Donnelly: Hottest Ticket in Town? Sporting KC Saturday & Former SKC Man Davy Arnaud Can’t Believe It

Sporting KC bounced back in a big way on the road this week at Montreal...

Despite not playing its best and conceding many dangerous chances to the home side, KC came away with a 3-1 win boosting the team’s confidence as they head home for Saturday’s 7 pm grudge match against the team that dashed their championship dreams last season, the Houston Dynamo.

And tickets for this baby are going fast, if they’re not already gone. I just looked on Sporting’s ticket site and there werer literally about 8 tickets available. Yep, Sporting Kansas City is the hottest ticket in town right now, aside from the MLB All Star game of course.

However if you don’t have a ticket yet and still want in, don’t sweat it too much. There are several good options for scoring an after-market ticket. The option I use most is simply showing up at LIVESTRONG, heading towards the wafting barbecue smoke and looking for the blue flags flapping in the breeze. There’s almost always a super fan with an extra ticket to unload, and a few times they wouldn’t even allow me to pay for it.

They may also make you chug a beer for good measure and to prove your loyalty to SKC.   

The other really good option is to get on Twitter and tweet @KCCauldron.  They are almost always in the know regarding random tickets floating around.

And of course, if you want to go the old school route there’s always stubhub and the like.  Those are an absolute last resort for me, though.

So, in summary, get your ass out to a game. 

Now, back to the Montreal game for a minute. 

For those who watched it on TV, the broadcast was dominated by Davy Arnaud, longtime KC Wizard, Sporting KC player, and team captain for the past few seasons.  He was not protected in the offseason and Montreal scooped him up in the expansion draft, paving the way for Graham Zusi to really settle into his role as midfield general. 

Most of the time when the camera focused in on Davy viewers saw a bewildered look on his face, arms raised, palms extended, head shaking.  "Are you kidding me?" was the phrase I’m sure the ref heard over and over and over.  After about 60 minutes of this routine I’m assuming the ref couldn’t bear it any longer so he called a penalty on Davy. 

Davy’s reaction was, well, see the above x 10.  Watching the replay it was a fairly obvious call – though one that admittedly is let go oftentimes.  Davy essentially wrapped up KC striker Soony Saad with two hands around his waist and tackled him American-football-style to the ground on a KC corner. 

Then a bit later the ref showed Arnaud a yellow card after the Montreal captain became overly demonstrative following a call that didn’t go his team’s way.  The yellow will force Davy to miss the next game due to accumulation. 

OK, so here’s the deal.  First, good riddance, Davy Arnaud.  Let me just get that out of the way.  Zusi and Espinoza are better technical players, period. 

So there’s that. 

Second, grow the hell up.  Sure, every team wants a captain that will go to bat for his teammates, but this is ridiculous and counterproductive, I must say.  Remember last year when Davy picked up multiple red cards?  That was the highlight of the season for me, because it opened the door for Zusi to step in and show what he could do.  From that moment on there was no doubt that KC was not Davy’s team anymore. 

And I guess in way, seeing Davy pulling all his tired crap on Wednesday just reaffirmed what I knew all along.

Is Arnaud a decent player?  Yes.  Does he hustle as much as anyone?  Sure.  But all his diving and whining and gesturing just gets so old. 

It’s not what MLS needs. 

Is it just me?