Sounders home opener

Thoughts on the Sounders 3 - 0 win over New York Red Bulls.

- Fredy Montero was terrific, the Man of the Match material. He played well up front with Nate Jaqua (BTW - Mike secretly now has a crush on Nate after seeing hm with his shirt off). It was a really good mix of speed and height and Sigi Schmid was very complementary to both of them after the game. Let's be honest though, New York's back four were terrible last night, so over the next couple of games will give the true picture of what we'll actually see from Montero and Jaqua, but if yesterday was an indication, Seattle fans have something to cheer about.

- The 'Sound Wave' band is kind of neat. They didn't overwhelm you at the game, which was a worry. I would suggest sticking them up in the Hawks Nest rather than behind the net.

- Seeing 32,500 fans raise their scarves was very cool. I think the fans still need to improve, as there were times when the fans at the game just made noise rather than sing and chant. The fans also seemed like, at times, they needed direction from guys like Drew Carey telling them to raise their scarf. Many in attendance also "ooh" and "ahh" at perhaps the wrong times in the match, but maybe that is just being Euro soccer snobbish. The fans will improve, the amosphere which was great and that should continue too. Remember though, that's 32,500 for the first game ever... what's the 2nd, 3rd or 4th game going to look like? I'm curious to see if the capacity could continue. I haven't been to a game at BMO Field (I tend to try and stay away from Toronto as much as possible) but I have seen on TV and have been told by people who have been, that TFC fans are some of best, if not the best, in the league, so perhaps seattle can learn a few things from them.

- We had the privilege of sitting next to the gang from ESPN Deportes. The funniest part of the night might have been when Fredy Montero scored his second goal of the game and the ESPN Deportes crew started cheering, screaming and basically became rowdy, which lead to the PR staff announce, "I would like to remind members of the media to refrain from cheering in the Press Box area."

- The ESPN Deportes crew and I also enjoyed the Press Box buffett dinner. Which consisted of hot dogs, chips and salad. One member of the Deportes crew grabbed two hot dogs, I followed along, which he liked because he said it didn't make him look fat. Then suggested if someone were to get mad at us, he didn't speak english and I only spoke french. We got away scott free!! He also mocked me for having a big plate of salad. If you haven't heard, "Grass is for cows to eat, not people."

- Last thing, MLS Commish Don Garber and MLS PR man Dan Courtemanche probably think that Full-Time is stalking the two of them. We chatted on Wednesday in Vancouver after the official Vancouver 2011 announcement, followed that up with halftime at the Sounders game. We joked that we would be seeing them in Portland on Friday morning and then back in New York on Saturday afternoon.