Smith Up for Goal of the Week

Not surprising, is it? Ryan Smith cracked a stunner against Colorado on Saturday, and that hit has been duly recognized by MLS. Smith's strike is Sporting KC's second GOTW nomination so far in 2011, after Teal Bunbury's sweet little finish against Vancouver in week 3. Teal didn't win, but Smith certainly could, so go vote here NOW.

Video of Smith's equalizer against Colorado, and the rest of the Week 11 nominees:

Kempin Checks In

Although he's played there many-a-time, Sporting KC goalkeeper Jon Kempin was not on hand at BVDAC last night during Sporting's 5-0 rout of New England. Instead, Kempin was preparing for a match of his own with the U18 U.S. Men's National Team during their most recent trip. We had a chance to hear from Kempin this week, and he is enjoying this camp to the fullest. Hit the jump for a full Q+A.

Members: LIVESTRONG Sporting Park

Sporting Kansas City 2011 Season Ticket Members were invited out to LIVESTRONG Sporting Park to pick-up their season ticket packages, beginning on Sunday and finishing up tonight. For some, this was their first time ever inside the state-of-the-art venue, which will open two weeks from tomorrow night. And for others who have taken tours before, it was their first opportunity to see the view from their seats will all the amenities in place around them.

So how about those first impressions. Here are some of The Sporting Way's favorite reactions and pictures from Twitter...

@PGore: Livestrong sporting park is BEAUTIFUL
@Jay_Highland: Standing on the field at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. This place is amazing.
@RyanKellyTweets: Took a personal tour of @LIVESTRONGPark today and it was AMAZING. Almost brought a tear to my eye.
@Eric_Howell: And a tour of @LIVESTRONGPark WOW!!!! What an amazing place that is going to be!
@KUBensa: @LIVESTRONGPark is just beautiful. Blown away today.
@SeanCallahan18: The only thing that can make @LIVESTRONGPark better is 18500 screaming fans
@snoopj123: Season tickets acquired and got to see the stadium. Now it's time for the calendar to do it's thing. C'mon June 9th!

For even more pictures, check out another slideshow courtesy of Down the Byline blogger Mike Kuhn and more fan reactions in this video on SportingKC.com.

Caption Contest Winner

Congrats to Matthias Potterinkski, the winner in this week's caption contest on the official Sporting Kansas City Facebook page. Matthias' caption, a reference to Jimmy "The White Puma" Nielsen, was selected as the top entry out of more than 65 submissions and wins him an autographed photo of a Sporting Kansas City player of his choice.

The Sporting Way will have to recommend going with The White Puma, a 2010 MLS All-Star who won NAPA Save of the Week honors six times last season and was voted the team's Defensive Player of the Year.

Join the KC Cauldron

Sporting Kansas City kicks off a span of three games in eight days tonight when they take on the Seattle Sounders FC at 9:00 p.m. CT from Qwest Field (shown above). Fans can watch in English on KSMO-TV, beginning with a 30-minute pre-game show, or catch the match in Spanish on Time Warner Cable channel 5 and La Gran D 1340AM.

As always, SportingKC.com will be running a live chat during the match for fans to discuss the game and receive on-site updates throughout. And the KC Cauldron will be welcoming all SKC supporters to Johnny's Tavern in the Power & Light District for a raucous watch party to cheer for the boys in blue.

Tonight will be the first of several upcoming opportunities to join the Cauldron, who will also be hosting a FIFA 11 Tournament on Sunday at Quick's BBQ to raise funds for the group's many endeavors at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park this season. Show off your video skills and enjoy some great KC-style barbecue while taking part in the cause.

Then see the Cauldron in full form on Wednesday in Sporting Kansas City's first home match of 2011, when they take on the New England Revolution in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualifier at the Blue Valley District Activities Complex. Tickets are still available for $15.

Finally, it's not too late to reserve a seat on the Cauldron's trip to Colorado next weekend. Check out this site for more info and RSVP on the Facebook event page if you'll be attending. Who can forget the Sporting 300 that stormed Chicago earlier this season?

LIVESTRONG Sporting Park

Three weeks from today, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park will open to an avid home crowd and national television audience. And every day in advance of June 9th brings new and exciting things to share about the state-of-the-art stadium.

Today, we got some truly phenomenal photos (gallery one and gallery two) and video footage of the team taking their first walkthrough on the field last night. If you're like us and can't get enough LSP, check out VP of Development David Ficklin's interview on Sports Radio 810 WHB today while reading through Turner Construction's weekly update, embedded below.

