Tickle v. Tackle 17

Tickle

• Captain Kissypants fails from the spot after the crazy voodoo smooching routine in the SuperLiga final and blows LA's one chance for silverware this season. Then he goes and fails again in the "relegation battle" with RSL. Any chance he drops the craziness or are we stuck with it?
• Dempsey is the man in Fulham's fight-back against Spurs with a goal and two assists as he tries to fill the McHead-sized void in the Cottagers front line. Could he fill the similar sized abyss in the USA attack?
• DC United with a crushing victory over Dallas in a Supporters' Shield six-pointer on the road to extend an already-healthy win streak. I hope it's not too early to be peaking like this, but a run at defending the Supporters' Shield might be a big tonic for United's tourney disappointments so far this season. Of course, all is for naught unless we make it to the MLS Cup final at RFK this year.
  

Tackle

• Boy howdy was that a big tackle felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Becks is down for the count and will miss England's Euro qualifiers and possibly the rest of the MLS season. Can this fiasco get any worse? I suppose they could install Lalas as a player/manager and move from screwing the pooch to Michael Vick territory.
• Another big UGH for Wednesday. Four games in - still without a point and sitting rock bottom of the Fizzy Soda Pop League. Laws made a couple of signings as deadline day approached, but can he get things turned around before the notoriously trigger-happy nabobs at the top show him the well-used revolving door at Hillsborough?
• Brian Hall with yet another miserable showing in the DC-Dallas game. What the hell was he on about yelling at Burch when the kid clearly didn't hear the whistle? Somebody needs a binky, or perhaps some anger management classes. While he's there maybe he can get his eyes checked as well. The Bard said it best in that famed Nostradamian moment when he concluded with damning finality, "Inconsistency thy name is Brian Hall!" I think that was from one his "lost" plays. Was it "The Trading of Adu" or was it "The Grown-Ass Man Of Florida"? Possibly "A Midsummer Night's Dissent" or "Lalas' LA Bores Lost (Again)"?