all games can be heard on the radio

jose with the times has noted that he got word that all sounders games will be aired on 97.3 with Callabro doing the play by play...

my first thought was "great", but then my second thought was... wait, does calling a game for TV translate into a good radio broadcast?...

i honestly don't know. obviously baseball they have different tv and radio announcers. For basketball, it is usually the same play by play caller, at least it was for the sonics. I am pretty sure american football uses different announcers but i don't know that for a fact.

i have heard a lot of games called for soccer on the radio, and i am pretty certain that they radio centric, but i don't know the answer for sure.

anyone have any insight or opinion on this?

the sound wave experience

i have a good friend who is in the sound wave and i asked him to comment on the experience. you will note the complete sentences and capital letters, so you know i couldn't have wrote this... without further adu...


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Being a part of the first edition of the Sounders FC Marching Band, The Sound Wave, has been a thrill every step of the way. From auditions back in June to the Sound Wave's epic performance at the Seahawks vs Patriots halftime show at Qwest Field with the Blue Thunder Drum Line, the band has come a long way and is ready to rock the house at Qwest when the inaugral season starts on March 19th!

Here are some Sound Wave highlights from the first 6 months:
The Audition - It is a great understatement to say auditions can be intense and stressful. Many of the musicians arriving at Qwest that day already knew each other which eased the tension. But for those of us that did not know anyone there, introductions from friendly fellow musicians really helped and was a sign of the camaraderie to come within the Sound Wave. Band Director Keith Rousu (also director of Blue Thunder Drum Line) presided over the auditions. Besides the usual playing part of the audition was a short interview where Keith asked if we were soccer supporters, Sounders FC supporters and if we were ready to commit to not only rehearsals and performances but to be a part of making the atmosphere at Qwest Field special for the fans and the team and the success of the franchise in the MLS. I could tell right then that this was not going to be just your random band of musician mercenaries, but an element of the game experience and one of the faces of the franchise. Very Cool. (I made the band on Mellophone!)

Rehearsals - After auditions and new instrument purchases (sweet silver KING sousaphones, baritones and mellophones) we had our first rehearsal, to be followed by many other "firsts". From day one I could tell this band was going to be good with many very strong players in every section. We started out with about 50 members and held our first rehearsals on the top floor of Qwest Field parking lot. We started out with 3 songs but that number quickly grew to over a dozen as of today. Many of our charts are arranged by Assistant Directors/Brass Coaches Steve Baretich and Edd George. Edd and Steve are bringing hot, original arrangements to the Sound Wave including Low by Flo Rider, Fire by Jimi Hendrix, Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Get Ready by the Temptations and of course the Sounders Theme by Henry Mancini.

Performances - Rehearsals are fun but for a musician it's nothing compared to performing. Especially when you are performing songs folks can move and groove to and that create a positive response. Every performance the Sound Wave has been quite different: the Kasey Keller press conference, the first Membership Association meeting with Drew Carey, the Holiday Parade (where Police Chief Kerlikowski's wife was caught dancin' in the streets to the Sound Wave's version of LOW with the parade crowd cheering her on!), the Fashion show - again with Drew, the big Seahawk halftime gig with the Blue Thunder and the SeaGals (two observations... 1. Blue Thunder are incredibly talented and really know how to work the crowd. 2. The SeaGals are pretty talented too and dance GREAT!) and the FX McRroy's Sigi Schmid greeting. Each and every performance brought cheers and positive reactions from the crowds (including spontaneous dancing in public!) and support for the band and Sounders FC. Also, we had the honor of playing at the Tuba Man's memorial service. An appropriate example of how the Sound Wave is going to be a positive and respectful part of the Seattle music scene.

Then there's Drew Carey, the man behind the band, who as it happens is a really terrific and down to earth guy. He came and hung out with the band after the Membership Association meeting and answered questions, cracked jokes, gave autographs and took pictures plus shared what his vision and goals were for the band's future. He has taken a very personal interest in the Sounders FC and the Sound Wave, which is really going to make this experience that much more unique in ways only Mr.Carey can. This is going to be a wild and fun ride!

regular season schedule released, and san jose sign up for pyramid scheme

MLS have just released the regular season schedule. not going to over analyze it too much at this point, other than to say we are top heavy on our home games towards the front of the season, and that obviously gives us a lot of away games at the end of the season. that could be good bad or indifferent... i told you i wasn't going to analyze... and i am not. full sounders schedule here.

