The Sporting Way

Join SportingMembership.com

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:30:00 +0000

As a supporter of Sporting KC and LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, you have the opportunity to be a part of a new ground breaking program devised to create additional benefits for your engagement. At its core, membership was created to entertain, save you money and provide you unparalleled access to our club. Membership is free and all we ask of you is to provide us some simple profile information in order to better serve you. The only exception is a verification charge of $2 for children under 13 (required of us by federal law) which you will become aware of during the registration process. Our groundbreaking affinity program will reward you for how much, how often and how deeply you interact with Sporting Club teams, places or events. It will help you get better connected to our partners, while also providing substantial discounts on the goods and services they offer.

Benefits include:

• Complimentary tickets to road matches.
• Complimentary access to the Members’ Section of the stadium for three (3) Sporting Kansas City matches per season.
• Access to the Sporting Explore mobile app that will provide members the opportunity to interact with the team.
• Opportunity to interact with players, teams and other fans while you earn points for your engagement.
• Opportunity to redeem interactive points for access to special autograph sessions, team practices, member only events and much more.
• Ability to use your affinity points from Sporting Club purchases on future items.
• Access to exclusive Sporting Kansas City content, as well as invitations to members-only ticket pre-sales for concerts and special events at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.
• Special membership offers from the team and partners.
• Ability to purchase single-game tickets at a discount.
• Utilizing your membership card to receive access to events.

Our goal is to create an experience that offers something for everyone – whether you are a diehard Sporting fan, music buff or savvy online shopper. We are continually adding benefits to membership that will provide you access to the players, team and partners like never before. We hope you enjoy the new opportunities that Sporting Club membership provides and we look forward to seeing you during all of the action this year.

How to sign up?

If you are not currently a member, there are multiple ways to sign up for membership. All fans can visit www.joinsporting.com to sign up for membership at their convenience. While at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, look for the member services kiosks located throughout the stadium in order to sign up for membership and receive your temporary membership card. There also will be membership services personnel walking around the stadium who can assist you with the sign-up process and provide you a temporary membership card. For those fans with smartphones, you can download the Sporting Explore app in the Android Market or at the App Store. The Sporting Explore app provides you with the ability to sign up for membership, as well as engage with the team.

Sporting Explore app:

Sporting Explore lets you experience Sporting Club events in an entirely new way. Whether it’s a Sporting Kansas City match or a big concert at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, we have you covered.
Sporting Explore is fully equipped to allow check-ins and two games: Live Play and Trivia. You can earn rewards along the way for every answer, with bonuses for being right. Anticipate the outcome of the game, answer questions about your favorite player and learn more about the team.

To download the free app, search "Sporting Explore" in the App Store, Android Market or scan the QR code near you at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

Membership card:

After you sign up, a membership card will be sent to your home address that will be your gateway to all the benefits of membership (requires that you provide your home address in your profile). Please remember to bring your membership card to all events at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park and get it scanned when you make purchases in order to accumulate your affinity points.

Tonight, Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:40:00 +0000

It's been a crazy journey, hasn't it? Tonight, in just a matter of hours, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park opens its doors for the very first time. You've seen and heard a lot of changes from our side over these last sixteen months, since ground was officially broken on what many thought was such a tiny, tiny lot across from Nebraska Furniture Mart. A lot of that change has occurred in the last 48 hours or so following the launch of SportingMembership.com. Much of the stuff you've seen over here, will now go there, but we'll get into more about how that'll work sometime down the line.

In the meantime, sit back and relax. Enjoy tonight, because we couldn't have done it without you.

Last Night's Gold Cup Action

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:45:00 +0000

Last night saw the first round of matches played for Group B in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup from the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Now, normally you might not be too enticed by Jamaica vs. Grenada, but Monday's contest featured a few familiar faces. Sporting KC’s very own midfielder Craig Rocastle and defender Shavar Thomas were both in the starting eleven last night for their respective sides. Rocastle went off at injured at halftime, Thomas played the full 90 minute and Jamaica topped Grenada by a 2-0 scoreline. You can see the match in its entirety here.

In Monday's nightcap, Honduras suffered a minor setback as they were held 0-0 by Guatemala. Sporting Kansas City left back Roger Espinoza did not feature for Los Catrachos.

Tonight, the USMNT has a chance to make everyone forget about the drubbing they received from Spain over the weekend. 6:30 p.m. CT, will you be watching?

Boys & Girls Club

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:36:00 +0000

On Sunday, Sporting Kansas City teamed up with MLS W.O.R.K.S., Teva Neurosciences, Cerner Corporation and the Pepsi Refresh Project to help improve the Teen Center at the Wyandotte County Boys & Girls Club (1240 Troup Avenue, Kansas City, KS). The makeover includes new computer workstations, shelving, a TV with an Xbox Kinect for FIFA11, new couches and seating, a foosball table and a Sporting Kansas City soccer locker area. Click on the photo above for a full gallery posted on the MLS W.O.R.K.S. official Facebook page.

