THE NATURAL:

Eight years after famous miss, New England Revolution's Jay Heaps on the brink of cathartic title (Andrew Wiebe, 12/06/14, MLSsoccer.com)

Jay Heaps knows better than most that fate can be cruel. In his case, repeatedly so.

Four times Heaps and the Revolution went to MLS Cup. Four times, New England left with nothing but second-place medal to show for it.

And while each game had it’s own agonizing moments - 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007 - none was more formative for Heaps than the wild 2006 final that included dramatic extra-time time goals from the Revs and the Houston Dynamo and a decisive penalty miss that will live with Longmeadow, Mass., native for life.

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Now, eight years after Pat Onstad saved his tame effort to give the Dynamo the first of back-to-back titles and almost three years since he left behind a career in finance to pace the sideline, Heaps has a rare opportunity at redemption.

If MLS were better at marketing this storyline would be getting more play than Donovan's final game.