January 15, 2008
The long and the short of the schedule is that the Rhinos will start the season in Charleston on Friday May 2nd, the team will have five road games prior to the Saturday May 17th home opener versus........the Charleston Battery!
The Rhinos get two home games in 2008 versus Portland, Miami, Vancouver, Atlanta, and Puerto Rico with Carolina, Montreal, Charleston, Seattle, and Minnesota visiting PAETEC Park only once.
I would have preferred that Carolina and Montreal would have visited Rochester twice and Portland can't be happy to have to make the trip east twice, but what can you do?
News & Notes:
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It got to be the shoes! Check out Landon Donovan's new kicks from Nike according to the USMNT blog!
- Speaking of Landon, he has a new LA teammate in Carlos Ruiz. With LA having one true DP in Beckham and two players with DP level contracts in Donovan and Ruiz, I'd love to see how LA's payroll fits within MLS' salary cap.
- Here is another interesting take in Preston North End's attempt to get their mitts on Taylor Twellman.
- Ridge Mahoney has a cool article about the new Earthquakes at SI.com.
- The land that the Dynamo wants to build their stadium could cost the city $20 million to acquire. So, the land that the Dynamo stadium is to be built on is worth more than PAETEC Park......
- Now we know why Miami appears to have sped past St. Louis on MLS' expansion radar. Jeff Cooper's pockets aren't deep enough to get Don Garber's attention. Rochester has some more company......
- Steven Goff's tidbits of the day: KC has sent Nick Garcia to San Jose for the top pick, the Ruiz to LA news, and that the KC Star is running with his news about Eddie Johnson talking to Fulham.
- Soccer by Ives.net has his first MLS SuperMockDraft. Although, he'll have to re-spin it with San Jose dealing the top pick to KC.
- And as usual, there is a lot of talk about moving up. SBI.net and Big Apple Soccer.com have their takes. Funny how KC wasn't on the radar with regards to the rumors that San Jose was shopping the pick. And I wonder if the Eddie Johnson to Fulham news made the Wizards want to pull the trigger on the deal and try and get Patrick Nyarko?
- I would be checking out News 10 NBC over the next couple of days. I had a reporter from the TV station call me today about my posting that I think that Daniel Williams could be the Rhinos new investor. I haven't talked to the gentleman, but it's interesting to say the least.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
