Sounders Lose for First Time This Season. I laugh.

I went to a buddy's house tonight and, before heading to the bar to listen a quality cover band, we finished watching the Sounders FC lose their first game of the year 1-0 to Kansas City. I wonder how many fans will jump off the bandwagon now and adopt the 4-2 M's.

I understand soccer pretty well along with most of it's idiosyncrasies such as stoppage play, yellow and red cards and the general overall strategy of the game. That said I still find it a terribly dull sport. Too little happens over the 90+ minutes of game time to keep my interest.

Too often forays into opposition territory result in nothing of note. Either the ball is stolen away or a weak shot on goal is attempted before the goal keeper clears the ball to the opposite end of the field. Most of the game is spent in the middle ground just trying to get the ball within respectable range to take a shot.

When a team can lose one of its most integral cogs like the goal keeper, as the Sounders did tonight, and only lose on a infrequent type of shot in the waning minutes consider me unimpressed. Imagine if LeBron went down against the Spurs and they put in the 3rd string point guard to run the show, they Cavs'd be done for.

Having watched the heated and yet still not that entertaining rivalries of Chelsea vs. Liverpool and Man U vs Arsenal of the British premiere league I can say one thing with certainty. The MLS is a joke on par with the WNBA. The talent level of most teams is laughable. David Beckham is a celebrity known for his corner kick more than his actual soccer prowess and other than him does the MLS have a single marketable star? Not really, no.

When Casey Keller the Sounders goalkeeper got a red card and was ejected from the game the 3rd string back-up came from Western Washington University. Name one other sport where a mediocre back up from a tiny school can be made to look passable from lack of talent exposing his marginal skills. Sure on occasion a QB comes from nowhere and lights it up but that has to do much more with surrounding talent more than anything. But a quality O-Line, running game and receivers can cover for a shit ton of short comings *cough* Elisha Manning *cough! In soccer the other team may never come down to your side of the field due to craptastic play.

The other thing thast bugs me about MLS is many teams cannot come up with original name. DC United, what two teams combined to create your franchise and thus live up to the name "United"? Real Salt Lake, in Spanish real means royal, what royalty is you team named after? Finally Sounders FC(Football Club), we already have a football team in Seattle they're called the Seahawks not only that but you play in a league called Major League Soccer not Major League Football. Why the fuck do you have an FC in your team name? Come up with real team names that pertain to the home city and the MAYBE I might gain a little respect for the farce of a league you call MLS.

Basically MLS soccer is a boring spectacle than anyone who's had minor playing time at a DII school can play for. On top of that, the league has co-opted names from European Premiere leagues without any context. It is for these reasons I don't care whether the Sounders win or lose. because frankly nobody likes soccer.