It seems like just yesterday the Dynamo played for the MLS Cup in Los Angeles, in fact it was only 66 days ago, but time waits for no one and the new season must get underway. Yesterday at the team's training facilities, the Dynamo did just that, kicking off the 2012 season with the opening of pre-season camp.

Name: Houston Dynamo Head Coach: Dominic Kinnear 2011 Record: 12-9-13, 2nd Eastern Conference, 7th overall Twitter Hashtag: #HoustonDynamo The Dynamo are the defending Eastern Conference champions, but all the talk this offseason has been about other teams. That's not to say ...
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Power Rankings are nothing more than good fun, particularly in the pre-season. Taking fan support, previous season rankings, player movement and the SuperDraft into account, I took a shot.That said, here's how I see the Eastern Conference playing out.
1. Sporting Kansas City: This squad has done nothing but get better.

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- For months, people have awaited Brian Ching's first match against the Houston Dynamo.

After being left unprotected by Houston in the expansion draft, Ching threatened retirement before eventually being selected by the Montreal Impact.

Dominic Kinnear was predicitably asked after the match about former Dynamo capatain Brian Ching and he made a slightly surprising comment:

"I think in the beginning, we were a little bit liberal with what we were saying," Kinnear said. "I think it was a little bit rude, and I apologize for that, back when Brian first got selected by Montreal in the Expansion Draft.

The day after the return of Brian Ching to the Houston Dynamo, the reaction has diminished in frequency, but not in heartfelt emotion. Many have noticed that Captain Kamehameha is loved in Houston like few US soccer players are loved in any other city in our league.

The list is a short one.

Led by a trio of outstanding performances by forwards, the SBI MLS Best XI for Week 2 is stacked with plenty of attacking talent.

Player of the Week David Estrada leads the way, and is joined on the squad by teammate and partner in goal-creating crime Alvaro Fernandez. River-dancing striker Kei Kamara garnered recognition as well, and so did LA Galaxy Designated Players Robbie Keane and David Beckham.

I don't want to sound like the president of the Dynamo Defense fan club, but here's yet another reason to praise Tally Hall, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Andre Hainault, Corey Ashe, Jermaine Taylor and defensive midfielder Adam Moffat. Playing on the road is never easy. If you don't believe me, check out the road record [.

The Houston Dynamo fought back from an Eddie Gaven brace to record a 2-2 draw against Columbus last night at Crew Stadium.

And what a brace it was. Following a Will Bruin goal, Gaven went to work, scoring via a boneheaded series of plays from the Dynamo backline, specifically, and in order, by Bobby Boswell, Andre Hainault and Geoff Cameron, and then recording another wonderstrike from distance.

Zach posted earlier today about the official unveiling of the Houston Dynamo third kit below, including a link to the story on HoustonDynamo.com. (Full story here.) But over on the team's Facebook page, they posted several more views of the new kit, which I have included after this nifty little video and the jump below.

The Dynamo fell 1-0 at Red Bull Arena last night in a match that was pretty frustrating for all of us to watch. It sucks to lose a second straight match against a conference opponent, but there's still plenty of time left in the season. Thankfully, as we learned last season, MLS can be very forgiving to poor starts, though considering all the road games it's not really a poor start.

Tuesday night's game between the Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers will be memorable for it being the first night game at BBVA Compass Stadium. But that's about it.

The two clubs combined for few chances in a sluggish 0-0 draw in front of a sellout crowd at MLS' newest stadium.

The bad news: This match didn't start well for Houston. The good news: It ended just fine.

After surrendering an early goal on a defensive mistake, the Dynamo came back to down the LA Galaxy thanks to a Mike Magee own goal and a Andre Hainault set piece goal. The victory provides a small level of payback for last year's MLS Cup final, but statements like that should be limited considering nothing can really make up for losing a final.

This is an attempt at a live blog Game Thread for the Dynamo's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match tonight vs. the San Antonio Scorpions. Please feel free to post at will here if you are following the match, which is being live streams on HoustonDynamo.com. You can also follow it via the Scorpions' Twitter feed here or the Dynamo Twitter feed here.