More stadium porn, as this BBVA Compass Stadium just gets closer and closer to being done every day. This is from the always great Keeper Notes crew.

A few takeaways. First, Wow. Coming through that tunnel, the first look to the right brings my eye directly, DIRECTLY, to my seats.

Adidas backed out of a renewing LIverpool's kit deal as they weren't overly impressed with the club's performance. No matter. The Reds have reached an agreement with US based Warrior Sports that is worth £25m a year for 6 years, which more than Man Utd's annual £23.5m deal with Nike.

New Balance, the parent company of Warrior Sports, is also the supplier to the Boston Red Sox which is owned by John Henry's Fenway Sporting Group, which also owns Liverpool.

NME Album of the Year: Elephant by The White StripesCrufts Best in Show: Yakee a Dangerous LiaisonPalme d'Or Joint Winners at Cannes: ElephantVice President of the United States: Dick CheneyGiven the uncanny coincidence that artworks with the same title scooped the NME Album of the Year and Palme d'Or Awards in 2003, it's appropriate that one of the blogosphere's finest polymath's should contribute the fourth in our fledgling series of hopeless teams.

On Tuesday, Major League Soccer released the dates for the 2012 home openers. The opponents have yet to be named, with the full schedule expected to be released in January. Houston doesn't debut their new stadium until week 10, and Montreal has yet to settle on a date for the opening of the reconstructed Saputo Stadium.

Pizzas! Donuts! Chicken 'n biscuits! It's our Top 10 worst stadium naming deals

With the news that Newcastle United's St. James' Park will henceforth be called the Sports Direct Arena, we've searched the world for the worst sporting arena naming deals. As you can imagine, our cousins from across the pond are leading the way when it comes to ridiculous stadium names.

The first spot in the MLS Conference Finals will be locked up tonight when Sporting Kansas City takes on the Colorado Rapids at Livestrong Sporting Park tonight (8pm, Fox Soccer Channel).

Sporting KC opened the Eastern Conference semifinal series with a 2-0 victory against the Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, and will now return home where they will be favored to hold off an injury-hit Rapids squad that will play tonight's match without injured starting defenders Drew Moor and Kosuke Kimura.

Last night Colorado defeated the Columbus Crew 1-0 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, advancing to face KC in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The game will kick off at 6:30 central time Sunday out in Denver. KC split the season series with Colorado, both on the backs of 1-1 draws. Colorado's goal scorer in both games was the now injured Conor Casey.

By Chris Wright

"BOOYAH!"

It's one of football and sport in general's most widely-regarded idioms that pre-game sex is a no-no as it will tater you out come kick-off, which is, of course, complete tosh.

I put it to you, how can something that lasts less than a minute possibly have a detrimental effect on your stamina levels?

The Colorado Rapids took the other MLS wildcard spot, beating Columbus at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. With the Colorado grounds crew needing to quickly prepare the stadium after yesterday's snow, it was the Rapids taking advantage late in the first-half with a goal from Omar Cummings. That turned out to be the game winner, with both teams pressing late.

The Colorado Rapids will take their first step toward trying to repeat as MLS Cup champions when they face the Columbus Crew in the second of two MLS Wild Card games this week (10pm, Direct Kick).

The Rapids will look to take advantage of the home-field edge provided at Dick's Sporting Goods Park against a Columbus side that will be looking for some revenge after being eliminated from the 2010 playoffs by the Rapids.

The Colorado Rapids will take their first step toward trying to repeat as MLS Cup champions when they face the Columbus Crew in the second of two MLS Wild Card games this week (10pm, Direct Kick).

The Rapids will look to take advantage of the home-field edge provided at Dick's Sporting Goods Park against a Columbus side that will be looking for some revenge after being eliminated from the 2010 playoffs by the Rapids.

The Colorado Rapids kick off defense of the 2010 MLS Cup tonight in conditions reminiscent of the night the team won the title in Toronto in November.

