We'll start with the bad news (if only because that's the only way this post would work, stylistically):

The Red Bulls, and the MetroStars before them, are God awful on July 4.

MetroFanatic has a good rundown of the team's Independence Day woes, but to sum it up simply, all you need is the team's record: 4-10-2 (1-8-2 if you just count July 4). To make matters worse, the MetroBulls are 0-3-1 all time against the Colorado Rapids, their opponent tomorrow night. All of those games were on the road, by the way.

The good news? Mike Petke is ready to change that. Kind of.

Brian Lewis over at the New York Post has a rundown of quotes packaged as a preview of tomorrow's game and Petke seems caught off guard by the question, before resolving to break the streak of sub-par performances in the Rockies.

I don't know (why that's the case). I mean I haven't, I don't know how many of those games I've been a part of. I know I've been, played in Colorado many times with New York, whether it's the MetroStars or the Red Bulls. It's a tough place to play, you know, they always get a sell out crowd on 4th of July, you know it pumps it up, pumps the players up, whatever reason, but we're looking to change that obviously for Thursday.

If anything, Petke's dawdling at the start of his answer is probably a good thing: The July 4 woes aren't really in the forefront of the team's mind as much as other, more pressing issues the team has. But even with the team determined to turn the page on it's troubled past, old habits die hard. We'll see about this one tomorrow.