Why do I wtill want Oscar Pareja to succeed?

I know I should probably hate him. I know a considerable number of Rapids fans do hate him. But for some reason, I have an overwhelming desire to see Oscar Pareja and his team succeed this post-season.

Am I ok? Am I alone? Is it weird that I feel this way? These feelings are diametrically opposed to my feelings toward Oscar at the beginning of the season. I felt betrayed and blindsided. I wanted nothing more than for FC Dallas to lose every game... by at least five goals. That would show Oscar he made the wrong decision. I circled the games when the Rapids would meet their former Skipper and assuredly dispose of his new/old team. But now? The pendulum has swung to the other side in a big way.

Maybe it's some form of rationalization for the Rapids' bad atrocious season. "Oh yeah, see? We would have won the MLS Cup had Oscar stayed!" It helps to think the only problem with our club this year was a new coach. All we need is a settled coach who has had a full off-season! But, as this season has excruciatingly shown us, the problems with the Rapids roster run deep. And it's not that things were perfect when Oscar was here, it just seems like it looking back from the low, low... LOW point we currently find our club.

In the last year, we as fans we have gone from overflowing hope to an utter absence of it all together. Perhaps, for me, a part of that hope remains and watching Oscar do for FC Dallas what he did for us just a season ago awakens that hope again. Not hope that Oscar will come back, but the reminder that a winning season is always just around the corner if a club makes the right moves.

And so, when FC Dallas qualified for the playoffs the day after the Rapids lost to Chivas (CHIVAS?!), for the second time this year, a part of me smiled. I still feel weird about it... but I think I'll be rooting for Oscar when the MLS Cup Playoffs begin in just over two weeks time.