NEW SOUNDERS 3RD KIT FOR 2012

NEW LEAKED IMAGE!!!

3peat

3eattle! 3 cups, fuck. also Cascadia Cup, fuck. Best team ever. fuck.

Doug Fister's Big Game Tonight

Well it's another great day for baseball and Doug Fister (Former Seattle Mariner) is going to be up on that mound for the crucial game between the tigers and those yankees. The Yank's line up is going to be quite a challenge for Doug, especially with that aggressive approach to the plate that Steinbrenner has been advocating in the yankee's private locker room meetings. Here's my tip for Doug's success: Doug, you've gotta get that slider right in those corners and pray for a big miss. All year it's been pretty clear that the Yanke's trouble area is in those corners, and that sweet slide of yours should get em guessin and cursin'.

WE'RE GONNA WIN THE US OPEN CUP!

BTW, Starfire is the fucking best!

SOUNDERS!

SEE TITLE!

Say goodbye to #8

Matt Hasselbeck will not be signed by the Seahawks... Time to say goodbye.

3 time pro bowler. Broke every QB record that matters for the Seattle Seahawks. Brought to the team via trade by his dad(just kidding) Mike Holmgren in 2001, it didn't take long for him to be benched and considered a failure. However, in 2002 Hasselbeck was called on to play in place of Trent Dilfer after he was injured for the season. He played well enough to replace Dilfer as the starter in 2003, he then led the Seahawks to the playoffs that year and eventually to Super Bowl XL after the 2005 season. During Hasselbeck's career with the Seahawks, the team reached the playoffs in 6 seasons, including 5 straight, and won 5 NFC West Championships.

Additional note by Shane: Despite being among the leaders in the NFC in passer rating in '02, '03, '05, and '07 he never had a pro bowl pass catcher to throw to.

Horrible uniform designs 1

Roger Levesque

At the start of the season the Sounders starting forwards were Blaise Nkufo and Fredy Montero. During the off-season the team protected Mike Fucito from being picked in the expansion drafted and also added O'Brian White in the off-season. 2009 starting forward Nate Jaqua was back and expected to be healthy after missing much of 2010 hurt. Pat Noonan was still on roster after missing much of last season hurt as well. The Sounders also had 2 younger players in David Estrada and Miguel Montano who could play forward.

All of these players mentioned are forwards, thats 8 players other than Roger Levesque listed at forward (Steve Zakuani is also listed as a forward, but he doesn't play either of the 2 forward positions in the Sounders default formation, he is normally on the left wing), and head coach Sigi Schmid has used Brad Evans as a forward in the past. Counting Evans that makes 9 other players that Sigi could use at forward, 6 or 7 of them would likely be above Levesque on the depth chart, so what to do with him? In Friendly matches before the start of the season Levesque spent most of him time on the field at right back. The depth at forward caused the team to change his position. I can speculate that Levesque was only on the team at the start of the year because he is somewhat of a fan favorite and with his 5 seasons with the USL Sounders had been a nemesis of the new MLS expansion team and arch rival in the USL Portland Timbers.

Fast Forward to mid July and Levesque has made 4 starts and 13 total appearances. How?

• Blaise Nkufo retires, announced on day of the opening game
• O'Brian White acquires blood clot problem, continued complications with it throughout season
• Nate Jaqua has had fitness issues and has rarely been counted on to start and finish any game
• Brad Evans has missed significant time with injury
• Steve Zakuani's broken leg has restriced Sigi from using midfielder Mauro Rosales as a center forward
• Pat Noonan hasn't made an appearance until July, still recovering from injury
• David Estrada and Miguel Montano have been reserved for, uh, reserve league

So Levesque has actually had to play, he is a scrappy player and is not getting any younger at 30 years old, but has always shown clinical finishing and a hustle that earns him a few more chances at goal. He doesn't have nearly the skill of Montero or speed of White, but he is getting results (he has recorded 3 goals and 2 assists) and making it hard for Sigi to choose Fucito over him.

3 Games in 6 days

The Sounders are facing a depleted Red Bull(s) team tonight. This is great to hear, normally fans of any team facing the Sounders would hear that their team is facing a depleted Sounders squad. The Red Bulls are missing 5 starters due to injury, suspension, and international call ups. However the Sounders will be short a man as they are missing Jhon Kennedy Hurtado after he was sent off in the 49' of Saturday's game against Toronto.

This game will have goals, we will not see a 0 0 draw at home. The Red Bulls have suspect center backs and will give up multiple good looks a game. Look for Montero to have multiple shots on goal tonight. They also score a lot of goals, even without Henry I will be surprised to see Seattle keep a clean sheet.

Sunday against New England. No excuses. Take 3 points.

