Telling you about each close to scoring chances, Columbus generated, will not make you feel better about the tie. No matter how exciting I describe each almost goal, a tie at home is losing 2 points.

If you stayed home and watched the game on ONN, you did get to see Gino Padula pass to Emmanual Ekpo who received it up the left side, settled it, then crossed the ball to Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s left foot, who deposited it to the right lower corner of the goal beating Preston Burpo, the Rapid’s goal keeper, in the 41st minute.

Watching the goal from home may have excited you a little and perhaps made you pondered whether the term ambidextrous apply to being able to kick with either foot or just to tasks you can accomplish with either hand. But you can not feel the roar of the crowd from your TV, when the goal is scored. Or share in glory of the goal by high fiving everyone within 10 feet of your seat, in self acknowledgement that your cheers, prayers or both assisted the eleven other Crew players on the field.

The closest you can get to the feel of a goal from your television set is if that Hispanic television commentator who can protract the word goooooooaaaaaaaalllllllllll out for thirty seconds or more happens to be calling your game.

But that commentator or any other announcer could not show you what transpired on the pitch when Colorado tied Columbus. Watching from the press box (it was a bit chilly) and shifting my gaze from watching the field play through the large bay window to the in room TV Monitor uncovered a lot more of what one might not realize they miss during this or any other soccer match.

Since Gino Padula did not always have the ball the TV monitor did not follow his entire lunch pail extraordinaire efforts for the entire match. Watching live action from the stands you could have isolated focus on Padula during all aspects of the game, not just when he possessed the ball.

You would have witnessed his constant running to defend or recover or join the attack that would have caused you, like it did me, to keep checking that his jersey still brandished a 4 and had not changed to a 2 the number Hejduk wears.

If I did not know Hejduk was not playing the match, due to a hamstring injury, this could have been very confusing.

“He is a professional player and that is what he is supposed to do every game” was Coach Warzycha’s response to my question regarding Padula’s one man campaign to will the win “today he did very well” was the Coaches acknowledgement of Padula’s hard efforts.

Watching remotely or reading the final score you missed the magnitude of effort each player gave in this match. The TV showed Ekpo’s left side charges and how dangerous his speed and quickness are to defenders. But TV missed a lot of the hard defensive play that Ekpo has added to his game and exhibited. Though the referee brought attention to it in the 29th minute when he welcomed Scott Palguta, who was substituted into match in the 18th minute.

The strong midfield interplay of Moffat, Carroll, Gaven and Ekpo was hardy captured by the camera. TV coverage showed the Rapids trying to pass balls over the stout midfield and have to rely on winning 50/50s to advance the ball forward. Cameras are mostly attracted to the glamour shots not the, away from the ball, grunt work on the field.

The backline of O’Rouke, Padula with replacements Eric Brunner and Jed Zayner limited the rapids to no corner kicks and only one other shot on goal other than Casey’s goal.

“I am not going to let him walk over me, I am going to show him that I am here, and I can body with him as much as he wants to body with me. I didn’t want it to seem like I was retaliating but I just wanted to let him know that I am here too” was Eric Brunner’s description of a hard challenge he had against Conor Casey during the 40th minute of play.

Casey had extended an elbow to Eric’s face during the first 10 minutes of play while welcoming him into his first MLS game. Eric had to change shirts due to his nose being bloodied by the exchange. He plans to hang the shirt on his wall at home to commemorate the occasion. Brunner, the same height as Chad Marshall 6’4”, does not yet have the same mass Chad carries on his frame, but he seems to already possess the grit, putting in a solid defensive effort.

Maybe if Chad Marshall or Andy Iro are in the game their shear mass may have been able to turn back Casey’s stumbling drive past O’Rouke. But like Don Meredith liked to say, “If ifs and buts were candies and nuts we would all have a Happy Christmas.”

You could speculate if Moffat did not cramp up and have to leave the game that maybe he would have stopped Mastroeni from sending the long ball into Conor. But Ducan Oughton, who replaced Moffat in the 67th minute, is a seasoned defensive veteran. No, the Ifs and Buts method of revisionist thinking is not a constructive path to predicting any real truths to what might have been if only this or that occurred.

The truth be told, the Crew looked very dangerous and played very well. Even after Colorado scored to tie the game The insertion of Steven Lenhart (forward) for Jed Zayner (defender) showed that the Crew does not want to settle for a tie at home.

“We hope that the players coming in off the bench give us some energy and some spark and definitely Stevie did that today” was Coach Warzycha’s comment on Steven Lenhart’s two extra time chances (a kick and header ) to try to salvage a win. The kick and header attempted to score a goal just missing their mark, high.

“I just jumped, thought I was going to get crushed, tried to get above the goalies hands, which he is a pretty big dude” was Lenhart’s description of the header attempt. “Not much pressure to score, it is just a game at the end of the day” was his response in regard to and fan expectations placed upon him to score due to his past successes when substituted late into games on several occasions last season.

This perspective Lenhart maintains is probably why he performs so well, in times during a game where onlookers perceive it to be a dire situation. His cool reactions on the pitch come from his grounded demeanor in life. It is probably safe to rule out choking due to trying overly hard on his part. “We are just getting unlucky” was Steve’s response to late opposing team come backs in both of their home games this season.

So how can the Crew change their luck? Is the well dried up from last years seemingly good team fortune with every bounce of the ball? My feeling is the Crew needs their fans to change their luck.

Last year we had the coming together of the Supporter Groups, due to the stage being built, to infuse the crowd with energy. The combined Nordecke groups are still there in force and as rowdy as ever. They still inject their unique brand of enthusiasm on the game’s atmosphere.

But this season the Crew come in as the defending Champs. Every team wants to come to our field and kick dirt on that title. The Crew needs more energy and atmosphere to counter that extra determination of will our opponents bring with them to our house.

No, you can not text in your support, or send it, via telekinesis, out to the stadium on game day, or blog them to victory by professing your undying dedication to the team the week before an upcoming match. You need to don your gold and black and show up for your team’s next home game the 25th of April at 7 PM when they host the Chicago Fire. Let them know you appreciate how hard they worked for you last year in bringing the MLS Championship to Columbus. Maybe we can get Coach Warzycha to wear a scarf to channel the energy from the crowd to the field.