Portland Timbers at Houston Dynamo: John Spencer makes a return to Houston to see their new digs. The Timbers have been struggling for weeks while the Dynamo I think are slowly turning a corner now that they are getting some home games. I’d expect a tight one but Houston seems primed to make it two in-a-row at BBVA Compass Stadium. Maybe tonight is the night Brian Ching makes adds his name to the scoresheet there.

WVH Prediction: Houston 1, Portland 0

With BBVA Compass Stadium opening tomorrow, Houston is giving this away. Very cool.

Need more excitement? The first 20,000 fans will receive this Commemorative Pennant, presented by @GreenstarRecycl twitter.com/HoustonDynamo/…

— HoustonDynamo (@HoustonDynamo) May 11, 2012

I have to say I am very impressed with the level of detail in this stadium and some of the “little things” throughout. Very well designed and built. MLS stadium sure have come a long way from Crew Stadium huh?

People who are close to me know that I am a sucker for two things: soccer stadiums and city skylines. Combine the two and I am worthless as all I’ll want to do is spend time looking at them together in all possible elements.

So here it is, thanks to the Houston Dynamo Twitter feed, the new BBVA Compass Stadium at night, with the downtown skyline in the background.

Holy smokes I can’t wait for a trip to this place later this summer.

But according to this Twitter user, it looks better in person.

The 3rd jersey looks better in person … hard to judge the colors from the photo.

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) April 11, 2012

@rslsoapbox @TheOffsideRules adidas describes it as "Dark Orange"

— Keeper Notes (@keepernotes) April 11, 2012

Guess we’ll wait and see what comes of this and when it comes out. You can see more about it here.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber has suspended Clark for three games and fined him an undisclosed amount for using unacceptable and offensive language towards a ball boy in the seventh minute of the game in Seattle on Friday, March 24. Commissioner Garber also mandated that Clark attend diversity and sensitivity training.

“I am sorry about what happened during the Seattle match,” Clark said. “I have personally apologized to the ball boy, and I want to take this chance to say I’m sorry to everyone that I’ve offended. I intend to never use those words again in any context. There is no excuse for them. What I said does not properly represent who I am or what I believe. I made a mistake that I truly regret. I accept the punishment that has been handed down by MLS, and I want to learn from this incident and move forward.”

You have to credit both the league and Clark for the way this was handled. Clark was wise to issue a quick apology after the game last weekend and was quick to accept this punishment that fits the crime. I’m also happy to see the league mandate that Clark attend diversity and sensitivity training, that was a good move on their part.

Clark posted an apology for his remarks on Twitter a few hours after the match.

I'd like to offer a sincere apology to everyone who watched the game, especially the ball boy for whom I used awful language towards.

— Colin Clark (@cOlin_cLark7) March 24, 2012

I didn't mean to disrespect anyone and am sorry for letting my emotions get the best of me. It's not who I am and it won't happen again.

— Colin Clark (@cOlin_cLark7) March 24, 2012

MLS issued a statement on Saturday to announce it would gather facts on the situation and weigh potential disciplinary action against Clark.

This is one of those ugly and rather embarrassing moments for MLS. Thankfully Clark has already stated he would reach out to the ball boy and apologize personally to him for the comments but naturally that won’t be enough for some.

This is also a first for MLS as there is no known MLS precedent in this area. The only other league that I know of that has had to deal with such an issue is the NBA. Kobe Bryant paid $100,000 for directing similarly vile language toward a referee last April, while Joakim Noah received a $50,000 fine for his slur toward a fan in May 2011.

Clark can expect to fork over at least a small proportion of his salary ($98,713 in guaranteed compensation in 2011, per MLS Players Union documents) for his comments. It won’t be in the same range number wise as Bryant or Noah but more in line with the typical MLS standard of $1,000-$3,000.

But the line that has to be dealt with quickly is the public perception of this case. It didn’t help Clark or MLS out in the least bit that ESPN.com had a quick article up on Saturday (or Friday, I honestly didn’t see it until Saturday) about the situation.

Both the league, Houston and Clark must deal with the situation quickly and effectively. Clark has already stated he would support the @gay4soccer movement on Twitter. Clark is a good kid that let his emotions get the best of him but he also has to know he’ll be made an example of here by the league. Houston doesn’t play this weekend which means we likely won’t hear anything about this fine/suspension until Friday, at the earliest.

Honestly it is time for the league to also make a stand on items like this. Flushing out the nasty language like this needs to happen sooner rather than later. The longer the league takes to deal with this the tougher it will be to win over some fans.

Brian Ching is back in a Dynamo uniform. (Getty Images)

The Brian Ching saga is over.

The Houston Dynamo have reacquired Ching from the Montreal Impact in exchange for a conditional draft pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft.

Yes, just for a conditional draft pick. The Impact end up being the big losers on this deal after playing hardball back in November. At best they’ll likely end up with a second round pick next year. Nothing sexy about that for an expansion draft pick. This kind of move will likely make future expansion clubs think twice about trying to play the hardball game with other MLS teams over players like this.

Houston comes out looking like the real winners here as Ching returns to the club on a cheaper contract than before. They get the face of their franchise back, someone who holds many franchise records, including games played (fifth, 168), games started (fourth, 144), and assists (third, 24). His club record 63 goals is nearly twice the amount of the second player on the all-time list (Dwayne De Rosario, 32 goals).

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/impactmontreal/status/169104069573623809"]

Yes, personal reasons.

Read between the lines and you know what that means.

Ching was reportedly back in Houston to work out a deal with the Dynamo.

“We think there’s light at the end of the tunnel in terms of what a trade agreement or what a trade with Montreal would look like,” Dynamo president Chris Canetti said. “Given the nature of those talks, we’ve been given permission to gauge those talks with Brian’s agent about restructuring his contract to work him in under the salary cap.”

Obviously Ching’s salary cap numbers are tough to deal with, which is why it has taken this long to get him back in Houston. He is one of the highest non-Designated Players in the league making $450,000 a year. That is a hefty price to pay for any team.

But according to the article linked above, all three parties seem to be on the same page on a deal here for the first time in a while. Montreal is close to signing a DP which likely means Houston will be sending a fair amount of allocation (that they picked up for earning a spot in this year’s CCL).

Ching also had to seek permission from the player’s union to work on his contract and take a pay cut to get back with the Dynamo. The union is said to likely approve this deal for Ching.

It looks like this deal is finally going to happen and Dynamo fans can rest easier knowing that their beloved Ching will be back in the orange uniform that they’ve grown accustom to seeing him in over these last few years.