Jordan Morris wears Seattle pride on his sleeve in Players’ Tribune essay

There have been no shortage of words written about Jordan Morris’ “local boy makes good” tale. How he grew up on Mercer Island, how his dad has worked for the team since the USL days, how he watched the first Sounders MLS game and decided then and there that he wanted to play for them someday.

But that story has never been told quite like it was in the Players’ Tribune, ie in his own words. Here’s how he describes playing at CenturyLink Field:

That stadium is just so damn fun to play in. You see it when the Seahawks play, and it’s contagious. The noise is deafening, but as a player, you sort of get used to it in a way. When you’re in the zone, you block it out. If you score a goal though, Oh, boy. It’s something else. That energy from the sound literally runs through your veins.

In Morris’ essay he talks at length about his own Seattle sports fandom, and uses the heartbreak he felt over Matt Hasselbeck’s infamous overtime proclomation as a thread to tie it all together.

No one understands the mindset of the Seattle sports fan more intimately than people like Morris — or Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer. He knows how big of a game this is not just for the team, but for the city and the fans.

You also get the sense that he very carefully selected his closing line as the Sounders get ready for the biggest soccer match in Seattle soccer history: “We want the ball.”