Well, here's the last Stream of Consciousness of the Burn Era, over at 3rd Degree, as usual. The boys played hard, but couldn't find a winner against the Earthquakes. C'est la futbol.

Of course, that loss not only marked the end of the season, but the end of the Burn; they're now officially FC Dallas. I'm a little sad about the end of the Burn. Not as sad as Mutiny or Fusion fans were when their teams ended, because, of course, we're merely metamorphosing, not ceasing to exist. Still, despite the exciting things coming up next year, the idea of no more Burn forever is a bit sad.

In the long run, though, I know it's all for the best. Two things are happening in Dallas that I've wanted since the inception of the league. First, we're getting our own stadium. No explanation needed here, I don't think. It's an unqualified good for both the team and the league. The second thing, though, is that the league is starting to shed the hideous PR mistakes that plagued the league's founding.

Yes, the name change is what I'm talking about. For all my melancholy about the Burn, I must face facts and acknowledge that it was always a hideously dumb name for a soccer team. Not only that, but of the original 10 teams, 8 of them shared that fate. Mutiny? Fusion? Galaxy? Clash? Metrostars? Crew? Wiz? Burn?. I mean, don't even get me started on the Wiz/Burn headlines we had to suffer.

The only really okay name was DC United. Or at very least it wasn't make-me-cringe awful. New England Revolution is actually a stupid name, too, but it did have at least some connection with New England. The Metrostars were almost known as Empire Soccer Club, which would have been excellent. But nooooooo, they had to be the Metrostars, with the anthropomorphic taxicab logo. Yeesh.

Whoever came up with those names, I hope, is no longer employed in professional soccer. What I actually hope is that he's no longer employed in professional soccer and that he was horsewhipped before he was fired. And the same fate should befall whoever came up with those original uniform designs.

But I digress.

There were several other stupid things about the original league that have been abandoned, like clocks that count up and shootouts. And things that were originally necessary, but that we'd like to see phased out, like single-entity ownership. It's all a part of the natural selection process of the pro game in America.

This natural progression, plus the new Adidas deal, are all reasons to be confident that this is indeed a long-term league, and that someday the demise of the Burn will just be an interesting anecdote for me to tell my Grandkids as we head for Frisco to see yet another FC Dallas victory.