead that I have to go to work tomorrow.

But really, I'm back in town. And this town in rain is pretty than most in the sun. So let's get this game going.

2nd Update: From DCUnited.COM: "D.C. United's match against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday was delayed before kickoff because of lightning, stopped when a torrential downpour made the RFK Stadium pitch unplayable in the 16th minute and eventually postponed. The teams will announce a make-up date on Thursday." Sleep well everyone.

UPDATE: Game postponed. Which may prove to be a blessing, by which I mean that we're at the point where I feel that if Soehn stays around, he may as well stay around for the season. So, in other words, I want to make a decision after this game or next, one way or the other, myself. And how could we really evaluate a damn thing in this weather, even if we won? Yeah. And while I applaud all the fans that showed up, I think commenter Grunthos was pretty smart to bug out when he did.

And I kinda like seeing Russ Thaler (who in the last five years is probably the media personality who has learned the most about soccer) vamp with Bruce Arena (who I do not want to be head coach of United). And seeing Dave Johnson and Tommy Rongren padding the show in Dutch. And the nostalgia, all that nostalgia. The rain feels good, it refreshes, but it disappears and this game will need to be played.

One side note, since in a way I love the rain and thunderstorms. There's a theater warm-up game I played with my improv troupe in college called "Limelight" The premise of the game was simple. You got a bunch of people in a circle, and one person would sing a song in the middle of the circle until they somehow reminded anyone else of a song that might be related to how they were singing. Then that person would sing their song until they were replaced. Repeat.

Somehow Peter Gabriel's Red Rain, no matter what the starting song was, was always the third or fourth song someone would sing. No idea why, or why I am compelled to talk about it.Perhaps it was a mark of college radio tastes in those days. Or perhaps it was just we weren't sophisticated enough to go to Cohen's First We Take Manhattan.