In the moments before kickoff, as I peak over my outstretched scarf and survey the throbbing mass at the CLink, I sometimes close my eyes for a moment and give thanks. I’m thankful to be there with family or friends and forty-thousand like-minded disciples. And I’m thankful for all those who made this scene possible.

To be honest, there are probably hundreds of people deserving of a shout out. Make that thousands. Because what makes Sounders FC world class is the sheer size and fervor of their support. In time the play will climb to that elite level; your voice and your passion is already legend.

Ah, but you are not the first throng to throw yourselves behind this great game.

Sounders fans have been setting attendance records of some sort for 40 years. The season average of 1980 would be a respectable second in MLS today. Maybe you were among those rocking the Kingdome, or maybe it was your parents. And before them, going back nearly a hundred years, Seattleites wearing their Sunday best would ring Lower Woodland Park three deep to watch an afternoon match or two.

Let’s back it out even further. The birthplace of Puget Sound football was not Seattle or Tacoma but back in the foothills and Black Diamond. From there the game passed from immigrant miners to shipbuilders, and from aircraft engineers to Hungarian refugees. Before the original Sounders sold a single ticket, the sport was being interwoven in the fabric of the community at large.

In other words, we all–supporters, players, coaches, owners–we all stand on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before us. The spectacular scenes of kids kicking the ball around scores of playfields, or tifos unfurling in the Brougham End, they are part of history, sometimes following footsteps and sometimes making a bit of history themselves.

So from time to time this blog will share stories of the past and how it relates to the present and the future of football/soccer in Greater Seattle. Hopefully it will inform. Perhaps it will even entertain. And maybe someday it too will become history.