Hunt For Multiple Trophy Season From Underdog Role For Sounders
by Dave Clark on Feb 9, 2012 11:00 AM PST
in Sounders: Analysis
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From Joe Roth to Adrian Hanauer to Sigi Schmid to players like Mike Fucito, Seattle Sounders FC has been quite clear about its goals for this year. Another US Open Cup title will not be enough. It is a consistent organizational chorus that started at the End of Year Business Meeting and is hinted at in most conversations about the upcoming season. Sigi and the coaching staff are planning preseason with the expressed goal of beating Santos Laguna. That game is the first step on a quest that could see the Sounders competing for up to five major trophies (including next year's CCL) in the 2012 calendar year (the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC are also in this group).
Interestingly enough. Seattle will not be the favorite for any trophy except for the one that they will defend for a fourth straight year. The US Open Cup #3attle defense must consider the Rave Green as favorites, as the team is built with depth in mind. It is a hallmark of a Hanauer-crafted team to make a long run in the national cup competition, and most fans would consider anything less than a sixth straight semifinal appearance to be a disappointment.
In those other trophies, though, Seattle will not be betting odds favorites. If Sounder at Heart staff was running futures bets, Seattle would not be any higher than third most likely to win, and in some cases lower. There isn't a huge overlap between the various trophies' schedules, so congestion won't be quite as big an issue as in years past.
For the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League, the favorites, even after the Galaxy added Edson Buddle and Marcelo Sarvas, while retaining the services of Leonardo, Juninho and David Beckham, are still Mexican sides Santos Laguna and Monterrey Rayados. With both Santos Laguna and the Galaxy in Seattle's side of the bracket, the quest for trophy No. 1 is the least likely, the least interesting to the non-diehard Sounders fans and yet is also the path for Seattle to make an appearance in the Club World Cup.
With a significantly unbalanced schedule in the MLS regular season, the Supporters' Shield loses its puritanical luster. It also reduces the chances that the Western Conference powerhouses (add Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas to the Seattle/LA pairing) nab the trophy. With favorable Eastern Conference schedules, strong 2011 seasons and decent offseasons, the Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City should join the crowded favorites conversation for the third (ordered by date awarded) trophy contested on the year. While Seattle may be in that conversation, a futures bet would be in LA's favor again.
Even the elusive, and most mainstream of MLS' many trophies, MLS Cup sees Seattle again on the outside. The Sounders would not be ahead of teams like the Dynamo and Sporks (maybe even the Crew) just because getting out of the East will be easier than the West. That Southland team is again higher on the board than Seattle. LA could even get Omar Gonzalez back in time for spot duty in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and their much weaker backup keeper role for 2012 shouldn't be an issue for the playoffs.
A generally deep and strong roster should see the Seattle Sounders in a two to four slot in various power rankings, but the top down quest for more trophies than the club has won since it's 2007 Double in the USL will prove a tough test. Yes, there's an extremely long shot at five major trophies (plus the two rivalry cups, a conference title and a reserve league title) but even winning one would mean that the Sounders took four majors in four years, and, if that one is anything other than the US Open Cup, it would put Seattle in the MLS dynasty conversation with D.C. United, the Chicago Fire and the modern LA Galaxy.
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I would love to get that star over the crest
but I don’t think that not winning the MLS cup means the season will be a failure. I expect that the Sounders will make the playoffs as 1-3 seed in the west, qualify for the 2013-14 CCL, and win the cascadia cup. A failure to do these 3 things and then I will call the season a failure. We can accomplish these without even winning a major trophy.
Anybody who votes "One (Not Enough) clearly doesn't understand how Seattle sports work.
by Robert on Feb 9, 2012 11:26 AM PST via Android app reply actions 4 recs
Seattle has nothing to do with it
Anyone who votes “One (Not Enough)” should be questioning whether they should really be following sports. The value of trophies is that they are exceptional, not the norm.
What does "not enough" mean?
Not enough to renew season tickets? Not enough to continue following on television? Not enough to keep following the team on S@H? Not enough to keep from writing whiny comments about how the season is a failure and X, Y, Z should have been done to prevent it?
