RED BULLS-BATTERY PRE-GAME

Red Bulls Reader is coming to you from Charleston, SC - less than two hours before the Red Bulls kick off their opening game of the Carolina Challenge Cup against the Charleston Battery. Just a few pre-game notes for you:

- Team landed safe and sound yesterday as we barely got all of the personal bags and equipment onto the small plane for the hour and 45 minute flight. Some of the bags were placed into empty seats and secured by seatbelts!
- Thunderstorms and heavy wind are predicted for tonight's game. If the rains do fall, it should make for a relatively sloppy and unpredictable game.
- The team went through a light training session at the College of Charleston this morning, doing a short warmup and possession game.
- Head coach Juan Carlos Osorio is away from the team and out of the country today. Assistant coach Richie Williams, who has a 4-3-2 record in all competitions as a head coach (he was the interim head coach for New York in the summer of 2006), will take the helm. Osorio will return prior to the Red Bulls' match on Wednesday against Toronto FC.

RBR will be at Blackbaud Stadium for all of the action.

Until then, we caught up with veteran defender Jeff Parke earlier this week, who returned to training with a newly cropped head of hair. Not averse to changing it up, Jeff has sported a number of styles in the past, as seen below.






(Parke's most recent haircut on the bottom)

“I ended up getting fed up in my hair and I just got some random woman who cut it right outside Philly,” Parke laughed.

In regards to comments about his do, Parke said, “I don’t care at all. As long as it grows back. Hopefully, I can keep my hair as long as I can. Hair is just a fashion thing so everyone is cutting on you if you do something different.”