On Super Bowl Sunday Fox did soccer fans the generous courtesy of airing the Chelsea v Manchester United game live on broadcast television. The game certainly had highlights worthy of a general sports fan's attention and it was shown in basically twice as many nations as the Super Bowl will be this afternoon.

Unfortunately many die-hard soccer fans chose today as a time to show petty small-man feelings and litter social networks with how their sport is better, more exciting, etc. The bold statements about popularity in regards to soccer usually tend to ignore that the NFL is not just an Amero-centric sport, but league that is fiscally sound and makes billions in profits every single year. It grows in popularity outside of the USA every year, and there is an increasing likelihood that there will be a team in London within your lifetime.

Instead the reflexive reaction of soccer fans (in general) was to look down on other sports, to assault the non-soccer as if it is a zero sum game. It is not. This is a weakness in a psyche of the American soccer fan that needs to end. To quote Adrian Hanauer at Date with Sounder at Heart;

In fairness to us the game has been swept under the carpet for so many years, it's a niche sport and we've come out of the basement and I understand it, but that's sort of the next step - where we're not defensive anymore about the game.

Today's Super Bowl is a celebration of the most popular sport in America. Taking the piss out of it does not help soccer grow. It continues that locked in the basement attitude. Get beyond that.

Hanauer mentioned at that same event a type of behavior he hopes to see grow. It is something that we here call soccer evangelism.

I think that because soccer has made it in this city (again I don't want to come off the wrong way) we in the soccer world have the ability to be a little exclusionary and self-righteousness and preachy, to say "if you don't like it you're stupid."

We aren't better. We have different interests and we need to find ways to share those interests in order to increase interest in the sport and league we love. If MLS Cup had even 5% of the interest of the Super Bowl that would be good for the sport. Telling the hundred million plus of your neighbors how stupid their interests are isn't going to help.

Way back in the day when this blog was just a concept in my head I thought I would be lucky to have one other writer. In fact, I didn't even know if there were enough people who wanted this kind of soccer blog that it would need more than just me. Back in early 2008 team specific American soccer blogs covered only two things - fan culture and how much effort players gave. When Sounder at Heart launched and subletted space on Prospect Insider's server the declaration was to look at games a little bit differently, hopefully we're doing that.

There were some that thought the use of the word "heart" was funny for a blog that declares;

Sounder at Heart is a blog about the Seattle Sounders FC, with occasional forays into Democracy in Sports, Roster Management, Soccer Statistics and Life in Puget Sound. We are not the actual Sounders blog.

I think that passion shows up in many ways. Each of the writers display their own passion. My own may be in trying to figure out the rules of roster construction, discussion of tactics and attempts to build a more democratic club. Others focus on ticket sales, relations with supporter groups, the unique blend of American and European league structure and many other things. This site and community has room for all passions that relate to the Sounders.

Seeing the bios of the current managers, editors, podcasters and writers affiliated with the site is an example of our diversity and growth.

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Similar to last month I'll be answering questions within comments on this post. If you stick around maybe I'll talk a bit about our new logo and scarves that are forthcoming. Keep this to soccer, as there is already an OFF-topic post for the week.

Be aware SB Nation is doing a live mock draft tomorrow, but I'm not prepping in a typical fashion because I don't think that Adrian and Sigi use methods similar to most American sports teams. I will try to make it clear as to what I'm hearing v what I'm thinking in regards to any transfer rumors. I always may share some ideas and fantasies I have that have no basis in reality.

The photo is from Thursday's NBC SportsTalk (3PM Pacific). Where due to my prompting they did in fact talk about Major League Soccer's new schedule and their carrying 38 games on NBCSportsNet and 3 on NBC.

Go!

Whether you read this on Saturday night or Sunday morning - Happy New Year. Twenty-eleven was good for this little website. We had about 2.6 million page views, made our first run of scarves, hosted our first major event, launched a podcast, had mobile apps put out by the network (iOS and Android so far) and saw one of our writers recognized by MLSsoccer.com as one of the top American soccer journalists on twitter.

