The Sayer of Yea!

What a perfect evening. I saw a police chase on the way to The T. Broke out the new CHiPs shirt which was widely praised for its obvious, but well-thought tribute to David/Erik Estrada. Oh, and the Sounders won a game.

Not just a win though, a three-nothing shellacking that left poor Bobby Shuttleworth shell-shocked. Leo Gonzalez opened the scoring just five minutes in with a sweet left footed blast past the baby-faced keeper. It proved to be the game-winner and set off an emotional outpouring from the home faithful. Just that quickly a months-long funk turned into a euphoric celebration. Amidst the dancing, hugs and high-fives was a stadium-wide sigh of relief. One akin to a family's emotional upturn at the news of a loved-one's unexpected recovery.

The buzzards, or at least the bloggers, had been circling over the Sounders ready to pronounce them dead. Freddie Ljungberg was a particular target, some suggesting he be benched others ready to sell him to the first bidder. No more. He played like he cared, and what a difference. He made a number of fantastic runs, in at least one case catching the speedy Steve Zakuani to put himself in position to take a cross. Such effort was a welcome sight, you could see how hard he was running and it's nice to know he has plenty left in the tank. He furthered surprised by keeping his mouth shut, not once did he stop playing to jaw with the ref.

The offense, especially in the first half, was firing on all cylinders. Zakuani supplied the second goal putting a right-footed volley past Shuttleworth. Fredy Montero got the last goal by freezing a defender with a fake volley then scooting to his right for a low shot. It probably should have been stopped, but in his defense Shuttleworth didn't get much help from his backs.

Seattle's defense, on the other hand, played very well. Kasey Keller was only forced to make a single save. But apparently it was one too many. He was visibly upset with the backs on that occasion and verbally slapped them upside the head. Patrick Ianni filled in beautifully for Osvaldo Alonso shutting down Shalrie Joseph my monitoring his movement closer than an ankle-bracelet.

All in all a fantastic evening. So I will say it again - Yea!