One word about the awards dinner: Promising.

Keith and I were the only ones who attended the MetroStars awards last night, and because we were the only ones, there was no reason to break out the trusty abacus to determine the cost per person after counting in the two comps the front office was nice enough to provide us. A subway and light rail ride later, we arrived at the Liberty Science Center for what turned out to be a great night.

Once inside, there were Metro flags hanging from the rafters. The kind we’ve been dying to get so we could hang it from our canopy tent. Enough bitterness. There was food, drink and plenty of people to meet, including, Shep, J.P. Nick, the Commish, the players, coach, guys in charge of the new stadium project, and others.

I actually was able to have a conversation with Bob Bradley, who was very sincere in bringing the Cup home this year for the fans who’ve been with Metros through thick and thin. It was amazing how grounded and down to earth the players were, and how approachable people like Bob, Nick and others were. When I suggested to Gaven that he pour lighter fluid on a ball and light it on fire before he scored his next goal to garner attention to himself, he giggled. Here’s a guy who’s pretty much one of the best young American soccer players in the country, and he was uncomfortable with the attention and praise, rather then expecting it.

The awards presentation were top notch, as was the reception hour before. If you would’ve asked me 4 years ago, I would’ve expected a hot dog cart. But this was very professional and done right. All the players were in tuxes and 99.99% of the guests were in suits (cough/Keith/cough). Two bars, a buffet table and hoers devours being passed around.

As far as the awards, there’s a list of recipients on metrostars.com but in short, MVP went to Guevara, Rookie of the Year went to Parke, Defender of the Year went to Pope and Young Player of the Year went to Gaven. The only one I kind of disagree with is Pope getting Defender of the Year. It should go to someone who performed above and beyond expectations and ability, and to be honest, while it may be frightening to think of our defense without him, I don’t believe he played at the top of his game.

Guevara’s English needed work, but his acceptance speech was quite good as he kept wiping his brow as to how hard it was to speak the language. Best joke of the night went to Pope while accepting his award. After seeing a great group of kids perform a song for the audience to the tune of Hard Knock Life from Annie, only using MetroStars words instead, Pope got up and mentioned that Gaven should’ve been singing with his classmates. Maybe you had to be there.

Bob Bradley vowed to do everything he could to bring the Cup back home for the fans in a great speech. Almost made you want to break out in a Metro cheer. Don Garber, talking about the state of MLS, provided great optimism in the state of the league, with new teams joining next year and 2 more not to long after that. The stadium received a lot of time from both Nick and Don, and a video was actually shown with kids playing in the empty lot in Harrison and renditions of the stadium were also provided. Almost made you wanna cry. Let keep our fingers crossed as I’m a bit skeptical and will continue to be until concrete is poured.

Hard not to drink the Kool-Aid last night, but for me, I really didn’t have to, the Metros are the best team on earth.

See you guys on Saturday.