While there were definitely moments of brilliance for the Seattle Sounders, their First Round encounter with FC Dallas was more about simply moving on in the MLS Playoffs. Jeremiah and Aaron discuss how blowing leads is probably not a repeatable path to success, but they do marvel at how well the Sounders seem to have mastered the art of doing just that and still managing to pull out a victory. In order to squeeze in an episode before Wednesday’s Western Conference semifinals while Jeremiah is i...
Oct 22, 2019•26 min•Season 2019Ep. 306
It took us three episodes to finally get here, but we finally have a name for Will Bruin’s podcast. From henceforth it shall be dubbed “Bear with us.” We liked the double-entendre and thought it was playful enough without being overly punny. Anyway, we talked about the Sounders’ chances in the playoffs, Will’s experience in the broadcast booth and did our best to avoid talking about Jonathan Campbell’s Instagram feed (we failed). We also brought back one of our favorite segments: #AskWillBruin. ...
Oct 18, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 3
For all the ups and downs this season has endured, the Sounders head into the final week of the regular season knowing that a win will secure the No. 2 seed in the West. The path to this point definitely hasn’t been as enjoyable as any of us would have liked, but I also suspect we’d have accepted this fate if it had been offered to us before the season began. Their latest win was a reasonably impressive 1-0 decision at San Jose in which Jordan Morris scored in the 94th minute. That was fourth ti...
Oct 03, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Season 2019Ep. 305
At least once a year, we try to sit down with Seattle Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer to basically get a state of the franchise. This year’s interview comes at a particularly interesting time, as the Sounders are embroiled in a rough season both on and off the field. Our interview last Thursday was mostly focused on off-the-field issues, but we opened with the idea that the Sounders’ place among the elite’s is being questioned. “I’m sort of a slow and steady guy,” Hanauer said. “I like co...
Sep 23, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 2019Ep. 304
Sure, the Sounders lost last week, but that was with a roster that was missing 13 players due to international call-up, injury or suspension. Both the left back and defensive midfield positions featured starters who had yet to start at those positions this year, Luis Silva was playing as a No. 10 for the first time since 2017 and the centerback duo had played together just once before. The resulting 2-0 loss was hard to watch, but also a rather pointless exercise in terms of trying to learn much...
Sep 12, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Season 2019Ep. 303
Believe it or not, we’ve actually made it to Episode 2 of the “Sooner to be named Will Bruin Podcast.” Nope, still don’t have an official name. Yes, we’re still listening to your suggestions. If you have any, please feel free to share and apparently Will has softened his stance on “no puns” (but please send us some that aren’t bear or Will puns). Anyway, we talked about a lot of things this week. The new Sounders owners, MLS expanding to Will’s hometown of St. Louis, the upcoming Timbers game......
Aug 23, 2019•55 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Normally, you’d think coming out of a week in which the Sounders secured a point at LA we’d be feeling pretty good about things. Instead, I suspect that the lingering emotions over what is now a four-match winless run, coupled with Saturday’s 2-2 tie leave us not feeling so hot. That’s made even more acute by the way the circumstances surrounding that point, as the Sounders played up a man for 85+ minutes and needed an own-goal to even secure that point. This is all leading up to what could turn...
Aug 22, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Season 2019Ep. 302
We come to you feeling not quite as good as the last time we were gathered. The Sounders are coming off a very disappointing loss which came at the end of a very tumultuous week in which the Sounders felt compelled to apologize to supporters and Roman Torres was given a 10-game ban for testing positive for PEDs. Buy Nos Audietis Merchandise The game was frustrating on many levels, not the least of which was falling behind 2-0 at home to a team that wasn’t much healthier than the Sounders were an...
Aug 08, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Season 2019Ep. 301
Way back in February, Will Bruin off-handedly mentioned to me that he’d like to do a podcast. I didn’t think much of it. But he was serious, or at least he seemed serious. He even announced it on Twitter . Well, I think he may have underestimated just how hard it is to find time for things like recording a new podcast when you are also becoming a first-time father. Six months later, though, we’re finally here. Somehow, we managed to not settle on a name yet, bu this is the first of what I hope i...
Aug 02, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 1
All things considered, this seems to be a good time to be doing a live show. After a bit of a rough patch, the Sounders have now won 3 of 4, and find themselves second in the west and second in the Supporters’ Shield standings by points per game. Their latest win was probably their best of the season, beating the defending MLS Cup champs 2-1 at home. The scoreline doesn’t quite do the performance justice. The Sounders had the far superior chances on the whole -- only giving up two shots on goal ...
