Play was a little ragged, as you might expect from one team (D.C.) that barely had time for introductions and another (Boston) that is still very much in early-season form. And as you’d expect, the professional team with a bit more preseason practice and a game under its belt (Boston) had the better of play and won 1–0.

But D.C. United Women had a few good moments as well as some sensational play on defense and in goal.

I caught a few highlights on video and spoke with many of the players.

Crowd wasn’t bad — definitely 1,000, maybe more — on a beautiful night.

But it’s lacking compelling personalities, and it’s run by mad men.

How America Forgot About Chess – Santiago Wills – Entertainment – The Atlantic.

Game 1 of the World Championships, incidentally: Draw. The U.S. Championships also are underway.

Basically, we’re not yet through the first full round of competition. And we’ve completely run out of time to show what’s happening in the house.

The last three weeks are packed. Two quarterfinals May 11. Two more May 18. Then the semifinals May 25. And because it’s live, we don’t know how long the fights will last. They have to allow 15-20 minutes per quarterfinal and devote the entire May 25 episode to the semis.

If we get another Koscheck-Leben blowup or a Junie Browning meltdown, they’ll have to rush right through it. At this point, there’s no point to keeping these guys in the house.

Even in this episode, we don’t see much of the fighters. We catch a glimpse of Michael Chiesa going into the opposing team’s locker room to console good friend Sam Sicilia after last week’s loss, but no one seems surprised or upset.

The rest of the pre-fight time goes to the coaches’ challenge / Marine Corps promotional tie-in. It’s an obstacle course mixed with shooting competitions, like biathlon or modern pentathlon.

Cruz proves to be better at climbing ropes. He’s also a pretty good shot. Future biathlete?

But then one target flusters Cruz, and Faber sails ahead. It comes to one final shot with … a grenade launcher? The Pentagon might want to take a look at this. Faber blows stuff up first and rubs it in Cruz’s face … after Cruz puts down his last weapon.

Then we get a brief look at each of tonight’s fighters in training, just long enough to remind us that Mike Rio was hurt earlier in the competition.

After that, we’re over to some early deliberations about the quarterfinals, two of which will be announced tonight. After the usual perfunctory Cruz-Faber sniping — Faber’s “Captain Obvious showed up today” is what passes for clever this season — they actually agree on most stuff.

Cruz says his top guys are Justin Lawrence and Vinc Pichel. Faber says his are Al Iaquinta and Joe Proctor. They seem interested in keeping their top guys apart in the quarterfinals.

Then we have a long staredown, and we’re off to the fight …

Ogle concedes the center a little too easily for coach Faber’s liking, but he does nearly everything else well. His movement keeps Rio off balance, and he often lands the second of two-punch combos. Rio gets a slam midway through the round, and Ogle wall-walks up. Rio gets another takedown in a transparent attempt to steal the round.

Somehow, Ogle got marked up near his eye in the first round, and Rio compounds that damage in the second, bloodying Ogle’s nose with a flurry of punches as he chases the British fighter across the cage. Then Rio gets a takedown, lands some furious punches to Ogle’s head and takes his back. But Ogle stays in the fight by reversing, landing a few punches of his own in the process. Rio nearly gets a guillotine but instead ends up giving up side control. Then his back. And Ogle nearly flattens him out. Sinks in the choke — tap! Faber wins five of the eight first-round fights.

Ogle’s overly excited after the tap. He races out of the cage to his teammates while Faber yells at him to get back in. He then runs over to coach fellow Englishman Ross Pearson, one of Faber’s assistants (and a recent DUI arrestee).

No one expected that, to say the least. Odds on Rio ran from -485 to -605.

Quarterfinal matchups … Dana White checks in live from New Jersey to reveal:

James Vick (Cruz) vs. Joe Proctor (Faber)

Justin Lawrence (Cruz) vs. Michael Chiesa (Faber)

Those fights are set for next week. For the second set of quarterfinals, Vinc Pichel is the only Cruz fighter remaining. Faber will have top draft pick Al Iaquinta and his bottom two picks — Chris Saunders and Andy Ogle.

Assuming Pichel is matched up with either Saunders or Ogle, the obvious favorites are Pichel, Lawrence and Iaquinta. Not quite as sure about Proctor over Vick.

