Alrighty, let's fire up this blog again!
First off, thanks hugely to Joseph Armand (with permission from Prost Amerika) for the photo, which is Tune #1 in the Why We Hate Josh Wicks Medley. In case you'd forgotten.
Oh, and I think Joseph would like me to remind/notify everybody that the thrown bottle did NOT come from the official Brougham End supporters' section. It actually came from a hooligan wannabe in the SE corner of the stadium.
(Not that I minded it all that much, given that nobody deserved a bottle more. Well, aside from the fact that it probably was the only thing that kept Wicks from getting a yellow for stalling.)
Tune #2 comes from Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune:
Now I know exactly where Josh Wicks stomped on Fredy Montero.
And I mean exactly.
I couldn't really tell from the TV coverage: Stomach? Leg? Couldn't really tell.
So, with the Sounders back at Starfire today, I asked Montero (with teammate Taylor Graham serving as interpreter).
Montero answered by rolling up the right leg of his practice shorts. The exact spot remained clearly marked by two blood-red scrapes along his thigh -- one about 4-5 inches long, the other 2-3 inches -- both looking as bright as if they had been applied by a crimson felt marker.
And Tune #3? Just in case it had slipped your mind, Wicks used to play for the Portland Timbers.
Is that enough? No? Okay, fine. In the comments, in 100 words or less, tell us Why You Hate Josh Wicks.
Game is Saturday at 4:30 our time. And after our fantastic US Open Cup win, DC is not going to be happy to see us. (Not that this will bring out huge numbers of their fans.)
Marc Burch and Dejan Jakovic will be out with injury. And, since I know you're wondering, Jakovic is out with not just a hernia repair, but with a "bilateral hernia repair."
(Sorry you asked now, aren't you? If not, then I'm sorry you asked.)
DC is expected to abandon the not-terribly-effective 3-5-2 and go with 4-4-2 instead. And they played midweek, beating KC 1-0, which either means they will be primed-and-ready or really, really tired.
On our side, we're missing Freddie Ljungberg to his fifth-yellow suspension. (More on that later.)
And Sounders guys? We really, really need these points.