Open publication

Tuesday Training

We get it. You have work. You have school. You have errands to run and kids to take care of. The fact of the matter is that there are some days when you just can't make it out to Swope Park to watch Sporting Kansas City practice. We realize that, but we still want to make sure you stay up-to-date on how the team is looking heading into each match.

Hit the jump for a report from Tuesday's training session.

Caption Contest Winner

Congrats to Scott Phipps, this week's winner in our caption contest. Scott will receive a Sporting KC t-shirt for his caption, chosen as the best out of 118 submissions for the above photo of Sporting striker Kei Kamara celebrating the game's opening goal on Saturday (or playing rock-paper-scissors with Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez, as Scott saw it).

Fans of the official Sporting Kansas City Facebook page can participate in the contest every Monday. Speaking of our Facebook page, it got a fantastic facelift yesterday courtesy of Buddy Media. Check out the new landing page for non-fans (shown on right) and the new tab available once you Like the page. Very cool features and we're told there will be more to come.

LA Rewind

While the team's second trip to LA this season didn't go nearly as well as the first, the visit to the West Coast wasn't entirely unsuccessful. Sporting KC striker Teal Bunbury got to see his older sister Kylie (shown above) who moved out to LA in January 2010 to pursue an acting career that came to fruition with her first role as a lead character in Disney's PROM, in theaters now, and an upcoming part in The Sitter with Jonah Hill and Sam Rockwell. Check out this video of Kylie talking about PROM and hopefully you've read ESPN.com's story earlier this month about Teal following in his father's footsteps.

The two Bunbury's connected after the team's training on Friday at The Home Depot Center, where fellow forward Kei Kamara once worked on the operations staff while already on campus playing at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Kamara was showing off a new hairdo (shown on left), sans the braids and with a touch more color. Kei also got to visit family, tweeting out a pic of the team's newest fan.

Bravo at Fiesta KC

Bravo with fans after 3-2 victory over Chivas USA

The last time Sporting Kansas City traveled to The Home Depot Center, the team walked away with a 3-2 victory over Chivas USA in March and Omar Bravo made his debut with a two-goal performance that earned him MLS Player of the Week honors. SKC will be hoping for a similar result on Saturday when they take on the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Galaxy at 9:30 p.m. CT on KSMO-TV, but the team will be without their Designated Player's services for a fifth straight match. 

While Bravo remains in KC recovering from a sports hernia injury, he will be making his first public appearance at the 12th annual Fiesta KC on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the La Gran D 1340 AM tent. Bravo will sign autographs and take pictures during the festival, held at Crown Center to celebrate Hispanic culture with three days of food, drink and entertainment.

Admission to Fiesta KC is $5 from 4 to 11 p.m. on Saturday or individuals can purchase three-day passes from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City (1600 Baltimore Ave, Suite 250) for $12. Visit FiestaKansasCity.com for more information.

MLS Unveils Castrol Index

There's a new feature up at MLSsoccer.com that analyzes player performances for every game in Major League Socccer this season. The Castrol Index logs an average of 1,800 player movement per match, tracking where those movements take place and whether those movements are positive or negative contributions to that player's team. Read more at the Castrol Index homepage and watch the video of MLS Commissioner Don Garber introducing the new tool.

The scores are in for all matches played in April, an accumulation of points earned in each game played, and here is how Sporting Kansas City players stacked up...