in other news, a door to door salesman showed up on the training grounds of San Jose this week. before you call my bluff, have you ever been to the san jose training ground? they have a large door that says "solicitors welcome", so know you know my story is all true. anyway, a "salesman" mentioned to a club representative that if they just print a specific logo on the front of their jersey, and then they get some people to buy some of those jerseys, and then everyone that buys those jerseys has three friends to buy more jerseys and so on and so on, well they would make a lot of money. it sounded like a solid idea, and that is how san jose thought it would be a good idea to put AMWAY on the front of their jersey.

you may not like X-Box as a sponsor, but thank your lucky stars that you are not going to be the laughing stock of the errrr, people who... err... laugh at your shirt... sponsor..., or something like that anyway.

san jose... ha ha ha ah haha ha ah.... amway haaha ha hha hha *sigh*

lot's going on

got a call from a friend last night that reads this blog.

him "hey man, are you ok?"
me "yeah, why wouldn't i be"
him "you never blog anymore, just wanted to make sure everything is fine"
me "i am fine"

good story eh?

well here is the deal, i knew i was slowing down on my entries a bit, but not until this morning did i realize that i have only posted 4 times this month. that is just a poor showing on my part. i have many blogs that i follow and it irks me when they aren't updated at least every other day. so if i have irked you, my apologies. the reason for my poor attendance, if you care, falls into the "working all day at work, and then coming home and working until late late night on the house (painting, flooring, tile, etc) to get ready for the newborn that will come into this world via a stork on march 19th at the 22nd minute of our game against the red bulls no doubt. the stork will drop my new daughter from 100 meters high, montero will chest trap over to nyassi who will deftly chip a ball for nate to head in to the back of the net. don't worry about any harm to my daughter though, schmid has been working on everyones "soft touch" that she hardly felt a thing. oh, and there is a bed of pillow and feathers at the back of the goal, so she will come out completely unharmed.

see what happens when i don't write for a while?

now what was this blog about again? oh right, the sounders... let's see... has anything happened lately?

well other than the rumors... ahem.... about chelsea coming in the summer, the one thing that has been dominating the headlines is the players that we have have been signed, or invited to try out. there have been a windfall of players, sometimes 2 a day.

- Taylor Graham, former USL defender for the sounders has signed.
- Fredy Montero, Columbian Striker is set to join from Deportivo Cali (more on him in a minute)
- Quavas Kirk, former DC and LA midfielder is on trial
- Patrick Ianni, defender from Houston was signed for our 3rd (possibly 2nd) pick in the 2010 superdraft depending on appearances.
- Osvaldo Alonso, USL rookie of the year with Charleston is a midfielder who put up 7 goals and 2 assists has been signed. interesting to note that he as one of those that defected in 2007 from Cuba if you remember that story.

our team is really starting to take shape and I am very pleased to see a few defenders in that list. after the expansion and superdraft, even though we had picked up some defenders, it still seemed that we were lacking in that area, at least in experience. In Ianni, we have a player on the cusp of international play for the US, and says the coach,

He’s very strong in the air, which is something we need to add to our team right now.

That type of endorsement makes it sound like he is very much being considered a starter. we have a pretty well known quantity in graham. he has been fantastic over the years, but you still don't know how great he will be in the next level up. i wouldn't expect him to do poorly, but sometimes, it is the smallest of skills that he may be lacking, that could get exposed at the highest level of the game in our country. at the very least, he is a solid back up no doubt. now if we can sign Parke, i will consider the center midfield position relatively strong. you can never know until you see them play together however, but it wouldn't be a glaring hole no doubt.

now for mr montero.... what an interesting piece of business this is. if anyone has got the straight skinny on who owns what and how, why, where, i would appreciate you sending me a note. the best i can tell, we own 65% of the player (upon visa and paperwork being completed/approved). that 65% number appears to be valid b/c it comes straight from adrian, but everywhere i still look for info on this, nothing else is explained. my questions....
- who owns the other 35%, am assuming still deportivo cali
- why is he still consistently linked to this real betis move/loan. maybe this is residual from prior to our signing, but i still see loads of this talk going on.

and then the ultimate question.... how much did he cost? i got lambasted on this blog a few months back at the original news that we were about to spend a few million on this kid. i still can't see this being in the millions. this must surely be why deportivo cali only would sell 65% of him b/c they want to see some profits in the future when he heads off to europe... come on, you know he will end up there if he lives up to his hype.

i am not a big fan of this partial ownership... it has a chance to get very messy, a la carlos tevez. but heck, if it gives us yet another goal scoring threat, and we can get 2-4 years out of him, bring it on i say.

