Sounder At Heart: For Seattle Sounders And Reign Fc Fans

The Seattle Sounders are not out of the woods. Not yet and not by a long shot. But with six games left in the 2016 season, a path to the playoffs has become clear. The Sounders are going to need to win their final three home games and probably pick up a couple more points on the road. That won't guarantee them a spot in the playoffs, but given that the Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City only have one home game apiece and that they've been nothing short of awful on the road, the Sounders' path looks reasonable enough. Jeremiah and Aaron discuss this possibility, while also gushing over the growth Jordan Morris has shown over the course of the year, perhaps best exemplified by his game-winning header against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday. Of course, they also find time to answer your questions.

It was quite a week, giving us no shortage of stuff to talk about. The Seattle Sounders started out with a huge win over the Portland Timbers, followed it up with a tie in Houston and then finished off the week with a deflating loss at Portland. It's left the Sounders in basically the same position they were in before the week started, which isn't to say all is lost but it wasn't the dream scenario we had imagined. Jeremiah and Aaron do their best to dissect it all and put it into proper perspective. Once they're done with that, Jeremiah has part of an interview with Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer. Yes, "part." That's because the interview Jeremiah had the bright idea of taking his 5-month-old along on the interview and -- shocker -- the baby wasn't really playing along. But we tried to make lemonade out of lemons anyway, and think we may have learned a thing or two about Schmetzer in the process. Hope you enjoy.

Hopefully you've read Richard Farley's excellent article that details much of the work and effort that went into analyzing and vetting Nicolas Lodeiro's signing. If you haven't, you may as well do so now because it takes awhile and if you start now you might be finished by the time Farley joins us on the show in the second segment. There's a lot of stuff in here that readers of this site probably have heard, but there are still some nuggets that are absolutely fascinating. The most notable is that the Sounders have apparently developed some kind of program that allows them to compare players across various leagues and gives them an idea of how they'll perform in MLS. In any case, Lodeiro was their obvious top target and GM Garth Lagerwey seems to suggest he was willing to sacrifice this year if it meant signing the guy the organization really wanted. Jeremiah, Aaron and Richard also discuss the Sounders' recent run of good form and look forward to the massive Cascadia Cup clash on Sunday. Oh, and they name th

Just when this season seemed lost, when you thought you might get your weekends back or at least were prepared to stop worrying about results, they pulled us back in. Sure, the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 win over Orlando City was just one win and the standings are pretty much unchanged, but Aaron, Jeremiah and Likkit are feeling ... hope. It's still a long shot and it could be ripped away with a loss against Real Salt Lake, but the Nos Audietis group actually sees something positive on the horizon. And even if they don't make the playoffs, this run toward the end of the season at least promises to be interesting. Beyond being competitive, the Sounders are just fun to watch right now. There's a joy to the team since Nicolas Lodeiro's addition and it appears to be infectious.

It has been two weeks since we last recorded and ... wow did a lot happen. The Seattle Sounders scored a seemingly massive win over first-place FC Dallas only to drop a disheartening loss to the Portland Timbers, suffer an epic collapse at the hands of the LA Galaxy in the U.S. Open Cup and turn in one of the worst performances in franchise history while losing to Sporting Kansas City. But we barely even had time to talk about any of that after this week's twin bombshells: The presumed signing of Nicolas Lodeiro and the "mutual parting of ways" with head coach Sigi Schmid. Among the topics covered: Whether or not Schmid deserved to be the one falling on the sword, how much blame falls at the feet of GM Garth Lagerwey, if Nicolas Lodeiro is capable of saving the season and if Brian Schmetzer has any hope of becoming the permanent head coach.

We tend to stick to soccer on this show. But sometimes, we feel like we must address issues that stretch beyond the pitch. This was one of those shows. Our interview this week was with ECS co-president Heather Satterberg. We asked her onto the show after reading this story in the New York Times magazine. We found it a wholly unfair depiction of ECS and felt it important to have Satterberg on to not so much defend the group, but to educate fans on some of the efforts being made to be as inclusive as possible. It should also be said that while we agree that American soccer culture, MLS and, yes, even the Sounders can do more to create an inclusive environment, we also found the depiction in that story unfair and felt it important to give a different perspective. We also found some time to talk about that utterly depressing result against the LA Galaxy, take a bunch of questions and settle who we think is the best pinball player on the Sounders.

The Sounders went from certainly a low in the loss to NYCFC to somewhat of a high in the gutsy USOC win over RSL, but questions still surround this season and this team. Jeremiah and Aaron try to make sense of it all and try to shed light on what might happen the rest of this 2016 campaign and beyond. As usual, the guys take their time to answer your questions as read by their toll bridge-friendly engineer Likkit. Let us also take time to thank our newest sponsor Bootstrapper Studios for the recording equipment partly in use in this glorious episode.

