Opening Day Notes:

• Joselito Vaca (“Little Joe Cow” to those in the know) had a terrific game for Metrostars tonight. He never really hit his stride with Dallas, but it was clear that he had tons of talent. I’m glad to see he’s found a better fit in New York.

• Jon Busch kept the Crew from getting drubbed in the first half of their game with Metrostars. Not with great saves so much as good positioning that kept him from having to make great saves. He got little help in the second half and ended up losing. He’s got Matt Jordan behind him on the bench, so he has very little room for error this year. Jordan, back from a stint in Denmark, has unquestionable first-team talent.

• Soooo nice to see Dallas Burn back in the Cotton Bowl. Ditto for seeing Ronnie O’Brien back from getting his leg broken by Dema Kovalenko.

• It took Simo Valakari all of 15 minutes to get his first yellow card here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Valakari, a Finnish international, came to Dallas from Derby County in the English 1st Division.

• I don’t have a life, to speak of. I proved that tonight while watching DAL/COL on DirecTV, while simultaneously watching KC/CHI, CMB/NY and later LA/NER on Yahoo. I gots to get me a girlfriend.

• Never in the world would I have expected Henry Ring to start over D.J. Countess in Chicago. Is Countess injured and we don’t know about it? Or is Ring being rewarded for his time as an understudy to Zach Thornton? Either way, he shut out Kansas City, so he must be doing something right.

• The handbags came out in the KC/CHI game. Chris Klein and C.J. Brown sent off for an ugly little slapfight in the second half. They’re teammates for the U.S. side, ironically enough.

• I thought Dallas outplayed Colorado. I can say with no doubt they look like a whole new team. Which they are, in fact, if you look at the roster. Rhine played well, Gibbs is a great addition, E.J. is going to have his breakout season (I hope). I am encouraged.

• On an aesthetic note, I like the Revs away uniforms. Simple, clean, elegant. Contrast that with the Galaxy’s green shorts combined with yellow jerseys with the diagonal stripe. I’m not too sure about that. At least they’ve given up teal.

• I do believe Fox Sports World added canned crowd noise to their telecast of the Galaxy/Revolution game. I love FSW, don’t get me wrong, but that is absolutely pathetic and uncalled for.