The week started with a DC United match on Saturday the 7th. Staci and I had tickets to the game but given the perpetual rain that has parked itself in our Stratosphere we decided to forego the trek to RFK and watch the game on television. Even though it rained all afternoon, by gametime it had cleared up and we watched United get its first win of the season.

The next day, we drove down to Richmond to watch a friendly between the US and New Zealand. The US won 2-0. We learned that the roads around the University of Richmond can't handle game-day traffic.

Just to make sure this account is complete, I played soccer Tuesday after work. I was sore until Friday.

Wednesday night we headed out to Grevey's to watch DC United play at Colorado. The game was available only on HDNet (High Definition). The game was the most boring display of soccer that I've seen in the past year. At the end of the night, after the two teams had settled for a scoreless draw, I felt frustrated. There was some part of me that was angry at the team for not rewarding me, and all the other diehards at the bar, for treking out on a work night to cheer them on.

When Saturday rolled around I had one of those rare thoughts that I was completely soccer-saturated. I didn't mind that I couldn't watch the game since we had other plans. I figured TiVo would record it for me and I would fast-forward through the game. No deal - the game wasn't broadcast. When I saw that DC had thumped Columbus 3 goals to nothing I became a hyperactive remote control jockey hoping highlights would be on the evening news. The Fox affiliate here just mentioned the score, all the other 11 o'clock news broadcasts had highlights of the game.

Looking back, that's four games in six days. Who would have expected even 5 years ago that your average soccer-fan would have that much domestic soccer available to them?