The Seattle Sounders are coming off a disheartening 2-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls. It might not quite be full-blown panic time, but the Sounders head into Saturday's game needing a win over New York City FC badly.  To help us understand the state of the Sounders, Richard Farley is joining us for another live recording. But before you get all worried about sound quality, know that we finally have obtained some proper live-recording equipment. That's thanks to Bootstrapper Studio's, our newest sponsor. Of course, we also find some time to talk about Copa Libertadores, the rumored pursuit of Nicholas Lodeiro and take some listener questions. Enjoy.

Since friend of the show Richard Farley was in town to cover the Copa America Centenario games in Seattle, we decided to due an impromptu live recording at El Legendario. Jeremiah, Aaron and Richard discuss the current Copa America, the future of the tournament, and also agree that the hot salsa that came with our tacos with legit hot. Also the guys take time between eating chips and salsa to answer your questions as read by their Scolville Index-besieged engineer Likkit. Engineer's log: Admittedly the live audio recording is pretty rough and we promise we are working on the technology to bring you much better live pods in the future.

Jeremiah and Aaron discuss the 0-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids and talk about what we might expect on this upcoming 2-game East Coast road trip. In the second segment, Jeremiah welcomes Richard Farley to the show to talk about Seattle Reign FC attendance. Also the guys get back to answering your very cerebral, hard-hitting questions as read by the very hydrated engineer Likkit.  

Jeremiah sits down with Sounders FC majority owner Adrian Hanauer to talk about several topics including his life as majority owner, the shifting culture of the brand, and the recently-announced stadium bag policy. Later on in the interview, Jeremiah and Adrian are pleasantly surprised by a special guest that pops in.

Jeremiah and Aaron recap and discuss the 2-0 victory over San Jose including thoughts about why that felt like Seattle's best performance this season. Also included in the episode is interview excerpts of Sounder at Heart's Dave Clark did with Steve Zakuani. Also the guys answer your questions as read by an overly-giddy-about-Wondo-missing-the-PK Likkit.

Jeremiah finally records a show this year following a win! He and Aaron recap the 1-0 victory against Columbus Crew SC as well as discuss the midfield and forward lineups. Also the guys answer a yacht-load of your questions as read by the famous slide tackler/podcast engineer Likkit.

Jeremiah makes his triumphant return to the show after a well-deserved paternity leave. He and Aaron recap the 3-1 loss to Colorado Rapids while trying not to drift offsides. Also the guys answer your questions as read by their taco-enhanced engineer Likkit.

The podcast team told Jeremiah to take another week of paternity leave so we invited Richard Farley to guest host the show. He and Aaron discuss the state of the Seattle Sounders FC after their 2-1 win over Philadelphia Union and whether or not it is still time to panic. They even take some time to talk about this mostly unknown rookie named Jordan Morris and his first professional goal. Also the guys answer your questions as read by the recently vacationed, fairly tanned engineer Likkit.

With Jeremiah on paternity leave after the birth of his second child, guest host Richard Farley welcomes NWSL super experts Susie Rants and Josh Yockey. The trio discuss the Seattle Reign FC days before the season opener as well as give their opinions on the 2016 NWSL.

Jeremiah and Aaron recap the match against Vancouver Whitecaps. They also discuss the "official who watches a game or match closely to ensure that the rules are adhered to" Mark Geiger. And as always, the guys answer your intriguing questions as asked by their sweatpants-wearing engineer Likkit.

We're trying something a bit different this week. You've probably heard us talking about this story for awhile now, but we're finally ready to release Richard Farley's reported story on the Sounders Community Trust and how we got to the point that a refund was issued to Founders Club members. There's a lot to unpack, but the TL;DR version is that 17 months ago the Sounders launched a USL team that would be 20 percent owned by fans. The ownership stake was a gift, but fans bought into the "Founders Club" by plunking down $250 that would go toward a "capital improvement project." Plans changed, though, and with no resolution in sight, the team refunded all that money. Richard actually started reporting on this before the refund was issued, but talks to most of the key parties in this whole thing from Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer to S2 GM Andrew Opatkiewicz to SCT president Paul Cox. It's a fascinating tale and while we don't get all the answers we possibly wanted, we at least hope you come away with a better u

Jeremiah and Aaron recap the match against Real Salt Lake with guest Richard Farley. Richard also discusses his upcoming story about S2 and Community Trust. And as always, the guys answer your intriguing questions as asked by their freshly shorn engineer Likkit. Featured song clips - "The Tar Trap" - Pig Snout!!; "In the Forest Green" - Killer Ghost

Jeremiah and Aaron discuss the Champions League and what state the team is in following their exit from the competition. Ahead of MLS First Kick, they talk about what could be good and bad heading into the 2016 league campaign. And as always, the guys answer your most excellent questions as asked by their engineer who is known to have fairly decent hair on most days. Featured song clip - "Coronas on Madrona" - The Physics