Thierry Henry to Seattle FC?

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The MLS' 13th season is about to begin this weekend. The EPL season is coming down to a few more heated matches between serious contenders (Man U at 73 points, Chelsea! at 68, Arsenal at 67 & Liverpool at 59 trying to keep its 4th place spot away from crosstown rivals Everton). And the rumor mills are churning at a feverish pace.

If you didn't catch the Chelsea/Arsenal match on the Fox Sports Channel this past weekend, you missed a heckuva game. As busy as things have been of late, I settled for watching it over the course of Monday & Tuesday night (1st half Monday, 2nd half Tuesday). I maintained a soccer media block out. (Admittedly still not that hard to do here stateside). Arsenal have been playing below average - drawing in their previous 4 games. And Chelsea have been surging with their less than popular new manager Avram Grant. The Stamford Bridge faithful booed him loudly in the 2nd half when he made his substitutions. (Quite possibly game-winning substitutions!)

Our beloved FC Dallas will open their season up in Frisco's Pizza Hut Park this Sunday against Preki's Chivas USA at 2pm (Channel 52 - KFWD). Ante Razov & Mikel Galindo will start for the Goats.

Also Sunday: Fox Soccer Channel is showing the Rangers/Celtic match at 6pm CST (delayed) - one of the great sports rivalries - right up there with Yankees/Red Sox, Packers/Vikings, Lakers/Celtics.

The MLS rumor mill has been very active of late what with David Beckham's contract clause for MLS team ownership. I wonder where "The David Beckhams" will play? That's the other source of preseason rumors: Montréal, Quebec might be getting an expansion slot in the next couple of years. Might "The David Beckhams" play in Canada? The MLS has always stated that the league will eventually have a 2nd NYC team. Maybe Beckham will pay Pepe Pinton his $1 million for the NY Cosmos name. It's more likely that Beckham will purchase an existing club.

Then on the most recent World Soccer Daily podcast, Steven Cohen made mention of high level sources indicating that Seattle is in late-stage negotiations with France's all-time leading scorer Barcelona striker Thierry Henry to play for Seattle in their inaugural season next year 2009. This would explain those Gilette ads with Roger Federer, Tiger Woods & Thierry Henry.