2012 will continue to see the community and the website expand. There will be new scarves, new events, new writers and who knows what else. Some Jeremiah and I have planned, some will just be reactions to inspiration when they occur. What I can assure you is that our mix of news, analysis and passion will continue.

Now for some Sounders themed New Year Resolutions. A few fanciful and a few that may be accomplished.

Clone Osvaldo Alonso - when I dream of a partner central midfielder to the Honey Badger I constantly think of another Honey Badger. Sure it won't happen, but I also won't lose these twenty pounds.

Give Mike Fucito a significant run - He's less than 1900 minutes in all competitions under his belt in his two active seasons. In that time he has 10 goals and 3 assists good for 4th in goals and 6th in points. There's competition to be Montero's partner, hopefully each gets a significant run based on time on the field not assumptions of big/small.

Win a Major & Minor Trophy - That's a strong minimum. I like supporting a winning team with soon to be 40,000 other people with the Sounders in their hearts. These past three season feel like the minimum level to be called success.

Good Health for Steve Zakuani and O'Brian White - I'm not talking about returning to the pitch. I'm talking about just being healthy men again.

Sign a HomeGrown Player - Whether Lange or Jones or Yedlin or Okoli or Palodichuk or Kovar I don't care. I just want to see one of the Academy guys get that first nod.

In many ways these are resolutions similar to those I will make for myself - to write fiction every day, to practice Arabic everyday and to workout every day. Noble goals, but they may not last through January

Jeremiah's Sounders resolutions are similar

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It's easy in life to be a cynic. For many it is even easier in sports, this seems to be especially true within the blogosphere, where cynicism and sarcasm are the modus operandi of so many. It's not my thing though, at least not by nature. Sure, I can dabble in cynicism, see this month's double dip critical of Ian Darke and the national TV for First Kick, but it is unnatural.

That kind of sharp bite isn't my thing in sports. Sports are joy-filled displays of art. They are a distraction from unemployment (both national and within my circle of friends), from the two wars where several of my former teammates have spent more of their lives than in America or from a political situation full of deadlock and finger-pointing. My negative emotions tend to drift towards these things.

There is plenty about which I can be cynical in the sport. I could spend time on MLS conspiracy theories, obsessing over Sepp Blatter or the portrayal of soccer within mainstream media.

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Anyone that wants proof about the arrogance combined with corporatism of NCAA need look no further than the recent claim by the LSU Tigers that "'Honey Badger' is considered a likeness of Tyrann Mathieu under NCAA regulations." Which is odd, because it's a meme people, you can't really own that (I'm not a legal expert, but that seems logical), and well Osvaldo Alonso got the nickname first, by a couple of days. Tyrann Mathieu as the honey badger first appears on April 1st (ha!), Alonso first appears on March 29th.

Sure the NCAA and LSU may have a claim when the colors and numbers and nickname are used. But to appropriate the entire 'athlete as honey badger' thing is just absurd. To quote the first story again;

Tiger District CEO Jared Loftus, who makes Honey Badger T-shirts, has not gotten a letter from the school, and he said, "This Honey Badger thing is bigger than LSU. In Baton Rouge, people associate it with Tyrann Mathieu, but if you ask people around the country about the Honey Badger, they're going to say, 'Yeah, I saw that video, it's hilarious'"

Get with it LSU, you have some great fans, quit trying to force them into your little pigeonholes. Let them have some fun. Having an Internet meme adapted to your team is an honor - go with it.

Over at Soccernet (that's ESPN's fancy purchased name for their soccer coverage) Ian Darke tells how "MLS Deserves To Succeed." This was posted just after the MLS Cup Final, but somehow I just found it. It may have to do with how ESPN treats North American soccer as an afterthought, kind of like their signature host. But how he approaches his reasons are a large part of why I don't want him as an Arlo White replacement even if the Sounders could get him to do it.

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We'll try to do these monthly during the off-season, and why not on the first Friday of a month? Jeremiah and I will answer questions to the best of our knowledge without violating any sources' trust. In addition here are two nuggets

• Sounders are scouting Honduras
• Stefan Frei heading to Seattle

So ask away, one of us will be around for a while. Maybe other writers drop by too, but I didn't warn them.