Developing a brand name and identity for a professional sports team is a pretty detailed process. It can take a little longer than you expected, especially the legal process.

First and foremost, we look at a specific market. Is it a passionate sports market, does it have the potential to draw television viewers, what it's history for soccer events, and we do research into the soccer audience. Second, they need to have an ownership group with the appropriate resources and business acumen to be a success and they need to have plans for a stadium, generally a soccer-specific stadium.

We've heard from a very vocal audience that some people are upset about the name. At no time did we want to offend people with the choice of the name ? soccer unites the world, and we want to do that with our league ? so we have had to look closely at changing the name.

The bottom line is that at no time did the team or Major League Soccer ever want to offend any members of the Houston community. We certainly apologize to those who feel wronged or insulted. We're listening to their concerns, and we're carefully analyzing the situation. We want everyone to be part of Major League Soccer in Houston.

Both teams know each other pretty well. You should have guessed it would come down to the team making the last shot to win it. We were fortunate to get an open look at a 3 late in the game and it was nice to see us capitalize on the shot.

Professional sports is a business.