I don’t know if the rest of you have noticed, but there’s definitely something very “hey, here we are!” about the New England Revolution this year, the more frequent and a bit more candid videos notwithstanding.

Earlier this year, COO Brian Bilello alluded to the fact that there would be a more active attempt at getting the Revs into the world, that more events would be happening at Gillette, and that the marketing machine would be in full swing. We’ve seen evidence of all of that so far.

1. The Revs’ opening line-up series on Last Thursday’s game
2. The larger amount of video clips in the Revs’ media section
3. Video clips are more candid and seem less produced than last year
4. They’re modeling clothes. Do we need any more evidence than that?

This is great stuff, by the way. One of the reasons — along with a good record and quality play — that a team is popular is because it’s composed of characters. Icons to which the fans can relate. Larger-than-life figures that pull us out of our work-a-day drudgery on a Saturday or Sunday evening. The kind of publicity the Revs are producing is helping to create those characters off the field so that fans can relate to them on the field.

For instance:

• Matt Reis: unflappable in the net, but affable and approachable; a prankster; the Loki of the group
• Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan: friends to the end; tit-for-tat joking buddies with communication abilities that border on telepathic
• Steve Ralston: “Iron Man”; the grand old man of soccer; able to target a moving striker from 15 yards at speeds exceeding 75 mph.

Well, you get the idea. What I want to see is a comic — even if it’s web-based — of the Revs as intergalactic superheroes destined to find the lost keys of Barouda and save the universe from certain destruction! Meanwhile, their mild-mannered alter egos use their powerful football brains to drop opponent after opponent on the field. Heck, why not? Remember the Mighty Ducks? Harlem Globetrotters on Scooby Doo? The 2004 “Cowboy Up” Red Sox?

Now, whether this additional publicity plays any part in the Revs’ ability to continue their so-far success on the pitch, I don’t know. Whatever happens, though, there will certainly be more scrutiny: succeed or fail. There’s also a division of labor apparent here, as well. While Bilello and the communications team build the image, Steve Nicol and Paul Mariner build the skills. Sounds like a pretty good match up to me.

What would you like to see for a publicity stunt by the Revs? What kind of character will Andy Dorman become? Wells Thompson? I can’t wait to find out

Even if — as the author states — Jay Heaps does something to harass Herron, his elbow is no more excusable than Zinedane Zidane’s head butt performance in last summer’s World Cup. Retaliation in the “beautiful game” should happen with goals scored, better-than-the-other-guy dribbling, and shocking tackles that steal a ball from between the feet like a pickpocket on holiday. Elbows, hands in the face, shoving, etc. do not belong on the field, and that’s what really got to me about last night’s game.

Most of the teams in the MLS do not behave as Herron did last night. They do what they can to try and elevate the art of soccer in this country and display fair play and all that. They work the angles, hustle the wings, and otherwise play a pretty damned good-looking game. Then there are those teams who, when losing, tend to behave worse than my son when he was three. Late tackles, bad-mouthing the opposition, pushes and shoves, elbows and claw-like fingers, etc. The Crew — in particularly Herron — let their frustration get the better of them last night. They’re not the only team to do so and probably won’t be the last. It has to stop, though, and this is the year for it.

It’s time for the MLS and the United States to be taken seriously. It’s time started to consistently play clean, clinical, beautiful, American football. Yes, American. We’re allowed to have our own style, and my bet is that it looks pretty crazy next to English or Europeans styles. But that’s good! Let’s be crazy — Justin Mapp comes to mind as do Clint Dempsey and Wells Thompson — but let’s be admirable while we do it. No more crappy elbows, petulant tantrums, or “late” tackles.

Thoughts?

The Revs-Fire rivalry has become a storied and interesting one, with the Revs leading 12-10-6 in all meetings between the teams and Chicago winning last year’s series 2-1-1 and besting the Revs at home, overall. Additionally, the Fire may be looking to start the season off right and clean the taste of last season’s playoff loss from their palettes. Also, the weather in Bridgeview — as Brad Feldman points out in his preview (linked above) — isn’t Bermuda and the Revs have yet to prove if the baggage of last season has been checked. My feeling is that the Revs definitely enter this contest as the emotional underdogs.

