The big sports story of this weekend for area sports fans is going to be the inspiring play of the George Mason men's basketball team as they compete for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Still, we hope that you will spare a thought for your DC United, who open their 2006 season Sunday at RFK Stadium against the New York Red Bulls. Ugh. Yes, DC, the MLS team you love to hate just got more hateable. We're sure that Red Bull fuels NY team prexy Alexei Lalas' many hacksack sessions and only wonder if continued exposure to the drink is going to have any lasting effects on his awesomely bad, sub-Spin Doctors acoustic rock stylings.

Last season, DC's promising march into the playoffs imploded in the wake of Freddy Adu's ill-timed hissyfit and culminated in an awful performance against the Chicago Fire where seriously unprofessional play won out over good soccer. The Adu fiasco cast a long shadow over the team during the weeks after the regular season, aided and abetted by a column by Mike Wilbon, who wandered out into the middle of some unholy fever swamp to assert that Adu had been "played" as a part of some crazy-ass league-wide conspiracy. We've always found the calls from Post columnists Wilbon and Kornheiser to get Adu increased playing time regardless of his on-field production--as if he were some sort of performing seal--to be not just patently ignorant, but creepy--like something out of Mandingo.

Nevertheless, Adu is back with the team for the 2006 season and is said to have officially gotten over it, telling the Post, "[Coach] Peter [Nowak] and I are fine. It's a new year for all of us." Let's hope so. There haven't been many drastic changes to the roster from last year, but fans will finally be able to welcome back Alecko Eskandarian, who missed all of last season with complications related to a head injury. The pair of Argentinean players signed late last season, Facundo Erpen and Lucio Filomeno, have continued to make strides in training camp. Filomeno, in fact, has emerged as a potential starter. The most notable departure was Dema Kovalenko, who couldn't make a contract deal and has gone home to Ukraine.

DC will also be without the services of a handful of players this Sunday. Most notably, Christian Gomez will be serving out a suspension for his antics in last year's playoffs. Look for him in the stands! Last year, he made the trip to New Jersey even though he wasn't playing to lead United fans in cheers. Keeper Nick Rimando continues to nurse a foot injury that will keep him out of the box for several weeks. Troy Perkins, who only made a couple of appearances last year, will start in his place.

Game time is 5pm, and tickets are available--ranging from $16-40. That's a great price to see a team that's actually brought home some championships to the area. And we remind you: they're the only professional sports team that proudly wears "DC" in its moniker.