The Rapids Undercurrent

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Rapids Supporters Know the Code

Thanks to members of the Rapids Supporters Clubs who volunteered their time to record an in-stadium PSA to be shown at Rapids home games.

The league's new Fan Code of Conduct was recently unveiled for this year, and pre-recorded Public Service Announcements are now required to be shown in-stadium at all home MLS matches across the league.

Colorado have the distinction of being the only club in the league to have theirs be recorded by actual fans, and not be a canned message from an announcer, staffer or other team member.

Thanks to our supporters again for volunteering their time and for their desire to be part of the process involved with the Fan Code, and look for this video to be show at all home matches.

White Lines

It was a (somewhat) historic moment in the history of Dick's Sporting Goods Park today.

Thursday, April 9, in the year 2009, marks the first time that the stadium field was lined for a sport other than soccer.

For the first time ever the award-winning stadium turf crew lined the pitch in a different fashion, this time in preparation for this Saturday's rugby tripleheader, which is being headlined by the Denver Barbarians.

Rapids' Preston Burpo and LA's Josh Saunders Enter MLS Record Books

Did You Know...

Last Saturday’s match between the Rapids and Galaxy marked just the second time in the 14-year history of Major League Soccer that a match was played with neither goalkeeper recording a save.

The only other time that happened was on May 18, 2005 when Real Salt Lake beat Chivas USA 2-0 with neither Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan or Real Salt Lake’s ’keeper D.J. Countess recording a save.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Gearing Up for Tonight's Match- Live Play-by-Play!!

The team is here at The Home Depot Center for the second time in the last four days and are currently down on the pitch warming up for tonight's U.S. Open Cup Play-In against the LA Galaxy.

Tonight's match marks the second straight year these teams will play each other in this setting with the Rapids claiming a 1-0 victory on a Conor Casey goal in last year's competition.

Casey won't be playing tonight, but here are the starting line-up for both sides.

Also, through the generosity of the LA PR staff and the below connection we will be able to offer you live play-by-play straight from stadium, so enjoy!!

Starting Line-up:

Colorado Rapids: Preston Burpo, Kosuke Kimura, Ty Harden, Scott Palguta, Ivan Guerrero, Colin Clark, Terry Cooke, Greg Dalby, Nick LaBrocca, Jacob Peterson, Ross Schunk

LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Yohance Marshall, AJ DeLaGarza, Sean Franklin, Jovan Kirovski, Stefani Miglioranzi, Kyle Patterson, Tristan Bowen, Bryan Jordan

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Catch Gary Smith Live In-Studio on Fox Football Fone-In Monday Night!

Rapids head coach Gary Smith will be a live in-studio guest tomorrow night on Fox Soccer Channel’s Football Fone-In.

Hosted by FSC's Nick Webster and World Soccer Daily's Steven Cohen, this dynamic two-hour live call-in program gives U.S. soccer fans the opportunity to have their say on television every Monday. Although the Premiership is the hot topic, Major League Soccer, the European leagues and current events in the soccer world are also covered on Fox Football Fone-In. Set in a radio-style studio, everything on Fox Football Fone-In is up for discussion, and no soccer subject is taboo!

Fox Football Fone-In airs weekly on Monday nights at 6 pm MT.

Fans eager to sound-off on topics across the soccer world or want to ask Gary a question can participate by calling 1-866-FOX-FANS, by sending an e-mail to fff@foxsoccer.com sending a text message to 32369.

Life’s a Beach

A day following the team’s 3-2 victory over LA, the Rapids' coaches and players hit the beach for a little stretch and regeneration this afternoon.

After the team gathered for breakfast, everyone piled onto the bus and headed a few miles down the road to Redondo Beach where head athletic trainer Jaime Rojas led the group in some stretching exercises. The team, including head coach Gary Smith and assistant Steve Guppy, then took the plunge into the freezing waters of the Pacific Ocean.

With posted water temperatures of 57 degrees, the cold salt water was the perfect medicine for all the aching muscles.

