The Rapids, somewhat surprisingly, have vaulted near the top of the Western Conference standings through the early part of the Major League Soccer season. In recent years, the Rapids have struggled through the regular season, especially the first few months, before coming on strong at the end.
But these are the new-look Rapids. Fresh faces – including Roberto Brown, Herculez Gomez and Bouna Coundoul – have sparked a different outcome so far. Brown is among the league leaders in goals scored and the Rapids have the second-most goals scored in their conference.
Odd then that with all that shiny newness at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, the Rapids will celebrate an old face this weekend when they host Kansas City at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The matchup against the streaking Wizards marks the return of K.C. assistant coach and former Colorado mainstay Chris Henderson, who will become the third player inducted into the Rapids Gallery of Honor. Henderson, who retired in 2006, still holds a slew of Rapids career records.
His return should bring applause from Rapids fans … until the game starts and suddenly he’s coaching the visiting team.
A look at Henderson’s Rapids records:
53 … Assists
151 … Shots on goal
157 … Offsides
176 … Games played
242 … Fouls suffered
254 … Fouls committed
340 … Corner kicks
14,784 … Minutes played
THE COUCH
ON: It’s a “glass is half full/empty” scenario at Coors Field this weekend. The Rockies (17-24) have yet to sweep a series this season, but they haven’t been swept either. The lowly Kansas City Royals (15-27) visit Denver for a three-game set beginning tonight with the third-worst batting average in the American League. But Saturday, the Royals will have Gil Meche, one of the AL’s best pitchers (3-1, 1.91 ERA), on the mound. Tonight’s 7 p.m. game and Saturday’s 6 p.m. game will air on FSN. The series ends Sunday starting at 1 p.m. on KTVD-20 with the Rockies’ Jason Hirsh (2-4, 3.99) going against the Royals’ Brian Bannister (0-2, 4.15).
OFF: Both conditions cause quite a bit of running around, so the tributes seem fitting. On Saturday, the Mike the Headless Chicken 5K will run as part of Fruita’s weekend-long celebration of the notorious fowl who lived, literally, without a head. That race starts at 9 a.m. (miketheheadlesschicken.org). Then Sunday, the Guts and Glory 2.5-mile fun run and walk at Denver’s Washington Park will take place on behalf of people who live without colons – or, well, with colon problems. That race, put on by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, starts at 9 a.m. (ccfa.org).
AROUND TOWN
Perhaps the best part of Sunday’s Colorado Colfax Marathon is knowing that the runner who negotiates quickest the 26.2-mile course from Aurora, through Denver to Lakewood along Colfax Avenue will have run the route quicker than the rest of us could drive it. With stoplights and traffic and people stretching yellow-light, left-hand turns into red light territory, the drive on any average day could take long enough to pull out most of your hair. But Golden’s Michael Selig, the men’s division winner last year, won with a time of 2 hours, 45 minutes, 17 seconds. Not bad at all.
WEAK IN REVIEW
Major League Baseball this week bowed once again before TV’s almighty dollar – and, apparently, the parka industry – with the announcement that the World Series will again be pushed back later in the year. This season, Game 7, if necessary, will be played Nov. 1. A November World Series! Forget about “Mr. October.” By comparison, Game 7 of the 1968 World Series (Detroit at St. Louis), the last postseason game before the expansion of the playoffs in 1969, was played Oct. 10.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
The NBA’s Eastern Conference – yawn – is still playing games. If David Stern really wanted to make a newsworthy decision, he would jump the Pistons straight to the NBA Finals and dispense with the boring Eastern Conference formalities, as witnessed by the Nets’ six-point fourth quarter Wednesday – in a game New Jersey won. Let the rest of us concentrate on the Suns-Spurs series to find out who will beat the Pistons for the championship.