Sporting KC will also be donating essential soccer equipment and athletic attire to bring soccer programming to the Boys & Girls Club for the first time in its history!

Tonight there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the rehabbed room and kick off the Summer Soccer Series at the Boys & Girls Club with a clinic led by SKC players Craig Rocastle, Michael Harrington, Luke Sassano, Chance Myers and Korede Aiyegbusi.

It's Gold Cup Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:53:00 +0000

Wow, this whole Gold Cup thing really snuck up on us, huh? The first set of matches in Group A are set to kickoff tonight from Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Costa Rica take on Cuba beginning at 5 pm CT, followed by--let's face it--tournament favorites Mexico and El Salvador at 7 pm. You can watch the match live on Univision, and CONCACAF will also be streaming the matches live for free.

You could see a few MLSers in action tonight, as well. RSL striker Alvaro Saborio may start up top for Los Ticos, Steve Purdy and Arturo Alvarez look set to feature for El Salvador and Rafa Marquez will most likely slot in at one of the centerback positions for Mexico.

The group stage will continue over the next nine days until June 14th, when Group C concludes at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park right here in KC. Will you be there?

Kamara on International Duty

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Sporting KC striker Kei Kamara started and played the full 90 minutes in Sierra Leone's 1-0 victory over Niger on Saturday at National Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone for his eighth career international appearance.

The Leone Stars bested the Mena Stars on a second-half strike from Tetteh Bangura (57th minute) and move two points behind group leaders South Africa with two games remaining in qualifying for the 2012 African Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The top team from each four-team group automatically advances with the two best runners-up also securing berths.

It was Sierra Leone's first home win in more than three years and first victory for newly appointed Manager Lars Olof Mattson. The team, ranked No. 118 in the latest FIFA rankings, will return to National Stadium for their next qualifying match against Egypt on September 2nd.

Coming Home

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Two local companies -- T2 + Back Alley Films and Austin Walsh Studio -- teamed up to produce a short film feature, dubbed "Coming Home," to promote Sporting Kansas City's home opener next week at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. The flick made its debut tonight, to great applause, at our First Friday party in the KC Crossroads District.

Click on the picture below to play the video and then be sure to show these two KC area businesses some appreciation on Twitter and Facebook.

T2 + Back Alley Films
- @T2_BackAlley on Twitter
- T2 + Back Alley Films on Facebook

Austin Walsh Studio
- @shootoutloud on Twitter
- Austin Walsh Photography on Facebook

Details for Members Ticket Program

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:10:00 +0000

As part of Sporting Club’s groundbreaking membership program, we are giving out 600 complimentary tickets to our members for our home opener next week. As a benefit to its members, Sporting Club will do similar ticket distributions prior to all home MLS matches this season, and Sporting Club members will have the opportunity to get complimentary tickets for up to three Sporting Kansas City matches in 2011.

To kick things off, 200 tickets will be distributed tonight at Sporting Kansas City’s First Friday party.

On June 8, the day before Sporting KC’s home opener, we will give away 200 complimentary Members Stand tickets online on a first-come, first-served basis. Stay tuned early next week for details on how to get your ticket through our online registration process.

In addition, 200 complimentary tickets will be made available on gameday for Sporting Club members. On June 9, the first 200 fans to line up at the Members Club entrance (outside of the east gate of the stadium) will receive a complimentary ticket in the Members Stand at for the first game at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Members waiting in line will receive their tickets beginning at 4 p.m. and members may begin waiting in line as early as they want to on June 9.

***Anyone who receives a ticket through these opportunities--whether that is at the First Friday event, online, or outside the Members Club on June 9--will have received one of three available free entries under the Sporting Club Membership Program.***

Join the Sporting Club community for your chance to connect like never before and create your own unique experiences with our club, our partners and with LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

Local Buzz for LSP

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Anyone who was watching NBC Action News during Thursday night's newcasts saw a great report on LIVESTRONG Sporting Park and the soccer-specific stadium's original inspiration from club founder Lamar Hunt. Check out the community feature below, as reported by NBC's Amy Hawley...

The Biggest Event of the Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:50:00 +0000

Caption Contest Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:16:00 +0000

Congrats to Ray Shirley, the winner in this week's caption contest on the official Sporting Kansas City Facebook page. Ray's caption, an apt reference to this memorable scene in the film "300" which spawned The Sporting 300 who stormed Chicago with banner in hand, was selected as the top entry out of more than 70 submissions and wins him an autographed Sporting KC player photo.

