by RBNY OPTIMIST

Columnist

Hey folks! Where have you been all these months and years?

Oh wait, that was me who was gone from these venerable pages.

Well, in any event, I hope you’re doing well. I’ve been rolling along here in New York Red Bull Optimism-land, thinking good thoughts, living in the moment…basically just hanging around and enjoying this fantastic start to the season. Recently, however, you surely have noticed the same disturbance in the force that has caused me to want to share once more with you here in longer form.

In other words, “These are not the Tweets you’re looking for.”

Here we are, the Friday before the BIG game. A match three plus years in the making. The Hudson River Derby. The PATH Train Classico. The Throwdown Hoedown in Harrison.

It is truly Peak NYCSoccerWarz.

Is it a rivalry? Not yet, for we haven’t even played a match. But do we have a right to be excited, get riled up, engage in non-stop banter, and just plain look forward to a sold out RBA rocking on a beautiful Spring evening in just three days time? Absolutely.

As I’ve taken in the banter from both sides this week, something struck me that I felt the need to share. It’s just a pattern of subtext that I found interesting and hope you will too.

Take a look at most of the shots across the bow from NYCFC and it becomes pretty apparent that all the Blue side has to hang their hats on at the moment is geography. When your team is playing poorly, your biggest star is dealing with nagging injuries, you play on a field roughly the width of just the two bottom Kit Kats and your head coach is lamenting that all of this is turning out to be harder than he expected, well…I guess then it seems like a good time to remind everyone that you play somewhere in the the five boroughs and your opponent … um … doesn’t?

Yes, the team we support plays in a different State (of Contentment? Emergency? Mind? Oh, right, New Jersey). WE GET IT. Based on the legal definition, dotted lines on the map, walking distance from the Bronx County Hall of Justice, NYCFC plays in New York.

Frankly, none of that matters. On Sunday, when both teams step on the field (oh, sorry, “pitch,” since our opponents are a Football Club, after all), we will see who has the right to claim superiority over the region.

Unfortunately for the Blue side, this is not a Geography Bee. This is soccer.

And I’m optimistic…no, CONFIDENT…no, ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY SURE, that class — in the form of the hard charging, talented, team-oriented New York Red Bulls — will prevail.

And that holds true in ANY state.

Enjoy the ride.