While it was a standing-room, one-night-only affair, you now can absorb all the stories and banter from Brian Schmetzer: This Is Your Life, and do so from a comfortable chair.
Washington State Legends of Soccer has produced their video of the event, held Feb. 28 at The Market Arms. It’s available, commercial free, in four segments, on the Legends YouTube channel.
Most have heard the stories of Brian Schmetzer’s days as contractor, of his knack for identifying a problem and intuitively identifying a fix. His latest remodeling project has been on Occidental Avenue, specifically flipping CenturyLink Field from an address with a Welcome mat to a destination out-of-towners would just as soon avoid.
Since his hiring last summer, the CLink is The House Schmetzer Re-built. Going into Atlanta United’s visit, Seattle is on the verge of claiming one of the top home unbeaten runs of all-time.
Dating back to those formative days in Memorial Stadium, the Sounders have fashioned a formidable (.716) win percentage) at home. Across all competitions, Seattle (including iterations of Sounders, plus the Storm) own 17 home unbeaten streaks of 10 or more matches. That’s impressive. So is the fact that the Rave can crack the top nine on Friday.
A staple of many a preseason camp is goal-setting. It taps into the competitive nature of athletes and coaches, to aspire and work toward targets, both for the individuals and the collective, the team.
They must be specific and measurable; within reason, but also just out of reach. To reach these goals will require more than before. Goal-setting asks us to give it everything we’ve got, and then some.
Entering a ninth season in MLS, Sounders FC is well into its adolescence. Whereas the formative years were filled with modest accomplishments – winning season series, making the playoffs – those benchmarks are now merely base camps for assault on the summit.
Although we know a lot about Brian Schmetzer, come Feb. 28 it’s certain we will know a lot more.
That evening Washington State Legends of Soccer is presenting Brian Schmetzer: This Is Your Life at The Market Arms in Ballard, and the lineup of guests promises to reveal a few more ingredients to the Schmetz special sauce.
Of course, we are fully aware of his opening act as Sounders FC head coach. You know, when in mid-summer Schmetzer somehow righted a listing ship and steadily steered it through stormy waters, finally bringing home the bounty of an MLS Cup. We are also cognizant that Brian was born and raised in Lake City. It’s what happened along the way in connecting those two events that Tuesday night’s audience will absorb.
Wanted: Someone to supervise 300 kids 24/7 during summer, take 22 rowdy college boys cross-country to win a soccer championship in the fall, marry a couple on Saturday, christen a newborn on Sunday, keynote a corporate speech to hundreds first thing Monday and pull votes for a stadium initiative on Tuesday. Ten fingers not necessary. Sense of humor a must.
Unless your name happens to be Charles Clifford McCrath, there’s no need to apply.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, a true treasure of Seattle and soccer, Cliff McCrath, will be inducted into Seattle Pacific University’s Falcon Legends Hall of Fame. McCrath knows the drill. After all, it’s his 10th such enshrinement around the country.
Unlike the others, however, this will be celebrated on his turf, where since arriving 47 years ago he grew to be an outsized figure capable of accomplishing amazing feats for a sport that, at times, struggled to take hold.
When Seattle Pacific soccer alumni of a certain age inevitably gather, there’s no shortage of stories.
From tales of seemingly endless cross-country road trips to innumerable narratives regarding their leader, Uncle Nubby, there is plenty of fodder. And while hundreds of alums experienced final fours and dozens contributed to the Falcons’ five championships, there’s a certain reverence for those who did it first.
By winning the 1978 NCAA Division II championship, SPU set in motion a Puget Sound tidal surge that would extend for more than 15 years and, some would argue, unceasingly to this date.
Upon returning home from Miami in early December of ‘78, Falcons coach Cliff McCrath, a.k.a. Nubby, took fast action on two counts. The first remains the most sensational and storied publicity stunt in our soccer community’s long and distinguished history. The second was to affirm the source of bounty McCrath molded into champions.
It was plain to see that Seattle Pacific was the beneficiary of leadership and coaching throughout Washington youth soccer, so he immediately drafted a letter to the statewide association.
“Eight of the starters came from the area,” McCrath notes. “Effectively, this national championship belonged to them; it was dedicated to them because these were their players.”
Uncle Nubby Did What?
Continue reading First, and Creating a Belief That Would Last
Many will dream, some will endeavor, but only one can be the first.
