Beautiful article in ESPN magazine about everything that’s right about the Sounders.
The stats:
Per game, the Sounders outdraw the Mariners almost 2 to 1
And:
Merchandise sales are on a par with the Seahawks
And coach Sigi Schmidt:
“For everyone in American soccer,” says Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, “I always tell people, you have to make a pilgrimage to Seattle. What you hoped soccer would be, it’s actually like that here.”
This is how the Sounders won the heart of the region and is conquering the world:
Take the world’s game and make it their own.
Last weekend I took my 7 year old son to his first game starting a tradition and rooting in him a love for the most beautiful game in the world. Seattle you make me so proud and I don’t feel bad a bit that I am cheating on my original home team VfB Stuttgart.
The Sounders are the future of soccer for my family!
Bike races for Jedermann (everyone) on the NYT:
Jedermann events may also play an important role keeping alive interest in cycling after doping scandals, including one involving Ullrich, discouraged many fans and sponsors.
A documentary about Soccer, the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, and the global community coming together?
Sign me up, this is incredible.
It all begins on May 19th.
The Olympic Torch Relay will help shine a light on the whole of the UK – from dynamic urban areas to places of outstanding natural beauty.
Torchbearers will carry the Flame through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the UK.
This is going to be an amazing Summer.
Wait, I might be late to the game, but it’s NHL Playoffs and there are no Canadian teams left in the run for the Stanley Cup?
Is everyone still hungover after the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010?
VfB Stuttgart fans are displaying a ‘Tifo’ before the last home game of the 2011/12 season:
“Tradition bewaren und and die Helden ihrer Zeit erinnern.”
That’s how you get grown man to cry!
Man, I love my Seattle Sounders FC, but I will forever be a VfB fan.
For the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
Great minimalist posters showing the history of the FIFA Soccer World Cup.
Want them all.
After the Sounders crushing win over LA Galaxy last night everyone was talking about why the LA coach Arena left some of his star players at home.
Even among the Sounders players and fans who should have been just happy with the win, there was a deeper emotion – the feeling that LA Galaxy had insulted them by withdrawing so many of their big names.
Are the Sounders already turning into Barcelona or Madrid, where other teams are so scared off that they are not even attempting to compete?
That can hardly be case, as LA is at least as strong, last year’s MLS Cup winner and big rival of the Sounders in the Western Division.
But the turf and the schedule is two things the MLS has to look into.
Having different teams play on different turf is hard on teams and something that needs to be addressed in the near future to level the playing field.
Also, the schedule, that some teams have already played a lot more games than others and schedule fluctuate so much across the league seems counterproductive and is confusing for fans and coaches.
And with the news that American Football is increasingly having to explain themselves about if the violence makes for a healthy and sustainable future, the call for real grass on Seattle’s Century Link field might increasingly fall on open ears. After all the Sounders had over 39,000 fans attending yesterday’s mid-week game.
John Cade on Twitter:
39,000 at the #SoundersFC match. ON. A. WEDNESDAY. Welcome to the future, America. Soccer is coming your way.
Welcome to the future, indeed. And what a game.
Arlo White, previous voice of the Sounders has a podcast. About soccer. Good.
How does your favorite sports team fare on the list of highest-paying teams in the world?
Barcelona #1.
(Barcelona is not going to win the Champions League or La Liga this year!)
Seattle Sounders #253.
Check the pic. Real Madrid coach Mourinho kneels during the penalty shootout during the second leg semifinal Champions League loss of his team against Bayern München.
… he was reportedly so impressed by his opponents’ performance that he visited their locker room after the match to deliver his congratulations personally.
There is more to Mourinho than the arrogant angry bastard the media wants him to be.
XI Quarterly the new Soccer magazine will hit the market. It reached it’s funding goal sometime yesterday.
Glad they were able to pull this off, looking forward reading the first issue – still time to preorder!
Major League Soccer would implement goal-line technology quickly if it’s approved in July by the sport’s rules-making body.
I like it.
Soccer is played on grass, and it’s time the Clink in Seattle switches their turf and turns their fake astro turf into a proper playing surface.
Perhaps we can take the grass from Safeco Field next door… don’t think they will need it anytime soon.
Ethan Stowell came up with some new ballpark cuisine for the Mariners, replicating the upscale bar food and eat-local mantra that’s trendy around Seattle restaurants and in the happy-hour scene.
Whatever it takes to distract people from realizing how much Seattle baseball actually sucks. But the food sounds tasty.
Words from the most famous soccer player of all time not named Messi.
Hello world, thank you for welcoming me to Twitter. I am very excited to share my life with you. Love, Pelé
Just in time for the marketing of the Soccer World Cup in Brazil in 2014 to kick off – smart move.
TIm Siedell on how life is like Baseball and vice versa:
Because just like life itself, baseball is boring. Amazingly, stupendously boring.
Most brilliant soccer game I watched in a really long time. BVB Dortmund hosts VfB Stuttgart for a 4:4 fireworks of striking power. 1:0 after the first half. Stuttgart comes back and scores in extra time for a 4:4 equalizer.
Beautiful game. Emotional roller coaster. Deserved tie in the end.