Emotional underdogs? Sure. Tough times in the locker room vis a vis the Shalrie Joseph trade situation and the Joe Franchino leave of absence. No matter what they say, those are two key players to the Revs personality. Anything amiss there is definitely affecting the rest of the team. Psychoanalysis aside, what are the Revs going to look like tonight? I only know what the Revs’ communication folks tell me through their Game Notes, so let’s take a look at what we’ve got.

It’s no surprise that coach Steve Nicol looks to field the Revs in his favored 3-5-2, with newly re-signed Matt Reis protecting the onion bag. Nicol’s few experiments with a 4-4-2 last season didn’t fare as well as one might’ve hoped, so it’s nice to see they’re starting things off right — at least tactically speaking. That said, the Revs look to be without Michael Parkhurst and Joseph is listed with a calf strain so will start as a sub.

Nicol’s midfield-heavy tactic is meant to tie up the ball in the middle third of the field while still leaving chances to thread forward passes through to the strikers — in this case Adam Cristman and Taylor Twellman. It’s a good way to play against the MLS-favorite 4-4-2, as it forces the game wider and makes a man-to-man defense that much more difficult.

While most of the usual suspects look to start tonight, there are a few personnel changes of note. Khano Smith is starting on the left side with Andy Dorman taking up Joseph’s usual center midfield position. James Riley is taking up his rapidly-becoming-familiar position as a Sweeper/Central Defender on the back line, and Cristman looks to be starting forward instead of Noonan, who is still questionable due to his recent sports hernia surgery, though he’s on the substitute list. The group is similar to the Revs’ pre-season formations, though, so the communication and rhythm should be good — albeit untested — against the faster pace of the MLS squads, and — if memory serves — the Fire are one of the faster teams out there.

My analysis? Last season, the Revs seemed to be foiled by their own inability to get clean, creative passing out of the middle when they would most need it. They relied on the solidity of the back line, and the drive of players like Dorman, Steve Ralston, and Clint Dempsey to overcome a kind of ennui on the pitch. Hopefully the loss of Dempsey has been countered by the new blood this season, because the Fire aren’t going to — and rightly so — let that kind of play go unpunished.

Justin Mapp is coming off of a phenomenal showing with the U.S. Men’s Team, has shown he has no patience for lackadaisical defense (remember the Dutch team?), and has proven he can thread and weave his way towards goal. He’s going to have to be contained and the Revs’ five-person midfield should help.

Riley and Dorman are in relatively unfamiliar positions (didn’t Dorman usually play on the wing?), and Cristman is untested against MLS teams. Last season, Smith started to show some real football thinking, and he’s going to have to be continuing that evolution out there on the left wing.

Overall, history seems to indicate that the Fire will win this one by at least a goal. The psychological evidence is yet to be revealed, but my thoughts are the Revs want to start the season clean and prove that there is no baggage, no hole from Dempsey’s loss, and no locker room albatross around their collective neck.

My prediction (read: hope): 2 – 1 in favor of the Revs.

“Pat [Noonan]’s not injured,” Nichol [sic] said. ”He’s fit. He’s lacking a bit of sharpness.” Huh. I should think that a hernia surgery (LINK) counts as an injury. Note, also, Pat Noonan’s inclusion as a notable example of sports injury. It could be, of course, that Nicol is just explaining the reason Noonan’s being left out of Saturday’s game. One can always hope, eh?

And how’s Michael Parkhurst doing? ”It’s a case of getting some confidence where he can put his shoulder into it,” the coach said. The article does say that Parkhurst won’t need surgery, so that’s good.

And lastly, we learn a bit about how the Revs have been doing in their hunt for a way to spend their Clint Dempsey allocation money.

The Revolution still have the right to add someone under the ”designated player” that allowed the Los Angeles Galaxy to go beyond the league salary cap to sign David Beckham. Nichol said the team has looked around, but hasn’t found the right guy.

