Cool!

The A-League is back on Fox Sports World. I'm watching the second half of the Syracuse Salty Dogs at home to the Atlanta Silverbacks.

First off, let's talk about these nicknames.

Salty Dogs - now this is a really stupid name, but, I give them high marks, nay, I give them my eternal gratitude, for not spelling it "dawgs". That's just more than I can bear. Also, the official name of the club is Syracuse FC, which I like.

Silverbacks - brilliant! Original and Euphonious. Not exactly relevant to the Atlanta area, that I can see, but that's neither here nor there. Silverbacks is the best new team name since . . . hmmmm . . . I'll have to think about that. I can't remember the last time an expansion team came up with a good name.

Unfortunately for Syracuse, they are stuck playing on a baseball field. An artificial turf baseball field, at that. We're not talking about the new field-turf stuff that is somewhat grass-like in look and feel, either. I mean we're talking old-school carpet over concrete astroturf. The bounces are huge, like a superball, I can only imagine what it feels like on the knees and ankles, and, oh, every once in a while you get to run through a dirt area where the bases go. The lines are extremely difficult to make out, being pale yellow in color and eerily incongruent to the baseball infield lines and the not quiet invisible remnants of the football lines that were obviously present at one time. Very yucky.

That said, If I lived in Syracuse, I'd be there every week without fail.

The game itself was kinda choppy and slow. Kind of unavoidable what with the ball bouncing around like that. It doesn't look like a bad crowd, most of the people gathered down what would normally be the third base line.

Memo to the Syracuse gameday staff: Cut the loud music. Just cut it. It's amateurish and annoying. Show me one legitimate study that says this is a draw and I'll apologize, but until then, just stop it.

FSW's coverage features Dave Johnson, who, if he weren't so young, might be referred to as the dean of American soccer announcers. He's been around a long time, like the pre-MLS days. He and Seamus Malin and JP Dellacamera are the old hands in this country. I like his work. I'm not sure who his partner was tonight, but he was knowledgeable and un-annoying, which is all you can ask most times.

Atlanta's first goal was a nice 3/4 overhead volley by Gary Brooks. I've never heard of Brooks, but I guess we should all keep an eye on him.

Syracuse features ex-Dallas Burn Temoc Suarez, and also Ian Woan, who spent many years with Nottingham Forest and Swindon Town in England, while Atlanta has Alex Pineda-Chacon, the 2001 Major League Soccer MVP.

By the way, Atlanta scored in stoppage time to win the game 2-1.

And I, I now have my Friday evenings taken care of for the next few months.

Which is nice.