Meet Sounder At Heart Staff

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.

Managers

Dave Clark's media experiences started when he worked for SportsRadio KJR-AM Seattle back at the turn of the century. Hired directly out of internship arranged by the strong BCC Broadcasting program he worked on the Sonics, Storm and Cougar broadcasting networks as well as producing shows for David Locke, John Clayton, Mitch Levy and Seth Everett. During that time he also taught portions of the Intro to Broadcasting course. After leaving radio he blogged and managed online forums for the site that became Prospect Insider, a political forum with several thousand members and participated in the GoalSeattle forums. The only thing that could pull Dave back into sports media was an MLS team and when that became official this blog launched. Dave is also passionate for flavors (he worked as a professional coffee taster), for Arab history (working as a translator in the US Army) and the future (he fantasizes about selling fiction stories). Dave covered the A League Sounders with KJR as a kind of training, attended several USL Sounders matches and is a season ticket holder in the 214 now.

Jeremiah Oshan has been writing about sports for more than a decade. For most of that time, it was a mostly professional relationship. Upon moving to Seattle and discovering the Sounders, though, he learned the joy of covering a team of which he's also a fan. His love of the Sounders has only grown since the halcyon days when he was begging Dave to just let him contribute. The Sounders, and MLS, have basically consumed his life at this point. He thinks of himself as a reporter/fan hybrid, attempting to use his background as a way to give other fans better insight into the team. In addition to his writing duties on Sounder at Heart, he's also the co-host of the podcast Nos Audietis, the MLS league manager for the SBNation blogs and the MLS editor at SBNation.com/Soccer. He's a lover of fine food, the open sea and the bluest skies you've ever seen. He is also under the impression that sarcasm is the highest form of comedy.

Sidereal (a.k.a. Josh) is a software developer by trade and is interested in bringing the statistical understanding of soccer out of the Dark Ages. He enjoys the game at every level and is as likely to be caught watching a PDL or Huskies game as a Champions League final. He's been a season ticket holder in 109 since the team joined MLS.

Aaron co-hosts the Sounder at Heart podcast "Nos Audietis" and writes the odd post when the mood strikes him. He also covers the Sounders for SB Nation Seattle and manages SB Nation's Aston Villa blog 7500 to Holte. Aaron can generally be found watching three-week-old Portuguese Liga matches on his laptop, pacing back and forth while mumbling something about Alex McLeish, or building ornate tributes to Fredy Montero out of sand on Alki Beach.

After moving to Seattle in 2008 dano_seattle (Dan Olson) began watching the Sounders in 2010. His first game experience was early 2010 and made such an impact that he has only missed 5 all competition home matches since. "Dano", as he's known by his friends, has been a musician and audio engineer for over 20 years, and joined Sounder At Heart to do editing and engineering for the Nos Audietis Podcast.

Jake Reeder, aka "malcontentjake" likes to write high-minded "concept pieces" and claims no particular journalistic integrity nor experience - save for his senior year in high school when he allegedly worked on the school paper but really just screwed off. Seemingly never lacking for an opinion, he writes for SaH as an additional outlet for his passion for soccer-football and the Sounders. He is a proud member of ECS and works for the group as a tifo director, and often attempts to bring a "Supporters perspective" to the site.

Timm is a 13 year vet of the radio industry, who decided a few years ago to 'retire'. Thus he traded his microphone for chef whites and life in the kitchen. He's been living behind 'enemy' lines on and off since 2000. He is also an author and editor for SB Nation's Real Madrid blog Managing Madrid. Timm moved to Bremerton last year to open a restaurant and fell in love with the Sounders. He attended his first match in July of that year, vs the Revolution. It was also at this match that be became a member of the Emerald City Supporters and their sub-group The West Sound Armada. Timm joined the staff of SaH in January of 2012, and once again resides behind enemy lines.

Abbott (and that is his name, not a job title in the Church of Fucito) began following the Sounders when they moved to the MLS and has seen most of their MLS games over the past three years. He can rarely attend the games in person but follows them religiously on television and radio. His first Sounders game in person was the team's second USOC Championship match. When not scaring the family cats, jumping up and down when the Sounders score, he works multiple jobs. A former college dean, Abbott has over 30 years of teaching experience and over twenty years as a professional artist. He currently works as the art director for an animation studio, a healthcare professional and professionally designs knitwear. He joined the staff of Sounder At Heart in 2012 to write a regular column about issues of roster building and management.

There's also a handful of others who can still write on the site and will do so when they feel inspired. These include Kirsten, Graham, Brian, Dizzo and Carlos. Each helped this site grow and are welcome back at any time. They all know this, but sometimes other matters get in the way of just watching the Sounders and writing about it.

We aren't done growing the staff yet. Denny, from over at Seattle.TheOffside.com, will be officially joining the site shortly. Recently, because of the number of posts being written concurrently we've even added agtk to serve as an editor. And in our quest to have more coverage of the Academy and have better access to photos you'll see Chris Coulter (@coultercrhis)of Sounders Photos posting as well.

Whether it's going to practices (Jeremiah and Dave attend regularly), or post game interviews (Jeremiah at MLS & CCL games, Dave and Jeremiah for USOC), watching the Reserves (nearly all of us), watching Academy games, phoning newsmakers around the team, the league or greater American soccer we will do our best to cover the team you love in ways that combine traditional media with fan passion.