To kickoff 2012, my first (and only) blog entry centered on a plea for the New England Revolution to be "blog worthy" in 2012. A hope that it would "show the fanbase how big the Revolution dream is, and steps you are taking to achieve it."

Given a week of activity, I'm concerned the team still cannot explain the vision of the team's future the way I'd like, but its actions actually give me hope.

In the spirit of honesty, I can let you know that I've been writing the same Revolution-focused blog post for well over a week. It's a long winding tale of where the team stands and what you might do differently from a business and marketing perspective. Goodness knows, I didn't have the heart to also tackle on-field possibilities in the same post.

Wow, there is a lot of noise in the Major League Soccer system right now.

You either think Houston were idiotic (or poorly attempting to be sly) for not protecting local-icon Brian Ching, or you think Montreal hopes to do slimy deal-brokering with little regard to the player. Maybe you think both.

I thought I might be writing about a coach tonight, but certainly not like this. I hoped to offer commentary on Juergen Klinsmann and his lackluster start with the US Men's National Team.

But since I've not even finished watching the USA v France game on DVR, and still don't feel the US fan corner I watched the game from in France allowed me much perspective (too much fan-watching, too bad an angle).

Let's start with the obvious... soccer bloggers, including (maybe especially) those that track the New England Revolution, love a controversy.

Better yet, a conspiracy.

I do what I can not to jump on most of the conspiracy theory bandwagons. Really, I try.

I'll admit it though, some are hard to avoid.

If first impressions matter most, it is hard for New England Revolution fans to take much solace in the recent organizational reorganizational announcements.

The Revolution is viewed as being stuck in MLS 1.0, while the league has largely moved on to MLS 2.0 (or more.) Apparently, Revolution ownership seems to agree, with Robert Kraft suggesting: "Major League Soccer has evolved significantly in the last few years and while we felt we had a structure in place that had worked well earlier and led us to success, the last two years did not live up to our expectations"

However, addressing such fundamental league changes by redrawing lines on an organization chart seems more like this feels more like a reboot than a system upgrade.

One thing is clear, many New England Revolution fans want to see some change this offseason. Big change.

But let's be honest. Bob Kraft isn't going anywhere. Sunil Gulati is probably not going anywhere. (Though I'm not sure anyone would notice a change.) And guessing what happens to Mike Burns or the front office is really only good for setting the #Revs hashtag in Twitter on fire.

This week US Soccer fans saw something new. They saw a team in the red, white and blue attempt to possess the ball, pass the ball, and play out of trouble. They saw players chosen on the hope (if not much prior proof) that they can play a fluid, attack minded game of soccer.

They saw glaring imperfections, certainly.

Despite on and off field struggles that are frustrating New England Revolution fans, players and administrators alike, there's a belief that one ray of hope exists in that the team has MLS stalwart coach Steve Nicol.

Steve Nicol is the MLS coach with the most storied playing career and has become the longest tenured MLS coach around with this time in New England, most of which was rather successful.

When I actually get moving on an update for Soccer Soap Box there is generally an uncanny intersection of an interesting topic related to the New England Revolution or US Soccer, personal time to write and the hope that I have something interesting to add to the discussion.

Clearly there have been interesting topics lately.

I attended tonight's meeting between the Revolution front office and the Revolution supporter's groups (really open to any fan that knew of it) as a self-proclaimed "unbiased observer."

I'm "unbiased" in the sense that I'm not a Revolution supporter's group member, I have no capacity with the team, and I was not there on the night that the ruckus began in earnest.

Judging by the strident tenor and continuing strength of the ongoing, online, venting session emanating from the US Soccer fan and pundit communities, the 4-2 Gold Cup Final loss to Mexico could be interpreted as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

However, rather than it being simply "one loss too many," or even the fact that it was a loss to the USA's most significant rival, there's something greater going on here.

There's nothing like a USA National Team loss to get the fingers on the keys.

Sure, there are parallels to the New England Revolution's loss last night, with both teams frustratingly not turning it on until it was too late. However, the emotion surrounding the two, for me at least, isn't the same.

It seems generally accepted in the MLS community, if not the US Soccer community, that soccer specific stadiums are key to the growth of soccer in the USA.

The reasons are many, and include everything from the emotionally-relevant display of faith in the sport in this country, to the very practical ownership of parking and other associated revenue streams.

I have to get this off my chest: on my DVR sits the New England Revolution game versus FC Dallas from this Saturday night, and I have no plans to watch it. Ever.

On Soccer Soap Box, I don't attempt to capture news before other blogs. I don't analyze every game and every touch. If you are looking for a scoop or play by play coverage, you are unlikely to get it here.