Revolution v. Portland Timbers, 4.2.11

I am part of that small percentage of Americans that still watches broadcast (i.e., antenna, i.e., non-cable/dish network) television. So when the Revolution telecasts moved to Comcast SportsNet (CSN) for the 2010 season after years of airing on the local alternate CBS affiliate, I was disappointed. I was even moved to write the Revolution last year, using the “contact us” page of the team’s website. I wrote something to the effect that I realized most people in the area paid for Comcast, but that I did not, and that by moving to a cable TV station the Revs had lost at least one viewer. I urged the organization to consider moving back to non-pay TV when the CSN contract was up.

I’m sure the Revs’ staff member responsible for fielding the “contact us” emails had a good laugh over my “concerns.” I can just imagine him or her saying to a nearby coworker, “Hey, get a load of this crackpot who doesn’t have cable! Guess he and the Unabomber won’t be able to draft their manifestos while watching the Revs this year. Mbha ha ha! [Click.] Delete!”

I concede that those of us who still adjust the rabbit ears on our TVs are part of a small, ever-dwindling, and understandably derided demographic. So the Revs can be excused for not taking my email seriously. But given the pitiful number of fans that actually show up for their games, they shouldn’t be excused for ignoring me. The chuckling staff member could have at least sent me information on MLS Matchday Live, which allows fans to see almost any MLS game live and/or on replay using their computers. True, MatchDay Live costs money, but my fee was only forty bucks for the entire season. I’ve watched every Revs’ game on MatchDay Live this season, only occasionally encountering technical glitches. The most excruciating of these came during the Vancouver game, when Pat Phelan’s stoppage-time cross that led to Ilija Stolica’s tying score froze in mid-flight on my screen for a full ten seconds before the image fractured into illegibility while the audio (still somehow functional) produced the announcer’s voice yelling the word, “Goal!” I could only force myself to chuckle through a disbelieving and frustrated rage. But mostly MatchDay Live has been a godsend.

Speaking of broadcasts, this is probably as good a time as any to put in a word for the Revs’ announcers: play-by-play man Brad Feldman and color analyst Jay Heaps. Feldman is not the funniest or most charismatic guy in the world (who is?), but he’s totally inoffensive and knows the game of soccer and MLS in particular. And Heaps really knows the game and the league, having played in MLS for eleven years as a defender. It’s not that I’m blown away by either of them, but I feel compelled to stick up for any non-incompetent American who presumes to announce soccer games. I have seldom talked soccer with someone who was raised outside the U.S. who failed to denigrate American soccer announcers, as if someone like Jay Heaps is necessarily a rube because he speaks without a British accent. Actually, even most American soccer fans are similarly disposed to making this tired, tired observation, always as if it’s fresh and watertight. I’m sure such observations were fully justified back in, say, 1994, when the U.S. hosted the World Cup. But that was almost twenty years ago, before MLS even existed and when, if I remember correctly, U.S. networks interrupted live games to air commercials.

So let’s be done with that subject and move on to the Revolution’s first-ever meeting against the expansion Portland Timbers. Sainey Nyassi was probably the most memorable player in the game for the Revs, not always for good reason. He had many quick runs down the left side of the field, moving to the right side for part of the second half. His speed drew at least four penalties against the Timbers, some on Purdy, their impressive right back who occasionally presses forward. Nyassi, though, had some frustrating final touches off those runs, giving the ball away. I suppose a coach puts up with this kind of thing because, as they say of wide receivers in American football, speed kills, and more specifically opens up the field.

As usual, Shalrie Joseph deserves mention for his strong play, controlling the ball and passing effectively. One such pass to Phelan at the end of the first half might have ultimately led to a goal, but Nyassi was caught offside. Joseph often overlapped with his fellow midfielders Pat Phelan and rookie Stephen McCarthy, both of whom also had good games. McCarthy scored the only goal of the match for the Revs on a killer first-touch strike at the top of the box that ripped into the bottom right side of the net. Portland’s only goal came fifteen minutes later off a similar strike by Jack Jewsbury. The build up to that goal included a run and pass into the box by the imposing striker Kenny Cooper. Jeremy Hall, playing with his back to the goal, held the ball with defenders hanging on him then laid it out on a platter for Jewsbury, who struck the ball hard with the outside of his left foot. How satisfying and fun it must be to take part in scoring a goal like that.