Though many professional athletes have gone into ministry, usually with Protestant churches, most do so after their careers have ended. Few leave during their prime. Hilgenbrinck, a 26-year-old defender, had signed his first MLS contract earlier this year after four years of playing professionally in Chile. He had made it, achieving a dream he’d had since childhood. And now he was leaving it all behind to serve God….

Image via WashingtonPost

Pretty funny highlights of Blanco in the second leg of the MLS 1st Round Playoffs against the Revolution.

They put up a good fight, but without Ralston, Twellman, Cristman, Smith AND losing Larentowicz in the first half just proved to be too much for the Revs against a very solid Fire tonight.

And don’t forget Albright will be forced to miss the first game next season after being sent off.

After already losing Steve Ralston for the year and the duo of Gabriel Badilla and Kano Smith for the opening playoff game against Chicago, the New England Revolution have announced that striker Taylor Twellman (who currently sits at 99 goals in 172 MLS games) will be shelved indefinitely after suffering “concussion related symptoms”.

After watching former Colorado Rapids / New York MetroStar / Columbus Crew midfielder Ross Paule lose his career up close, seeing from afar the effects that Alecko Eskandarian and Chad Marshall dealt with while losing significant time on the pitch and dealing with multiple concussions myself while playing in the MLS, hearing that Twellman is having these difficulties so long after the August 30th collision in which he was hit by LA Galaxy goal keeper Steve Cronin (who broke a bone in his hand and missed the rest of the season) while heading in a cross is definitely a bit scary.

“Taylor has been experiencing some on-going issues related to the concussion he suffered against LA,” Revolution Vice President of Player Personnel Michael Burns said. “Concussions, especially repeated concussions, are very dangerous and the most important thing for Taylor and his future – both off the field and on – is to get the rest he needs so he can return to normal as quickly as possible.”

image via Boston.com

A different take on the post-game press conference.

Thanks to Sam for the heads up…