Parents in town for dramatic Dynamo tie

I actually wrote this on Monday for the team blog but never got around to posting it, and it's not relevant anymore for that platform. If you're not into soccer, you might want to skip ahead to:

We're all still recovering from Saturday's game, I would say. It wasn't the result anybody in orange was looking for, but it was a heck of a finish, and an exciting second half.

The Dynamo are never happy with anything less than three points from a home game, but the game can still be pointed to as a paradigm of what makes the Dynamo special. Despite the man advantage, there really are nights when things just don't go your way. A bizarre water break, an own goal (no matter what the league says), an uncalled passback to the goalkeeper, a missed penalty kick ... all things that could see a lesser team go down to defeat.

Not the Dynamo.

They surged forward the entire second half, before and after the red card, and refused to be denied. More than anybody else, Brian Ching returned to action for the first time since May 30 and showed why he is a national team starter, the club's all-time leading scorer, and (with all due respect to Stuart Holden, Pat Onstad, and others) the face of the franchise. His determination and quality had a big impact on the players around him. He drew the penalty kick that gave Houston a chance to tie, and when they stayed behind, he and his teammates kept going. In the end, Ching started the decisive play - with an accurate 40-yard pass to Brian Mullan - and finished it after a perfect off-the-ball run into the box.

The emotion he displayed after the goal, pumping his fists and yelling to the crowd as he has done so many times int he past, was an outpouring of the tension built up in every Dynamo player, coach, staff member, and fan in the building. Although it would've been a greater moment had it been the winning goal, a la Stuart Holden against San Jose last year, it was close enough on this night. It may not have been a win, but the tie allowed the Dynamo to keep some measure of momentum, their home unbeaten streak, and most importantly a small lead over Chivas USA in the Western Conference.

HERE! NON-SOCCER FANS MAY ENTER HERE

Up in the press box, I felt I had a pretty strong game. My parents were in town for the first time since I moved back to Houston in 2006, so I spent a lot of the weekend showing them my life in Houston, including their first Dynamo game at Robertson Stadium (they've seen two games at Giants Stadium). It was nice to be able to look down into the stands and wave at them, even if my dad kept sneaking up to take pictures of me! I'll thank him one day, I'm sure.



I had the pleasure at halftime to interview NASA astronaut Michael Good, who returned about a month ago from a 13-day space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. I was a bit nervous about it, since I wasn't sure (a) what exactly to ask an astronaut and (b) how I was going to spend less than five minutes talking to him. Like just about every kid, I had my share of fantasies about going up in space, so it was really awesome to talk to somebody who has done it and was amazingly down-to-earth about it (pun intended). The most interesting part for me was that Colonel Good (still on active duty in the Air Force) grew two inches while in space due to his spine expanding, although he then had to deal with some serious back pain as he returned to normal size upon arriving home. Anyway, he was a lot of fun to talk to, and I had a blast. In fact, the interview almost ran into the second half, but I got back to the action just in time.

The second half was, in a word, tense. I was standing, leaning forward, sweating, and willing the Dynamo to find a way back. I think I may have missed a few of the reads we're supposed to get into the broadcasts because I was so focused on the action. So the final goal was a joy to call, and I hope I did it some justice.



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After the game, I got to fill in for Glenn Davis on the post-game call-in show. Those are certainly big shoes to fill, but we had plenty of opinions flying about the refereeing, the water break, tactics, and more, so I passed an enjoyable 45 minutes talking with fans on their drive home.

All in all, I think the game made quite an impression on my family, and Brian Ching and the Dynamo certainly made it one to remember for everybody wearing orange.