Then the Kitsap Puma's look to stop Seattle's US Open Cup dominance on the 28th. Will be probably only reserves for Seattle, but our reserves are great, posting a 6-0-0 record in reserve league play thus far.

very bad writing, I know. Not concrete thoughts that flow all that well. I am short on time, so thats my excuse

full green man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9CiNszI2U

Mariners vs. Nationals

Well boy, we're in for a real treat tonight seeing our Marinrs battling those Nationals. The Mariners shouldn't get too cozy over the National's bad record, because their pitchers have a special talent against our men.  I'm fairly sure Franklin will be stealing a base or two tonight, which will be a big boost to our offensive pressures. Maybe that Doug Fister can even pop out a single or two. I've been warning the Mariners not to let their guard down, and I really think this one's going to be a doozy if they don't keep their eyes peeled for trouble!

Dustin Ackley

!

Mariners fun time

I really wanted the Mariners to win today and the Rangers lose. That would have put both teams even at first place. Instead the Mariners lost 2-1 at home to Baltimore. This result ended my optimism and brought me back to reality. The Mariners are the 3rd best team in their own division, at best. The starters are great of course, well at least 3 of them, the bullpen has been better than expected as well, but they still run out the worst offensive lineup in the majors. The team is built for pitching and defense, and the deep dimensions of Safeco Field play to the Mariners strategy. But the team is not capable of scoring runs, the hitting is so bad that they continually make average pitchers look great. Outstanding pitching "won't do ya" too well if the other club's pitching staff can breeze through your hitters.

Thats all.

Don't let this picture fool you, Carlos Peguero sucks. Despite getting to the wall and robbing a home run here, he is not a good fielder. He has some power at the plate but now every pitcher throws it in on his hands and his approach is to swing as hard as he can and maybe get to the ball, even though he would just rip it foul everytime in that position. This team would be better off running Erik Bedard out in left field and batting him 6th in the lineup(278 ba).

0-2 pitch

Boy those mariners have ben doing well lately. We've had some real sweet pitching, even striking out that Rob Johnson a few times (coincidentially, he used to play for the marners, go figure). Now we're @ minnesota, Vargas is pitching, and I predict we'll win. Now that Guitierrez is back I think our bats are going to start becoming a fire. Let's put our prayers out there for Guitie's stomach to heal up nicely (Guitie if you're reading this I recommend oatmeal).

Brendan Ryan was 5 for 10 in the last series so I'm expecting a lot out of him this series. Here's to hoping he isn't fooled by those curveballs on the corners.  Jack wilson back in the lineup, he played on saturday night. Adam kennedy and jack wilson competing for playing time at second base, let's see who can impress the coaches. If jack can steal second base today I think it will be important for his prospects.

Go M's!

Jeppers

thats my new nick name for Jeff Parke. Way to go Jeppers. Great to get the win, only 2 shots on goal, how? Why? Kansas City looked to be playing for the draw, their defensive mindset was obvious. I don't remember Seattle having a chance when those Sporting Kansases didn't have defenders already in position in the box, waiting to knock a cross away to midfield.

The Sounders should have played better, a win from a header off of a corner kick in the 93rd minute against a team that hasn't won a match since week 1. But whatever, it doesn't matter. Oops, wrong blog. Anyways, hmmm. What was I gonna say? Oh yeah, those boys from Seattle won, so who cares.

Surprise.

The Mariners couldn't score runs, Felix pitches 8 innings of 2 run ball and they still lose... Then the offense starts scoring some runs, not a lot, but some. Every pitcher in the rotation has been lasted at least 7 innings and gave up no more than 1 run... Felix starts tomorrow. Day game. Win more.

Mariners: trying to fill that hole

It's been a long time since I felt good about those mariners, but this year I'm feeling really optimistic. I'm seeing some great plays in the infield, especially from that Brendan Ryan. Also our bats are starting to get really hot. Some areas that we ought to work on are Chone Figgins' great steals and maybe trying to make him a little more aggresive at the bag. 

Loving that .236 win percentage and, coincidentally, Chone Figgins batting average. If Pineda can get that throwing arm and the curveball working, I think we might have a good shot at the pennant. Go M"'s!

Dumber Coach

Our coach may be fat, but at least he's not a...

TIme To Establish Dominance(?)

Unbeaten in their last 6 games. 2 shutouts in a row, which are also the only shutouts that the Sounders have recorded so far this season. The team has been playing well despite losing 2 of their biggest scoring threats in Steve Zakuani and O'brian White. The wins haven't necessarily surprised me as I expected the Sounders depth to shine, but the consecutive shut outs have. Lineup shuffles that haven't been made due to injury are Patrick Ianni replacing Jeff Parke at center back and Tyson Wahl replacing foul machine Leo Gonzalez. Ianni is a solid defender and proved it while starting the majority of last season in place of injured Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, but I was/am skeptical that he is better than Jeff Parke. Tyson Wahl, or WAHHHHHHHHHH(L), as I said out loud when I realized that he was starting by coaches decision and not forced into action by an injury. I thought Wahl's playing style was too soft to stop any aggressive forward, but ummm. He starts 2 games and the Sounders record their only clean sheets of the season, so sorry Tyson Wahl.

