When everything's new, you never know what's going to happen.

Just ask Brad Davis, the Houston Dynamo's star midfielder. Davis stumbled as he hit the steps of the new interview podium setup at BBVA Compass Stadium, losing his balance and nearly hitting the platform. Talk about an opening game near miss — a potential league MVP nearly taken out by the interview stage.

Not that it fazed Davis. "Oh shit!" he called out before catching himself and yelling out "Off the record!" a half beat later. That drew laughs all around.

Moments later, safely at the podium, Davis looked out over the packed room — and every seat was taken in the Dynamo's new interview room on opening day — and cracked, "Wow, I feel like a teacher."

"You look tall," someone called out from the audience.

"I'm not," the 5-foot-11 (maybe) Davis shot back, grinning. This scene happened moments after Davis scored the first goal the Dynamo's new home, the only goal in a 1-0 win over D.C. United. It was a scene to remember as the Dynamo took the field for their second match ever at BBVA Compass against the Portland Timbers Tuesday night and ended up left with a 0-0 tie.

Other numbers were much kinder, however. Portland turned out to be the Dynamo's second straight sellout of more than 22,000 plus.

The next home game against the star-studded LA Galaxy on May 26 is already an official sellout.

There is no doubt that the sparkling orange stadium on the East End — already the best sports arena in Houston in terms of fan intimacy and feeling like a part of the action — is driving the ticket frenzy. But the unfull-of-themselves, self deprecating attitude of U.S. soccer stars like Davis provides the chance for staying power.

It's sort of impossible to root against a homegrown Major League Soccer star like Davis when you meet him (this doesn't apply to transplanted stars — it's still ultra easy to root against David Beckham and his diva ways). Davis finished second in the league MVP voting last season. Even Dynamo stalwart Brian Ching would concede that Davis is the best soccer player in Houston, one of the MLS's most dangerous weapons.

Yet Davis goes about his daily business like . . . well, a teacher.

You aren't going to get any more attitude from him than you would the sweetest kindergarten teacher. Can you imagine Dwight Howard (second in the NBA's 2011 MVP voting) reacting like Davis did after one of the greatest moments of his career?

Davis didn't just score the goal — on that arching bit of brilliance — he made sure to jump over a barrier to reach the Dynamo supporters section and share the moment with the team's most dedicated fans, the ones who showed up long before the new stadium made soccer cool in Houston. Then, he couldn't have been more unimpressed with himself in the postgame news conference.

In fact, Davis jabbed himself for having messed up his post-goal plans.

"To be totally honest, if I scored I told myself I wanted to go get the game ball," Davis said. "I obviously didn't do that right — I don't have the ball."

Instead, he has everyone's respect.

"I thought it was the perfect way to celebrate," Ching said.

A Different World

When's the last time anyone used perfect to describe anything Howard did — unless it was perfect waffling on his Decision, or perfect coach killing?

Howard and Davis reside in completely different sports universes of course. Davis will never make anything close to crazy money in the MLS. He'll make under $250,000 — tip money to a sports megastar like Dwight Howard — in 2012 and it took him several years to get up to that number.

Big NFL names like Andrew Luck, J.J. Watt, Matt Schaub and Duane Brown attended the Dynamo's first game at The Compass — and Houston is the rare town where football and soccer standouts sometimes hang out together. But that doesn't mean these guys live in the same world.

There is no doubt it's a little easier to be everyman when you actually have to think about major purchases.

This is how what works against the MLS on the field — the idea that while it is professional soccer, it's not close to the best professional soccer played in the world — can work for the league off it. Chances are that Brad Davis would be a good guy no matter where he played, or how much he made. But it's clear he feels a responsibility to connect with the fans who are now pouring into his team's new stadium in his adopted city — whether they are diehards or the newest of the bandwagon leapers.

When this 30-year-old father of two talks about how great it is to have fans cheering for him again (the Dynamo opened the season on a seven-game road trip), he actually does sound grateful.

This is the attitude that's appreciated by the Little League dads who show up at their kids' baseball games wearing Dynamo shirts. Oliver Luck — the West Virginia athletic director who helped get this new stadium rolling while he worked as the Dynamo's first president and general manager — feels it's being embraced by a demographic you might not expect as well.

"I see a lot of young men walking around the stadium," Luck said after returning for that first sold-out Dynamo game. "A lot of guys in their twenties who look at this team as their own. They relate to the Dyanmo and soccer."

They're helping to make BBVA Compass a much louder place than many might anticipate as well. There is no need for Davis to watch his language for this demographic. The most low-key of MVP candidates wants to look out for all fans though.

That's what humble superstars do. It's the American soccer way.