While the Sounders may now place a star above their crest, the side that first planted a flag at the summit in the name of Seattle is now about to be celebrated all over again.
On Feb. 11 Seattle Pacific University will induct the team that not only ushered in an era when the Falcons became the Northwest’s most decorated collegiate program but, more importantly, established a beacon, a belief, that teams from Puget Sound could be the best in the nation.
For nearly the first hundred years of soccer’s existence in Washington, it was a wilderness. Try as they might, to the rest of the land teams from these parts were unfashionable wannabes: Competitive within the region, yet not championship material. In 1978, SPU changed all that.
Simply put, in one muggy, arduous afternoon under a scorching Miami sun, a bunch of shaggy-haired boys under the direction of a seven-fingered coach blazed a trail into the future of Seattle area soccer that generations have followed ever since.
A Formidable Foe
Now as then, the opposition is oft-referenced as the Nigerian junior national team. In truth, Alabama A&M’s roster was only about half-Nigerian. But most of them started and the balance were largely Jamaican. The Bulldogs were defending NCAA Division II champion and ranked No. 7 among all divisions nationally. They would retake the mantle in 1979 and two years later, in 1981, AA&M would be Div. I runners-up.
It’s now been two years since I began my blog and returned to writing about soccer, mostly in a Washington-centric, historical context.
Sure, there could be a compendium of such abstract topics published in a book someday. But why not share some of it soon, not later. Here, then, are XV pieces that appeared either on my blog or other digital outlets during 2016. I enjoyed researching and writing them, and hopefully you enjoy them as well.
I. Unexpected Title Run by Sounders? It’s Happened Before
Once you’ve lived through an epic turnaround, your faith becomes stronger. And for reasons illustrated in this Seattle Times feature, I always held out hope the Sounders would overcome all the adversity and play for a championship. As it turned out, they did their predecessors one better by winning the final.
II. There’s Something About Jordy
Puget Sound has produced some top-class strikers in the past, and I Continue reading A Few of My Favorite Things: 2016
Since mid-summer there’s been little question whether Jordan Morris would be the top rookie in the land. All that’s remained to be seen is just how far our Jordy boy goes.
With a tight hamstring it remains to be seen how much Morris can contribute Morris in coming weeks. Yet his prospects are unlimited in the big picture, at least where Seattle homegrown attacking players are concerned, and he’s got no more fervent fans than the forwards in whose footsteps he follows.
In the pantheon of Seattle soccer over the past 50-odd years, there have been some truly remarkable, even iconic forwards. Each experienced a great deal of joy while scoring an abundance of goals, albeit while using often vastly different sets of tools. And while still in development, Morris may prove to be a distinctive cocktail all his own.
Chance Fry has keenly followed Morris’s development for any number of reasons. First, Fry’s a Sounders fan. He also coached an 8-year-old Morris at Eastside FC. Beyond that, Fry has walked in his boots, playing a total of nine seasons for past iterations of the Sounders and FC Seattle.
“Jordan is having an amazing first year,” says Fry, a Bellevue native who debuted for the NASL Sounders in 1983 at age 18. “I’d thought if he could get to double digits (in goals) that would be fantastic.”
In fact, the pride of Mercer Island set a new standard for American rookies in MLS, scoring 12 times. Pat Noonan had totaled 10 in 2003.
For those who have witnessed the professional era of soccer in this area, Morris is very much his own man, albeit an amalgam of many characters to represent Seattle in the past.
“Nobody’s completely original,” notes Fry. In terms of physical attributes–size, strength and build–“he might be like (Fredy) Montero. For flat-out speed, he’s got Montero beat but not quite Obafemi (Martins).” But then, Fry adds, “Oba’s a freak.”
A Brief History of Homegrowns
Pro-caliber scorers have been coming out of Puget Sound since before the first Sounders. Hungarian-born and Ballard-raised Les Mueller made a few bucks at the semi-pro level before a short stint with the Denver Broncos. But most recognize Mark Peterson as planting the flag for homegrown forwards.
At 19, Peterson burst on the scene with 14 goals in 1980, helping Seattle win an NASL record 25 games. Half of those goals came after rookie of the year balloting was completed; he finished third. His youth club teammate and fellow Tacoman Jeff Durgan won the honor.
Fry was the next striker in the local pipeline. Both he and Peterson earned U.S. caps. After the NASL folded, Fry led the A-League in scoring while Peterson plied his trade indoors before retiring after just six years. Fry stretched his career 14 years, including nine in Seattle.