Rank

Player

Team

Minutes

Score

41

Davy Arnaud

Sporting Kansas City

416

7.96

77

Matt Besler

Sporting Kansas City

450

7.34

81

Roger Espinoza

Sporting Kansas City

450

7.28

106

C.J. Sapong

Sporting Kansas City

450

6.93

143

Teal Bunbury

Sporting Kansas City

303

6.45

163

Milos Stojcev

Sporting Kansas City

400

6.21

174

Kei Kamara

Sporting Kansas City

354

6.08

194

Jimmy Nielsen

Sporting Kansas City

450

5.84

208

Birahim Diop

Sporting Kansas City

276

5.67

211

Omar Bravo

Sporting Kansas City

122

5.63

214

Michael Harrington

Sporting Kansas City

270

5.6

234

Julio César

Sporting Kansas City

243

5.35

260

Stephane Auvray

Sporting Kansas City

153

5.02

286

Luke Sassano

Sporting Kansas City

72

4.67

290

Scott Lorenz

Sporting Kansas City

84

4.62

292

Chance Myers

Sporting Kansas City

108

4.59

304

Craig Rocastle

Sporting Kansas City

65

4.41

310

Aurelien Collin

Sporting Kansas City

75

4.32

345

Shavar Thomas

Sporting Kansas City

36

3.67

350

Ryan Smith

Sporting Kansas City

3

3.63

356

Graham Zusi

Sporting Kansas City

75

3.63

361

Korede Aiyegbusi

Sporting Kansas City

3

3.63

Game On Contest Winners

Congratulations to the following 10 individuals, all of whom are this week's winners in the Game On text-to-win contest. A Sporting Kansas City representative will contact the lucky fans with instructions on how to receive a pair of tickets to a match at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park later this year!

Tyler Parks
Hannah Herndon
Jamie Ronan
Debbie Creason
Jacinto Sosa
Michael McGrath
Alisa Mandachit
Emily Mynatt
Jennifer Kellogg
Sandeep Bansal

Don't forget, participants can re-enter every week until the contest ends on June 5th, 2011. Be sure to keep your eyes out for Sporting KC Street Team members around town and check back weekly to see if you are a winner!

Caption Contest

Not Wynning!

This week's top caption comes from none other than former KC forward Yura Movsisyan, who took some time away from his schedule with FC Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League to check-in on the official Sporting KC Facebook page. In addition to his entry in the weekly Caption Contest (a well-played connection between Charlie Sheen's Twitter tirade and the last name of Colorado Rapids defender Marvell Wynne), Yura left a message for the fans: "I miss my time in KC, where it all started for me. All the best my friends."

As for the prize -- an Omar Bravo autographed copy of the April edition of ESPN Deportes la Revista featuring the Sporting KC Designated Player on the cover -- we're going with runner-up Guellermo Pedroza for the following caption: "I told you my jersey number looks the same upside down."

Thanks to all those who submitted captions -- nearly 100 total -- and congrats, Guellermo!

Sassano & Packett: Sporting KC's Power Couple

Luke and Kaila in 2010

We are extremely sorry for missing this bit of news last week, but it's still relevant so we're bringing it to you anyway. Kaila Packett, girlfriend of Sporting Kansas City midfielder Luke Sassano, was recognized in this piece on The Bleacher Report as one of the top WAGs in American soccer. Kaila features alongside the likes Bianca Kaijlich and, naturally, Victoria Beckham.

Luke and Kaila have been dating for about two and a half years, meeting initially in New York City while Luke was a member of the New York Red Bulls. Luke wouldn't comment on how it feels being the less attractive half of the relationship. Hm.

Jimmy Nielsen Helping to Cure Juvenile Diabetes, One Puppy at a Time

Jimmy Nielsen, what a guy!

The Kansas City chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation hosted their annual Dream Gala on Saturday night at the Downtown Marriott. The event was one of three major fundraising events held each year by the local JDRF chapter, and together they combine to raise a total of over $3 million annually.

Saturday's gala marked the second of the three JDRF events for 2011 in KC, and goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen was in attendance along with his wife, Jannie. The Nielsens walked away from the event with a parting gift, winning the puppy pictured above in one of the night's several auctions. Congratulations to everyone who put the event together and congrats to Jimmy and Jannie on the newest addition to their family!

It's Friday, Friday

Got plans for this beautiful Friday night? Well, we know you're going to make it down to the Sporting KC front offices for our First Friday event in the Crossroads from 5-8 PM. After that? If you're stuck at home, be sure to check out Philly and Portland as they go at it at 9 PM CT on on Fox Soccer Channel's Soccer Night in America.

Soccer Night in America is the latest step in enhancing the broadcast quality of MLS matches on FSC. You'll see state-of-the-art graphics, new camera technology and much more. Should be really sharp, and the game won't be too bad, either.

LSP = BIG DEAL

June 9th is fast-approaching (five weeks!), and on that day Sporting KC fans will pack into LIVESTRONG Sporting Park for the very first time, finally able to set foot in a project that's been building quite a while. But do you realize just how big the project is?

In total dollar amount, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park coupled with the Cerner office complex to be built at Village West ranked as the eighth-largest economic development deal in North America for 2010, according to corporate real estate magazine Site Selection.

