B.C. Place: It's Getting There

Even though Vancouver's season has been about as successful on the field as Knight & Day was at the box-office, it's nice to know they have something to look forward to. Obviously that "something" is not the playoffs; instead it's the late-season opening of their permanent home, B.C. Place.

Have a look inside the under-construction enormodome in the clip above. It's big but it's downtown so there's a good chance that the end result will resemble Seattle more than New England. There is also a good chance that rural types will mistake it for a grounded spacecraft.

Eric Hassli is The Baddest Man in MLS, Today™

Chipping the keeper on a PK then dropping this wonder bomb on him late in the game? Ooowee! This is how you show up and show out in a "derby." Eric Hassli, you are The Baddest Man in MLS, Today™.

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Gillette Stadium

Well maybe not everything. There is no mention of the important things like the selection of beer available to local drunks and the price of the stadium dog but there's a bunch of other random nuggets in there from Vancouver radio personality Peter Schaad who has apparently taken it upon himself to give us guided tours of every MLS stadium. Good looks Pete.

And is it just me or is Schaad the Canadian Glenn Davis?

Wednesday Night MLS Orgy Heading Our Way

There's too much MLS tonight. That's not a complaint just a fact. Dallas play Toronto, Philly host Becks-less LA, and the Whitecaps welcome the Earthquakes to Vancouver to party like it's 1978 in a NASL redux match. How am I supposed to watch all three of those meaningful matches and the alleged "Arsenal of MLS"'s random foreign friendly du jour in Montreal tonight?*

The answer is probably "with an iPad, laptop and the TV all on at the same time." Basically I plan on making my living room a furnace of incremental radiation from the hours of 7pm to 12pm tonight. I would encourage you to do the same but I don't want to take responsibility for the drop in sperm count that you may experience due to 5 hours of "laptop lap."^

*Interesting that so far this year New York has played or announced friendlies in Mexico, Quebec, England and Arizona. Are dudes really an international draw now? Mind you the latter location is technically the U.S. but only for another few weeks if you believe the militia men and immigration-concerned people that yell at you on cable news.

^"laptop lap" is when you spend too much time on the couch on your computer and your wedding tackle becomes hot, uncomfortable and possibly useless.

Even More Jay DeMerit Movie Love

Here's an excerpt from Rise & Shine. Also, here's something some jackass wrote after talking to Jay DeMerit about the project. Now, go order the DVD will ya!

Help Kickstart the Jay DeMerit Documentary

The last time I co-signed on a documentary about a USMNT player the film never got released. But then again the film's subject, Claudio Reyna, was stinking it up on the field at a dear salary so perhaps the lack of enthusiasm around the project had little to do with my sad attempt at cheer-leading.

Hopefully the Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story turns out a little bit better. With your help and today's launch of a Kickstarter campaign around the project there's a good change that this baby will see the light of day; having viewed the film and spoken to Jay about it I can tell you that it's a movie worth seeing and a story that deserves to be told.

The cool thing about this campaign is that you can actually get something for your cash other than a good feeling. Depending on much paper you put down you can receive anything from a DVD of the film to signed cleats from DeMerit to a day on the pitch with the film's subject.

So go give damnit! This film isn't going to finish financing itself!

Hey Look, Vancouver has Supporters Too

There's been loads of talk about the Cascadia clubs and their supporters this season but I feel like one thing has been conspicuously absent: Vancouver supporters? Those guys get ZERO attention...and when they do it's for the wrong reasons. But apparently they've gone the route of a half-dozen or so small groups instead of one large mass so maybe that's the reason for the low visibility.

So in lieu of the love afforded their counterparts in Northwest from the media, the 'Caps have taken it upon themselves to talk up their supporters. I would like to make a joke here but nothing comes to mind. Feel free to make your own.

Eric Hassli: C'mon Son

Eric Hassli, did you really pull off your jersey and throw it into the crowd while already on a yellow card? C'mon son. I know you are French and have been playing in Switzerland and everything but that's a yellow anywhere in the world, INCLUDING CANADA.

And you had another identical jersey on underneath? C'mon son. Didn't someone do that same routine just last week? And did you think you were going to fool the ref --who happens to be one of the most card-happy officials in CONCACAF-- with that move? Like, he was going to be all "I thought I saw him take off his shirt and throw it to the crowd but he obviously didn't because he's still wearing it." C'mon son.

And not to put too fine a point on this dude but you were ejected from the last match you played in, you're a DP who was benched, came on as a second-half sub and scored on a PK that you didn't draw. Now I'll give you that at that point in the match it could have been the game-winner but c'mon son, now is not the time for you go to over-the-top with the celebrations. It's just not good look for you right now -particularly when you get ejected for doing it.

But that's just me, that's just where I'm at with it. So let's just look at the numbers because, allegedly, they don't lie:

3 games
3 goals
2 red cards
1 c'mon son

It could be worse but seriously, c'mon son.

