Chivas USA started life with one enormous advantage, one that no other MLS club has: it knew, right from the start, who its potential fans were, and it knew that there were a lot of them. They were the Chivas fans living in the States among the huge Mexican-American communities, particularly in the Los Angeles area, which is where Chivas USA set up camp.

It remains, as it always has been, a mighty difficult task to decide exactly how much violence is permissible on the soccer field. It is all very well for the rules to condemn the use of "excessive force" -- but how to define "excessive"? Very much to the point, who is going to define it?

I must confess: I did not know that MLS has a new ball. But I learned, during a Red Bulls telecast this weekend, that this seems to be the case. A new sideline reporter, Tina Cervasio, asked commentator Shep Messing what he thought of this new ball (which I have never heard of).

A multilingual dictionary of soccer terms sounds like a pretty good idea. Indeed, it is a good idea -- provided it includes the terms and the languages that really matter.

Extraordinary! How do these things happen in soccer? I'm looking at the stat sheet for the New England vs. Colorado game. Which shows that the Revs had nine shots on goal, all of which Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul saved, while the Rapids managed only one shot on target -- which Matt Reis failed to save. So Colorado wins 1-0.

I cannot say that I find the story -- or is it the saga? -- of the defecting Cubans a particularly edifying episode. Which puts me at odds with those who will no doubt see it as a heroic dash for freedom. Possibly it is that, but there are other aspects that I find disturbing.

Deplorable as it is, the traditional coaching habit of coming up with silly post-game comments must be respected. We are, after all, under no obligation to listen to the hogwash, and need pay attention only to those occasional moments when something worthwhile is said. The hogwash is plentiful, and can at least provide a laugh or a snicker or two.

Just what the Los Angeles Galaxy needed: Carlos Ruiz out of action for four or more weeks. His injury, courtesy of a primitive tackle from Colorado rookie Ciaran O'Brien, should ring some pretty noisy alarm bells for MLS and for MLS referees.