Last Thursday was the opening game of the new Major League Soccer team in Seattle – Sounders FC; they won the opening game 3-0 over the New York/New Jersey Red Bulls. While a few of my high school friends were mocking me (on Facebook) for being excited for the game (especially as the game was on the first day of March Madness), the entire team is energizing Seattle sports – they’ve sold over 22000 season tickets, and this opening game was televised live on ESPN2, with 35000 fans in the audience. Even our friend Rudy was very excited! I think a lof ot the excitement is that a new team (combined with the year the Washington Huskies basketball team had), started to turn the fate of Seattle sports back from the dismal year of 2008 – as ESPN put it, that was the worst year for a city in the history of sports.
This game surely provided that excitement for the rest of the year – we looked much better than the Red Bulls (last year’s championship runner up) across the board, dominating the offensive end, and clearly being faster and more physical. The weather was a crisp 45 degrees, and the fans were fully enjoying themselves. A great start for the franchise! Right as the game ended, I remembered I had my portable video camera on me, so here’s a sense of the ambiance.
http://www.facebook.com/v/63096777115
(you’ll need to visit the actual post to see the video).
