That the Portland Timbers were willing to deal away the 11th overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft for allocation money is looking more and more like lunacy with each passing day. The Houston Dynamo used the pick to select Will Bruin, and last Friday he became the first rookie in Dynamo history to record a hat trick by blasting three goals past D.C. United. That led Bruin to be named MLS Player Of The Week yesterday, cementing his status as The Dancing Bear:
↵↵↵By Thursday morning, all-time Dynamo scoring leader Brian Ching had persuaded all his teammates to do a Dancing Bear routine if Bruin scored.
↵
Bruin accepted Ching's order and performed the dance at the far southeast corner of Robertson Stadium after giving the Dynamo a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute Friday night. The nickname has stuck, and there's likely to be a "Bear Cave" section at Robertson on Wednesday night when the Dynamo play the defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night.
"I'd been getting tweets about people saying they will be wearing bear costumes out to the game," Bruin said. "I'm assuming this will stick with me."
There are definitely worse nicknames in sports than The Dancing Bear, so whether Bruin wants the nickname or not, it sounds like he's now stuck with it. And hey, the UCLA Bruins use a Bear as their mascot, right? So it all ties back together.
↵For more on Bruin and the Dynamo's beatdown, please check out the latest A Podcast Orange at Dynamo Theory.
↵