Results tagged “mls”

        

Woodland Park zookeepers tossed soccer balls to some of their charges last Wednesday to commemorate the first round of the MLS Cup Playoff Western Conference Semifinals, which ended, of course, in a lame tie. The Sounders better win Sunday or AMY GET MAD!! Regardless, check out the 15-year-old, 850-pound grizzly brothers, Keema and Denali, demolishing the hapless balls while five-month-old snow leopard cubs Gobi and Batu and the zoo’s Humboldt penguins take a more friendly, frisky approach. The soccer balls are part of the zoo’s animal enrichment program which aims to promote natural animal behavior and keep the animals mentally stimulated.

More than 100 Sounders fans are packed into a downtown D.C. pub this afternoon, sucking down liquid courage in advance of their foray into enemy territory for tonight's U.S. Open Cup final against D.C. United.

The M's win 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth on Ichiro's two-out walk-off single -- Ich's 148th hit of the season, which puts him exactly at the pace of his record-setting 262-hit season in 2004. Washburn allowed just 1 run in 7 IP in what may have been his last start as a Mariner, but didn't get the win due to a bullpen collapse. M's 52-48, 7.5 GB. Box score. Next game Weds. vs. TOR, 1:40 p.m.; Rowland-Smith vs. Halladay.

In every non-playoffs sports season, you can date the moment when your team's hopes collapsed. For the last place 2008 Mariners, it was approximately mid-April. This year's Mariners lasted far longer in the playoff hunt. Nevertheless, July 24-26 was their undoing.

All the signs were there--a functional transit system, government endorsement of the weedbud, and all that damn bicycling--but the evidence is incontrovertible now that Portland has banished its baseball team in favor of a pro soccer franchise.

The real estate sales report from Northwest MLS says median home prices are up 4.4 percent across the area, with King County coming in at just over $363K. Bargain homes are selling, but condos are still taking a beating. The main thing is that people are out making offers on houses, so realtors have a reason to change out of their pajamas--pending sales (offers made and accepted) are up, though a significant portion of those fail in the financing round. The Seattle Bubble has a good media-coverage round-up, and notes with some satisfaction that the rah-rah contingent is getting less play this time around.

No doubting it: The Seattle Mariners are legitimate pennant contenders. The Seattle Mariners are legitimate pennant contenders. THE SEATTLE MARINERS ARE LEGITIMATE PENNANT CONTENDERS!!! Sorry, we like writing that so much we had to do it thrice.

Sounders striker Nate Jaqua, the reigning MLS player of the week, stands accused of rape, according to the Courthouse News Service.

M's Serve Baseball's Best Team; Lose Beltre: The Mariners started their road trip with a surprising 2-1 series win over the Dodgers, who have baseball's best record. The highlight was Felix Hernandez's nine-K performance on Saturday night, with homers by Griffey and Branyan providing the offense. Bad news came that night as well: Adrian Beltre will miss 6-8 weeks, he's getting surgery to remove painful bone spurs in his shoulder.

GODDAMN STRAIGHT! Do you think the fans come out to see goals? NO! They want to see defenders cowardly hammering the ball deep into the stands! And then, more likely that not, collapsing as if they have suffered an Endy-Chavez-like knee injury. Kasey Keller is such a defense-oriented hard-ass, he can't even enjoy his own teammate's goal.

A terrific individual play saved the Sounders from a loss. Fredy Montero stole the ball from a defender in the corner, dribbled toward goal, and unleashed a game-tying shot. It was Montero's 7th goal of the year. The Red Bulls goal came on another mind-boggling defensive lapse, a clearance ricocheted off a Sounder right to a Red Bulls striker. Sounders 5-3-7, 22 pts., 8 pts. behind 1st place Houston. Match report. Next game Sunday vs. Colorado.

The fastest-paced and most entertaining game of the season ends in a tie, after the Sounders cough up a late two-goal lead. The game featured 14 shots on goal, and some beautiful and creative passing. Credit DC United keeper (and former Portland Timber) Josh Wicks, who three times saved one-on-one opportunities by Sounder players. Sounders 5-3-5, 3rd place, 7 pts. back. Match report. Next game Saturday @ NY Red Bulls.

NOT A CELL PHONE PROVIDER: Fast on the heels of Maximus Minimus, Marination Mobile makes its debut today in Fremont. The Hawaiian-Korean taco truck serves a menu of "tacos and sliders, featuring ingredients such as kalbi beef, spicy pork, miso-ginger chicken, kalua pork, and tofu...marinated in signature sauces. There is also a kimchi fried rice bowl, kimchi quesadilla, and SPAM musubi. Items run from $2-$5." Marination plans to eventually operate seven days a week, open for lunch and dinner till 2 a.m. The weekly schedule is currently as follows, but be sure to watch for updates at their website and on teh Twitter: Monday: SODO, Seattle Design Guild (1701 First Ave); Wednesday: Fremont, Soundspeed Scooters (132 N. Canal St); Thursday: Capitol Hill, Broadway Shell (1500 Broadway @ Pike); Friday: Capitol Hill, Broadway Shell; Saturday: Capitol Hill, Broadway Shell; Sunday: Ballard, Cheka-Looka Surf Shop (6300 Seaview Ave. NW). 12 p.m.-2 p.m. // Soundspeed Scooters // 132 N. Canal St // $2-5

Like Shaun Alexander, Richie Sexson, and Barack Obama before him, Montero is learning how quickly Seattle cheers can turn to boos, invective, and angry, semi-anonymous blog comments.

