Scarves up!

Chelsea FC of the English Premier League comes to the XBOX Pitch at Qwest Field today for a friendly match between the Blues and the Seattle Sounders FC.

Location:
Seattle, WA

Match Date, Time:
07/18/09, 12:00 PM

Broadcast Coverage:
ESPN2, 97.3 KIRO FM

The Sounders have covered the pitch in real grass, they've opened the entire 67,000 seats up for an almost sold out crowd, it's lovely weather today in Seattle and the international team of Chelsea is here to play.

Scarves up!

Since there are no sports on...

I'm writing this in a bunker somewhere in Spokane. Currently, the sports world has collapsed and the Boston Red Sox don't play until Friday...

You know what this means? I have nothing to live for. Wow. Perhaps I should invest in something like spiritual enlightenment, or own a puppy, or watch the WNBA.

For those of you that (rightfully) think I'm a black hole without sports - here are some other things that I like.

1. Child stars going on a rampage of sex, drugs and more drugs - The more f-ed up the E! True Hollywood story, the more credit I give the person. Especially if some sort of animal is involved.

2. Pyramid Schemes - Here's the deal, send me 10 bucks, get your friends to send me ten bucks and I'll send you two dollars back. It's a can't miss deal!

3. Katy Perry - Do I really need to explain this?

4. Eric Andrews - Really?!

5. Star Trek: The Next Generation - I watch reruns all the time and sometimes I put on a carburetor and pretend to be Geordi LaForge - you know, the guy from Reading Rainbow.

6. PBS - Want to watch a British documentary on chicken legs! Here you go!

7. Being a man-whore - Yup.

8. Running ... a short distance - I love my 400 yard jogs. They're quite relaxing.

9. Eating - Ask Casey, at the Sounders FC game - I ate out Qwest Field. In fact, thanks to me, they shut down the "All You Can Eat" Buffet.

10. Pretending to be an interesting person - The sweater vest is totally pulling it off too.

(Thanks to Boston Dirt Dogs for the photo)

GOOOOO SOUNDERS!

This is a big match ladies and gentlemen, the head coach of the Seattle Sounders FC, Sigi Schmid, will be facing his old team - the Columbus Crew - in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Things are going to be rocking at Qwest Field because the Crew are the defending MLS champions.

Here's a short game advance from MLSNet.com:

One of the more highly anticipated matches of the 2009 season is ahead at Qwest Field on Saturday night when Seattle Sounders FC entertain defending MLS champions Columbus Crew. It will be the first meeting of the team coached by Sigi Schmid against the club he took to its first league championship a season ago. Both teams come in having not lost in more than a month; Sounders FC are on a five-game undefeated streak with four consecutive draws, while the Crew haven't lost in six in a row, with two wins in their last three.

We'll keep you posted after the game, once I get back from the Tri-Cities tonight or tomorrow.

Sounders FC taking on the city of Angels

No not Tri Cities, come on, that's the city of people who can only cut their hair into a mullet. Get it right.

The Sounders FC play an early game today, noon start time, against the L.A. Galaxy, which wont have star David Beckham at their disposal because he's playing for another club in Italy. Can you imagine if the NFL had stars that would leave their team midseason and play in Europe? Wow.

Since it is a home match, it's sure to be a tough environment for the Galaxy who only have one win on the season this year. One particularly interesting note about Qwest Field is that they might be removing the tarps on the upper part of the lower bowl of the stadium to allow for more room of "partial season ticket holders."

Great move, but let's hope they don't open to many seats so the stadium bowl looks 3/4 full. There's a theory behind this that the more the stadium "looks" sold out (even though the upper deck is tarped off), the more people will want tickets because they think they have to get them in advance and when you do that you're more likely to go to the game than walk-up to the ticket window because you have less time to think against it. The Portland Trailblazers used this to their advantage in their arena before they built the Rose Garden, so lets hope the Sounders FC keep it up as well.

So get your scarves ready, it's game time!

Sounders FC fight to a tie

Brandon had joked earlier that all that the Chicago Fire could do is tie. Well folks, they did it again.

After the match, the score stood 1-1 in a tie.

1-1 you say? As in Kasey Keller gave up a goal? WHAT!?!?!?!