I took that one to mean that they expect the team to only win one trophy
And that it wont be enough for them to view the season as a success.
But what does it even mean for the season to be a "success'?
It’s such a vague notion unless you tie it to real-life consequences like “I will buy more merch if the Sounders meet these goals” or “I will definitely sign up for the season-ticket list if the Sounders do X, Y, Z” or “I will continue to renew my season tickets.” Without a tie to something a little more concrete, the whole discussion becomes really meaningless really quickly, the way a lot of “overrated/underrated” discussions go when no one can tell you how a player is “rated” in the first place.
Did you just reduce all fandom to commercialism?
I don’t want to think that way. I have hopes and expectations for my team as a fan that I don’t necessarily tie directly into how much $ I will spend on them.
Doesn't have to be dollars
That’s just one example of something more concrete. It’s easy for people to say at the beginning of the season “one trophy is not enough” but then at the end of the season, if they are still reading all the posts at S@H, reading every story about the Sounders at the Seattle Times, and watching all of the Sounders’ games on TV the next year, then failure had no consequence on their decisions as a fan, which makes the whole “one trophy is not enough” statement look pretty empty.
My love for my club does not depend on success
If they were doing badly, I would probably be even more obsessed with writings about the club.
by AAAA on Feb 9, 2012 12:50 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
If that is the case, then is it possible for the Sounders to not win enough trophies in a given year?
If you will follow them just the same with or without trophies, then IMO, it’s completely meaningless to tie their success or failure to the number of trophies they win or to make a statement like “one trophy is not enough.” Not enough to meet expectations? Would that make for a failure in achievement or a failure in setting expectations?
These sorts of questions always strike me as ridiculous because a fan can always say that they expect 10 trophies at the beginning of the season and anything less than that is complete failure, but the reason they’re able to project such lofty goals onto the team is because the failure to meet those goals has no consequence.
Honestly, I think us two are worlds apart in our thinking
So it might be impossible to fully understand each other.
Best I can do is probably compare loving the Sounders to loving your kids. You are always hoping that they do well, but if they do not you may be disappointed, but that does not cause you to love them any less or to become any less interested in their lives.
That’s the type of bond I have with my club. My club does not have to earn my love, it is unconditional. Of course that does not mean unconditional love for any person in the club, because owners, players, coaches etc. are with the club only temporarily.
by AAAA on Feb 9, 2012 1:43 PM PST up reply actions 4 recs
I think it's more than that
It’s not about winning or not winning trophies. Trophies are, at some level, a crap shoot.
What I ask for from all my teams (including the Sounders, Huskies, Seahawks, Mariners etc.) is that they be relevant.
The Seahawks were relevant last year. The Mariners weren’t. That’s all you can reasonably expect. To be competitive. To have meaningful games all the way till the end of the season.
As long as the Sounders are competing for trophies, I’m a happy fan.
If they aren’t competitive. If they aren’t relevant within the competitions they compete, I’m not.
But you can not expect to win championships. Not in any sport. Not with any team.
If you expect your team to win a championship, you are being unreasonable.
Exactly
No one here is questioning anyone else’s love of the club or fandom or whatever. It’s just that if you have that unquestioning love of the club, how could you possibly vote for “One (Not Enough)”? Not enough for what?
To meet expectations?
To not have the empty feeling of e should have been able to achieve more?
For me personally it is too early to have expectations, and indeed I haven’t voted on the poll. Sometime into the season will tell what can be expected beyond being competitive in all competitions.
Last season I was extremely happy when we won the Open Cup and also when we qualified out of the group in CCL. Also looking back to the season it feels like a success. However, I remember the feeling after USOC, that that would not be the only cup we were going to win. I was very disappointed when that did not happen.
Not enough to be happy?
What would you consider sufficient consequence for the team failing to meet my expectations? For example, would it meet your test if the behavioral modification that resulted from the team’s failure to meet my expectations was that I complained about their performance instead of lauding it? I’m just trying to be sure I understand the question correctly.
