By now we're all aware that the Seattle Sounders welcomed a new player to their team this week. Xander Bailey was signed on Wednesday, trained with the team and finally made his debut on Saturday against Tottenham Hotspur. If that was all that happened, it would be enough to make anyone and everyone involved with the Sounders organization proud.
But what really made the story something special was a couple things. Firstly, it was the way Bailey handled the whole thing. This is someone who is not a public persona, but managed to give off exactly the right attitude about the entire experience. He never seemed anything but eternally grateful nor overwhelmed. He made it extremely easy to like him. The cherry on top was his postgame interview in which he admitted to not wanting to show up Brad Friedel by scoring.
The other part of the equation that is so special is the way fans embraced him. At the start of the match they held up placards with his number, 45, and ECS made a tifo honoring him as "Once and Always a Sounder."
He did the shirt proud.