Worth cheering: Warzycha's son back in school

Bartosz Warzycha's return to third grade last week in Dublin,Ohio, brought a standing ovation from his classmates and also wasgood news around Major League Soccer.

Several MLS teams, including the Fire, made shows of supportlast season for the 9-year-old son of Polish midfielder RobertWarzycha of the Columbus Crew. Doctors detected a cancerous tumor,and Bartosz underwent surgery to remove five ribs. He's stillundergoing chemotherapy.

"We had to be careful because his blood count is still low, andwe didn't want him to get the flu or get hurt playing around," RobertWarzycha told the Columbus Dispatch. "We're still worried, but thething he's most concerned about is not playing soccer. He's a verygood player. I told him to keep waiting because his day will come."SLOW START: Dutch playmaker Edwin Gorter's suspension ended overthe weekend, but he didn't start for the New England Revolution inits 3-2 shootout loss to D.C. United. Gorter was suspended for thefirst two games of this season and fined for using a racial slur todescribe teammate David Nakhid during an offseason practice.Gorter, who played only 20 minutes but set up the tying goal inthe 83rd minute, stormed out of the New England locker room after thegame and wouldn't talk about it later. "I've nothing to say. It isbetter that way," he told the Boston Herald.The absence of Gorter from the starting lineup wasn't the onlysurprise in New England. Tony Kuhn, claimed from the Fire in thewaiver draft, was a surprise starter at forward ahead of GiovanniSavarese, who was nursing a strained right hamstring.SHOOTOUT CRAZY: MLS had 11 shootouts in the first 21 games.That's as many as the league had in the first 40 games last season.MLS had 34 shootouts in 160 games in 1996, 33 in 160 in '97 and33 in 192 last season.Shootouts tend to occur more frequently early in the season.Joe Machnik, the league's vice president of game operations and aU.S. assistant coach for the 1990 World Cup, said defenses aren't asorganized early in the season and are more prone to allow late goals.NOTES: The Fire's 3-1 start hasn't impressed New England captainMike Burns. "Chicago is off to a good start, but D.C. (United) isstill the team to beat," he told the Boston Globe.A shutout of the Fire on Saturday extended the Dallas Burn's streakof not allowing a goal to 328 minutes. The last regular-season goalthe Burn gave up came in the 32nd minute of the final game lastseason. The MLS record is 414 minutes by the New York/New JerseyMetroStars in 1997.D.C. United midfielder Richie Williams is expected to miss six toeight weeks with a sprained right ankle.The Miami Fusion changed front-office leadership last week, andcoach Ivo Wortmann expected more changes after his team allowed foursecond-half goals in a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids. "We have twochoices," Wortmann told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "One, thecoach leaves. . . . If that doesn't happen, I should have the powerto clean house like I did last year."