Even something like that is moving in the right direction
I’m just saying “not enough” and “success” or “failure” are meaningless without there being something more attached to them. If not meeting your expectations means that you’ll just complain about the team, you have a different standard for expectations than someone who would stop watching as many games because the team isn’t meeting expectations.
Another way to look at it would be to put odds on each outcome and ask people to put their money where their mouth is. For the people who expect two trophies this year, would they bet $X at even odds that the Sounders will win 2 or more trophies?
(For instance, personally I hope for more success in the MLS playoffs and I’ll be disappointed if the Sounders don’t make the final four in the MLS Cup, but that’s not to say I would put down money at even odds today that the Sounders will make it to the MLS Cup final four—there are too many things that can go wrong between here and there even with Seattle being a very good side.)
My feelings are very real and meaningul
Thank you very much.
I don’t know how i could attach monetary value to something like that.
I agree with this
But I still will be supporting my club no matter how they are doing. That is a constant that wont change.
I've thought about this
and decided that we have to determine what we are talking about when we say ‘club.’
I do support my club, but what does that mean?
We are not talking about the players obviously, because once they leave the Sounders I don’t root for them anymore.
And there are always individual players fans wish the team could replace. And of course, players I don’t root for suddenly get my support when they become Sounders.
So what are we being loyal to? I think, if I’m being honest, what I’m really rooting for is the shirt. Sad as that is to say.
But I don’t think that’s what we are talking about when we talk about being satisfied with the team. After all, how can I be satisfied (or dissatisfied) with a uniform? I think what we are talking about is being satisfied with the front office.
Now, I do support the front office of the Sounders, but not out of loyalty. I do so because they have put a competitive team on the field.
If, for whatever reason, they stopped doing that, I would be calling for their heads. It’s not about loyalty.
In some ways, the only way to let ownership know we are dissatisfied with the front office is to not support the team financially. I don’t think we send a strong message if we say we’ll buy tickets no matter how badly the team is run.
I’m not expecting trophies. I’m merely demanding relevance. I think that’s reasonable.
by Jack Brando on Feb 9, 2012 8:50 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Club = community
Players, coaches, and even owners come and go. The community that supports the team is really what makes up the club. Without the community there is no need to have anything else. The community is what we really support.
I think the ECS sent a very strong message to the owners and the FO when we decided to not attend the Chivas friendly (instead we gave our tickets to the Boys and Girls Club). At first Joe Roth and others were pissed off at us, now they talk about how Sounders fans want competitive matches instead of friendlies, which was exactly the message we were sending. I don’t claim the ECS can take full credit for the switch in the friendlies approach, but we definitely played an important role in that.
So there are definitely other ways than financial reductions by which supporters can show their displeasure. At least if you are organized there is. And indeed, I think the last thing I want to do when the team is struggling competitively is to cause them financial problems, because that will just make it harder for them to right the course.
I think expecting and even demanding relevance is reasonable. In fact, I see it as my minimum responsibility as a supporter.
I still think there's room
for someone to follow a team closely throughout a season and be disappointed with the results without their status as a fan wavering. If the Sounders clearly have one of the best teams in the league, but end up falling short of their potential, I don’t think think I have to stop watching them or stop buying things in order to be disappointed. I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t progress further in the playoffs last year, and I will be this year if it happens again, but I am following the team more closely than ever.
there ate people who feel one OS not enough
it isn’t how I feel. so it’s hard to capture what they mean in a poll
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
by Dave Clark on Feb 9, 2012 12:21 PM PST via Android app up reply actions
I think you're becoming too philosophical
It’s a poll on a blog. It should be fairly obvious that it means we will get one trophy (likely the Open Cup or one we’re close to being favorites for), but that we should have done better given our finances and players. If you want to get subjective, why don’t you question what is a sport? I mean is it purely commercial? Is it a way for our inner-competitiveness and historical clash over resources boiled down into a modern, physically safer way of exerting this competitive gene?
I think it's a pretty practical question
Calling it philosophical is a cop out. Every year this question comes up and every year fans state expectations which are higher than can reasonably be expected. One reason they can state such high expectations is because there are no real consequences when those expectations are not met. Fans’ true expectations of the team are illustrated in their behaviors, and I think what most fans realistically expect is for the team to play entertaining, competitive soccer. Should they fall short of that, most fans will pay less attention.
