Sounders FC Are Seattle's Underrated Gem
Comments (6)
Seattle doesn’t have much to brag about. It rains nine months out of the year. The Mariners are one of the worst teams in the majors. The Seahawks are anything if not inconsistent. And while the city's WNBA team, the Storm, did win their second national title, it was to little fanfare.
What Seattle does seem to care about, however, is their U.S. Open Cup champs: the Seattle Sounders FC.
That’s soccer, for you Americans out there.
The team, which is in fourth place in the Western division, is in just its second year as an MLS expansion team but sells out every game at Qwest field. Did I mention they also sold the most tickets in the league last year? They were the first ever expansion team to win the U.S. Open Cup tournament in its first year. And last week they made it a two-peat.
While their popularity is steadily rising, the Sounders have barely put Seattle on the national sports radar.
Seattle fans go ga-ga over their green and blue gods but just about no one outside of the Pacific Northwest cares.
Will they ever? Not likely. At least not until soccer rises on the radar among more American fans.
But that’s okay, Seattle has always been an underrated gem and is happy to keep it’s cloud-covered glory hidden, especially if that glory includes a winning soccer team.
To reach staff writer Ruth Frantz, click here.
Sign up for Neon Tommy's weekly e-mail newsletter.
Comments
Sounders 'til I die!
Factual correction. The Chicago Fire in 1998 won the US Open Cup in their first year of MLS existence. So, Flounders were not the first.
They are the first expansion team to win it however.
The Open Cup win was nuts. That game, the very first game against the Red Bulls and last year's Open cup win against the Houston Dynamos in Starfire (the team's training facility so not at Seahawks Stadium) are my favorite games. If anyone wants to see what domestic club soccer can be when a large number of fans really really care, catch a game in Seattle and while I'd let American soccer define itself, you'll find it isn't too far away from the grand soccer experience that seasoned soccer enthusiasts are looking for even if they are comparing Seattle to a Mexican/South American/European standard.
[...] Sounders FC Are Seattle's Underrated Gem | Neon Tommy neontommy.com/news/2010/10/sounders-fc-are-seattles-underrated-gem – view page – cached Seattle doesn’t have much to brag about. It rains nine months out of the year. The Mariners are one of the worst teams in the majors. The Seahawks are anything if not inconsistent. And while the city's WNBA team, the Storm, did win their second national title, it was to little fanfare. Tweets about this link [...]
Seattle's Open Cup win was on the front page of ESPN.com the next day. The team made international headlines by signing Freddie Ljungberg. I'm not a fan of the team myself (I'm from Massachusetts) but they get plenty of attention outside the Pacific Northwest. Just because you don't see Colin Cowherd sporting a ECS scarf on SportsNation doesn't mean you're being ignored.
Hey, don't blame Seattleites for a story written by someone in California.