Jul 17, 2019•56 min•Season 2019Ep. 300
We finally have something nice to talk about, even if the Sounders made us sweat through 96 minutes before giving it to us. Kelvin Leerdam delivered the winner in the 6th minute of stoppage time, giving the Sounders their first win in six weeks and ending a four-game all-competition losing streak and pulling them within two points of second-place LA Galaxy. Almost as impressive as the, was the way they got it. The Sounders tied a season-high with 24 shots, including 14 from inside the penalty ar...
Jul 02, 2019•1 hr 25 min•Season 2019Ep. 299
It’s been almost a month since we last recorded, so apologies for that. We haven’t missed talking about anything good, though. The Sounders have not won since our last show, and are now riding a four-game losing streak across all competitions as they prepare for their next game on June 29. We don’t have much good news to discuss. The latest gut punch is news from Miki Turner that Will Bruin suffered a “serious” ACL injury, which means he’s at least out for the forseeable future and probably the ...
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Season 2019Ep. 298
It’s been three weeks since we last record and, wow, has a lot happened. The Sounders have played four matches, going 1-0-3, made two huge signings and, most recently, suffered one particularly painful loss. By now, you’ve surely heard that Chad Marshall has decided to retire, effective immediately. The decision, best we can tell, was a bit sudden, but also somewhat forced by the knowledge that there was some degredation going on in his surgically repaired knee. Marshall was one of just two play...
May 23, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Season 2019Ep. 297
This promised to be an important stretch for the Sounders in terms of determing just how good of a team they are. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I know too much more about them than we did at the start of this recent three-game stretch. In a vacuum, claiming two points in three games when two of those games were at home is underwhelming, even if you consider that two of those games were against top of the table LAFC. But when you zoom out and recognize that they were playing short-handed and on sho...
May 02, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Season 2019Ep. 296
What a way to head into the first tricky portion of the schedule. The Sounders improved to 5-0-1 on the young season by beating previously unbeaten Toronto FC 3-2 at CenturyLink Field on Saturday. It was easily the Sounders biggest test of the season and I’d say they passed with flying colors, especially when you consider they were missing Raul Ruidiaz. This sets up a pretty enticing matchup with LAFC on the weekend, who may well be unbeaten as well depending on tonight’s result. If they are, th...
Apr 18, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Season 2019Ep. 295
We knew this was going to happen eventually. Some team was going to decide that going toe-to-toe with the Sounders made absolutely no sense and would simply opt to bunker and hope to catch them on the counter. That it was the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place in just the fourth game of the season is, admittedly, a little bit of a surprise but give them credit for executing a game plan. The 0-0 tie was definitely frustrating, but at least it wasn’t a 1-0 loss as likely would have been the case if R...
Apr 03, 2019•50 min•Season 2019Ep. 294
Hard to imagine how the season could have started any better than it has. As the Sounders enter the first international break of the season, they find themselves atop the Supporters’ Shield standings as the league’s only 3-0 team. They’ve outscored their opponents 10-3 along the way, including a 4-2 win over the Chicago Fire last weekend. The goals are flowing like perfectly heated chocolate from a fountain, and the front four of Raul Ruidiaz , Nico Lodeiro, Victor Rodriguez and Jordan Morris ha...
Mar 21, 2019•1 hr 44 min•Season 2019Ep. 293
Mar 14, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Not a bad way to start the season. For the first time since 2015, the Sounders won their first season opener, overwhelming expansion FC Cincinnati 4-1 in a match that probably could have been even more lopsided. Their four goals actually equaled their goal-scoring output of their past six March home matches combined and it featured Kelvin Leerdam’s first goal since 2017, Jordan Morris ’ first goal at CenturyLink Field in nearly two years and Raul Ruidiaz ’s sixth straight game with a goal. All i...
Mar 07, 2019•1 hr 26 min•Season 2019Ep. 292
Hi guys, long time no talk. The last time we recorded was back in November when the Seattle Sounders were getting bounced from the MLS Playoffs. Seems an awful long time ago, doesn’t it? A lot has happened since then, including the Seattle Snowpocalypse, which kept both Likkit and Aaron from recording this week. We don’t hit on all of the news, but Jeremiah was joined by Susie Rantz to talk about the Reign moving to Tacoma, the Tacoma Defiance getting a new name, some of the roster moves and the...