Yeah, but there's a difference between expectation and floor.
If a team were to hit the floor, you’d see real-world consequences, but if they were to fail to meet expectations, fans wouldn’t be happy.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Feb 9, 2012 1:37 PM PST up reply actions
There's also a difference between a hope and an expectation
I think people realistically expect a team to be entertaining and competitive, and hope they win championships. Expecting a team to win championships is folly. So many things can go wrong even the best teams can’t be expected to win championships.
No, they definitely can.
Tell that to all the fans whose hearts get ripped out when their team gets eliminated from any tournament. If they didn’t expect a win, they wouldn’t be as devastated by a loss.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Feb 9, 2012 1:47 PM PST up reply actions
I think the 2001 Mariners and 2005 Seahawks destroyed my ability to expect my teams to win championships.
I always hope they do, but I never expect it. Those were the two most emotionally devastating moments for me as a sports fan. So I think you’re right.
Agreed. And high expectations in a knockout tournament are foolhardy
I believe it’s reasonable to expect a specific finish in a league over a long season. All bets go out the window during the playoffs though as the result is based on 90-180 minutes rather than a 10 month long haul. Any team can win on the day.
Every year I expect Manchester United to be the top two in the EPL
Which is completely reasonable since they have only failed that three times (and those three times they came in third). They have also won their league 12 times out of the 19 years the EPL has been around.
In 83 years of La Liga, Real Madrid has finished in the top two 51 times and Barcelona 43 times.
Alright...
…you can’t expect American sports teams to win championships. The effective size of teams legitimately competing for the EPL and La Liga titles every year is so small it’s a joke to call them 20-team leagues. Expecting Man U to win the EPL is effectively like expecting the Yankees to win the AL East (12 times in the last 16 years.) And Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and the Yankees all play in leagues without anything close to the payroll restrictions that MLS imposes on its participants.
Agree
I think you’re onto something here. The poll could be renamed ‘really, really hope’ instead of expect.
This may be going a bit too far, but the dictionary has two meanings for expect: 1. Look forward to. 2. Regard as due or proper.
I suspect most people are interpreting the question as referring to the first meaning, not the second. I agree the second is problematic.
by greygalahad on Feb 9, 2012 5:35 PM PST via mobile up reply actions 2 recs
I don't think we want will win any trohpies
Those sound kinda gross…. (poll misspelled)
On a serious not, I think we have a good chance of snagging two trophies this year. probably US Open Cup and MLS Cup would be my guesses out of the 5.
If we can somehow beat Santos I think CCL we would probably have a good shot at, even going up against the Galaxy, or TFC, in the next round. I will laugh heartily if the Galaxy lose the series to TFC :D.
But I thought we have the easiest schedule?!
I also blame David Beckham for my girlfriend pushing boxer briefs on me after his Super Bowl commercial. Word can’t express the disdain I have for that a**hole.
Go banana!
by Disco_Stew on Feb 9, 2012 12:29 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
Is the League going to allow him a courtesy runner this year?
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Feb 9, 2012 2:34 PM PST up reply actions
Probably Lampard.
If you can find California on a map, then you too are home grown Galaxy!
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Feb 9, 2012 2:56 PM PST up reply actions
Boxer briefs
Are so money. Best of both worlds. You get support AND comfort!
by chrisperry1983 on Feb 9, 2012 4:15 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
US Open Cup
Whether the club considers a 4th consecutive US Open Cup and consequently setting a record the makings of a successful year, I will. Honestly, I’d rather repeat the Open Cup than win the Supporter’s Shield.
