For a moment, it all looked bleak. Metro lost to Kansas City, and DC now had control. If the Scum were to win out the rest of the way, they would make the playoffs, regardless of Metro's result against Philly. And then, with the DC-Chicago match scoreless in the 90th minute, former(?) crackhead Santino Quaranta dove in the penalty area, flopping on the ground like a caught fish... And Dwayne De Rosario, given away by Metro in a trade that will surely keep getting dissected over and over, stepped up to the penalty spot, and nailed what was surely -- surely -- the game-winner...

But no. The Fire, so often Metro's other nemesis, but never the subject of the hatred that is reserved only for DC, somehow came back. First to tie, on a long bomb by Sebastian Grazzini. Then to amazingly win, after the Scum defense was caught napping, and Diego Chaves ran onto a ball in the box. No, Metro's playoff fate is still not assured -- far from it -- but at least it's back in Metro's hands.

So where do we stand now? Well, one thing is for sure: if Metro is to beat the Philly Worms on Thursday, they will be in the playoffs. There are other permutations that will also secure passage, and we will deal with them in more detail later on. But for now, let's enjoy DC's epic failure.

For after our own failure earlier today, we all could use some schadenfreude.