The Sounders dominated from minute one in front of another raucous crowd. Ljungberg scored just before half after gaining possession of a long ball to Montero from James Riley. Montero got his own goal off a corner in the the 59th. Montero's failure to clear a ball from danger cost Seattle a goal nine minutes later, but they held San Jose off, denying the Earthquakes possession in the late minutes like they were a high school team. Match report. Next game Weds. vs. DC United, 7:30 p.m. (that's 30 minutes earlier than what it'll say on your ticket; time change is so ESPN2 can televise the game.)

Sounders FC tries to break a two-game winless streak when "San Jose" comes to town Saturday night. Here's a little primer about our opponent whatever happens to pop into our heads.

This should explain why Drew Carey bought a soccer team in Seattle.

Sounders FC (now with 100 percent less accused rapists!) faces undefeated Chivas USA Saturday night in Carson, CA. If the Sounders win, they will retake first place in the MLS Western Conference. They will also strike a blow for all that is good in the world, by taking out a team filled with and supported by TRAITORS!

Our newest sportsballers, Sounders FC, will play to another capacity crowd Saturday. This week's opponent? The Kansas City Wizards. Here's a little bit about them.

Fredy Montero, the Sounders FC forward who won Seattle's affections last month for helping our new MLS team stay undefeated for our first two games, is probably going to be under formal investigation for an alleged sexual assault and consequent stalking incident involving a 23-year-old woman on the Eastside. Though the Bellevue Police Department won't name names about the subject of their investigations until they've filed charges, SeattlePI.com did get a confirmation that the woman called BPD with her allegations about Montero. Yikes--this one came out of the blue! The Sounders say they fully expect the player to be on the field with the team for this weekend's next week's game.

Sounders FC hosts Real Salt Lake Saturday night at Qwest Field. We thought you might want to know a little about the team our local 11 (?) will be facing.

Man oh man, did we have fun at the first Sounders game last Thursday. Sometimes events--not just sporting events--have an electricity about them. This was one of those.

Last week, we told you about the Seattle Sounders FC coaching search, which had prompted the Columbus Crew to file tampering charges with the MLS. (Apparently, the Sounders began pursuit of Crew coach Sigi Schmid while he was still under contract.) We also joked that the whole mess could be solved with a shoebox full of cash. Little did we know that would be exactly what would happen.

In the white collar world, stealing a highly-skilled employee from your competitor is called "poaching" (we're looking at you, Google), and it's a practice that has become a source of pride (and dollar signs) amongst the business start-up community. However, if your new business is, say, an MLS soccer team, attempting to woo a championship-winning coach from his current team while he's still under contract is called "tampering," and according to league rules, strictly forbidden. Or should we say verboten, since the coach in question is Sigi Schmid, soon-to-be-former Columbus Crew head coach, who last month led his team to the league championship and now is being pursued by Seattle Sounders FC. According to GOALSeattle, the Crew have filed tampering charges against the Sounders and are awaiting a decision from the league office. Or a shoebox full of cash. Whichever.

It was 28 years ago last night when Howard Cosell broke the news to the world during a Monday Night Football game that John Lennon was gone. Our mom cried.

We are sitting in front of the TV watching the Issaquah-Skyline 4A championship game, still working on a heaping plate of leftovers from last weekend. (Does turkey have an expiration date?) This game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was moved to accommodate Bellevue, who plays Union in the 3A final. Bellevue played a rescheduled game earlier this week after their bus rolled over on the way to last week's game. Here...grab a plate.

• We're going to start with good news, rather than bad today. One guess where the opening game of the coming MLS Season is going to be? That's right, Seattle: the first Sounders MLS game will be the season opener for the whole league. Maybe, just maybe, the Sounders will actually win that game.
• The West Seattle Blog reports a really lovely random act of kindness, with photo evidence. Basically impossible to not feel warm and fuzzy about this story.
• Central District News has what must seem an all too common refrain for parents and teachers of Central District Schools; this time the plea is why T.T. Minor should not be closed.

For local sports fans, March can't come soon enough for two reasons. First, the Seattle Sounders begin their first season of play and the home opener will be March 19 against the NY Red Bulls on national TV.

The jerseys for the Seattle Sounders FC, which begins play in the MLS early next year have been leaked on a local sports blog. GoalSeattle.com has posted catalog pages of the new jerseys, along with a photo of some fans clad in the new Sounders jerseys at Sunday's MLS Cup game.

The Seattle Sounders will announce the signing of Swedish winger Freddie Ljungberg later today at Qwest Field. The 31-year-old is reportedly signing a deal which will pay him $2.5 million a year for two years. Ljungberg will become the Sounders "Designated Player" which by MLS rules, allows each team an exemption from the league's salary cap.