Last week, we saw the most awkward scene in the history of The Ultimate Fighter.

Everyone’s surely sick of hearing me talk about touting Ronda Rousey as a future MMA star a few years ago. I never dreamed she would be this successful this quickly. I also never dreamed she would embrace the role of MMA sexpot. Oh, the Octagon Girls still get their share of attention, but Rousey is now the Mae West of MMA.

So when Dominick Cruz brought the sharply (but modestly) dressed MMA champion into the gym, things would surely get interesting. And they did, in the sense that the Olympic judo medalist really knows her stuff and has a few things to show the guys. And give full credit to the guys on Team Cruz for realizing her expertise and paying attention to her as they would any other guest coach on the show.

Then she went to the house …

I don’t know what the producers, Cruz or Rousey herself expected to happen. If she and one of the guys had “snuck away” (with a camera crew in tow), surely FX would’ve showed that in the previews, and this wouldn’t have been the lowest-rated episode in show history.

Perhaps if Rousey had showed up with these 16 guys under different circumstances, she would’ve been the center of attention. But the guys had gathered to watch TV for the first time in weeks, and it was a compelling UFC pay-per-view card. And … there were cameras. Most of these fighters have girlfriends or even wives, and the last thing the guys want upon their return to civilization is a good argument about how they acted in the presence of that blonde girl on that show. And the fighters who don’t have significant others don’t have much incentive to make idiots of themselves hitting on a public figure, all for the chance to say, “Thanks for your number — I’ll call you in six weeks!”

Jeremy Larsen summed it up pretty well: “Everyone was like, sitting around her but not really next to her. I guess it’s just, we’ve been here so long, everyone’s just … they don’t even know how to act around a girl any more.”

As it turns out, the guy who sits closest to Rousey in the TV room is compelling personality/camera hog Chris Tickle, who is already on record saying he can’t wait to get home to his fiancee. And Tickle, bless his heart, was a perfect gentleman. Even when Rousey seemed intent on turning the scene into closing time at TGI Fridays.

(OK, I have no idea what closing time at TGI Fridays actually entails. It’s a throwaway NewsRadio reference. I’ve been happily married for more than 12 years, and in my miserable days as a single man, I never attempted to pick up someone at a bar or whatever the kids do nowadays.)

So Rousey twirls her hair and looks increasingly agitated as the guys … watch the UFC pay-per-view on TV. Until the following conversation ensues:

TICKLE: Is there anything you want? We have a whole bunch of (bleep).

ROUSEY: There’s something I want, but I don’t want to ask for it publicly.

(OK, that’s not going to make anyone nervous or anything.)

ROUSEY: I’m (unintelligible) diet at this time, and what I’m really craving right now is salted nuts. But I don’t want to ask for it in front of everybody or to everybody because there’s a joke waiting to happen.

Tickle, for the first time this season, doesn’t make the joke.

TICKLE: Uh, I’ve got (mumble) trail mix. You want (mumble) trail mix?

ROUSEY: No, I’m fine. I’ll get it afterward. Thank you, though.

After an edit, we see Rousey sigh while Tickle just watches the fight. Also note: Someone takes Tickle’s drink when it appears he’s going to be getting it up, then hands it back the second she says she’s fine.

If the producers are trying to stir things up, they really need to dial it back. Way back.

Speaking of which, we do have another idiotic Cruz-Faber exchange, and Rousey is peripherally involved. As Cruz and Rousey head out of the gym, they bump into Faber, who clearly knows Rousey and decides to chat. The last 45 seconds of this clip will explain what happens next. Of course, Cruz isn’t just defensive when Faber talks to the stunning blonde next to him — in the previous episode, Cruz got all huffy when Faber tried to congratulate Chris Tickle on a good fight.

So what else has happened on the show in the last two episodes?

- Vinc Pichel won a sudden-victory barn-burner against John Cofer, coming out swinging in the third round and winning by arm triangle. Best fight of the season so far.

- Then last draft pick Chris Saunders upset Sam Sicilia in another Fight of the Season contender that Dana White thought bound for a third round. And he has a point. Saunders clearly won the first and rocked Sicilia midway through it, though Sicilia has his moments. The second round was back-and-forth, but Sicilia was winning the standup game and minimizing the effects of Saunders’ grappling.