The players will have the rest of the day off, but many will take advantage of their free time to scout their next regular season opponent tonight when they head back over to The Home Depot Center to watch the Columbus Crew vs. Chivas USA match at 5pm local time.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Rapids '09 Team Open Video - For Your Eyes Only.

The Colorado Rapids Game Entertainment department have now made available an online viewable version of the 2009 Rapids Team Open video.

Debuted to rave reviews at the Rapids' Home Opener on March 28, we fully expect to have the video win national major league game entertainment awards this year.

View it online exclusively on the Rapids' audio/video page by clicking here. Do yourself a favor and crank the volume on your speakers.

For a previous post detailing the several-shoot location filming for the video, click here.

Join the Rapids & World Soccer Daily in Denver at Fado!

The Colorado Rapids have partnered with World Soccer Daily to bring the show to Denver for the UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals on Tuesday April 14th (Liverpool v Chelsea, Bayern Munich v Barcelona) and Wednesday April 15th (Manchester United v Porto, Arsenal v Villarreal).

The 2-day event will be held at one of the Rapids' official partner pubs, Fado Irish Pub, located at 1735 19th Street.

All Rapids fans are invited to come join us for an early lunch, watch the broadcast, and be part of the broadcast! Meet hosts Steven and Kenny. The show will be live 11am-1pm.

The show will be on live by clicking here, and going as well as the Sirius/Internet audio. The boys will come equipped with lots of swag to give away, so bring your trivia hats and get ready for the 2nd leg of the Quarterfinals!

See you on the 14th and 15th at Fado to be a part of the live World Soccer Daily show: America's only national daily radio show promoting the beautiful game!

Help Give Slacker & Steve an Education

If you missed it on Wednesday, afternoon jocks Slacker & Steve of KALC Alice 105.9fm were bagging on the Rapids and soccer.

Now that's not something we take laying down; we're not afraid to call out media personalities here on the Undercurrent.

They've already gotten an earful from us, and will get an invitation soon to come down and try their skills at a team practice. But we also thought we'd throw it out to fans if they wanted to send in their comments by posting their email here on this blog.

Email Slacker & Steve directly by clicking here and let them know your thoughts.

Excerpted quotes from their show, which starts with a recap of Slacker's trip to Brazil:

Steve: "If you took a survey of the planet, I don't think soccer would be the world's most popular sport."

Slacker: "All soccer games end in penalty kicks."

Slacker: "Why does anyone give a **** about this sport?"

Steve: "It's 90 minutes of running around and nobody scores."

Steve: "The Colorado Rapids play indoor soccer, it's a little quicker than outdoor." (WHAT?!?)

Write in and let them know why it's not only the world's most popular sport, but also Colorado's!

You can listen to the archive from Wednesday (titled "Everyone Likes It but I Dont' Get It") by clicking here.

Help give our local media jocks a lesson in the world's most popular sport. Help us call them out and help hold our local media personalities accountable.

Maybe an invitation to come sit down in the Supporters Section for a game?

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pablo Helps USMNT to WCQ Win

Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni started and played the full 90 in tonight's US Men's National Team win over Trinidad & Tobago in their 3-0 win in Nashville, TN.

Pablo was a steadying influence in the back and had a solid performance for the US tonight. Pablo seems to be back in Bob Bradley's good graces as the US gaffer finalizes his squad for the final push toward South Africa 2010.

Youth sensation Jozy Altidore provided the goals, with a hat trick on the evening.

In other news regarding the match, here's a public service announcement for all soccer fans watching ESPN broadcasts: can someone please get John Harkes hooked on phonics?

You'd think a former captain of the US Men's National Team could learn how to pronounce another fellow USMNT captain's name correctly. It's not like Pablo's a rookie on the squad.

Harkes: it's Mastroeni. Sound it out. We are sure it's even printed phoenetically in your pre-broadcast prep materials' pronounciation guide ("MOSS-stroh-EN-EE"). The sound "My-STREE-On-EE" does not exist, so please get it right for future broadcasts. Fans of the Rapids and the USA want to hear Pablo's name said right. Thanks.

For the full recap of tonight's match, visit the US Soccer website.