2:1 Kansas City New York Blessing Salloi Wright-Phillips 09.20.17 · OC Final

"Sometimes you eat the b[e]ar, and sometimes... the b[e]ar eats you." -- The Stranger, "The Big Lebowski"

"Sometimes" is the key word here. The proverbial bear eats you... sometimes. Sometimes... you are supposed to eat the bear. Right?

Not in Metro land. And we can debate the importance of Supporters Shields ad nauseam, and laugh about the triumphs in La Manga and Emirates Cups, but at the end, the math is clear. Three times, Metro made a final of a cup competition. Three times, the bear ate them.

We don't remember much from that first final, in 2003, when Metro fell to Jesse Marsch's Fire in a cavernously empty Giants Stadium. We remember the offense was inept, the Fire wasn't much better, but one mistake cost Metro, and that was it. But that's alright, we thought. That long-awaited final, the club's first in its eight years, was going to be the first of many.

It wasn't.

Five years later, a fluky run to MLS Cup ended in a fitting fashion. And then, nine years, most filled with regular season excellence and playoff disappointment, to finally return to that Open Cup that eluded them 14 years ago... Only for the bear to eat them up.

What will we remember from this game? Will it be Metro's tall defenders leaving the diminutive Latif Blessing completely unmarked on the opener? Will it be Sal Zizzo, fresh into the game, falling asleep and losing his man, as KC doubled the lead? Will it be that last push, with energy that was missing for 90 minutes, when a BWP injury time goal was just too little, too late?

Maybe we'll remember none of it. Maybe it will just all jumble into the mush of Metro losses. Maybe that will be for the best.

One day, we'll eat the bear.

One day...

Lineup: Meara, Lawrence, Long, Escobar, Murillo, Adams, Martins, Davis, Kljestan, Muyl, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Zizzo, Veron, Keita.