I'm French! Why do think I have this outrageous accent!

Before I get started I want to point out that the full list of MLS salaries were released today. I'll have a full write-up later this weekend but I figured some people might want to take a look.
Our only look at this year's expansion team, the Montreal Impact, comes tomorrow night at the Dick.

Spock Spork!

After a disastrous midweek game in DC Colorado is back at home against Sporting KC. Kansas City is on a 3 game slide after winning their first 7 to start the season. There's a big tailgate for this one as Kansas City usually brings a good crown. we're doing a BBQ tailgate and the KC fans are bringing authentic KC BBQ sauce.

Our finest moment in DC

After what felt like a extremely long 10 days off Colorado is back in action tomorrow night in DC. The center of power hasn't been kind to the Rapids historically, with last year producing only our 3rd ever win in the District. This season a beat up burgundy side makes the trip with 4 major starters unlikely to start.

Need I say more? ;)

A quick turnaround from our trip to Boston sends us to Dallas tomorrow for a rematch of our MLS Cup victory. As good as the Rapids have been in Dallas in the postseason they've struggled in the regular season. With this being the 3rd game in 8 days we'll probably see some tired legs.

No Jamesons Night this season

The Rapids get their only look at the New England Revolution tomorrow night in Foxboro. That's right, the hallowed Colorado supporter's tradition of Jamesons Night when the Revs are in town won't happen this year, barring some surprise matchup in the U.

Do you dare try the Tacos de Buche?

The other LA team, the Under-a-Chivas, are in town this week. The crowd should be a little more subdued after the Beckham-fest or last week and I for one am glad. We don't need half the stadium rooting for some guy on the other team.

Two teams struggling in the early going with 3-4-0 records meeting for the chance to step back into the fray of the Western Conference race should be enough of a plot for the Rapids-Chivas USA showdown on Saturday.

But no, the subplots abound. Let us count the ways.

1. Possible first sighting of Conor Casey this season.

Two teams struggling in the early going with 3-4-0 records meeting for the chance to step back into the fray of the Western Conference race should be enough of a plot for the Rapids-Chivas USA showdown on Saturday.

But no, the subplots abound. Let us count the ways.

1. Possible first sighting of Conor Casey this season.

Bruce Campbell, a much better spokesperson for Old Spice than Beckham

That's right, Old Spice, Keane, PrimaDonnavan, and the rest of the Galaxy will be our opponents tomorrow night. This is the first of two trips to Colorado for LA this year and reportedly David Beckham will be making an appearance this trip.

The Ivar's Dog, you'll have to go across the street from CLink to Safeco to get it though

Colorado is in my hometown of Seattle this week to face the neon-green Sounders. Seattle has been a bit of a house of horrors for the Rapids. Over the last 3 years we've lost all 3 games at Qwest/CLink, being outscored 9-4 and the less said about the U.

Ah yes, its that time again

The Rapids are in Salt Lake City for the first of two trips to play FaKe SaLt LaKe this season. We only get one home game which makes the Rocky Mountain Cup difficult to win this season, but now appears to be a good time to strike.

Chicago Dog Week at the Class VI/Pid Army tailgate

After a long two weeks in the Northeast the Rapids are finally back at home on Sunday. The Fire are in town and Colorado is trying to right the ship after a bad outing in NY. Game time is 5pm and since its a themed tailgate (see above) the grills start and kegs open at 2pm.

New meaning to bridge over troubled water

Colorado is back in the Northeast on Sunday, just up the road from last week's game in Philly. This will be the team's only look at New York this year, and it won't be a pretty one. The midfield core is devastated by injury and suspension so there's a big challenge ahead of Pareja's team.

Anyone else think we should be wearing green kits this weekend?
Colorado makes its first of numerous road trips to the Northeast this weekend, facing the Union on Sunday. We'll also get our first look at NBC Sports Channel's coverage of MLS as they have the TV for this game. That's on channel 79 (SD) or 689 (HD) on Comcast in the Denver area.

Following the shortest offseason, Major League Soccer swings into action on Saturday and the Rapids face Columbus at home in Commerce City.