My top 10 (plus a few) possible 2012 highlights, in order of personal significance, is as follows:
1. Win the 2011 CONCACAF tournament (That would make us the first MLS club in the FIFA World Club Cup, correct?)
2. Win the 2012 MLS Cup
3. Defend the 2012 US Open Cup (and honestly, I’d probably enjoy setting a record more than just being the best team in a year)
4. Zakuani returning to the starting 11
5. Qualify for the 2012 CONCACAF semi-finals
6. Win the Supporter’s Shield
7. Defend the Cascade Cup
8. Park or Evans making the USMNT Olympic qualifying roster
9. Win the Western Conference
10. Qualify for the MLS Post Season
11. Soundly beat the Galaxy
12. Soundly beat the Timbers
13. Soundly beat the Whitecaps
14. Beat some Premier League team in the friendly
by Ruben Pagan on Feb 9, 2012 12:46 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
You should refer to CCL tournaments as 2011-12, 2012-13, etc.
Otherwise you will have people confused when there is no contexts (like in your post now) to make it clear what is meant.
Personally, the Cascadia Cup is not a high priority as cups go, but winning the Timbers and Whitecaps every time we play them is a top priority. :D
You'd rather win the Open Cup than the Supporters Shield?
Really?
I know it’s an unbalanced schedule, but if we were to win that would make it all that much more impressive…
As much as I love being 3-peaters in the Open Cup, until more teams take it seriously it should not be compared to SS, MLS Cup, CONCACAF, etc. In all reality the Open cup is really just an 8 team tournament and even in the final 8 many teams play backups. I’m not dissing it at all just saying it doesn’t compare…
I think winning the West is more important than the SS
While teams in the west have somewhat different schedules due to home/away, it’s nothing compared to the imbalance in schedules between the East and West. I don’t know how they will hand out CCL bids this year, but I think the best way would be to give bids to the best record in the East, the best record in the West, the MLS Cup champ, and the USOC champ.
by ubelmann on Feb 9, 2012 1:40 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Great list. Here's mine.
1. Balanced books. A great slide showing reasonable profits will sure make the owners meeting delightful.
2. Give some youngsters a run-out.
3. Hand a broken-down unknown from some backwater league one last hurrah
4. Develop a batch of local teens. You know, for the future.
5. Sign a Venezuelan to win LatAm Bingo!
5. Get recognition for Sound Wave. The Green Hornet Theme is hard to play, especially with all that chanting and singing going on.
6. Identify staff positions within the FO for players to return to after they’ve moved on and retired.
7. Have cool send-off parties for the core of our team when they leave.
8. Develop one new impossible fan contest to embarrass “lucky” participants at halftime.
9. Report that a formerly good player has implied he thinks Seattle is nice and could see playing here.
10. Invite first team players to viewing parties during the playoffs and MLS Cup
If I might add
11. Beat Portland in the only contest that matters: supporters group with the most indie cred as measured by the number of times that Arlo White calls out the ECS or Timbers Army on a nationally broadcast game
12. Continue to average more fans per game than the Mariners, because we can
13. Send Sigi’s kid on more scouting trips to some country that requires 6 different immunizations to enter
14. Cure Sigi’s kid from the disease caused by the immunization he didn’t get
15. Take to the Internet to complain loudly when one of our main guys is knocked out for the season because some thug ran him down from behind
16. Get local radio to expand their coverage of the Sounders from 30 minutes a week to 35
17. Award the Golden Scarf to John and John from The George and Dragon, because we know who really has kept drinking while watching soccer alive in this city
18. Beat Portland in the only contest that matters: supporters group with the most indie cred as measured by the number of times that our tifo is referenced in ads for the MLS
19. Make some beer money by selling our tickets to the friendly to some drunk from Liverpool
20. Unsmack our gobs in the highly likely event that LA finds a way to sign a Drogba for the minimum, while his wife/girlfriend gets a job making $10 million fetching coffee in the AEG offices
most important
21. Win Sectionals so we can move on to Regionals.
by CityDrew on Feb 9, 2012 4:41 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Parke and Evans
on the Olympic roster? Soccer in the Olympics is a U-23 affair with 3 over-age players. Neither Parke nor Evans will be chosen.
by Adam Waltering on Feb 9, 2012 3:21 PM PST up reply actions
That's an interesting thing to think about
Who will be those three over-age players? Donovan, Dempsey, Howard?
by chrisperry1983 on Feb 9, 2012 4:17 PM PST up reply actions
The pundits are already annointing LA MLS champions but I'm not buying it.
