Soccer is the world's favorite sport

So, last night was the “Kickoff Cup” for Real Salt Lake at Skyline High School. (?) We were a little late due to my idiocy in not thinking of taking the I-215. Sorry about that, Gabby. The weather was alright when we first arrived, but it quickly got chilly and windy. Thankfully, it was not raining. I was not prepared for that. We did have to huddle down through most of the second half. I don’t know how the fans of European soccer deal with the weather through their entire season.

Anyway, the starting lineup was announced and we were still looking for a seat. I did catch that we started Kyle Reynish in goal (though I would have known him anyway). Dema Kovalenko was also on the field as was Alex Nimo. I have not seen either of them play for RSL before. Pretty much the only other person on the field that I recognized was Kenny Cutler. Why is he still around?

We settled on some front row seats near the center of the field only to find Leo standing directly in front of us and obstructing our view. We got up and went to the north end of the bleachers and settled towards the back.

The game was actually kind of boring. Kovalenko scored around the 20th minute. It was a lovely shot. Cheering and then pretty much nothing happened again until he scored again about fifty minutes later. Movsisyan scored the third of the game not too long after. Even more reason to love Movsisyan, not that we need any. The game ended on that score. RSL won 3-0.

I think the low point was when the Lobos Girls (I don’t know if that’s what they are called, but that is what we will call them) got up to dance at half-time. I’m not sure what they were doing, but I, a self-confessed terrible dancer, could have choreographed a better dance than what they subjected us to. Thankfully, their dance was only about one minute long, but then when they decided to throw out T-shirts and do some additional dancing; they played the same Black Eyed Peas song again. I think they only had that one minute clip of the song, so they played it over and over. It was annoying.
So help me if RSL gets “cheerleaders” when we move to the new stadium, I will boycott them. I can figure out when to yell for my team. If I couldn’t I still wouldn’t want some idiots telling me when to do it.

Alright the rest of you, get out there and play some real football like a bunch of girls!

The MLS has posted their complete regular season schedule. I can now begin making plans for the summer. Until now it was, “I don’t know. There might be a Real game that weekend.” Now, it’s “Let me check my schedule.” Because I have indeed put all the games into it.

For now, these are the top five games I am looking forward to:

March 29th vs. Chicago Fire
Opening game. I have been counting down since it was announced back in December (well, really since the season ended last October). It’s going to be good. I hope we do better than last time we played Chicago. They kind of cleaned the floor with us.

May 31st vs. San Jose Earthquakes
RSL plays the new Earthquakes squad three times. This is the first of those. I am very excited to see the new lineup.

August 29th vs. Colorado Rapids
The only chance to see the rival Crapids in Salt Lake City this season. The best moment of last season was winning at Colorado the last game of the season. We were there to celebrate and I hope it happens again this year. If not, then at least we have a chance of beating them at home.

September 20th vs. Chivas USA
I miss Esky.

October 9th vs. New York Red Bulls
I am not so much looking forward to this game as I am looking forward to where this game may be played. ESPN2 will be visiting Utah for this game because it’s rumored the stadium should be completed by this date. I can’t wait to watch some soccer in a stadium designed for soccer (and on a field not covered with football lines).