Know Your History, NW Collegiate Soccer

Supporting Your Local Collegians

It’s times like this, these raw, dark nights of late autumn, when Seattle comes out in numbers to support our local collegians.

November traditionally marks the start of the postseason at all levels and the conditions, either soaking or frigid, seldom frighten away the fans.

It’s likely to be more so the latter for the next few days, so bundle-up. Beginning Thursday, Seattle University hosts the WAC Championships at Championship Field. On Friday, the Washington women entertain Rider in an NCAA tournament opener. Interbay will light-up Saturday night for Seattle Pacific’s second round D2 playoff, and Sunday is Senior Day on Montlake for the Husky men versus Oregon State.

BigKick
Three of the largest local college attendances came from the NCAA championship games held here from 1984-86

Continue reading Supporting Your Local Collegians →

Know Your History, MLS Sounders

Winning Combo: Ahead & At Home

It’s a detectable difference. Bouncing out of bed on match day with belief is much better hitting the floor with faint hope.

That’s the big, big difference between Monday’s series-deciding clash at the CLink and those home playoffs that came before it.

For the first time in the MLS era of the Sounders, they are playing a second leg at home without the handicap of a deficit. In fact, Seattle is an away goal to the good following the first-leg draw to FC Dallas. So, if nothing moves the nets, that’s good enough.

In the postseason, it’s all about surviving and advancing to play another day. Ultimately, that’s the name of the game: Taking care of business. There are no style points.

Continue reading Winning Combo: Ahead & At Home →

Know Your History, MLS Sounders

That Special Someone

Hours after Allen Chapman blew full time in Frisco, my mind took a walk.

With enough memories and data stowed away from years of watching the locals, it’s inevitable that my brain will begin processing things like, say, ‘Hey, Ozzie’s goal reminds me of back when…” and so on.

Truth is, the goal was very un-Ozzie. A header? Off a set play? After all, he’s usually parked near the D. Weak clearance comes out, and he bashes it.

140310Ozzie710
Was Ozzie Alonso’s improbable header in first leg just a sign of good things to come? (Courtesy Sounders FC)

Continue reading That Special Someone →

Know Your History, MLS Sounders, NASL Sounders, USL Sounders

Pause for Revisionist History

At last, away goals are weighted in MLS.

Why it took so long, who knows. But once again, (North) America has joined the world, our fans apparently now savvy enough to figure it out.

Actually, most folks probably could’ve been entrusted with understanding away goals and, for that matter, aggregate series scoring long, long ago. And, if so, who’s to say there wouldn’t be more banners, more trophies, more history to celebrate?

Some say away goals rule only erodes the home-field advantage of the higher seed. Others, myself included, contend it makes the playoffs less of a crap shoot, and that’s a good thing, because local Sounders history is framed by the randomness of a shootout. I’ll explain.

Screen Shot 2014-10-31 at 12.49.42 PM Continue reading Pause for Revisionist History →

MLS Sounders, NASL Sounders

The Trip of a Lifetime

Giving was Alan Hudson’s specialty.

Smooth as satin, Hudson held court in the Sounders midfield, giving the ball to goal scorers on a record 51 occasions. Moreover, he imparted wisdom to teammates and especially young Americans, and essentially he gave us, the fans of the 80s, a glimpse of what football was to come.

14_13
After returning to London, Alan Hudson says tears still come to his eyes when reliving his reception in Seattle Oct. 10 (Courtesy Sounders FC)

Upon his return to Seattle earlier this month, it was a chance to give back, to give Hudson the acknowledgement, the appreciation and the caring he deserved.

A lot can be learned about people by observing the grace with which they receive kindness and the unreserved nature by which they bestow it. The second week of October was an opportunity to see why Huddy and Sounders Nation are truly special in that regard.

Continue reading The Trip of a Lifetime →

Know Your History, MLS Sounders

With Shield, Will Sounders Become Unstoppable?

As the countdown clock winds down toward first kick, I’ve gone through 40 years of Seattle pro soccer. History seems to repeat itself in some way, shape or form.

But in the case of this winner-take-all, season-ending match (OK, a draw will do it for the home side) for the Supporters’ Shield, there’s never been anything quite like it: the league’s top two teams vying with one another for a major prize as they cross the finish line. Never happened, not in 18 years of MLS, nor dating back to ’74 for the Sounders.

Continue reading With Shield, Will Sounders Become Unstoppable? →

MLS Sounders, Sounders 2

S2 Investment is Groundbreaking for Starfire

There’s the unprecedented, and then there’s the not-so-sexy underpinning for building what dreams may come.

Certainly the sizzle for the Sounders 2 unveiling is the community ownership component in which 20 percent of the USL PRO franchise will belong to Rave fans from near and far. That’s groundbreaking, but it’s the literal groundbreaking behind the Starfire Stadium west goal that will truly unlock the potential of this already abundant soccer park, opening the door to new events and new fans.

Starfire-Expansion-3
Starfire Stadium (lower right) will host Sounders 2 matches, with the new stadium support building constructed just to the west (Courtesy Starfire Sports)

Funds generated from the Sounders Community Trust Founders Club will be devoted to capital improvement projects at Starfire, namely the construction of a stadium support building (SSB) on the current site of the flag pavilion field.

Continue reading S2 Investment is Groundbreaking for Starfire →

Know Your History, NW Collegiate Soccer

Promotion/Relegation: Been There, Done That

It’s been a hot topic of late, the notion of bringing promotion/relegation to America. But believe it or not, it’s already been here and people have done that.

One instance of promoting a top team into an upper division while relegating a bottom finisher was accompanied by little fanfare 25 years ago, when it was practiced in the Pacific Northwest, not by professional clubs, mind you, but by collegians.

Continue reading Promotion/Relegation: Been There, Done That →

Know Your History, MLS

The Test of Time

Records are made to be broken.

Of course, the author of that saying assumes the team or league remains viable into the future.

Anyone who’s followed the struggle of professional soccer to gain a lasting foothold in America knows that you can fill a dustbin with all the acronyms–USA, NASL, MISL, ASL to name a few–that would rise and fall in the past 50 years.

And when a league and its members are laid to rest, the personalities adapt and move on. The records, however, remain behind. Never to be matched or overtaken. However, those records, those standards, can still provide a valuable service.

MLS Cup 2009
Seattle broke a longstanding US Open Cup attendance record in 2010 with a ‘below-average’ crowd (Courtesy US Soccer)

Continue reading The Test of Time →

Know Your History, NASL Sounders

Mike England: A Most Decorated Defender

In a way, Mike England was the first Sounder whose reputation preceded him. That is to say there were high expectations, and then he exceeded them.

Two weeks prior to his Seattle debut in 1975, England walked off the pitch a winner at White Hart Lane. That was nothing new. His nine years with Tottenham were filled with fanfare and silver. He played nearly 400 matches for Spurs, winning an FA Cup, two League Cups and the North London club’s first UEFA Cup.

Englandax
England was a unanimous All-NASL Era selection and Sounders’ only 4-time NASL Best XI choice (Frank MacDonald Collection)

“I used to watch him play as a kid,” says David Gillett. “He was a big time international center half, representing his country and playing for one of the better teams in the country at the time.”

Continue reading Mike England: A Most Decorated Defender →

Seattle's Soccer Nation: Past, Present & Future