Much is afoot. Wedding planning continues unabated. The trucks to Clearwater are being gassed up and loaded. According to Wikipedia, today is Kristen Schaal's 31st birthday (but look, I'm an engaged man now, and as the President said the other day, the time has come to put away childish things). The Eagles totally forgot to bring their defensive players to Arizona (worst game ever, I can't even think about it without getting angry and confused and scared).

But enough about those things, let's talk about something truly important: the name of our new soccer team! I'm disappointed but not at all surprised that they're apparently going for some kind of Euro-ripoff name. I don't know why they feel the need to do such a thing: it's just going to turn away or at the very least bore casual fans, and this is a city that already has a rich sports culture, so why do we need to just co-opt ideas from far off places? I'm not saying we need to resurrect "Atoms" or "Fury" or anything like that. I love the name "Atoms", I've always been fascinated by the Atoms, and I plan on wearing my Atoms t-shirt to the stadium at least once. To be honest, because I've read a lot about them and they represent, to me, an important and interesting slice of Philly sports history, and because I am a melodramatic nerd, it would actually mean a lot to me to be able to go to a soccer game and root for a team called the Philadelphia Atoms. But I'm not going to write that in as my vote, because I like the idea of keeping the name retired and starting fresh with something new (and also for strategic voting reasons, but more on that in a bit).

Let's take a look at the options.

SC: Boring, but tolerable. To their credit, I like the fact that they've basically gone for "Soccer Club" instead of "Football Club", because there are already two teams in the league (Dallas and Toronto) named "FC" (which by the way is totally uncreative nonsense, I mean come on Dallas and Toronto, get it together), and also because this is Philly, where we already have a game called football that we really like and will never be less popular than soccer. Sorry, Europosers, we call it "soccer" here; if you don't like it, move to Portsmouth or something.

AC: Also boring, but I have to admit that it's growing on me. It's soccer-ish and a nice, subtle reference to the Philadelphia Athletics (if indeed they intend it to mean "Athletic Club" and not some dumb European thing, and by the way I apologize if I sound really xenophobic, I don't hate Europe or anything, Europe's cool, I'm just really annoyed it's not going to be Atoms and I'm taking it out on a whole continent).

City: This is just dumb.

Union: Appalling. Awful. I hate this name so freaking much. Also: it's almost exactly the same as "United", and there's already a team called "DC United", who will presumably be one of our biggest regional rivals. So why would I give my team the same name as... ugh! Oh god, so stupid.

Write-in Options: Besides "Atoms" I have no ideas that I think will win. Over on the Sons of Ben message board, a couple of fans are pushing for something like "Philadelphia 2010" with the idea that the nickname would be "Zolos", a made up word that looks sort of like "2010". (This, in case you're wondering, is one of the reasons why I have yet to post on this message board, despite my total excitement about the new team and the fact that these guys would, one presumes, be my new soccer buddies. I'm just afraid of going on there and saying "Um, guys, has it not occured to you that 'Zolos' is totally cheesy and lame?" and getting flamed. I guess I could try to play nice, but really, "Zolos"? Am I being that unreasonable?)

Anyway, I'm leaning toward just voting for "AC" because it has a better chance of winning than "Atoms" and to lessen the chance that "Union" or "2010" will win. Look, no matter what happens, I'm going to be a huge fan, and alienate my future wife and our future family by wasting even more of my time watching absurd amounts of sports, and I'll buy the team's jersey no matter what's on it, because this is the kind of blind loyalty that I subscribe to for reasons I can't explain. I'm really looking forward to it.

But really, if you haven't voted yet and/or don't care, and you feel like helping me out, please vote for anything but "Union", that's all I ask.

Worried but also excited

WORRIED: Look, it's March 14 so I'm not going to panic too much. Let me say first that, of course, the Phils' offense is going to be fantastic. They have three of the game's best hitters just in their infield, and they're going to score giant, piping-hot bushels of runs. Do runs come in bushels? Can said bushels be piping hot? It doesn't matter. The hitting is fine, and it will keep them in contention. But the pitching - yeah, the pitching's no good. I'm kind of worried. They have no clear fifth starter yet - Eaton looks horrendous, Benson's not ready, and the various random minor leaguers they've gathered together to compete for Eaton's job have been consistently unimpressive. I'll admit that I was excited that they gave Rosario a start today to see how he'd do, but he was awful, so that shows what I know. The 2007 Phillies were able to get past their terrible pitching and win the division, but I'm not yet ready to believe that the 2008 Phillies will have the same luck. But these guys have a way of proving me wrong when I least expect it, so who knows, maybe they'll jump out to an 18-5 start to the season and I'll have to publicly apologize in this space. I'm prepared for that.

BUT ALSO EXCITED: Fantastic comeback win for the Sixers tonight, two days after a fantastic win over the (probable first round opponent) Pistons. They're getting that kind of "team of destiny" vibe around them but I won't get ahead of myself - in fact, forget I said that. The Andres, Lou, Rodney, Thad, Sammy - all of 'em are playing great. Can they actually make some noise in the playoffs? I have no idea. In fact, if you've come here for some actual, expert analysis, then I apologize, because I don't have any. I'm just a dude excited about my boys, that's all.

Springtime

Do you hear it? Do you feel it? The crack of the bat? The pop of the glove? The squishy surgery noises of another Phillies pitcher's knee? The swelling, cartoony balloon noise of an expanding soccer league? The vultures circling my house, in crazed, desperate need of fresh carrion? I have no idea what that last one means.

It's cold and rainy here in Mummer Country, but I can smell some spring training. You getting that, wherever you are? Yeah, I know you can.

The Phils actually play a game tonight - a fake one, and in this case a really fake one, against some college. So it's like a fake fake game. The first real fake game is tomorrow. The first real real game is March 31 - I've got my ticket!

Andrew and I are talking about our first road trip of the year: Cincinnati, April 4-6. I know nothing at all about Cincinnati. I've driven through it once or twice. Anyone know anything about Cincinnati? Post a comment to recommend something cool in Cincy. I read today that the signature dish there, available pretty much everywhere with cheesesteak-level ubiquity, is a pile of spicy chili served on a plate of spaghetti. That's kind of deranged, but I want it.

I know I say this every spring but I think this is the year I'm actually going to update this every day, or at least for every game. I mean, I'm pretty sure they're going to win 120, maybe 125 games, and I want to be on top of it!

UPDATES.

76ERS. I'm going to the 76ers/Knicks game in like 20 minutes so I'll make this quick.

FLYERS. What the hell, guys? No good.

PHILLIES. Oh you pranksters! Fun stuff. Now seriously, boys, playtime is over. Get to work. (They'll be fine.)

EAGLES. Um... I got nothing.

INDEPENDENCE FC. (Or whatever they'll be called.) Rumor has it that on February 28, MLS will officially announce Philadelphia as their 16th team, to begin play in 2010. Longtime readers can probably imagine that I'm very psyched. Meanwhile, I have joined the Sons of Ben. I haven't actually met these dudes yet, but I'm sure I'll see them eventually (at the very least, at a tailgate). By the way, the Sons are awesome. Check out some clips from the 'Tube: the Sons representing and the Sons harrassing New Englandians, Philly style. Beautiful.

2010 MLS CUP CHAMPS!!! YEAH!!!