OK, I would have been fine if Garber had picked Najar for the All Star team, not thrilled but he is fun to watch, but to pick Jamie Moreno is an insult to the team.  I get that he is a MLS original, and if there were a farewell tour for him and he had never made an All Star team but neither of those are likely.

So how does one justify putting a guy with a single goal, and only 5 starts for his team on the MLS All Star team that will face Manchester United?  Even more of a question, knowing Landon and Edson have a match the night before he picks two forwards, and I get the hometown pick of Ching, may not like it but I get it.  But can someone, anyone (asking here where the DC United fans hang out) tell me why in the hell anyone would pick Jamie Moreno for the 2010 MLS All Star team?

Sad part is that a guy with 7 goals and 4 assists (3rd in MLS got left home for this pick).

According to DC United and his own Twitter feed, right back Bryan Namoff is retiring.  He was never able to fully come back from a concussion he suffered at the end of last season, and has decided to transition to the technical staff.  Namoff was a team leader and one of our best defenders.  He is third in terms of games played in the Black and Red.  Here's to a classy player, a champion, and long may he help the United teams of the future to prosper!

With Vancouver and Portland joining Major League Soccer in 2011, Montreal joining in 2012, and a presumed 20th team joining in 2012/13, the league will once again have to shuffle the conference deck. In 2010, we've got perfect equilibrium: two conferences of eight teams each, with every club playing a home-and-home with every other club. But it won't last. Where do we go from here?

For discussion's sake, let's assume the 20th team will be in the East--almost all potential sites for the new club are east of Kansas City.

KEEPING THE TWO-CONFERENCE SYSTEM

If MLS doesn't change its structure, two Western teams will join MLS next season, with two Eastern teams following shortly after. But a problem arises: the transitional year of 2011, where we'll have 8 teams in the West and 6 teams in the East. There are a few options for next year:

• Make no changes: We could just deal with lopsided conferences for one season, and let it even out as Montreal and Team 20 come into the league later. But this isn't ideal; a conference difference of two teams significantly hurts Western teams in the hunt for playoff spots.
• Move Colorado to the East for one year: To create even conferences of 9 teams each in 2011, one Western team would go to the East. No one wants to split the two Texan teams, so the easternmost remaining team in the West is Colorado, who would return to the West once Montreal has joined. I'm not sure how happy Rapids fans would be about this, though.
• Use a three-division structure for one year: Some B&RU commenters suggested switching to a 3-division system of 6 teams each for 2011. The divisions would be West (VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LA, CHV), Central (RSL, COL, KC, DAL, HOU, CHI), and East (TOR, CLB, NE, NY, PHI, DC). Once the two new teams join, the league would move back to an even two-conference structure.

DISSOLVE THE CONFERENCE SYSTEM

Personally, I love 2010's perfectly even, "home-and-home with every team" structure. Our last option is to get rid of conferences altogether, use this even home-and-home system, and have the top 8 teams qualify for the playoffs, regardless of geography or how many teams are in the league. It's fair to every team--the only downside would be a slight increase in league travel expenses. North American pro sports fans are unfamiliar with a conferenceless league structure, but most soccer leagues around the world are this way. One could argue this discourages regional rivalries, but I think Arsenal and Tottenham keep up their derby just fine. Plus, as D.C. United fans, we've got a burgeoning trans-continental rivalry with the nice folks in Seattle.

This is less about DC United and more related in so much as it pertains to the site's father, Black and Red United's own Martin Shatzer became a real-life father of a bouncing baby girl on Saturday, if you follow his Twitter feed. Mom and daughter are doing fine, Dad is still presumably handing out cigars. From those of us who are fans of DC United's SBN home, congratulations and mazel tov!

Castillo is history... joining Donnet and Filomeno as foreign talent that didn't make an impact. What does this say about our scouting prowess?  Should we have given him more time to adjust to the league?  Should we try for another El Salvadoran player?  Castillo had to hate it that Najar came in and basically took his spot.  Do we think that DC will try to pick up another player to replace him?  Where will he go next?  Did anybody buy a Castillo jersey?

We just signed 29 year old midfielder Branko Boskovic of Rapid Wien in Austria to be our new DP.  Here's some video, courtesy of Behind the Badge.  He looks to be the attacking midfielder we've been craving, though not necessarily a playmaker.  I'd been enjoying what Stephen King was bringing to our team, but the Bucking Branko seems like much more of a goal scoring threat, something in incredibly short supply at RFK. 

Boskovic has played for Red Star Belgrade and Paris St. Germaine.  He's made 30 international appearances (12 with Serbia & Montenegro, 18 with Montenegro).  He's scored 60 goals for club, including 19 in 104 appreances for Rapid Wien, and 2 for country.

This is kind of a surprise move, but certainly a needed one.  United's form has improved vastly in the last few weeks, but our attack is still far from threatening.  A midfield of Pontius, Boskovic, Simms, and Najar looks much more potent.  I've never heard of Boskovic before, but I like signing someone relatively young and hungry over a "name."  He's on the right side of 30, but only for about another week.  His birthday is June 21.  The club says he'll be available by the next home game on July 15 against Seattle, when the next FIFA International transfer window opens.

Wikipedia says he'll be wearing #27 for DC United.

There was a FanPost on Sounder At Heart a couple weeks ago basically saying that all other MLS blogs on SBNation are inferior because we have less participation in GameThreads than SAH. Typical Sounders fan attitude.

If you look at the numbers though, he's right. Now I have several reasons why I think this is the case, but rather than discuss them, let's try to prove him wrong instead.

Tomorrow night's United match is at 10:00pm on ESPN2. I'm going to be sitting at home watching it on my TV. You're probably going to be sitting at home watching it on your TV. Let's all sit at home and watch it on our TVs together.

This is a big match for United, and I want it to be B&RU's biggest GameThread. Can you help me make it happen?

OK.. so lets say Onewin-O doesn't make it through the season.  (As a famous talent developer, scout and technical director once said, this is a results business)  Is there anyone else out there who would want to and could step in and right the listing ship?  Up and coming coaching talent?  Someone elses assistant?  Granted Onalfo hasn't had much to work with, but even in the best of times, can't see him taking us all the way.  Where is the next MLS version of Joe Gibbs?  Just like I'd rather watch Najar and Hamid get experience in this kind of year (though man its weird that Perkins fell so fast) would rather watch a young, nobody coach who could grow into the next Kinnear or Schmidt. 

As a corrolary, will Benny progress as a coach in this situation?

So the news of the day (besides many an April Fools joke) is that there are more DP spots available now and Mr. Chang is talking about getting a DP for DC... who would make an impact on this team?  What would the FO do to avoid another Gallardo debacle?  Creative midfielder would seem to be the role we'd look for, can't see anything else getting DP bucks.  What says the braintrust?  Should DC even get a DP?  

There are reports swirling around DC United park today that a certain new assistant coach will be resigning tomorrow morning.  This follows earlier reports of his criticism of players and the grittiness that has not been on display on the pitch.  Earlier in the offseason, Ben Olsen got into a dust up with Morsink about his play in the middle.  Olsen was looking for more intensity, and more passion.  Morsink was looking for a way to get out of Olsen's shadow.  Reportedly, this all came to a head when Morsink tried to buy the #14 jersey from Najar just to show Olsen what a real #14 could do.

Club officials refused to comment but a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions said that an announcement would be coming later today or first thing tomorrow.  If this announcement comes this week, this can only be seen as a way to fire this team up after the offseason was spent re-structuring the team.

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