Where were you? Can finally be answered with "I was there." That’s what this game means for Seattle and the people of the Sound. I was there. Not "I listened." Not "I watched." I was there. We were there. People with diverse backgrounds and passions will come together for the Red, the White and the Blue. Thanks for coming to the game with me.

Riccardo Grittini, one of the men who yelled monkey chants at Boateng, stands with me in the town square of Corbetta. The search for understanding begins here, half an hour from downtown Milan, with a guy who looks like the second piccolo in a high school band. I don't know what I was expecting. Horns? He's 22 going on 16. Newspapers ran Grittini's photo back in January, but his head shot looks older than his face. I can't picture him looking at another human being and screaming: Oo -- oo -- oo -- oo. What could possibly have made that seem like a good idea?

So the Sounders will be exhausted and facing a team that just got its coach fired. It's a trap game on the bottom of a teeter-totter. So that's exciting?