The Sounders play DC United on the road tomorrow(May 4th). Just like Toronto FC on Saturday, DC United is a weak team. They have been outscored 8-1 in their last 2 games, and have given up 4 goals in a single game 3 times already. Seattle has won every time they have traveled to DC, 2 wins in regular season play and US Open Cup Championship victory in 2009. I am intrigued at the lineup possibilities for this game, as we will likely see many changes from Saturday in an attempt to run out as many fresh legs as possible against the Columbus Crew this coming Saturday. Yes, 3 games in 7 days. I expect a win against DC but not a shut out, I look for Charlie Davies to add to his league leading 5 goals against a Sounders team that has traveled across the entire country on a short week. As for the upcoming Columbus Crew on Saturday... Time to establish dominance.

Mariners!

24 runs off 32 hits in a sweep of the Detroit Tigers in Detroit. 5 home runs in 3 games and a 414 batting average with runners in scoring position.

• Miguel Olivo is hitting well(for now).
• Bedard goes 7 innings with only 1 earned run for his first win after 4 forgettable starts. His change up was definitely "back", made hitters look stupid golfing for balls before they came across the plate.
• Justin Smoak comes back and shows power that the M's haven't had in years.
• Bullpen hasn't given up runs. This is good for a baseball team.
• Michael Pineda
• Felix Hernandez

Last in AL West. Need a new motto.

July 16th...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR8SKfUB8YE

Brian Mullan is suspended for 10 games and fined 5k. Good. This suspension equals the longest that the MLS has even dealt. at 35, Mullan really needs to reevaluate his approach to soccer. Watching the tackle again and again he looks like a frustrated child on a tiny soccer field. I know all about that, it reminded me of something I did when I was probably 6 during a game at game farm park. I got angry about something and took off after the kid with the ball, "running as hard as I could". I wanted the ball and I was gonna score so I got to him as fast as I could and somehow once I got there I rolled over the top of him. Somersault. Really blurry memory but I think that the ref stopped play for a second and that was it. Mullan had that same mentality going into the tackle that broke Steve Zakuani's leg, he needs to change that. I think he will, he apparently has been shaken up by the incident which of course he should be, and in the future he will be watched more closely by referees.

<....... Dumb Man

THE SOUNDERS PLAY TOMORROW AND I'M REALLY EXCITED TO WATCH THE GAME SO HERE'S WHAT I DID. I AGREED TO BE IN TACOMA TO BUY A TV FROM SOMEONE ON CRAIGSLIST WHO WANTS TO ROB/RAPE/KILL ME AT THE SAME TIME AS THE GAME STARTS!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

"A report from the Kern County Crime Lab states, Josh Lueke matches this DNA from the anal swab"

Yeah but who else's DNA was on that anal swab?

"The woman told police she remembered vomiting into the toilet at the apartment. While doing so, the woman told police someone she could not identify was standing at her side masturbating on her."

Well, at least someone is willing to "do barf hole".

"She said she passed out, and when she awoke at around 8:45 a.m., she told police she was lying on a couch with her pants down and other parts of her clothing were missing."

Duh! Did you really want to do barf hole with clothes on? Also, have you ever tried anal rape with pants on?

"She told police she felt violated and that she never agreed to have sex with anyone."

Oh come on! Women always leave themselves open for rape and then blame men for cashing in on their sleeping holes. This one is no different. Why is it ok for a woman to drink and party and somehow not expect rape? Grin and bear it. This is life, no one said it was going to be easy.

Lamar Neagle, not as bad as he looks.

Did you notice the 2 minutes of black out during the Seattle Sounders FC at New York Red Falls? Neither did I, we were all probably too drunk. 2 minutes into stoppage time the ball fell in front of Lamar Neagle after Goal Keeper Slappy Sutton deflected Fredy Montero's free kick. Neagle set the ball with his knee and let it bounce once before taking a shot directly in front of the goal. Perfect position, perfect chance with the goalie still off balance from the free kick deflection. Neagle's shot went sailing over the goal, not even close. However, what many of us did not see is that the goal was replaced minutes earlier with a 2 feet high 4 feet wide goal, corresponding with new MLS rules for the 2011 season... "rule 21 b: before the referee can spray lines on the pitch prior to free kicks in stoppage time the goal must be replaced with an outstretched fishing net on poles." While it may have looked like Neagle kicked the ball 250 feet in the air while he was within 3 yards of the goal he really would have kicked it in the top right corner for a well finished game tying goal in stoppage time! "It's not my fault", said Neagle after the game. "I thought it was a normal sized net, I mean i just subbed in... How was I supposed to know?"