SuperDraft 2010: Preview from Philly

We're coming to you from frigid Philadelphia for coverage of today's MLS SuperDraft at 1 p.m. CT. Technology willing, we'll have a live blog starting up around 11 a.m.

As you might expect in January, it is cold and windy in the newest city with an MLS team, but it's a short walk across the street from our hotel to the convention center for today's festivities, and there's going to be plenty of hot air thrown around in the Philadelphia Convention Center.

The Dynamo have three picks in today's draft but none in the first two rounds. Houston's first-round pick belongs to New York (and new head coach Hans Backe) as part of the Dominic Oduro trade. Our second-round pick belongs to San Jose as part of the Cam Weaver deal deal. In the third round, we have Seattle's pick (from the Pat Ianni trade) at No. 43 overall and our natural selection at No. 46 overall. In the fourth round, we have our natural selection at No. 62.

Houston staff - seated near the front of the room for no apparent reason - flew in last night from the MLS combine in Florida, where they were evaluating the talent, joining our PR/online staff, which had been here since Monday night as part of the MLS PR meetings. We have heard no major rumors involving the Dynamo, but that may just be because we didn't spend enough time in the hotel bar last night. Always a chance of something going down.

Other news for today's draft ... New York has seven picks (2,14,18,31,34,48.50), while Columbus, Dallas, and Philadelphia have two picks each in the first round as well. Philly acquired the No. 7 pick and midfielder Fred yesterday from DC United in exchange for Philly's allocation slot, which allowed DC to re-sign goalkeeper Troy Perkins. The Union are widely expected to take Oregon State forward Danny Mwanga with the No. 1 pick.

We'll also be keeping an eye on the fan turnout, as the hometown club has almost half the room (roughly 600 seats) reserved for its fans, and DC United has a large section reserved as well after offering a free bus ride to fans.

More to come from the convention center later this morning, with coverage kicking off on ESPN2 at 1 p.m. CT. If you're stuck at work, you can follow the draft on this site and on MLSnet.com. We'll try to provide some behind-the-scenes color and humor you may not get on TV.