anyway, i am sure the truth in all the ownership and price is out there. if you know for a fact how this is played out, please drop me a note.


so, with nyassi, ljungberg, le toux, montero, zakuani, and jacqua, there is no shortage of attacking options and that doesn't even take into consideration the two fullback players that we picked in the draft that are both considered wide attacking minded threats.

this is all good and exciting if our defence can handle the counter attacks that we will surely have to endure when we leave ourselves open. so having those defender numbers increased helps calm my nerves a bit.


well there, i guess we have caught up to present day. i will do my best to keep up on my posts, at least better than i have been.

for those that are reading this on www.soundersfootblog.com, might i suggest to you that you start to read www.gosounders.com instead. my posts are all there as well as the other blogger who does a GREAT job on aggregating the news.

the seattle times makes the grade, but the pi falls short, again.

well i walked up to my bus stop this morning, and sure enough, the plane crash gets the headline (as it should), but was there anything, above the fold, about the #1, and very first draft pick, for the Seattle Sounders.

the times had "zakuani goes first" and a picture in the upper right hand column directing you to the sports section, fair enough i say.

the PI? nothing... the sports blurb at the top was about the huskies. a team that will play over 30 games this year, and every year. never mind that this was the VERY first draft ever. never mind that it was the #1 pick of the draft.

i am sure the sports editor would justify it until he is blue in the face to me... but i say to him, you just don't get it.

oh well, maybe in a few months there won't be a PI for me to get mad at.

will the papers make it front page?

i have given both the times and the PI a lot of crap the last 6 months b/c i think that their coverage of the sounders has been VERY poor.

recently, i retracted a bit b/c they both have sounders sections and even blog sections... the times has done quite well with timely updates as well i have noticed.

but i wonder if our number one draft pick will make the front page of either tomorrow. it should. it would for the seahawks, mariners, or sonics when they played here. however, i recognize that the plane that crashed today heading ultimately for seattle is "real" news and probably will, and should get the prime spot....

but if we don't make a nook or cranny on the front page, even one of those dumb little logos in the upper left that only says "sounders draft zakuani" i am going to let them have it for sure.

as for the draft itself, it certainly speaks to the offensive minded attacking play that we are all wanting (or at least i am). we got arguably the best striker in the draft, and both defenders, left and right wing, are quite attack minded if i understand correctly...

the only thing that surprised me was a lack of a center back. but i am sure there is a plan, i am just not privied to it.

this is one of those things where only time will tell.

the draft

unfortunately i will be in all day meetings tomorrow and i will not be able to watch the draft. this doesn't bother me too much, other than being curious with the positions that we decide to pick up. as for the players, well i don't know anything about a single one of them. other than the speculation that most of you have seen that forward Steve Zakuani from Akron or defender Omar Gonzalez from Maryland will go 1 and 2 (or maybe 2 and 1) i really don't know much else.

so it is hard for me to say that we need this guy or that guy, but i do think that there are 6 positions that are necessary to have an experienced and skilled player in order to have a successful team. of course this is TOTALLY subjective and i am sure there are many counter arguments to my points, but that is why this is a fans blog right?

without your best players filling the role of the following profiles, i don't think you can win consistently...

1. a strong keeper. in keller we have that. he may have lost a step from the height of his career, but you can be sure he will organize the back four and that is almost, if not more important.

2. a defensive midfielder. in my opinion this is the most underrated position on the whole team. this player nips counter attacks and creative midfield play in the bud. it isn't a glamorous role by any means. sometimes it is just stop the ball and pass to the creative guy whose shirt sales are 10x yours. but without this "makalele" type role, you are setting your defense up to handle twice the workload than they could be handling. and regardless how good your defense is, twice the chances will always yield more goals. this is best shown in Arsenal this year without flamani.

3. a creative midfielder. this is a tough one to describe b/c creative midfield play can mean so many different things. but to me, this is THE player that runs the show. 75% of all attacks go through this person at one point. whether it be the long ball to the streaking winger, or the neat 1-2 with the striker darting into the box or maybe even actual direction of play. the thing that makes this person dangerous is their ability to do something unpredictable and extremely accurate. if the opposing team knows what type of movement you are going to play, they have a significant advantage over you. i think we have this in freddie, if he stays healthy that is.