The next batch of homegrowns, like Morris, went the college route initially. Peter Hattrup and Brent Goulet starred at small schools (Seattle Pacific and Warner Pacific, respectively) before going pro. Starring for the Olympic team, Goulet would earn 1988 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year. Hattrup was 1995 A-League MVP.
The mid-Nineties featured the likes of Jason Dunn, Darren Sawatzky, Jason Farrell, and Erik Storkson. Prior to Morris, the most recent goal-dangerous locals were A-League/USL rookies of the year, Greg Howes and Cam Weaver, and, in the MLS era, Lamar Neagle.
The most prolific of the aforementioned frontrunners were Peterson and Fry, each accumulating 61 goals in all competitions. Peterson was the consummate poacher, faithfully making runs and forever getting on the end of things. Fry, a prototypical center-forward, often operating with his back to goal, is termed by Hattrup, “as a good of finisher as I’ve ever seen.”
Already Distinctive
From this canvas emerges Morris, whose silhouette would be instantly recognizable for his broad, hulking shoulders and pigeon-toed gait. He cuts a distinctive figure.
A dozen goals is just a baseline. “He’s got the physical gifts, but he’s got to grow into the finishing department,” says Hattrup. “He’s got the strength and the speed. His touch is good, and for as many goals as he’s got, his finishing is only going to get better,” adding, “It’s already gotten better over the course of the season.”
As a rookie, Morris converted 17 percent of his shots into goals. It pales in comparison to Martins, but it’s comparable to Eddie Johnson’s days at the CLink.
Early on, Fry detected unease in Morris, especially in light of the adulation and the Space Needle poses, a la Messi. “Jordan, he’s a humble guy and doesn’t like attention,” he shares. “I think he got a little overwhelmed.”
Once Morris settled and Nico Lodeiro arrived, the growth spurt ensued. Lodeiro’s made everyone better, and none more than the rookie, whose sixth sense is probing those spaces behind the defense, an area Lodeiro is always looking to exploit with a penetrating pass.
By mid-September, Morris’s was not only flowing, his production kicked into overdrive. It began with his late header to break a scoreless stalemate versus Vancouver.
“It was an extremely important goal and for me, personally in regards to Jordan, it was a brave goal,” judges Fry. “Sticking his head in there the way he did and just going for it. That whole game he had been making good runs and he just kept going and going.”
Making the Sublime Look Simple
Eight days later at LA, Morris was smack in the middle of the match that turned the MLS Western Conference playoff race on its head. He struck twice in 10 minutes, putting the Sounders ahead, 3-1.
First he won a ball just inside the attacking half, then shrugged off Daniel Steres before igniting the afterburners for the breakaway. Later, out of a frantic goalmouth scramble, Morris calmly pulls the ball across Steres and slots home from short range.
“The first goal was a great goal, but the second goal was downplayed by Alexi (Lalas, FOX analyst), where he said it was a simple finish. No, it wasn’t,” contends Fry. “It was completely great composure. He made it look simple, but it was far from simple.”
Making the sublime look simple is a gift. As Morris matures, as his belief in his own abilities grows, such exploits will be repeated on a regular basis.
“It’s part of confidence,” states Hattrup. Compared to college, the pro game requires much more precision. “The windows are smaller, (but) he’s strong enough and fast enough that he’ll create chances for himself.”
Fry agrees. He’s improving with his back to goal, and as his on-field understanding with Lodeiro (not to mention other teammates) deepens, there’s every reason to believe Morris will truly distinguish himself as a legend among Sounders homegrowns.
“He’s growing and doing better,” says Fry, “and we’re all super proud of how he’s doing.”
Note: This was first published by The Seattle Times on October 27, 2002.
Are you ready for some futbol ?
We’re talking shin guards and shorts. We’re talking the world’s game, played by the best athletes around and at the highest possible level. We’re talking about a steady diet of big-time soccer for the local community, not only next week but for years to come.
Last spring’s stopover by the U.S. World Cup team and the women’s Gold Cup next weekend represent a beginning. But Seattle and its surrounding soccer community deserve the best, and more of it. Now it’s time we demand it.
Top-class soccer is what’s been missing in this city for 20 years, and I dearly want it to return. I’m not alone, either.
Continue reading Do your part to get Seattle the MLS team it deserves
