Running Diary: New England Revolution vs. Seattle Sounders FC

As promised, I'll be keeping a running diary of tonight Sounders match against New England, I'll post the first half comments at half and the 2nd half after the conclusion.

9:26 P.M.- Quick aside before we begin. As Omar Minaya is determine to run off one of the two guys left on this team that can actually hit, I can't wait until David Delucci, Wily Mo Pena and Nick Evans make up the starting outfield, good lord.

2nd Minute- the marco polo-like "SEATLLE......SOUNDERS!" chant is EPL-esque....or an asshole chant from Monday Night Raw

6th minute- Nyassi of New England has a brief ankle injury. XBox Pitch at Qwest Field is back to field turf after using real grass during the international friendlies.

8th minute- Nearly get our first chance to see rookie sensation (and No. 1 pick) Steve Zakuani in action, pass goes wide.

10th minute- Sounders controlling the tempo so far, and on the attack, and they can't quite convert after crosses from Jaqua, Brad Evans and Alonso.

17th minute- good takedown by the Revolution's Darius Barnes on a James Riley breakaway

19th minute- I think Kasey Keller tends to get a bit of an unfair rap. While he was in net for the U.S. disappointments in the '98 and '06 World Cups (in '06 he had the uneviable task of following Brad Friedel's supreme effort in Korea, he's always kept his teams in the match and he;s finally getting credit for that this year in Seattle.

20th minute- naturally, New England immedately scores thanks to some great 3-man passing in the open field and even better foot work by Sharlie Joseph to put it home.

22nd minute- Seattle can't convert the corner kick thanks to a solid-handed save by Matt Reis and clear by Steve Ralston

24th minute-nearly 2-0 Revs but they can't convert on a loose-ball scramble

26th minute- Jaqua with an inexcusable miss after a great set-up from Leo Gonzalez, who's playing in just his 3rd game with the Sounders.

29th minute- Joseph with a neaar-perfect header that goes over the goal

34th minute- our first true dive of the evening goes to New England's Sainey Nyassi

35th minute- Reis slips on a goal kick and the crowd roars. I know it's not soccer's deal and all, but a "you fucked up!" chant would've been cool.

39th minute- Gonzalez gets a yellow card for an alleged takedown, but replays show a complete miss.

42nd minute- Freddy Montero takes a knee to the chest from Steve Ralston while going up for a ball, penalty kick coming. Momentum-changer right here either way.

44th minute- Iron unkind as Montero's kick hits the top crossbar and goes out.

stoppage time- a yellow card away from the ball, followed by the Revolution coach, who was filling in for Steve Nicol who is on a 2-game suspension, getting ejected, leaving the goalie coach to oversee the 2nd half. Somewhat similar to Bruce Bochy getting tossed, then his bench coach getting canned in the same game a few weeks back.

51st minute- New England starting to control the tempo by slowing it down.

53rd minute bogus yellow card against Montero, keeping him out of Sunday's match at conference-leading Houston

56th minute- Evans nearly ties it, deflection brings a corner kick.

57th minute- Reis isn't pretty, but he keeps it 1-0

62nd minute- Usei just knocks away a game-tying goal by Gonzalez

65th minute- 5 yellow cards for the Revolution tonight, I have a feleing we're not done in that department.

71st minute- Two quick responses by Keller to prevent point-blank chances.

76th minute- New England's defense has been tremendous in closing on scoring opportunities tonight, they deserve to win.

82nd minute- This is sort of like one of those basketball games where one team is rallying the entire game, but can't get any closer than 1 or2. It's that kind of night for the Sounders.

2 minutes into Stoppage That may have been the Sounders last chance as Sanna Nyassi (Sainey's twin brother) hits one of the side of the net. Not a great idea, considering he had 4-5 Seattle attackers coming.

The final whistle goes and the Sounders fall 1-0, fail to get a point, and fall to 8-5-8.

More Sounders (and EPL as well) reports to come in the future.