- Andy Ogle was worried that Mike Chiesa might spill secrets to his best buddy and “Team Purple” teammate Sicilia. But Chiesa reassured him, and it didn’t matter. Sicilia lost, and Ogle will face Chiesa lookalike Mike Rio in the last bout of the round of 16.

- Ogle has struggled with his confidence. Rio has struggled with an injury.

- After Tickle’s loss, he was pretty pissed that Cruz questioned his heart. Tickle brought up his family, saying he was fighting for them. Cruz rightly shifted into apology/backpedal mode.

- Dana gave a big pep talk that challenged the censors, a la Kenneth live-bleeping Tracy on 30 Rock.

- UFC fighter Danny Downes has been writing witty recaps, especially for this latest curiosity.

And the book is coming along nicely. Thanks for asking.

1. Overkill. With one weight class and the fights to get in the house, fighters can have five fights — more, if they use the “wild card” format of the past.

2. Good fighters out in first episode. The “fights to get in the house” are exciting TV, but they sometimes lose good fighters like Che Mills and Ryan Jimmo before they set foot in the house.

3. Bad fighters advance ahead of good. Depending on the way the coaches draw up the matchups, two top draft picks can face off in the first episode of the show while two so-so fighters fight for a space in the semifinals.

The solutions:

1. Two weight classes. Never go back to having just one. With seven weight classes in play (eight, if they ever do flyweight), they can keep a steady rotation. Problem solved: Fighters won’t have as many elimination rounds.

2. Wild card after elimination fights, not first round. The “wild card” concept was introduced to give a first-round loser another shot. But by that time, we had really seen enough of the fighters to see whether they were UFC caliber. We really weren’t losing good fighters in the first round (Court McGee was an exception, but he should’ve already earned a shot in the UFC).

Instead, bring in 12 fighters per weight class. Six fighters will win their way into the house. Then use two wild cards so you’re not tossing out good fighters after a quick one-round audition, particularly if the matchmakers underestimated their opponents. Problem solved: Fewer good fighters knocked out before the show really starts, and you’re still weeding out the posers. (Really, you’re only likely to have a couple of posers make it that far in the audition process in the first place. Why bring in 32 fighters and then assume exactly half of them are unworthy of the show?)

3. NCAA-style brackets. The draft will have eight fighters per weight class. Instead of letting the coaches figure out the best matchups for their team, seed the brackets. If you’re picked first, congratulations — you’re the top seed, and you’ll face the guy picked eighth. Problem solved: Greater likelihood of seeing top guys in the final. The viewer’s needs are placed ahead of the coach’s.

We’ll need to change the coin flip, too. The winner gets a choice between first pick and first matchup. Instead, give the winner a choice between the two weight classes. Let’s say you have welterweights and heavyweights. Coach A wins the flip and opts to pick first among the welterweights. Then Coach B gets first pick among the heavyweights.

So that’s one geeky guy’s take on the format. Surely some people will tell me they’ve trained in jiu-jitsu and taekwondo; therefore, I’m full of it and should shut up. But I’d be curious to hear other thoughts.

But I’ve also decided that recaps aren’t really getting it done in this new live era. The Ultimate Fighter is no longer a soap opera that evolves through the weeks, with storylines carefully laid out by the editors and producers. It’s more like an ant farm. We check in once a week to see what’s changed.

And so far, the answer is “not much.”

The only fighters getting consistent screen time are Mike Chiesa, for his good sense of humor and tearful evocations of his late father, and Chris Tickle, who alternately annoys and amuses everyone. Mike Rio sometimes gets a moment on screen so we can see how his knee is progressing or how he has decided to teach young whippersnapper Justin Lawrence a lesson in humility.

The rest of the prefight time each episode is devoted to introducing the fighters who will be squaring off live. But we don’t learn much. They’re dialing up the tragic pasts — absent parents, street fights and so forth. That sort of thing loses its impact when you’ve also been watching The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, where one guy took his mattress outside because he couldn’t get comfortable in such a fancy house.

Most of the fighters seem like good guys. Last week, Joe Proctor laughed heartily when he walked into a Tickle prank, the classic water-bucket-over-the-door trick (give Tickle a 9.8 on the execution). Then he beat Tickle handily while never lapsing into a moment of bad sportsmanship. The other thing to know about Proctor: He trains with and sounds like Bostonian Joe Lauzon.