Crazy Talk About Soccer Surpassing Football is No Longer Crazy Talk

First Toronto FC now this. Who ever thought the MLS mountaintop would be in Canada?

Terry Dunfield Would Like to Tell You Bad Joke

It's a bad joke and in no way a dirty joke but it's for charity so be nice.

Eric Hassli is The Baddest Man in MLS, Today™

There are few weapons more devastating than surprise. When the 'Caps signed Eric Hassli to DP money last month most folks, including myself, where like "Who Dat?" But after Saturday's performance the element of surprise may no longer be in Hassli's arsenal.

I'm somewhat hesitant to invoke the over-used term "beast" to describe him but that's what he was out there and dude has 2 goals to prove it. Sure, Omar Bravo and CD9 grabbed braces as well but neither of them posses the ultimate "bad man" tie-breaker -prison tattoos.

So with that I am awarding Eric Hassli the in-no-way-prestigious title of Baddest Man in MLS, Today™. Wear it well Frenchie.

VIDEO: Chasing The Dream Trailer Looks Pretty Damn Special

I once had a conversation with a very influential person in American soccer about the film Goal: The Dream Begins. He said that there was nothing in the way of undiscovered talent in America and that any player that was capable of playing at EPL level would have been on the radar of U.S. Soccer and MLS well before they would ever get a sniff at the Premiership.

I said "what about Jay DeMerit?" and he went silent.

DeMerit's real-life journey from Green Bay to Watford was certainly different than Santiago Munez's fictional journey to Newcastle but it does make you wonder who else is out there. In a nation as big as America he can't be the only guy to go undiscovered by the American soccer establishment.

[H/T to The Shin Guardian]

Whitecaps Record Official, Presumably Street Official, Hip Hop Anthem

Half-naked flesh, leather-clad Italian guys and beats: are these Vancouver Whitecaps videos promoting a soccer team or a discotheque? I don't care either way as I have a thing for both but if it is a nightclub I need to know the dress code. I refuse to dance in any establishment that will not let you in wearing sneakers; you only dance in church shoes at wedding receptions.

Vancouver Takes a Play Out of SI's Book

Remember when Deuce's missus got all painted up with a few of the other World Cup-wags for SI? The results were titillating. The Whitecaps took notice and decided to bite the style for their Countdown to Kick Off video series. And you now what? I don't think I'm mad at that.

BRYAN ADAMS: EVERYTHING HE DOES, HE DOES IT FOR YOU (AND THE WHITECAPS)

How about a quick, informal straw poll in the comments: has Bryan Adams aged well? I'm inclined to say "yes" because he looks like my friend Doug and if I say "no" I am also saying in way that Doug has not aged well and then I'll have to deal with that. But you guys don't know Doug so use your words and make your own call. Bonus points if you can work the phrase "Cuts Like a Knife" into your comment.

More Whitecaps Video Love

I know it looks like I am all up on Vancouver's jock right now with two Whitecaps-related posts in a row but I kind of have to give praise where it's due. I'm feeling their "Countdown to Kickoff" video series because A) it's pretty to look at, B) it has a lot of great old people in it and B) they feature custom club-branded sushi.

If you haven't seen the other clips head over to the Whitecaps Youtube page and get caught up. Then go find the first geriatric soccer fan you can get your hands on then invite them out for dinner at your local Japanese place; they'll appreciate it so much they might even leave their teeth in their mouth when they pick them after the meal.

Stadium P0rn: Nightfall at Empire Fields

Personal goal for the 2011 season: get to a night game in Vancouver before they move downtown as Empire Field looks absolutely radiant under floodlights. What I would give to see an epic game in the rain there.

Aside from the nocturnal look at the 'Caps temporary home there's a lot of great footage of some of the old-school 86ers/Whitecaps fans and the mobs that greeted the team after they won the 1979 SoccerBowl. Seeing the throngs of supporters filling the streets you can't help but wonder where the game would be in the U.S. & Canada today if the NASL was better run and still surviving. Perhaps places like Toronto and Seattle would be the norm, not the exception.

VIDEO: Salgado's Homecoming

Number one SuperDraft pick Omar Salgado arrived home in El Paso, TX yesterday with a handful of family and reporter-types on hand to greet him at the airport and he reveals that even he was shocked that he went that high in the draft. And here I just thought it was us, the chattering classes of the soccersphere.

He also says that his goal is to play for Real Madrid and that he may go on loan before he plays for the Whitecaps. Where would he go on loan in the U.S.? The USL? The NASL? If he doesn't get his waiver this could get real interesting.

VIDEO: Flyover of Fly-Assed Vancouver MLS Stadia

Oh to be a modern-day MLS expansion club. You get to build on the back of the achievements of the teams who came before you and you get to keep your original name -no weird "Your name is Toby*"-period a la the San Jose Clash. You also get fresh-to-death temporary stadiums built for you to tide you over until the renovations on your downtown enormodome are completed. My how things have changed from the days of Lockhart Stadium and the Fusion expansion.

*You may need to watch Roots to get that.