One thing they had going for them last year was a lack of major injuries to their core guys. How much closer would the SS race have been if we had a healthy Zak, OBW, and Mauro the whole way?
If you’re looking for a team that will have success in multiple competitions in my mind you pick the team that has experienced youth coming into it’s prime and depth to grind out a long season. On paper that’s the Sounders.
My picks for Sounders silverware this season:
SS
MLS Cup
CCL knockouts qualify
Cascadia Cup
Burn, destroy, wreck and kill!
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Feb 9, 2012 2:25 PM PST reply actions
Agreed!
Other factors:
1. They’ve already lost Omar Gonzalez for an extended period, and his replacements are a guy coming off a torn ACL/MCL (Leonardo) and a draft pick.
2. With international duty and their respective loans, Keane and Landycakes haven’t had an extended break since before last season.
3. Becks may be gone for an extended period due to the Olympics.
On paper the Gals are a dream team, and it may play out that way this year like it did last year; but maybe not. We’ll see.
We arent winning anything
Until we learn to curb stomp the goon element of MLS. The refs won’t protect our stars, so we need our bigs to do it for us. I am hopeful our new back line will distribute some justice this year. The health of Montero, Rosales, Fucito etc depends on it, and we won’t win anything without physical enforcement.
ummmmm
three trophies are already won
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
by Dave Clark on Feb 9, 2012 6:23 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Who were the enforcers on the Galaxy last year?
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 9, 2012 7:26 PM PST up reply actions
I'd argue David Beckham
his pinpoint set-play work punished fouls in a real and authentic way that just retaliating can not.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
by Dave Clark on Feb 9, 2012 9:26 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
That's a good point
and perhaps something the Sounders are lacking. Not that we NEED it, but our set pieces from distance rarely feel particularly threatening. Rosales is much better in the run of play than on set-plays, and Montero has found his niche with some beautiful precision shots on the closer in free kicks, but from further out it may be that Seattle doesn’t particularly scare opposing teams.
I'll agree here too
If we were deadly on long-range set pieces, some of the physical abuse of our stars would probably stop.
by luckystriker on Feb 10, 2012 11:52 AM PST up reply actions
Fair point
So why do you think we get stomped and they don’t?
by luckystriker on Feb 10, 2012 7:45 AM PST up reply actions
4 injuries done to our stars
Zakuani, Fernandez, Rosales, and Fucito all got hurt due to hard fouls. Who’d we knock out of a game? Conor Casey knocked himself out. Sure, LA had “luck” but did we only have bad luck? Every year we get hammered on hard fouls. It is “conventional wisdom” in the league to dirty-foul Seattle. When I pay to watch MLS, I do not want to see Mullentation. I want good hard play, but it seems to me that we get hard-fouled a lot more than we dish out, and this must be related to our injury rate.
by luckystriker on Feb 10, 2012 9:42 AM PST up reply actions
This isn't hockey
I really don’t see teams that carry “enforcers.” Honestly, I’m not sure we suffered an inordinate number of hard fouls. I think we were very unlucky with some of those fouls. The two fouls on Rosales, for instance, weren’t even that hard.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 12, 2012 8:44 AM PST up reply actions
1/2 Puritanical
MLS is blowing a great chance with the very unbalanced schedule that will most likely not go away. They should be awarding a SS for the West and the East.
This solves two problems. One, it makes the competition fair, where it has not been fair, Sounders were screwed their first year. Two, it solves the whining ( sorry ) of the people that don’t like playoffs. You HAVE to have a playoffs to decide which team is the real champ. It is AL vs NL, it is AFC vs NFC, etc.
The Supporters Shield...
Is an award created by supporters and recognized by the league. It predates a balanced schedule. I really don’t know that it’s the league’s place to decide who wins it. The league does, however, decide who gets the CCL berths. I’d be just fine with them going to US Open Cup, MLS Cup, winners of East and West during regular season.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Feb 12, 2012 8:46 AM PST up reply actions
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