One twist of the live format — the house and gym are no longer quite as isolated as they’ve been in the past. Most fighters are on Twitter …

And John Cofer, who’s fighting this week, is active on Facebook. The fighters do seem aware of what’s been said in the outside world, which explains why Proctor urged Tickle’s haters to back off a bit after their fight last week.

Tickle’s haters may not like it, but he has emerged as the most compelling personality in the house. He learned a lot of MMA the way Evan Tanner did — through video. (Imagine Evan Tanner in the YouTube era.) He took it upon himself to roast a turkey for housemates to celebrate Easter.

And we’re not getting compelling stuff from Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. These guys should hire Bisping and Mayhem to do their talking for them. Or at least define “shark contest.” (Yes, I Googled it. Nothing.)

Faber leads 3-2, but he’s running out of top fighters. This week, he’s sending John Cofer against fellow sixth-round pick Vinc Pichel. The only Faber fighters remaining are his last two picks. Cruz still has second-rounder Sam Sicilia and fourth-rounder Mike Rio to go.

And this will be Episode 7. The timetable gets rather compressed from here. We have to eliminate 14 fighters in 12 weeks before the June 1 finale. Will the finalists have anything left?

This group is training with Riley this week and will participate in Headers for Hope, a charity tournament.

Player (Current team/previous team)
Michelle Betos NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/Boston Breakers (WPS)
Estelle Johnson NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Nikki Krzysik NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Brittany Taylor NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/Sky Blue FC (WPS)
Jen Buczkowski Chicago Red Stars (WPSL Elite)/Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Allie Long NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/Paris Saint-Germain (France)/ Sky Blue FC (WPS)
Tina DiMartino NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/ Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Merritt Mattias NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/ Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Kelsey Hood New England Mutiny (WPSL Elite)
Sinead Farrelly Ottawa Fury (WPSL Elite)/ Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Meghan Lencyk Ottawa Fury (W League)/Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Jasmine Spencer NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Jazmyne Avant NY Fury (WPSL Elite)/ Philadelphia Independence (WPS)
Ashley Grove Rochester Ravens (W-League)
Kaitlyn Ryan, Villanova/Ottawa Fury (W-League)
Amanda Forrester, UNLV
Claire Zimmick, Boston Breakers (WPS)
Jess Hopton, LaSalle
Michele Dalton, U of Wisconsin

It’s really amazing how TUF coaches fancy themselves as doctors. More than once, a coach has said a guy is faking, only to find out later that something really serious has happened.

Chiesa apparently will be fighting one of his roommates. But he’s easygoing about it, as he is with nearly everything. “As long as you don’t reach out in your sleep and strangle me,” Chiesa tells Jeremy Larsen.

After Cruz gets on Tickle’s case again, possibly with some justification this time, he tells us he knew Larsen growing up. They drifted apart later, but they seem to have good rapport now.

Meet Jeremy Larsen! He got in street fights all the time. If he weren’t fighting MMA, he’d probably in jail or dead.

We follow Tickle to the doctor’s office. He doesn’t have gout. Good for him.

Hey, is Urijah Faber in this show? Oh, there he is at the weigh-in, taking a picture of Cruz’s shoes. Yes, this might be the least interesting feud in MMA history.

The staredown after the weigh-in lasts about 20 minutes. And we’re off to the live fight …

(A quick news flash from Urijah Faber’s Twitter feed — Al Iaquinta won last week despite needing stitches on this thumb. Accident in the kitchen. And we didn’t see it on camera?)

Chiesa has a huge reach advantage — 6.5 inches. Arianny does the walk. Steve Mazzagatti is the ref. They don’t touch gloves.

Round 1: Chiesa stands southpaw and shoots for a double-leg in the first 30 seconds. Switches to a single and finally gets Larsen down. He gets an arm isolated, then lands some elbows to Larsen’s head. Larsen is active, though, and he manages to stand after a minute. Then we do some cage clinching and knee exchanges before we get back to the center. That lasts a couple of seconds before Chiesa shoots for the takedown again. Again, Larsen defends gamely, but Chiesa ends up picking him up for a slam. Larsen establishes guard, then scrambles.  Chiesa foes for some unnecessarily complicated chokes, which allows Larsen to stand. Then Larsen goes back down to his knees, just in time for Chiesa to knee him in the head. That’s illegal. Mazzagatti breaks it up and gives Larsen time to recover. Larsen charges toward Chiesa late but nothing comes of it. 10-9 Chiesa, easily.

