Major Link Soccer: Fan Votes Are Popularity Contests

Seattle

The voice of the Huskies is retiring. After 37 years doing play-by-play for Washington Huskies football, and nearly as long with men's basketball, Bob Rondeau will step aside after the 2017 season.

The Sounders took a big hit in the Power Ranking Averages from RSL Soapbox, falling from sixth to tied for ninth with the New York Red Bulls.

Major League Soccer

This Denver Post columnist says the encounter between Tim Howard and a jeering fan shows that MLS is still "bush-league," and Howard's silence on the issue is bad PR.

Howard has since issued a statement, in which he takes responsibility and asks for more control of fan-player interactions by teams and stadium security.

Brooks Lennon has been a very bright spot in a struggling RSL squad since his return to the team on loan from Liverpool. The question for RSL now: Can they sign him to a permanent contract, especially before the U20 World Cup?

Justin Meram has had a fantastic start to the 2017 MLS season, but he promises the hype surrounding his performance isn't getting to him.

What happens when a goal that experts think could be worthy of MLS Goal of the Year doesn't even win the weekly award? Rob Usry asks whether it is time to revisit the way the MLS Goal of the Week is selected.

As a child I recall the local arcade having an NASL-themed foosball table, but tabletop soccer basically vanished as video games became dominant. Now some MLS fans are bringing back the joy of tabletop soccer with custom Subbuteo equipment honoring their favorite past and present MLS stars.

There have been several recent articles discussing the concept of vertical play in MLS. American Soccer Analysis joins the parade with their own metric that evaluates yards run forward while on the ball, a statistic where Nico Lodiero currently ranks second in the league.

The stereotyped view of soccer as a strange sport played only by foreigners and those not good enough for traditional American sports is finally changing, and one Atlanta parent who grew up facing these stereotypes couldn't be more thrilled.

Women's soccer

US fans who wanted to watch NWSL action this season but who lack mobile devices were rightfully upset about the lack of desktop streaming on go90. Unfortunately that issue won't be resolved this weekend, but league officials hope to have desktop streaming available for fans within 'a matter of weeks'.

The FA Women's Super League is kicking off its spring series this weekend, but players and fans alike received a shock today when Notts County Ladies announced they were ceasing operations immediately, just two days before their scheduled opening match against Kim Little and Arsenal Ladies. Team officials cited significant financial woes related to the debts accrued by the club's previous owners.

World

With less than 14 months before the World Cup in Russia, numerous scandals surrounding FIFA and the World Cup bidding process have put a damper on its attractiveness to advertisers. Only one-third of sponsorship slots are reportedly sold, whereas for the 2014 event the vast majority of slots were already sold by this point.

More news continues to come in about the awful attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus last week. A suspect is now in custody, and authorities believe his motive was to profit off the attack in a stock market scheme.

In better news for BVB, reports are now linking them to a potential summer transfer for Bobby Wood.