Yes, I am sorry to say that after 457 minutes of play to start the season, Seattle's all-star goalie was finally scored upon.

But the team fought well, despite loosing team star Fredy Montero, who got a red card in the 48th minute. Montero went up for a header against Fire player Gonzalo Segrares, and on the way up Montero elbowed Segrares. The red card was given and Motnero was forced to leave the game.

In the 60th minute, Marco Pappa put the ball past Keller and with it, the Fire went up 1-0.

But just 6 minutes later the Sounders FC answered back with a goal of their own. Freddie Ljungberg sent a corner kick sailing to the far side of the goal. Tyrone Marshall was waiting and simply tapped the ball in for the score.

The Fire finished the game with the shot advantage at 15-4. But despite this, were forced to their fourth straight tie.

The tie left Seattle at 4-2-1 with 13 points. They remain in 2nd place in the West behind Chivas USA who are 5-1-1 with 16 points.

The Sounders FC come home to the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field next week. They'll take on the LA Galaxy at 12:00 PM on Saturday. The Galaxy currently sit in 7th place in the West at 0-1-4 with four points. They certainly won't be a pushover team, as they have already fought the Chivas USA to a 0-0 tie earlier this season.

Fuskies huck up Apple Cup at Qwest Field

Huzzah! The Apple Cup will remain in Pullman after the deal to move the college football rivalry to Qwest Field has fallen apart. The reason? The Huskies being the Huskies and demanding more tickets than the Cougars despite it's neutral site designation.

PULLMAN - A deal to move the Apple Cup to Qwest Field, which seemed so close a week ago, is dead, killed not by fan outrage, but by a lack of seats.

“It became evident an understanding on ways to maintain the neutral-site atmosphere in regards to ticket allotment could not be reached,” Washington State athletic director Jim Sterk said in a release Friday that announced WSU was ending discussions to move the game, “therefore, our student-athletes and Cougar fans would not be best served without this key component.”

According to sources in the WSU athletic department, the original agreement gave WSU and the University of Washington each 31,000 seats in Qwest Field every year. But in the past week, UW expressed its desire for about another 7,000 additional seats, the sources said, in an attempt to mollify season ticket holders.

I was surprised by two things, the fact that UW would mess up the chance for basically another home game every season AND the fact that there are still Washington Huskies season ticket holders. Who knew?

How to get the Sounders FC on the winning track again

It's been a bit of a difficult run for the Sounders these past two weeks. First, they lost their first game of the season 1-0 to Kansas City at Qwest Field with Casey and I in attendance. In that game goalie Kasey Keller was given a red card, meaning that not only did the team have to play the rest (and majority) of the game one-man down, but he would also miss the next game.

Then yesterday without Keller they dropped their second match of the season to division-leading Chivas USA. Sounders FC star Fredy Montero missed an empty net shot at the beginning of the game, a miss that he admits changed the entire complexion of the match.

Now at 3-2, the Sounders have nine points and second place in the Western Conference. Not a bad spot, especially for an expansion team, but here's how they could get back to their winning ways...

1. Get Casey and I to play for the opposing team -
Casey played football, and I was scratched from one of my sixth-grade matches because I got my Velcro shoes all tangled up in the goal net. They had to cut me out.

2. Sign Youppi, the former mascot of the Montreal Expos - Not only is he an awesome mascot, but he also could add to the sex appeal to the team. What girl would not be taken aback by his rugged Canadian good looks.

3. Play against the Yankees - We're pretty sure they'd give up 22 goals in a soccer game too.

4. Get Sasquatch to play for the Sounders - Because what soccer player is going to say "You know what, I'll cover the hulking hairy mammoth that's known for eating livestock. Yep, that's me. No I'm not intimidated at all."

5. Employ the "Brandon Hansen playing FIFA 93 on the SNES" strategy - And slide tackle the hell out of everyone until they have to bring out the SNES Madden ambulance that runs over players standing out in the middle of the field.

So there you have it. Next up will the the San Jose Earthquakes at Qwest Field on April 25.

Northern Rangers: Sounders FC gameday experience

The Northern Rangers headed out to the XBox Pitch at Qwest Field for the Seattle Sounders FC vs Kansas City Wizards video. We asked fans what it was like to be a Sounders FC fan and showed what a great time game day around the stadium is.