Dana White takes to Twitter to tells us Chiesa is a 4-1 favorite but that the 3-1 underdog won last week. I really wish I’d bet a ton of money last week. Those odds were wacky.

Round 2: Larsen tries to engage on the feet and ends up pressing Chiesa to the cage. They break away and get back to the center. Again, the stand-up is brief. Chiesa hardly even bothers to throw punches before shooting for the takedown and getting it after another 15 seconds of game defense from Larsen. But Larsen manages to stand after a couple of attempts, and he tags Chiesa on the feet. The Chiesa does a flying knee followed by a spinning back fist, connecting hard and …

No, I’m kidding. He shoots for another takedown. And Larsen does an even better job defending this one. But Chiesa takes his back and drags Larsen down on top of him. He gets an arm in for a rear naked choke attempt but runs out of time. Scoring for this round could be interesting. And Josh Gross says on Twitter that Mazzagatti deducted a point for the knee in the first round.

But there’s no suspense when we get back. Dana White simply says the winner by unanimous decision is Chiesa, who immediately gives the camera a “Love you, Mom.”

Larsen gets the math wrong. He tells Jon Anik he thought the ref took a point away from Chiesa in the first, so how could he have won it? Shouldn’t we have a third round? No — if Mazzagatti took a point in the first, there’s no way we have a third round unless the judges give a 10-8 or 10-10. Neither of those rounds was a 10-8, and 10-10s are as rare as six-leaf clovers. So without the penalty, it’s either 20-18 or 19-19. With the penalty, it’s 19-18 one way or the other. (Unless Larsen somehow won both rounds, making it 20-17.)

Fight pick — Faber makes a weird joke about Cruz’s shoes. Then he picks Tickle from Cruz’s team. Ouch! Joe Proctor gets the call to fight Cruz’s problem child.

When I scan the U8 league for the season ahead, I see quite a mixture. A lot of kids have been playing indoor soccer together in the winter. Then you have the kids with everything ranging from a general indifference about soccer to actual developmental challenges.

So are these players evenly scattered across the league? Well, not exactly.

I don’t think there’s anything nefarious going on. Sure, I’ve heard a few stories in various clubs in which crafty parents and coaches gamed the system to put together their eventual U9 travel killers as early as U7 or U6. Even in those cases, I can’t really complain. Some parents and children are simply more serious about soccer, and they’re going to be more comfortable playing with other families who feel the same way. In other cases, the basic geographical spread still kicks up an uneven talent pool — for some reason, a couple of local elementary schools have families that are really into the game and others do not. Some neighborhoods have affinities for hockey or baseball that take the kids play one season a year rather than three (fall outdoor, winter indoor, spring outdoor).

That poses two challenges:

1. Keeping the games fun. The slaughter rule helps — if a team is getting crushed, we’ll run an extra player onto the field. Then there’s the other question: If you have a big enough league where the teams don’t all play each other, do you keep the loaded teams away from the inexperienced teams?

I’m torn, frankly. The good players on the inexperienced teams would surely enjoy the opportunity. But I think it has to be an occasional thing. Week-in, week-out, you’d have to have some variety.

2. Making sure all kids have an equal shot at travel opportunities. This is trickier. Once a club’s staff realizes that Coach X’s team is really good, it’s easy to think of that team as the future travel pool.

I have to remind myself that U9 travel doesn’t set anything in stone. Some players blossom late. Some coaches may suddenly notice that a U11 player in the house league has been overlooked. Right now, we’re still playing “mobball” to some extent, and a skilled but smallish player who shies away from the mob isn’t going to shine in games until teams get the hang of spreading the field.

And I think our club is doing a lot of things right in opening up other opportunities. We have all sorts of “academy” programs for kids who might want more coaching than I can offer while I’m herding cats. That’s also a great opportunity to be sure the club staff has seen them in action. All I can do is keep reminding the parents that these programs exist.

Aside from that, I’m just getting some practice plans ready with the help of the U.S. Soccer youth curriculum. So at age 8, we’re supposed to be playing 7×7, but we’re not supposed to teach tactics. Um …