I am a fan, supporter, consumer, band-wagoner, Sounder. Call me what you like I'm here to stay. Sounder till I die. In my native 40 years, I've seen/followed a goodly amount of the PNW sporting landscape. Even watched the Sounders of old play in the King Dome. Played, coached, studied & watched athletics to various degrees all my life.To the point I feel comfortable in saying I've got a fairly solid background, giving me insights & understanding. Not professional, elite or any titled jargon. Is this my resume? No, hardly, unless I'm applying for armchair analyst. Just a point of reference. I think, understand & process information. Albeit differently than some, maybe even you. Nature of sport, human condition, tactics, war, life, victory, sorrow, I understand. Perfectly? No. Though I posses the same make-up as most to try.

So what's my point? I don't think I'm alone. Each one of us hold a different set of values/opinions. Not all communicate in a precise manner or are learned, with books & such. So to some, seeming stupid. It is knowledge I lack, not the ability to understand it. On numerous occasions I've found such glorious hope filled knowledge right here, on S@H. Editorials, commentary, tactics, scouting reports, from the articles on through the threads, I learn. I've read a thoughtful, objective, well written piece by each staff writer.

More often than not the threads are fun, sagacious, & humorously helpful. Today, not so much. One said po-ta-to, another po-tah-to. As so often happens in these ever shifting climactic exchanges, shots were fired. Shots of a digital nature mind you. Keystrokes of huffing & puffing. A drive by shouting, if you will. Internet style, all up on your IP address, bustin' caps shouting you down. "*Remember Me?, I'm The Guru! I'm right, your wrong! Accept it,...Jerk." ( *paraphrased of course ).

Why so smug? In that particular thread, I didn't see the need, or justification, to warrant such a personal attack. So you differ in opinion? Has there been an ongoing battle of epic Internet proportions, debating the finer points of Articulatory phonetics?

Inside the debate, IMO, lie a clue. An accusation. "*I know more than you. I've said it better, prettier & fancier than you! Plus I know all the right words to say." ( *paraphrased ). Now objective observation could guide one to believe a plethora of things, & have just as many feelings at this point. I'd like to focus on one. Perception. Life gives each a different lens to see through. There was a lengthy post within the thread approvingly tweeted by S@H. This post had some righteously wielded indignation for stupidity, though it's support of the aforementioned drive-by, left it tainted with vile prideful arrogance. Prideful of what you ask? I too want to know. None are born with great knowledge, we learn it. Furthermore, treating Johnny Come Lately like the third wheel on your unicycle, is piss-poor evangelizing & borderline juvenile at best. I am of the opinion writers for this blog have a shared responsibility of representing our club. Debating the merits of each posters tactical argument is outside my point here. My time on this site, I've learned/gleaned knowledge from each. Pointed discussion is not without stringy, frail, sometimes weakly supported argument. In fact, within every argument, a fallacy can be found. This should by no means be mistaken as void-less tripe. On the contrary some of the greatest truths about life & football, can be found in the simple.

We may choose to disagree, & I'll probably be accused of being pridefully arrogant in my own right. ( a worth-little troll-esque of a man! ). Within the accusation in question, I smelt a familiar accuser. One that would point to those words as evidence of elitism, even ( *gasp* ) euro-snobbery! Playing devil's advocate, I would concede the jury may think the same. An array of post from Insertsoccersites.com would be exhibit "A".

Write,don't write? Defend, don't defend? Respect. Internet tough guys, solution, beer-muscles, problem? Where do I or others fall? Has SB Nations committed editorial philosophy of "professional quality, fan perspective" been upheld? These last two questions, the crux of the squabble.

Sit or stand, grass or turf, sing, don't sing, attacking mids & who's space is who's. I'm all for an increased amount of Internet snark & general ass-hattery. In fact, I believe them essential building blocks of the three W's. Whether a view is shared or not, outside the confines of banned speech i.e. hate talk etc., It should be free of abuse. From anyone.

I include this link as a point of reference to which I write.

http://www.sounderatheart.com/2012/6/30/3129112/revolution-vs-sounders-fulltime-recap#comments

"It's obvious that we don't know one millionth of one percent about anything." Thomas Edison