Philadelphia Union is sponsored by Bimbo, which is an unfortunate word to name bread and even even more unfortunate word to have plastered in large letters across the front of your shirt. They pronounce it "beem-bo" which seems to me like Hyacinth Bucket insisting her name is pronounced "bouquet." Riiiiiight. I think I'll pass on buying a jersey if it's all the same to you.
Sponsorship aside, I am a fan of Philadelphia Union, and I've been able to watch their second season on TV so far, which is kind of a miracle. (Because I actually have off on Saturdays when they're playing, and it's actually on network TV instead of cable.)
Game 1: They played Houston Dynamo. Union scored a goal in like the first 5 minutes, and managed to hold on to that lead for like 85 more minutes. Apparently they don't know that Philadelphia teams are supposed to lose their lead right before the end of the game. Or is that just the Eagles? At any rate, they won 1-0, which was great, and the best part is that Houston Dynamo never lost a home opener before. Until now. Ha! How do you like them apples?
Game 2: This time it's Philadelphia's home opener and we're playing Vancouver Whitecaps. I didn't even know there were Canadian MLS teams. (It's the first year for this one.) Apparently they think they're playing hockey, because they're tackling and fouling like crazy. I did the math--it averaged to a foul every 2.7 minutes! And as Taylor Twellman said, the ref was "handing out cards like it's someone's birthday." It was only a matter of time before someone got a second yellow--I'm amazed they made it through the first half! Fortunately, it was Vancouver who was red carded, so that gave Philly enough of an advantage to finally score in the 77th minute. And once again they held the lead and won 1-0. Yessss!
Which brings us to Game 3: LA Galaxy. I was super duper excited to see LA Galaxy play (and by LA Galaxy I mean David Beckham). But what do I see when I turn on my TV at game time? No soccer! I'm all "Donde esta mi juego de futbol?" and ABC is all "Sucker!" Because they totally suckered me in, putting the first two games on and then stopping right before the one I really wanted to see. I checked the schedule, and there's only three more games they plan to put on network television. And LA Galaxy isn't one of them. Boo. And to make it worse, I checked the score, and Philadelphia lost to LA 1-0. Suck an elf. At least I was able to watch the highlights online. Looks like I missed an exciting game, between some close shots on goal and 10 cards, including 2 reds, one of which was in stoppage time! You'd think Philadelphia would've done better while LA was down a player, but no. Oh well. I don't mind losing so much when it was to an assist by Beckham. :P He did an amusing interview with Jimmy Kimmel which you can watch here.
