360 Sports Blog

A quick review for those who fell asleep in the back of the class: I’m touring/rushing each of the Sounders Supporters groups, trying to find the one that suits me best. After each experience, I’m reporting back on this blog.

I had the privilege of hanging out/prefunking* with the Emerald City Supporters (herein ECS for brevity’s sake) prior to the Sounders match against the New York Red Bulls. To do this, my buddy Double D and I ventured by Bremerton Ferry to downtown Seattle and then to Fuel, the bar/pub that serves as prefunk headquarters for the ECS.

*Did you know that “prefunking” comes from the word “prefunction”?  Back in the day, the prefunction was essentially a preparty to the party. Over time, the term became to be known in its current form. Thanks to my Aunt Rhonda for informing me of this, a former WSU student.

A quick profile of the bar: Located at 164 S Washington St, it’s got two main rooms with more seating upstairs -  the couch area is a plus. Supposedly, Drew Carey often shows up prior to matches and buys the bar a drink (though he did not when I was there). It’s got plenty of Seattle sports memorabilia on the walls and TVs in every corner playing the day’s relevant match ups. On that day they had on the Final Four match up between Michigan State and Butler. Double D bet me a 20 spot Butler would win, I of course took it and went down 20. I always lose to him.

We arrived at four hours prior to kick off, to ensure we got a spot to sit. I had heard the place fills up quick, which turned out to be 100% accurate. If we got there five minutes later, we would’ve been standing until game time.

We promptly ordered a pitcher from our waitress, a cute blonde who was very nice to us and treated us well all day. An hour later, the bar was packed – and it was great. By the time most people had a few beers in them, the ECS chant broke out along with several other Sounder favorites.

With that many people come a few problems, however: Our service from the cute blond slowed so much that whenever we wanted a beer, we needed to go find her. It also made it very difficult to get to the restroom – a necessity when you’ve had that many.

A few other things about the ECS: they’re the largest and most boisterous supporter group, you’ll see them in the south end of the stadium waving flags, chanting and bringing tha ruckus. They were all very nice, down to earth people – I have no complaints, only compliments about them.

Side note: If you’ve got any one under 21 in your group, the ECS has a home restaurant/bar across the street – called McCoy’s.

The ECS also has the best Sounder chant, in my opinion:

Summary

The Good – Excellent energy and atmosphere pregame, friendly people, accommodates those under 21, friendly wait staff at Fuel, best chant and have the biggest march to the match. It should be noted that most of the noise/chants you hear during the game are lead by the ECS.

The Bad – Way too crowded at Fuel. This comes with the territory, but if you’re looking to relax and have a few beers pregame, Fuel/ECS is not for you. In a sense, they’re almost too popular.

I will hold off any further judgement until I have visited the other Supporters groups. As my esteemed colleague, Mr. Ryan Burrows pointed out, there are in fact five official supporters groups that the Sounders recognize. Up this week: Gorilla FC.

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First, I won’t bore/trick you with an April Fools post. I refuse to torment my readers with such shenanigans. No funny stuff.

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A quick question for you:

Have you been to a Sounders match yet? If yes, kudos – skip down a few paragraphs. If not, you’re missing out and need to remedy this. In my humble opinion, Sounders matches are the best sports experience Seattle Sports has at the moment.

To backup my point, just take a quick look at the state of Seattle pro sports: The Seahawks are coming off another dismal season and seem to be concerned with every position but the two most important: offensive and defensive lineman. They’ve got a great crowd, but not too much in the way of results. Inconsistency abides.

The Mariners, however, have had an awesome off season and look to be contenders in the AL West. They’ve gotten rid of Bavasi and replaced him with a very competent Jack Zdurickenwitzcoff. Something like that. They’ve also got the best stadium in the bigs. They’re resurging, so I’ll say they’re second place.

The Sonics are gone. May they rest in peace or magically be returned to life.

That leaves the Sounders. Here are some of their exploits: 2009 US Open Cup Champions; MLS Cup contenders, highest average attendance in the MLS, best fan base in the MLS. All this from a team that is less than two years old as a pro franchise. I know there are old school Seattle sports fans who haven’t accepted it yet, but the Sounders are tops in Seattle.

I myself am a season ticket holder and can attest to the awesomeness of the atmosphere. My best buddy Double D (South Kitsapian), with whom I’ve played soccer with for over 15 years, and I have five tickets together in section 126. The first year, we mainly hung out at Pyramid with a couple of friends, but we’re looking branch out and broaden our horizons.

It’s really a matter of maximizing the experience at each contest we attend.  Therein lies the problem: We have yet to choose a Sounders supporters group.

What is a supporters group? Its an organization of Sounders fans who get together before the match at a designated bar. The drink beer, sing songs and get ridiculous in preparation for the action (Think of a high school pep rally with alcohol, sans authority figures). We’ve seen them all in play, but have yet to choose a side.

Note: each group gets along with each other. At days end, we’re all for the same cause.

There are three groups to choose from: Gorilla FC, the Emerald City Supporters and the North End Supporters. We only get to make this choice once, so it will be a well educated decision. Over the course of the season, we’re making an effort to experience a little of what each group has to offer. Basically, we’ll be going to hang out with each group, profiling the experience and reporting back with recommendations. This reminds me a bit of fraternity rush at the UW. It should be an excellent time.

The first group we’ll be rushing is the Emerald City Supports (ECS) prior to this Saturday’s match versus the New York Red Bull. They are the largest and most boisterous of the groups and hang out at Fuel prior to the match. On occasion, Drew Carey will come and buy the bar a round of drinks (or so I’ve heard). It sounds like a great place to start.

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