Carnak, the Magnificent

Minnesota Thunder Head Coach Amos Magee, Thunder President Manuel Lagos and i started an MLS prediction pool** last season and are bringing it back this year. For the record, i managed to top both of the former Thunder and Chicago Fire players in the pool's inaugural season last year.

Making preseason sports predictions are generally safe, because usually, if you're wrong seven months later, nobody remembers and nobody brings it up. If you're right, you have the ability to remind everyone of your prognosticating power and pose as a genius. Not this time, though. i promise to dredge this post up in November, for better or worse.

With that in mind, here are my preseason MLS picks for all the major (and several minor) predictions (You may notice a bit of Windy City bias in my picks ;)).

Golden Boot.......................Luciano Emilio
Rookie of the Year................Brek Shea
Defender of the Year..............Wilman Conde
Goalkeeper of the Year............Joe Cannon
Newcomer of the Year..............Marcello Gallardo
MVP...............................Marcello Gallardo
Coach of the Year.................Denis Hamlett
Western Conf Champ (reg. season)..Houston
Eastern Conf Champ (reg. season)..DC
MLS Cup Champ.....................Chicago
Supporters Shield.................DC
US Open Cup Winner................Chicago
First Coach Fired.................Ruud Gullit
Western Conf. 1st Place...........Houston*
Western Conf. 2nd Place...........Chivas*
Western Conf. 3rd Place...........Dallas*
Western Conf. 4th Place...........San Jose*
Western Conf. 5th Place...........Colorado*
Western Conf. 6th Place...........RSL*
Western Conf. 7th Place...........LA*
Eastern Conference 1st Place......DC*
Eastern Conference 2nd Place......Chicago*
Eastern Conference 3rd Place......KC*
Eastern Conference 4th Place......NE*
Eastern Conference 5th Place......NY*
Eastern Conference 6th Place......Columbus*
Eastern Conference 7th Place......Toronto*
All-Star Winner (West Ham or MLS).MLS

* Each category is worth one point except the Western and Eastern Conference 1st through 7th place predictions, which are cumulatively worth one point. For that category, we lose one point (in terms of calculating that one category, not overall) for each place we are off for each team, i.e. if Chicago finishes 4th, I lose two points in the calculation of that single category which overall is only worth one point.

If you would like to post your own predictions in these categories in the comments, i will revisit the predictions in November and compare your Nostradamusness versus mine.

** For entertainment purposes only.