Players used to bad weather

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As bad as the weather was in Real Salt Lake's inaugural game against the MetroStars, it wasn't the worst condition some of the players have endured in their careers.

Defender Rusty Pierce recalls a preseason scrimmage during his rookie season with New England in which snow made the conditions "a nightmare."

"That's the most miserable I've ever been," said Pierce.

Brian Kamler remembers a game in Tampa in 1997 when it dumped buckets and buckets of rain.

"The first half you almost had to lift the ball up to play any kind of pass, because if played anything on the ground it wouldn't roll," said Kamler.

Saturday's game played in intermittent driving rain and wind gusts up to 50 mph nearly topped Jason Kreis' worst weather moment in 1997. During a cup game against a Mexican team in Dallas, wind gusts reached the 40s, but the 40-degree temperature was much colder than the 57-degree kickoff temperature at Giants Stadium.

RSL's Eddie Pope may have played in the most memorable MLS bad-weather game ever. During the league's inaugural season in 1996, he scored on a header in overtime in the MLS Cup to lead D.C. United past the Los Angeles Galaxy.

POWER OUTAGE: Shortly before halftime, about 65 percent of the lights in Giants Stadium went out because of a power surge caused by the high winds. The referee halted play for a few minutes, but then both coaches agreed there was enough light to continue playing. When the half resumed, the stadium lights were back to full strength.

N.Y. HOMECOMING: Real Salt Lake starters Clint Mathis, Eddie Pope, Andy Williams, Nelson Akwari, Brian Kamler and D.J. Countess all played for the MetroStars during one point in their careers.

LUKE'S DEBUT: Luke Kreamalmeyer made his MLS debut Saturday, coming on for Marlon Rojas as a 72nd-minute substitute. He was mostly ineffective, as the wind was blowing the ball away from his side of the field.

ATTENDANCE SKEWED: Instead of announcing the opening-night attendance in the press box, the MetroStars media relations department announced that the tickets distributed was 12,657. Only about 1,000 fans weren't scared away by the weather and actually showed up.

---

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com