The March 10 first kick comes less than four months after the Los Angeles Galaxy claimed the MLS Cup title. Now the league and the Rapids begin their 16th season of play less than two weeks from the start of spring.

Following the shortest offseason, Major League Soccer swings into action on Saturday and the Rapids face Columbus at home in Commerce City.

The March 10 first kick comes less than four months after the Los Angeles Galaxy claimed the MLS Cup title. Now the league and the Rapids begin their 16th season of play less than two weeks from the start of spring.

(Yeah, I can't help myself. A Crew game requires a LEGO Village People picture)
It's finally time to get the season started! Tomorrow the Rapids host the Crew to kick off Oscar Pareja's coaching career. Game time tomorrow is 4pm, the first game (along with Vancouver-Montreal kicking simultaneously) of the whole MLS season.

We end this look at the coming season with the team that drives soccer in Colorado, the Colorado Rapids.

MLS Cup champions in 2010, the Rapids slogged through 2011. After the first month of the campaign, only a July dismantling of New York (4-0) and an August domination of Columbus (a 2-0 shellacking that looked like an 11-on-9 game) stood out.

Bad news out of Commerce City today as Anthony Wallace ripped his Achilles in training yesterday and he'll miss 6-9 months. That means if he takes exactly 6 months and no longer he can get back for the final 7 games. Realistically he'll be back closer to the final 2 games, at which point hopefully the Rapids will be in their playoff push.

The team left for Hawai'i today. My sister, brother-in-law, and cousins leave for Hawai'i this week (though not for the tournament). Me? I'm stuck in cold Denver. Before they left the team made some cuts from training camp. Aaron Pitchkolan, Issac Cowles, Sterling Copeland, Jefferson Angulo, Daniel Frias, Alanso Jimenez, and Masaki Hemmi were let go.

The Rapids only had one pick in today's two round Superdraft, their first pick at #14 (The second was traded for Quincy Amarikwa). They used it on UConn midfielder/forward Tony Cascio. He's a senior who played for 4 years with those other Huskies (go Washington!) and last year he was a first team All-American and the Big East offensive player of the year.

Today the Rapids announced that they had signed Hunter Freeman to a contract. As normal, terms and length were not revealed but I'm sure we'll find that information out down the road. Freeman started his career with the Rapids in 2005 before he was traded to NY before the season. Hunter has some versatility to play in defense or midfield, but he's primarily an outside back.

Houston's Danny Cruz could be an easy selection for the Impact tomorrow. (Getty Images)

I've already given a mock draft based on my predictions of each MLS club's protection lists and now that the real lists are out we can get a better sense of who could be actually taken tomorrow.

Every team released their protection lists yesterday evening with a few surprises listed Montreal should come away with a decent start to their expansion campaign.

Colorado just unveiled their protected list for the expansion draft:
Conor CaseyOmar CummingsDanny Earls - InternationalJeff LarentowiczPablo MastroeniDrew MoorBrian MullanJoseph Nane - InternationalMatt PickensJamie Smith - InternationalMarvell Wynne
You can see that the pictured Kosuke Kimura is not on the protected list.

Brad Evans could be that one Sounder that will be picked by Montreal. (Getty Images)

Over the last few weeks I've gone through each of the 18 Major League Soccer clubs and put out the list of players I could see them protecting and not protecting. Many of you have emailed, tweeted, sent messages on Facebook to let me know you've enjoyed these lists and that you want a mock draft from these lists.

Colorado spent 3,330 minutes this season defending the 2010 MLS Cup Championship, which put the team 180 minutes shy of defending its title.

Graham Zusi provided the services in the 28th and 76th minute as Sporting Kansas City recorded another 2-0 victory over the Rapids, giving KC a 4-0 aggregate win in the Eastern Conference Semifinal.

That's Jamie Smith dressed up as the Mad Hatter for Halloween yesterday.
Another quick turnaround as the Rapids face the end of their season tomorrow in Kansas City. Down 2 goals Colorado mus win by 2 to force overtime and PKs or 3 to win and move on. On top of the other problems a storm is rolling into KC tomorrow night (probably the front edge of what's rolling into Denver tonight) which could make the game sloppy.