Feb 13, 2019•1 hr 31 min•Season 2019Ep. 291
In this special episode, we honor the passing of Sigi Schmid with a compilation of our interviews with Coach: October 29, 2014: " Episode 162: Agents of (Supporters') Shield " November 30, 2015: " Episode 205: End of season chat with Sigi Schmid " Rest in peace, Sigi. This week's music: "What do tigers dream of?" - Cristian Roldan, "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0) Thank...
Dec 27, 2018•58 min
For the first time in three years we recorded a November episode with no games to preview. Admittedly, it’s a show we have mixed emotions about. On one hand, we hated ending the season by giving the Timbers any sort of bragging rights. On the other, we’re kinda loving having an offseason. Maybe we’re just rationalizing, but this actually feels OK (other than the whole losing to Portland thing). We discuss those mixed emotions, while also answering your questions and giving out some end-of-season...
Nov 28, 2018•1 hr 37 min•Season 2018Ep. 290
Not exactly the result the Sounders were looking for, but a 2-1 loss in Portland is not the end of the world. The Sounders got the away goal and history tells us that heading one witha one-goal deficit isn’t that big of a disadvantage. Of possibly more concern is the injuries to Cristian Roldan and Chad Marshall. Roldan looks like he might be able to suit up on Thursday, but Marshall could be out for the rest of the year after undergoing surgery. This week's music: "What do tigers dream of?" - C...
Nov 07, 2018•46 min•Season 2018Ep. 289
We tried something a little different this week. Not only did we record live at Optimism Brewing in Capital Hill, we welcomed Sounder at Heart writers Susie Rantz and Mark Kastner to the show to do a bit of a roundtable discussion. The show was recorded before we knew we’d be playing the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference semifinals, so we mainly discussed the season as a whole and how we view it at this point. This week's music: "What do tigers dream of?" - Cristian Roldan, "RVIVR - "Oc...
Nov 02, 2018•43 min•Season 2018Ep. 288
It’s been a few weeks since we last recorded, and as they are wont to do as of late, the Sounders won all three of the games since then. One was the home game against the Houston Dynamo , and they followed that up with back-to-back wins on the road just four days apart in Orlando and Houston. They’ve scored nine goals in those three games, never trailed and generally look like a team ready to make a deep run in the playoffs. They head into Sunday’s regular-season finale with the Earthquakes havi...
Oct 24, 2018•1 hr 41 min•Season 2018Ep. 287
After a frustrating run of games, the Sounders got back in the win column with a convincing performance against the colorado Rapids. Granted, this was an absolutely awful Rapids team -- one that’s been outscored 19-1 during what is now a six-game losing streak -- but you can only beat the teams you play, and the Sounders were every bit as good as you could ask. This was by just about any metric, their best performance of the season and it tied a season high for goals scored without the help of a...
Oct 04, 2018•1 hr 33 min•Season 2018Ep. 286
The Seattle Sounders made a nice bit of history, but that didn’t stop this week from feeling a bit like a bummer. The loss to the Philadelphia Union took us by surprise, and not just because of how it went down. In the end, though, the Sounders are coming off a 10-game stretch in which they’ve claimed 27 of 30 possible points and a 13-game run in which they amassed 32 of 39 potential points. Consider that they started this run 11 points out of a playoff spot and tied for the second fewest points...
Sep 21, 2018•47 min•Season 2018Ep. 285
Eight sure is great, ain’t it? The Sounders became the first team in the post-shootout era to win eight straight games in a single season with their latest win coming over Sporting KC. Like so many of the previous seven wins, this wasn’t exactly a pretty win. But, in the end, the Sounders did end up with a reasonably comfortable 3-1 win. The Sounders have now collected 29 points out of their last 33 available, a rather remarkable run that probably stands up as the best in MLS history. They’ve do...
Sep 06, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Season 2018Ep. 284
Mark it seven. This was quite possibly their ugliest result of the seven-game win streak, but either way it counts as three points. More than that, it moved the Sounders into fifth place in the West, knocked the Timbers out of playoff position, ended a four-year winless run in Portland and was also the most significant test the Sounders have faced as of late. There’s obviously still plenty left to go, but it’s certainly worth asking if the Sounders should now be considered an elite team and a se...
Aug 28, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Season 2018Ep. 283
Ok, now we are cooking. Since last we met, the Sounders have added six more points and are now riding a franchise-record tying five-game winning streak and are now unbeaten in eight, a span of games in which they’ve collected 20 of 26 points. As we record this, they are three points out of the sixth playoff spot with a game in hand on RSL and just four points shy of fourth-place LA Galaxy. They got here courtesy of a rather amazing 2-1 win over Minnesota United in which they scored twice in stop...
Aug 15, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 2018Ep. 282