... of the 2011 MLS Season as we know it. Welcome back everyone! Sorry I've been gone so long, school and work have been taxing but I should have managed my time a little better to make a few posts before now, so for that I am sorry. I'm not leaving the blog yet, and with the offseason upon us now week long absences between posts isn't too out of the question until preseason training picks up in February.

Seattle bids an MLS regular season adieu to Kasey Keller tonight in front of 60,000 plus at Century Link Field while the Quakes and Chris Wondolowski hope to spoil Keller's regular season swan song tonight. Seattle has locked up a playoff spot in the Western Conference and San Jose has locked up a showing in MLS 2012, since there's no relegation you see.

It's been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry for that. I've started a new school year and it's pretty demanding so most nights I've been studying with little time to sit down and write up a post. Up next for the Quakes is a home game against Sporting KC. Sporting is on top of the Eastern Conference at this point in the season while the Quakes are still fighting for the 10th and last playoff spot.

Jon Busch and the Quakes were none too happy during the game Saturday night. What looked like another 0-0 draw for the Quakes quickly turned into a bloodbath after a Real Salt Lake penalty kick brought on by poor refereeing.
The Quakes came to Sandy, Utah without Lenhart, Dawkins, or Hernandez as Dawkins and Hernandez had injuries and Lenhart had personal reasons for missing the game.

You may not be able to see David Bingham's face in that picture, but I'm sure his smile is as big as Jason Hernandez'. It's been a while since I've posted, sorry for that. In the meantime the Quakes held Philadelphia to a 0-0 draw on Saturday night, defeated the English Premier League's West Bromwich Albion in a friendly on Tuesday, and today there was some trading going on that resulted in 3 new players joining the Quakes.

There's a great Japanese movie I watched several times in the dorms in college. It was simply called Ping Pong and it was about Ping Pong (surprise!). It was the first time I had ever heard the word skunk used as a verb, and it meant when your opponent completely dominates you in a shutout or lopsided victory.

LIVEStrong Park will host the Quakes for it's second MLS match this season. The Quakes are the hottest team in MLS right now, notching 13 points out of a possible 15 in their last 5 games, as well as going undefeated in their last 6. Sporting have had a string of poor road results since opening day, including an exciting but painful 0-0 draw during LIVEStrong's first match this season.

Stephen Lenhart scored the Quakes 5th hat trick Saturday night against DC United. The 3 goals push his season total to 4, and Simon Dawkins scored his second goal in two straight games and Dawkins also has 4 goals on the season for the Quakes. The Quakes are the hottest team in MLS right now having earned 13 of 15 points in their last 5 games.

Yallop had hinted that he was going to make some wholesale changes to the starters in response to the dispirited games against New York and Chivas USA. Well, Saturday's lineup saw 5 different starters than against Chivas last week and Yallop went back to the 4-4-2 the team used to great effect last year.

The Quakes leave today for 10 days of training and 3 exhibition games at Tottenham's training grounds, Spurs Lodge, in London. The Quakes trained in London with Tottenham during preseason last year and both coaches and players stated that the time spent training and bonding in London helped them make the playoffs in 2010.

The schedule for all MLS teams was released today, along with the ESPN / ESPN 2 / ESPN Deportes TV listings for the season. ESPN will be broadcasting 21 games this season, including the MLS All-Star Game in New York. ESPN 2 is the go to channel for MLS, featuring 17 of the games, ESPN will air 4 games, and ESPN Deportes will air all 21.