It will be chilly in Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the 8 p.m. battle with the Columbus Crew. But there will be plenty of heat on the field for the Rapids.

Last night the New York Red Bulls beat FC Dallas 2-0 to move on to the Conference semifinals. Due to them being the 10 seed they will take on the top seeded LA Galaxy. That means that the Eastern Conference's top seed, Sporting KC will play the winner of tonight's game between Colorado and Columbus in cold and snowy Denver.

Colorado's journey into the 2011 playoff starts at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at 8 Thursday night against the same foe the team edged on a successful run to the 2010 MLS Cup.

The Columbus Crew meet the Rapids in a one-shot wild card match the night after FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls tangle in the other wild card match.

Dave on with Dick Fain of KJR talking Open Cup

Starts about 15 minutes in or so. Open Cup, Supporters Shield and likely Playoff scenario are the topics.

When the Seattle Storm were bounced from their playoff run Dick Fain was able to come to the US Open Cup Final. We went to Fuel, did the March and celebrated joyfully with 35,000 of our closest friends. This is his less than 4 minute video of the day, it includes Fain being lucky enough to have captured the Alonso goal at the end.

OK, this happens every year and I'm not sure why the center referee was so uptight about it. So, of the two adult leagues that I (and most of us in this area, actually) work with, the men's league has all their games at one steady time, barring venue restrictions; the women's league does the same, except their game start is 15 minutes later than the men's typical time - except 2/3 into the season, they move all the games up 15 minutes to deal with earlier sunsets.

Because thinking is hard, here's who Timbers fans should root for today through Sunday:
DC,Fire,Toronto,Dallas,DC,Timbers,Chivas
(according to this site)

Can someone explain why DC getting six points is a good thing? Is it because Portland has a tie-breaker over Philly and our best chance of making it is alongside DC?

Colorado 1 - Real Espana 2 Carlos Pavan had Real Espana up a goal 12 minutes in at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Wednesday night. Though Andre Akpan would bring Colorado level six minutes later, it would be Pavan again in the 33rd to take all three points. The result leaves Colorado bottom of Group B on a tiebreaker with Real Espana.

Holland brought forth a number of tremendous players, most of which will always be held in high esteem internationally, for many reasons. Johnny Rep will always be the Cock D'Or ( the Golden Dick), Johan Cruyff tops the list of best ever, Van Hanegem is for many fans the real [read more]

The Colorado Rapids learned the final dates and hosting opportunities for the team's inaugural run in the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday.

Colorado, which hosts its opening match in CCL play on Aug. 17 against Metapan, will also host matches against Santos Laguna on Sept. 13 and Real Espana on Sept.

By Chris Wright

In which Sport Recife's youth-string 'keeper Gustavo connects with an appalling, neck-high kick on unsuspecting Vasco de Gama midfielder Elivelton at the end of a Belo Horizonte Youth Cup tie yesterday evening a horrifying dick move that has promptly seen the young stopper forcibly ejected from the club and banned for life.

The Jameson tradition continued as the Rapids are still undefeated against New England when Jameson Night is held. Saturday night though the Jameson power resulted in a very odd game. Two PK's, a 70 yard goal, and a goal off a throw-in all combined for a 2-2 draw.
The Rapids had complete control of the first half, with the Revolution really only making one good foray into the Rapids attacking third.

Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. Colorado Rapids live game thread! It's been just three days since the Revs broke a nine-match winless streak against DC United with a 1-0 victory, and they'll be looking to translate that into further positive results tonight at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Morning all, a quick Saturday round-up for you.

As the police continue the hunt for Cesc Fabregas after his ruthless kidnapping (they're still none the wiser as to where he might be), we've just got to hope they do their job and get on with all the other stuff in the meantime. I'm assuming Sky News are on this 24/7.

The summer football break is a bleak place at the best of times invented stories, transfer 'sagas', and the endless sight of Harry Redknapp on Sky Sports News. But some things rise above these mild irritants and become truly infuriating, and while it takes a lot to rile me, I've been finding myself getting increasingly annoyed or disillusioned with some of the goings-on.