Teams that can't score don't make it far in the postseason, and the Colorado Rapids are a team that can't score.

The latest evidence came Sunday evening as the Rapids fell 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Colorado, which edged the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the wild card match on Thursday, couldn't generate legitimate threats as Sporting spent the evening shoving them around the field.

Teams that can't score don't make it far in the postseason, and the Colorado Rapids are a team that can't score.

The latest evidence came Sunday evening as the Rapids fell 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Colorado, which edged the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the wild card match on Thursday, couldn't generate legitimate threats as Sporting spent the evening shoving them around the field.

The Colorado Rapids' uphill battle in the Eastern Conference Semifinals just got tougher.

Kosuke Kimura, Drew Moor and Caleb Folan are all expected to miss extended time after picking up injuries in the first leg of the home-and-home series against Sporting Kansas City, the Rapids announced Monday.

A quick turnaround for the Rapids as they are back in action tomorrow. The first leg of the conference semi-finals sees the SporKC's coming back to town. It will be the final home game of the season, no matter what happens, so let's go out with a bang. The tailgate starts at 2:30 with kickoff at 5:30.

In "the other wild card" game, two offensive lineman type soccer clubs come together, again.

Reigning champs Colorado have swept the flakes off their pitch to host Abercrombie FC, the Crew(necks.)

Kimura (left), if you didn't know, is Japanese....ironically...

First, some odds:

• 25 to 1: Will Hesmer scores or gets an assist

• 30 to 1: Marvell Wynne, own goal.

The Rapids start the playoffs tomorrow night at the Dick against the Columbus Crew. 4 games in the next 11 days separate them from another trip to MLS Cup. Tomorrow night its simple, win or go home. There will be 30 minutes and, if necessary, PK's to decide a winner. Of course last year when Colorado started their run to MLS Cup they did it by beating the Crew in the first round.

The wettest fixture in the league happens tomorrow as the Whitecaps and Rapids face off in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Its also the final game in what has been a somewhat soggy season for the Rapids. Colorado has clinched a playoff spot though, and with a win they will clinch home field for the wild-card round.

Tomorrow its on. Rapids - FSL with the Rocky Mountain Cup on the line! Need I say more?
OK, I will, but only because the tailgate is almost as impressive as the game. About 5 hours from now the crack Class VI/Pid Army chefs will be arriving at the Dick to start the grill on the biggest tailgate they've ever done, a full pig roast!

The Saturday night showdown between FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids was not so much a rematch of the 2010 MLS Cup as it was a desperate 90 minutes for two teams stumbling toward the playoffs.

Colorado came in winless in its last five MLS matches (0-3-2) and Dallas arrived on a string of getting shutout in three straight matches.

"No disrespect to the Eastern Conference, but tonight was the championship" -- Dallas defensive midfielder Daniel Hernandez after winning the Western Conference Championship in 2010
I just wanted to throw that in as a "friendly" reminder about our guests tomorrow. I expect him to get the official Class VI welcome for 90 minutes!

The last time the Earthquakes were in town the Rapids sent them packing after a crazy goal by Koz and the trophy celebration to the left sent Colorado to MLS Cup. The stakes aren't quite so high tomorrow night but if the Rapids have any hopes of repeating they need to repeat the result from that night to solidify their playoff position.

The last time Colorado was in Toronto they left with their first ever win at BMO Field, and more importantly, the MLS Cup! Tomorrow they try to make it two in a row North of the border. The Rapids probably need 1 more win to really assure themselves of a playoff spot and their best chances are tomorrow and next week when they host San Jose.

The Rapids come off their two week break with a trip to LA to face the Galaxy. It wasn't all rest though as Ceus, Cummings, Larentowicz, and Nyassi played for their National Teams. Ceus and Cummings got 2 full games, while Nyassi only had one and Larentowicz was on the bench for one and got 15 minutes in the second.