The stadium and office complex combination ranked behind development deals featuring the likes of Ford Motors, Intel and Samsung as the largest of 2010. As Kansas Deputy Secretary of Commerce Steve Kelly mentions in the article, "It's a tribute to the parties involved that people were able to stick to it and keep moving the ball."

Now, let's hope that on June 9th Sporting KC can move the ball just as well against the Fire.

LSP Job Openings

Check out the flyer below from American Sportservice for more part-time positions available at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Click here to visit TeamworkOnline to learn more and apply in advance for a possible appointment at one of these two upcoming job fairs.

Latest Game On Winners

Have you met Sporting Kansas City's street team yet? Hopefully the answer is 'yes', as our street team members have been all around KC's most popular hotspots, meeting and interacting with fans for the past month. What are they up to? Plenty, but the focus of this blog post is to give you an update on the "Game On" text-to-win contest our street teamers have been running the last two weeks.

The following list of entrants have been selected as the contest's winners for weeks 3 and 4, and will receive a pair of tickets to see Sporting KC this summer. Congrats to the following:

Week 3                           Week 4

Cathy Lewis                    Presley Lewis
Veronica Garcia               Devon Tschumakow
Benjamin Alba                  Kellee Smith
Joanne Doyle                   Micah Canady
Dan Bishop                      Chris Binns
Kim Remington                Gary Annis
Andre Ruszczyk              Dathan Boden
Amanda Shoemaker         Danielle Hockett
Caleb Harrison                 Jillian Wells
Rod Clark                        Brittany Colby
                                      Jonathan Orndorff

A Sporting KC representative will contact the winners soon. Remember, participants can re-enter every week until the contest ends on June 5th, 2011. Be sure to keep your eyes out for Sporting KC Street Team members around town and check back weekly to see if you are a winner!

Coach's Clinic

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper coach John Pascarella was on the front lawn of Mission Hills City Hall yesterday afternoon for a special clinic with the Pembroke Hill second grade girls soccer team. The "Sporting Coach Pop-In" gave the young players a unique chance to receive instruction and guidance -- as well as a few autographs (on right) -- from Pascarella.

Special thanks to Coach Pascarella for an educational afternoon and best of luck to the Pembroke Hill second graders with all the new tips and tricks they learned!

This Week's Winner

Real life Angry Birds: Featuring Aurelien Collin

Congratulations to Ben Power, this week's winner in the SKC Caption Contest. Ben's submission was among the 105 in consideration on the official Sporting Kansas City Facebook page yesterday and was awarded top honors for his caption above -- a fitting reference to the #1 selling paid mobile app in more than 65 countries, according to the game's website. Read this feature in the NY Times if you want to know more and then check out how one expert thinks the game's theory might just apply to U.S. Soccer.

Ben will receive an autographed picture of a Sporting Kansas City player of his choice. You could be the next winner -- check our Facebook page every Monday to take part in the contest. Though the team is off, we'll still pick a random shot from Week 8 of MLS action for next week's featured photo.

Reserve Match v. RSL Tomorrow

Tomorrow. Swope Park. Be there.

Searching for an excuse to take a long lunch tomorrow? Look no further, then. Tomorrow, Sporting Kansas City will play Real Salt Lake in the team's second match of the 2011 MLS Reserve League schedule. The match will be played at the Sporting Club Training Center at Swope Park and is set for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff.

So come on out. It's free, the weather's going to be perfect and there should be some good soccer on offer for a Tuesday lunch hour (or two).

Teal Bunbury: Kansas City's Twitter King

Juan Agudelo, also a fan of #TeamBunbury

As you may have noticed, there was a battle of epic proportions being waged in social media world last week. Sporting KC striker Teal Bunbury challenged friend and fellow U.S. Men's National Team forward Juan Agudelo to see which striker could garner the most Twitter followers by Saturday's kickoff.

The weeklong contest escalated quickly, with the two players enlisting the likes of Chad Ochocinco, LIVESTRONG CEO Doug Ulman, Jozy Altidore, Red Bull and many more to help boost their respective numbers.

In the end, though, it was Teal who had the last laugh. By kickoff, Bunbury held the edge in followers, 9,996 to Agudelo's 9,552. Thus, it was Agudelo who had to pay up as he snapped the above photo wearing a stylish #9 Bunbury shirt yesterday. Fair play to both contestants in what was a fun and well-spirited competition, and be sure to stay tuned for the impending sequel against Lady Gaga.