”The one major stumbling block is the expectation of the money that’s available,” Nichol [sic] said, alluding to the deal that will pay Beckham a base salary of $5.5 million a year. ”Obviously, Beckham’s getting top dollar. That kind of money isn’t available to everybody.”

I like that bit. It indicates that the Krafts are being fiscally responsible (of course they are, it is New England, here), but that the team’s aware of their need/desire to find a player. I would urge the Revs, though, to not spend a dime of their money on any player older than 31.

Here’s why: the MLS is not a “play your golden years of soccer here” league. At least, it shouldn’t be. The league should be scouting for the new talent. The raw magic that so few of the current players possess. If MLS did that. If they sought out a way to improve the quality of the game first, and the number of fans second, maybe Dempsey would’ve stayed, and maybe there would be more choices in the draft who weren’t whisked away to Bundesliga, Denmark, Belgium, or English Championship sides.

At any rate, no matter what I think of the league, or what the league does, it’s nice to see the Revs holding back — even if it is over money. Maybe they should spend a little of that on Shalrie Joseph, though.

PS: For those of you with iCal or similar, I compiled a .ics of the Revs’ schedule this season. It’s in ET (GMT-5), but it should be easy to convert. Get the calendar here.

UPDATE: Never mind the “pause in the action”; this damn story just will not sit still. Here’s an interesting development. Now…back to the post.

Why do we, the fans that is, watch the game? I’m not the type who dies a little when his team loses or who impulsively buys the bar a round when they win – I’m too cheap for the latter and too indifferent for the former in any case. Really, I watch the game to be entertained, pure and simple. In other words, the quality of any given season depends quite a bit on whether something interesting happens.

This brings us to the New England Revolution. For the past four Major League Soccer (MLS) seasons, they’ve been one of the more interesting teams out there. To begin, both 2002 and 2006 featured freak-ish, late season runs that, frankly, pushed a narrowly deserving team within one game of winning the championship; in between those years came the 2005 season, when the Revs really did deserve to a shot at MLS Cup, only to come up short. But the crucial thing, for me anyway, was that the Revs were “big picture” fun – i.e. taken as a narrative, their seasons told engaging stories. On the field itself, well…2005 aside, a word other than “interesting” better fits the bill.

And this brings the conversation to the upcoming 2007 season. Until Monday, it seemed inevitable that New England would field, essentially, last year’s team, albeit minus Dempsey, who mattered, and Jose Manuel Abundis, who didn’t. This made it hard to get excited. Suddenly, word breaks that Joseph is unhappy and either itching to leave or playing hard-ball and – POW! – the Revs become worth reading about again. The question is what comes next? How does this story end?

To be totally honest about it, I’m to a point where Joseph sticking around seems a worse-case scenario – not “worst,” mind you, but “worse.” The thing is, we all know what the Revolution will look like with Joseph: a team as tough to beat as they are to watch. Without him, well, you’ve got talking points to carry you through the season.

Before leaving this alone, I want to be clear about one thing: I’m not disappointed in Joseph, or his decision to go public. I also wouldn’t blame him one bit for wanting to leave New England; two tooth-pulling series of negotiations against a tight-fisted front office since 2002 (I think) would be enough for me to reach my limit if I were as important to New England as Joseph is. I think he’s a great player – a good passer, but also such a commanding presence in the middle of the field. There’s no question it will take the Revs a while to figure out how to operate without him.

But it might not be all that bad in the end. “Plan A” – e.g. taking roughly the same team into 2007 with no significant additions – offered little hope of success as I saw it. Why not try shaking things up?

Oh, and by the way, if you want to know why my hopes of being entertained are likely to be thwarted, you can see some compelling reasons why by clicking the second link at the top…or you could just read this.

(Seriouslly. Let the record show that this is today’s only piece of New England Revolution news that does not require independent research…and it came in as the toe of a Frank Dell’Appa article for the Boston Globe musing about what severe wage disparity might mean to the Los Angeles Galaxy.)