4. a winger with pace (and it goes without saying that good ball control is necessary). of course, two wingers with pace is better, but for my argument, i think you can get by with one. what a winger with pace does is give you so many more options in attack. it stretches the field in two different ways... obviously it keeps the opposing winger and fullback on their toes out wide such that they don't cheat inside, but more than that it also gains the attention of the opposing midfield and sometimes center backs. if your winger consistently troubles and often beats the fullback/winger then other midfielders and center backs are going to be on their toes to help out and often will move over to that side of play. this significantly opens up the field for your strikers and other midfielders to get open and shoot. without at least 1 of these players, the midfield and defense can plug up the middle of the field making it quite impossible to get a good shooting chance. the few games i was able to see with nyassi last year convinced me that we indeed have this player.

5. a scrappy striker, often called a fox in the box. of course there are the Henry's, Ronaldo's, Kaka'sof the world that can create something from nothing, and score brilliant goals rather consistently. and i am not saying i would not want one of them... but it isn't a cornerstone, it is gravy. but we need a player that just seems to be there to pick up the pieces, not choke when the ball drops to them unexpectedly and to do the one thing that they are paid to do, score. "of course it is necessary" you say. yeah, this is kind of a "well duh" player. but the thing is, i don't think there are a lot of these players out there. strikers want to be fast, and they want to be silky, and they want to score fantastic Sports Center type goals, and they want to be great headers of the ball etc. etc. not a one of them likely says "I want to score a lot of ugly goals this season". you can't count on a finesse player always being on his game, but if you have a player that just takes his chances, to me, that is more valuable. the reason Ruud Van Nistelroy was so damn good for ManU a few years back was that he took almost every chance he got. there weren't a ton of amazing goals, but there was a ton of him taking what was a 1/2 chance, settling the ball, and hammering in the net. in fact, i remember seeing a stat somewhere (stat heads please help me out here, or prove me wrong), that RVN didn't score a single goal outside of the box for ManU.

6. the organizing center back. the reason that i was/am absolute crap at defence isn't b/c of my skill or speed. even though i have too many LBS on me these days, i still am faster than most of the people i play against... and my skill is a little above average (not great, but good). but the reason i am crap at defense is b/c defending is way more about positioning and organization than it is about ball control. the good defenders that i play against aren't shutting me down b/c they are out running the ball, they are shutting me down b/c they are forcing me into tough areas, or making me make the pass, or containing me until I make the mistake. so my point about the center back is, of course he has to be good in the air and stop the ball being delivered into the danger area, but more than that, he has to be a GREAT organizer. you can survive with average full backs if they are organized well.

surely it goes without saying that we want the best players we can get in every single position, and of course that is sigi's goal. but for me, we have to focus on these first, and then start adding in the other pieces.
this is all one long way of me saying... by the end of this draft, we need these 6 types of players minimum. we already have the keeper, creative midfielder and winger for sure. i am not totally convinced that le toux fits my opinion of the striker, but jacqua may. as for the defensive midfielder and strong center back, i also don't know if we have that yet. it may mean that Gonzalez, a centerback, would be the best pick for us.

what do you think? do you totally disagree? i am sure some of you do... let me have it.

i don't even know where i have been

i haven't posted forever and it has probably been the longest since i have started this blog.

i think i am in a post snow/holiday funk. there hasn't been a ton to write about (eyelander being the exception).

well for the 6 of you that regularly show up at my blog, i am sorry. for the other 18,094 season ticket holders... well i am sure you didn't notice.

the thing is i have some sort of writers block. normally i write about nothing so that makes it even more bizarre. but i haven't been inspired lately. maybe it is the time of year, the snow, the extra 24 pounds i put on over christmas, but i have just been lazy.

anywho, my new years resolution is to get my year in review out by the 12th, or something close to that anyway ;-)

i have nothing to say about eyelander that hasn't been said. he is a fantastic apprentice... the only thing i don't know is why it took so long for them to finalize this. i understand that this deal has been all but done for a long time. maybe it goes back to an argument that i made a few months back on why the sounders haven't signed any usl sounders to date.... and that is, why would they? they can sign them at any time so why take up a spot before you know who you are going to get (at the time) in the expansion draft and the super draft. then you fill in the spots with the few sounders likely good enough to make the squad.

anyway, i hope you all have a better 2009 than 2008. 08 was kind of crap for many people so that shouldn't be hard, but given the way all the economic news just keeps getting worse and worse, maybe it will be hard.

oh, and to those that have been reading my blog and actually liking it... thank you for your support. i have loved doing it and i hope to be able to provide opinion/insight/humor to you throughout all the next years season.

thanks for reading.