Body Count: Cementing a Rivalry

By: Dave Martinez | May 18th, 2009

One of the great things about being a fan of a young and growing league is that you can actually watch a great rivalry grow right before your eyes, and not be born in 1895 to do so! The past three years, the battles between Houston and New York have been some of the most contentious pit fights you could find. And this weeks tie in the swamp further adds to that short, but fiery history.

Here is the body count for this past weeks game:

- 25 total fouls (17 by the Dynamo)
- 5 fouls by Ricardo Clark alone, who was vital in disrupting the Bulls attack.
- 4 misconducts, including a straight red to Jorge Rojas, in response to Houstons chippy play.
- 1 down and injured Carlos Johnson, who took a beating at the Dynamos hands.

Houston came out exactly as expected; defensive, but aggressive. And that certainly got under the Bulls skin early, especially Rojas, who decided to become a professional wrestler for 10 seconds or so to illustrate his displeasure.

Moments like these are what rivalries are made of. But in American sports culture, one rarely sees this type of animosity between teams who are not interstate or local rivals. That is what makes this particular thing a joy to watch; the teams meet twice a year, yet they absolutely hate each others guts. Look no further than the constant back and forth between Holden and Stammler and you will see what I mean.

I will be the first to admit; watching the game first hand, the Dynamo wanted to play physically, and at times, were especially dirty about it. The Bulls should have been prepared for such a response, especially from a team who isn’t used to the kind of mediocre results it always walks away with after a battle with the Bulls. They have had a chip on their shoulders since last years playoffs, so nothing less should have been expected. Though they came out with a miraculous tie, they were inches away from losing the game by losing their cool.

So what do you think? I know the Dynamo are far below the DC hatred meter, but they must certainly move up into Chicago Fire status. Share your thoughts.