Sitting down to write this article, Sinatra’s “You’d Be So Easy To Love” came up on my iPod. “You’d be so easy to love, so easy to idolize all others above,” he croons, and I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head at the delicious irony of the timing; the Rapids are not so easy to love these days (and even that is an enormous understatement).
Two weeks ago I spoke with cautious optimism about the possibility of taking three points from an only-slightly-better Chivas USA at home at DSGP. The Rapids opened the match with an 18th minute goal and held on well enough until Chivas equalized sometime around the 80th minute. For a team that just can’t seem to get a win, a draw should be a decent result, but in complete sincerity, it felt like a loss. At this point in the season, the Pids need every single point they can get, and to give it away that late in the match felt like a kick in the gut. At this point in the season, a draw is a loss.
After the 1-1 draw to Chivas at home, I had very low expectations heading to San Jose to battle the top of the table Quakes, and yet the Rapids managed to really outdo themselves, sinking even lower than I had expected to fall 4-1 on the road. Tyrone Marshall easily headed in a perfect corner kick from Martin Rivero, but it was far from enough. Keeper Matt Pickens delivered some huge saves, but even so, four hit the back of the net. FOUR! The team played disjointedly, more every-man-for-himself than any sort of team oriented strategy. The ease with which Alan Gordon repeatedly crossed our back line was sickening. I can’t remember the last time the Rapids put forward a performance as poor as what they gave us last night, and I honestly cannot think of a way to put any sort of positive spin on any of this. I feel like I need to be able to use more colorful language to adequately describe the infuriating nature of these shortcomings (but hey, that’s what Twitter is for!), because week after week after week, I write the same things: failure to capitalize on clear cut chances, ridiculous defensive errors. Something has got to give. I don’t even know what more to say.
I think maybe it’s time for Rapids supporters to consider adopting “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as an anthem; we can sing it sad and slow with just a hint of the unfounded and desperate optimism that keeps us behind our Burgundy Boys through times like this. Walk on through the rain, Pids. Walk on, walk on.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