The weekly caption contest will continue next Monday with a photo from Sporting Kansas City's match against Toronto FC at BMO Field on Saturday.

Smith Up for Goal of the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 31 May 2011 01:05:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Thu, 26 May 2011 23:38:00 +0000

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.

Sporting Blogger: How does this camp compare to some of the other one you've been involved with?
This trip is like our last international trip to Israel because we have really tough opponents and not a lot of rest between games. It's exciting because we have a great group of guys here that don't always get called in because of club conflicts.

Sporting Blogger: You featured in the draw with Holland. How did that game go?
Holland are a very good team, one of the best in the world but we went into the match knowing we could win. Holland kept the ball a lot, but we were able to break them down and grab an early goal. Unfortunately they got one on the counter, and we had one disallowed in stoppage time. It was a great game.

Sporting Blogger: You're one of the only professional players on the team. Do the other amateur players ask you guys what life is like as a pro?
I've been asked a few times, and I also like to use my experiences to share with others to make them better, as well. My roommate on the trip is Luis Rendon, who was just named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, so he was pretty excited about that.

Sporting Blogger: You're a staple with the U-18 Men's National Team, what do you like about working with Matkovich and his staff?
I love working with the staff here. It's a great group, and they really tell you how things are. They've prepared us well, now all we need to do is get some results.

Sporting Blogger: What're your thoughts on Portugal? First time there?
This is my first time in Portugal and I love it. The food is great, the weather is perfect and everywhere I look there's a soccer field. Kids are playing everywhere, all the time, everyday. We also have security guards following us around wherever we go, so that's been interesting. We made it to the beach the other day, but the water was freezing! Finally, they showed the damage on the news here in Portugal, and I just want to say that my prayers go out to everyone that was affected by the tornadoes over this last week.

Members: LIVESTRONG Sporting Park

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:03:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:31:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:15:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:32:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:18:00 +0000

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.
Conditions: Not a cloud in the sky, but there was a crisp wind whirling about. Nice if you're playing, but if you're standing around off to the side? Not so much.

Theme of the day: Don't get hurt. There weren't a lot of bodies today at the Sporting Club Training Center in Swope Park. With the reserve game in Chicago taking away a total of thirteen senior team players, Tuesday's session provided a more intimate feel for those in attendance.

Training: First, the personnel. Despite Jon Kempin and Jimmy Nielsen being in Chicago, there were still four goalkeepers today. Eric Kronberg, obviously, and three guests. One of the guests was Taylor Vinnage, current 'keeper at Rockhurst University and Sporting KC Juniors product.

"Campeones!" - Collin

--Omar Bravo was back, and it was great to see. No more working separately with the trainers, he was involved from the start. Bravo was joined by just 11 other field players: Kamara, Bunbury, Arnaud, Zusi, Auvray, Stojcev, Diop, Harrington, Espinoza, Collin and Cesar.

--Training began with a lively bit of attacking and finishing. Each player started at one of two goals, had a go 1v1 against the goalkeeper, then had to recover quickly across the grid to close down and defend an attacker that had left going the opposite direction. Some quality finishes, particularly from Kamara, Bravo and Stojcev.

--After the blood was flowing a bit, the group split into three teams of four, and would remain in those groups for the rest of the session. The next 20 minutes or so were spent on a possession game in a small grid with one of the teams trying to win the ball from the other two. Teams were as follows:
Green: Espinoza, Arnaud, Bunbury, Cesar
Orange: Harrington, Bravo, Kamara, Collin
Blue: Zusi, Diop, Stojcev, Auvray

--The day finished with some round-robin tournament play to big goals. In the end, after much deliberation on goal differential from Aurelien Collin, it was the Orange team who were crowned champions. As you can tell from the photo, it was a moment they will savor for years to come.

Caption Contest Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:21:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:47:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:12:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:26:00 +0000

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

Davy Arnaud

Sporting Kansas City

416

7.96

Matt Besler

Sporting Kansas City

450

7.34

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

4.67

290

Scott Lorenz

Sporting Kansas City

4.62

292

Chance Myers

Sporting Kansas City

108

4.59

304

Craig Rocastle

Sporting Kansas City

4.41

310

Aurelien Collin

Sporting Kansas City

4.32

345

Shavar Thomas

Sporting Kansas City

3.67

350

Ryan Smith

Sporting Kansas City

3.63

356

Graham Zusi

Sporting Kansas City

3.63

361

Korede Aiyegbusi

Sporting Kansas City

3.63

Game On Contest Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Wed, 11 May 2011 16:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:32:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sporting Blogger) — Tue, 10 May 2011 13:41:00 +0000

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.