Good morning to you.

It's Friday again. That means we've gone through another week without any of the following things happening:

1. Signing a new player
2. Signing more than one new player
3. Selling a player who has said they want to leave the club but for whom nobody has bid
4. Selling a player we wouldn't mind keeping but who is being a dick so we might as well sell him
5. Selling a player we definitely don't want to sell

You'll notice how I finished on a positive note there.

Major League Soccer's Sunday game ended scoreless at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Though the Rapids had more opportunities, putting 8 shots on goal to Houston's 2, neither team could find the back of the net. Splitting the points leaves both teams 5th in their respective conferences.

The Colorado Rapids returned home to Dick's Sporting Goods Park badly needing a victory after suffering a pair of blowout defeats, but the home team's hopes for three points were thwarted by Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall.

The Dynamo netminder made six saves, including several highlight-reel caliber stops, to help Houston salvage a 0-0 tie on Sunday night.

The Colorado Rapids are coming off back-to-back worst performances of the season, the team's best forward is suspended and the squad's mired in mid-table in the Western Conference.

No worries, it's time for the Fourth of July. And for the Rapids, that means a long history of good results.

The team is hosting its 16th annual fireworks match, this time on July 3, and the Rapids have owned the night.

Dave Clark on with Dick Fain of KJR-AM Seattle (direct link)

The segment with me starts at about 15:30 in, as they podcast the full hour show. Topics are Whitecaps game, lacking offense, and possible transfers to Seattle.

By Chris Wright

Huzzah! Martin Jol's big lovely Dutch face will be back in the Premier League next season!

After Mark Hughes reneged on the option of extending his rolling contract and walked away from the club with one eye on the Villa job last Thursday, Big Martin has been handed the reigns at Fulham this morning signing up on a two-year deal with the option of a third.

A disjointed Rapids squad produced disappointing play that led to a dispiriting 1-1 draw with visiting Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

After an opening burst, where Colorado appeared to be playing faster than its opponents, the Rapids disolved. The squad seemed to have trouble all night finding passing lanes, and that eventually cost two points at home.

The Philadelphia Union's offensive struggles were brought to a decisive end as they romped to a 6-2 away win against Toronto FC at BMO Field. Three goals were scored in the first half alone, more than the Union had scored in any game previously this year.

Midfielder Justin Mapp and forward Danny Mwanga each bagged braces.

Dave Clark on KJRAM Seattle with Dick Fain

Quick little chat with Fain about tonight's game, his upcoming introduction to supporters culture and... Mexico-Ecuador?

Colorado 0 – Toronto 0 Both teams were left trying to figure out how to push their offense after a scoreless 90 minutes at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. "When moments came, we needed someone to step up and take the bull by the horns and create a chance," Colorado coach Gary Smith said. "On two or three times occasions through balls went skipping out of bounds without any feeling.

COMMERCE CITY, Colorado Toronto FC gutted out a valuable scoreless draw on the road Sunday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park as the Colorado Rapids failed to take advantage of their first home game in three weeks. Goalkeeper Matt Pickens was a bright spot for the Rapids, who earned a draw for the third straight [.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Multiple chances never materialized into a goal as Toronto FC and the Colorado Rapids battled to a scoreless draw at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver.

It was an back-and-forth game early on but neither team could threaten the opposition's goal.

Dave on Live at Five with Dick Fain

I start 8:40 into the show and talk for about 10 minutes to the non-soccer fans about the Cascadia Cup rivalry on radio. Using Ducks-Huskies as a start, but about what this game could mean.

Marco Pappa -- Getty ImagesTwo struggling teams in need of a victory each wound up with a draw as the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids played to a 1-1 stalemate Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
Fire midfielder Marco Pappa tallied his third goal of the season, but Chicago once again could not hang onto a lead.