After two straight west coast road matches, the Red Bulls return to banks of the Passaic to face an FC Dallas squad that's posted impressive draws against 2009 playoff teams Houston and Columbus. What Dallas is missing in home support it has in scoring threats Jeff Cunningham, Atiba Harris, and David Ferriera.

Did you have the Red Bulls as undefeated after two matches? Me neither. After a fantastic defensive performance at Seattle, New York makes its second West Coast trip in as many weeks to take on a deflated Chivas team (4p ET, MSG) that's come out of the gate flat as a pancake. The Goats followed up a 0-1 opening day home loss to Colorado with an 0-2 "road" loss at the HDC to the Galaxy.

While New York has to be satisfied with last week's 1-0 home win v Chicago, there's still lots of room for improvement, especially in the midfield. The Red Bulls get DM Robinson back, but on Seattle plastic pitch, will a still-rusty Angel get the start (10:30p Saturday on FSC)? Will he play? Seattle started the 2010 season with a 2-0 home shutout last week v Philly, but as Steve Clare notes our Seeing Red podcast this week, the Sounders were playing an expansion team that was down a man for most of the match.

Two audio appearances this week. First is the ever-growing "Around The League," a weekly whip around MLS with correspondents for every club. I serve as your humble voice of RBNY. Next is this week's Seeing Red, where Nat, Dave and I breakdown the Red Bulls' 1-0 win v Chicago, chat up Steve Clare of Seattle's Prost Amerika, and answer listener email.

After last Saturday's sparkling Red Bull Arena opening match v Santos FC, New Yawk launches into the 2010 MLS season at home v. Chicago. After a 7-0-3 preseason, can RBNY ride the wave of optimism into a tough opponent that narrowly missed last season's MLS Cup by a missed pk? No doubt the new soccer management and additions to the Red Bulls' roster has rejuvenated once of the worst clubs in MLS history, but if the coach & GM are "terrified," what does that say for the boys wearing the bulls & sun on their shirts?

There have been very few "perfect soccer days" in my life. Gio's bike for Metro v Tampa in '96. Watching the US beat Mexico in the 2002 WC from Nathan Hale's in lower Manhattan. The US win over Honduras in Chicago last summer was pretty great. My first EPL match at Stamford Bridge in November was super.

Yet another super-fun appearance on your favorite soccer comedy game show, Winning Ugly, with fellow panelists Brian Zygo and Michael Johnson. Wonder who wins?

The bottom line for any sports franchise, the true determining factor of success is the simple old metric: Butts in Seats. In the hotel business, this is known as "heads in beds." Without an historically-strong squad to promote, the club is banking on the allure of Red Bull Arena to drive season ticket sales.

So I've been doing the podcast thing for a year or two now, showing up on shows like MatchFit USA (My first podcast foray) Winning Ugly, SoccerLens, Inside the Six, and Around the League (formerly The MLS Show). It finally dawned on me that there's a need out there for more and more Red Bulls content.

The New York Cosmos' impact on soccer in the New York metropolitan arena can't be debated, even 26 years after the five-time NASL champions ceased operations. For fans of a certain age in the area, the Cosmos were soccer in New York in the late 70s and early 80s, as so poignantly captured in the 2006 documentary "Once in a Lifetime, the Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos.

US Men's National Team unofficial graphic designer extraordinaire PRC has just the thing for you to get ready for the 2010 World Cup. These campaign buttons are her creations and offer support for Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore, Kenny Cooper, Sascha Kljestan, Rico Clark, and a mystery Yank! They can be had for all of seven bucks & will help her get to S.

This week I had the pleasure to join Scott Bornstein, Sandra Franz, and Joe Covino on Winning Ugly Radio's Episode 60: "Don't Sweat It, Bornstein is Gonna Get It." If you've never tuned in, it's a comedy game show about the beautiful game. Trust me, it works.

I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Ryan Knapp, the Co-owner of FC Buffalo in the National Premier Soccer League as well as the current PR Director for the six-year old, national amateur soccer league. My interest in the NPSL stemmed from the recent announcement that the New York Red Bulls would field an Under-23 team in the league's Atlantic Conference for the upcoming season.

On Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of attending an event for "ticket evangelists" at Red Bull Arena. I brought along two soccer-crazed pals who were on the fence about buying Red Bulls season tickets, and they weren't disappointed. Neither was I. I hadn't been inside RBA since September's ticket relocation event, and the place looked absolutely fantastic.

I had the honor to speak with Richard Farley at World Soccer Reader's Inside The Six this week about the Red Bulls and marketing in MLS in general. Check it out!