Pros

OPINION: Unpredictability Is All That's Predictable By Emlyn Lewis
September 19, 2007
I have a sore spot just above my right temple, slightly balding, from where I've been scratching my head over the 2007 New England Revolution. Just when you think the rest of the league has caught up with them and their lack of depth is going to turn into a complete end-of-season collapse, they go out and thump a team like FC Dallas, 4-2.

What gives?

Khano Smith has played much better for the Revolution recently.

As an op-ed writer, I am not obliged to provide you with news here in my weekly missives. Instead, I'm tasked with a bit of analysis. I'm here to provide perspective and insight, to identify trends and predict future outcomes.

But I'll tell you right now, my 2-year old is just as likely to give you valuable insight into this team as I am. He might say, "That team wears blue shirts," or "Those men are playing soccer," both of which are true statements. And he still poops in his pants, so what does that tell you?

Is it a cop out to predict further unpredictability?

Looking back at my scribblings from previous weeks, I see that I went out of my way to pan the performances of the Revolution's left-sided midfielder, Khano Smith, identifying him over and over as the weakest link on the Rev roster and beseeching the team to find a suitable replacement. Then Smith puts in a man-of-the-match performance against Dallas to help the team clinch a playoff berth, and the guy begins to look like a major weapon with his break-neck speed and hammer of a left foot.

Last week I wrote about finding the strength to support a team that was so clearly wasting their potential through mismanagement, and at the time I clicked SEND on the email to my editor, I felt such horrible misgivings that I nearly opened a new window and wrote a counterpoint piece, urging fans to storm the stadium with pitchforks and torches to demand the resignations of all the coaching and front office staff.

The truth is, I'm as confused as I could be about what this team will do with its remaining games, not to mention the playoff berth they clinched at the weekend. The Revs could win the Supporters' Shield still. They could march on to MLS Cup glory. They could take the U.S. Open Cup from Dallas, in Dallas, and ride in a Duck Boat parade down Boylston Street with it (OK, they couldn't actually do that).

Or they could lose the rest of their games, bow out in the first round of the playoffs, and stink it up in Dallas to finish the season completely empty-handed.

Nothing would surprise me now.

When I take a step back, inhale a deep breath and pop my prescription medication, I see that this is exactly what a fan wants: to have his team in the mix as the season winds down. To have that chance at glory. To have his ticket punched for the emotional roller coaster that only a favorite team can put him on.

Perhaps this is what success is all about, arriving at that place where anything is possible. For too many years, the Revolution were a Red Badge of Courage, a losing team that found new and more wrenching ways to lose every year. Then came the slow climb to respectability, making the playoffs consistently, winning some Eastern Conference Championships, becoming a contender.

In all likelihood this should have been the watershed year for the club, the end of the building cycle that vaulted them to the top of the league. After the heart break of losing last year's MLS Cup on penalty kicks, their third MLS Cup loss, you would have expected the Revs to come back one or two players better and show the league that they are not perennial losers. Instead, they came back the same team, less one Clint Dempsey, to try to prove that last year's loss was just a fluke.

Some will say that if they don't capitalize on their talent, experience and luck now, then the process will have to begin again. Steve Nicol and the management team will really have to go out in the offseason and get some difference makers to...well...make a difference. I'm not sure that's true. I'm not sure of anything at the moment, but I do think that one team can only have its heart broken so many times before it stops believing it can win a trophy, before you've got to pull it apart and stick it back together with different glue.

Emlyn Lewis can be reached at emlynlewis@comcast.net.