Digging The Sound

Soccer and I go back awhile. Most of us, of course, played soccer in the schoolyard when we were kids; My brother played soccer since the age of 9 through high school, several friends of mine in high school were on the soccer team (the boys team won the mythical national championship in my sophomore year) and i call both the men's and women's teams at the local college on the internet. That said, outside of the World Cup and maybe the UEFA Champions League final, I never followed it much on TV. Mulling it over recently after all the attention the U.S. national team has received during its Confederations Cup run and World Cup qualifying match against Mexico, I figured as a true sports fan and sports blogger, it be my duty to follow the MLS and English Premier League and pick a team in each league.

I'm still very green as far as the EPL goes, I've had an interest in Portsmouth because an old friend of mine lives over there and Green Street Hooligans nearly made me a fan of West Ham on the spot, but that would be trite. With the EPL season kicking off last weekend, I'll be following closely and eventually finding myself a team.

When it comes to an MLS tam, I've already got myself a team picked out. I've always believed that if the MLS wanted to be as popular as its European counterparts, that it needed to be as true to the European elements as possible, fan bases who know the subtleties, rivalries and no silly nicknames (which is why I have a measure of respect for Toronto FC, FC Dallas, D.C. United, etc.). While my adopted team is guilty of that, Seattle Sounders FC is as true to the european style as any team and fanbase in the league.

Despite playing in a nearly 67,000 seat football stadium, the Emerald City Supporters routinely jam 25-30,000 into Qwest Field for their games. Much like they have done with making the most crowd noise possible with the Seahawks, Sounders management has alloted the rowdiest fans towards the stands behind the goal (normally the end zone seats, which are made of aluminum to reverberate more noise) and travel well too (as evidenced by their presence in L.A. earlier in the week for the match against the Galaxy).

From everything I have read and witnessed during brief viewings, I'd say the best fanbases rank like this:

1. D.C. United
2. Columbus
3. Seattle
4. Toronto FC
5. Houston

Also, the Seattle FC Alliance has a unique privilege in that they have an important say in team decisions including whether the general manager retains his job (strangely enough, minority owner Drew Carey suggested the idea); you think Omar Minaya's glad that this hasn't translated to other sports? Another cool part of the fan base is the March to the Match, in which fans join the team marching band in a march from a nearby park into Qwest Field, very coillege football-esque if you ask me. All this was enough for me to buy in as a Seattle Sounders FC fan.

I'll have a Sounders FC running diary on Thursday night when they take on New England.

Sometimes you can't make it on your own

One of the biggest stories of the weekend was the pictures of Josh Hamilton's relapse in an Arizona bar in January. The media reaction has been divided with some saying that this is a cry for help, proof that solely beliving in God to keep him sober isn't working, that this takes the shine off of his comeback story, or that this earns him more respect because it proves he's human, but to have a story-line based opinion is to miss the point. On that note, I think it makes the story more compelling because that element of this whole thing disappearing in one bad night is very real now, again though, there's a deeper problem.

All of us have a friend or relative who has dealt with an addiction of some kind and it can be unbearable to watch at times. When some of those who are lucky enough to make it back to soberity, it's a constant vigil to keep them there. Whether they are an accountant, plumber or an executive, the battle to avoid the bottle, the needle or whatever it may be is an constant high-wire act. It's hard enough to battle this if you're an everyday Joe, but imagine being in Hamilton's position. He was a resident of the abyss for a time, made it out, was still able to live his dream while not trying to run from the past that nearly killed him and in part, became a star because of it. If I were him, it would be torture just running to the outfield and seeing alcohol advertisements sprayed all over the walls.

I obviously don't know what his intentions were the night he went into that bar, but I am of the belief that it was just one night that got away from him. The way that he immediately took responsibility (both following the incident and the release of the photos) by not reading a statement or anything along those lines says to me that he's making a concerted effort to keep this isolated.

What's going to make it tough though is the scrutiny that was already intense to begin with. You've heard the old saying about how we love building athletes up and tearing them down, but Hamilton was someone we all genuinely wanted to see make it, the problem is there are plnety of shock journalists in the media and degenerate fans who won't be as forgiving.

Unlike Doc Gooden and Daryl Strawberry, Hamilton has people in place to keep him in line, the question will be can he check himself. Given what we know about what it means to be a recovering addict, I'm worried he won't. I can't tell you how much I'd like to be wrong.