Where is my cattle prod?

After several days of contemplation on the subject, I have reached the following conclusion; the Sounders didn't disappoint me on Saturday versus the Revolution. Here's why:

1. Montero scored the goal of the week, no question.

2. The team played a solid first half.

3. Keller would've taken on God-like status had he made either save that resulted in the New England goals, and that's a bit too much to ask.

4. The team did not create a bunch of chances we subsequently squandered and I'd much rather watch us play badly and lose than be the better team and lose or tie.

5. Alonso was flat out righteous in his efforts and only needed everyone else on the Sounders to replicate his work ethic to assure a solid performance (no small task, mind you).

6. Should we continue to perform as we did at New England, we will not make the play-offs and I won't have to worry about attending one or more cold and rainy matches at Qwest.

There is my silver lining. Don't call me a pessimist ever again, you meany-pantses.

Maybe we don't have to win...

...if the teams we are battling keep losing.  Last night DC United lost the the lowly Earthquakes 2 -1, with them sitting at 36 points and us at 38 the loss really helps us out.  Right now the only real teams in reach of us are DC, Toroto, and Salt Lake.  Losses by them really help us, and with all of us having played the same amount of games all we really need to do is win one of the next three, most likely. 

With all that said to give us the best seeding we need to keep winning, we still have an outside chance at the top spot in the West even with our recent sad outcomes.  We face Houston and can grab a three points from them (right now they are 5 points away from us).  At any rate start winning an all this takes care of itself, otherwise we could be out.

BTW - Feddy's amazing goal from the New England game is up for goal of the week, go vote - http://web.mlsnet.com/sights/goal_of_the_week/

New England pregame podcast

Troy and I are going to make efforts to have both pre-game and post-game podcasts for each match. While this will certainly be easier for away matches, the ultimate goal will be to post remotely from Qwest prior to home matches (this would require better hardware/software on my part).

As the title suggests, our pre-game for tomorrow's match is available now here: Tribe 131 Sounders Pow Wow. In case you were curious, this podcast features our theme song (getting more moronic with every show).

Let us know what you think.

Renew is in effect

Here is the information about ticket renewal, addition, or upgrade for season tickets.

http://www.soundersfc.com/serenade/

Tribe 131 Sounders Pow Wow Podcast is now up

And as promised, I've done went and posted the first show (in all its messy glory). With a bit of work, the sound quality may improve (although the background noise in the car probably won't).

Please comment here (or there) with suggestions, etc. I have submitted the podcast to iTunes but probably won't get listed there for a week or so.

Here is the link: Tribe 131 Sounders Pow Wow

What if the trend continues?

At what point does a loyal fan (me) give up hope? I'm not suggesting I'm going to stop cheering for the boys, or even bad mouth any part of the squad or coaching decisions but really, shouldn't I lower my expectations?

If I simply stop thinking the Sounders are going to break their home scoring slump, then I can't possibly be disappointed when they don't score a goal at Qwest, right? I should simply take solace in their uncanny ability to find the back of the net other places around the league (including 4 goals in two matches at RFK) and root for a 0-0 draw when Dallas comes to town in October, right? I'll just cheer louder for the back four and Mr. Keller in hopes of preventing a goal we certainly can't equalize.

In other news, I should have the link to the Tribe 131 podcast (which now has a name "Tribe 131 Sounders Pow Wow", thanks Troy) posted later this evening, probably very late. With any luck, we'll be recording another podcast after the New England match and I'll be sure to post here when the new shows hit the interwebs.

And one more thing, New England should beat us by three.

Some Chicken and an Egg

As you all know the Sounders laid an egg against Chivas.  We had all the advantages:  an opponent not interested in playing in the attacking third, a strong need for points, an overly-long home scoreless drought in need of ending, and for about twenty minutes a man advantage.  All of which led to no goals.  A lot of credit goes to Zach Thornton.  I heard that he was offered a hot dog for every save, if true he is in hog heaven.

Again we had a splendid tailgate, mostly thanks to J-Hole as I understand it.  I'm a sucker for pulled pork.  Though Kelly did her SEC-self proud with some breakfast muffins and jell-o shot chasers.  A boy could get drunk early with this crowd.  All I brought was some goat cheese as a method of skewering the Goats prior to the game.  Maybe we should have actually opened it. Next time I may go the Major League route and bring a bucket of chicken.  This home-scoreless business needs to end.  I'm willing to make sacrifices.  By that I mean killing things.  Or eating greasy chicken.

Now, I fear the Sounders will be like the nerdy kid at the playoff party -  on the outside looking in.  Perhaps such expectations were too high and unreasonable for a first year team.  Then again, scoring the occasional goal should not be beyond their abilities.  They did win the U.S. Open Cup so as far as I am concerned this has been a very successful year.  But with their hot start we all had our expectations raised.  Now they are all but dashed, and Jon  has lost all faith.