See, Seattle Can Win... Just Not As Often As Others

Last week following the Seattle Sounders won the MLS Cup I had written a post about Seattle championships and I just realized that I did not save it but here is the best shot at what was in my original write up.

Now that the Sounders have won the MLS Cup Championship a team from Seattle has won a championship in every professional sport except for the Seattle Mariners. This list does not include college teams, minor league teams, semi-pro teams or leagues that only the most die-hard fan would know about (sorry women's soccer, rugby, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee and roller derby), only the leagues/teams that were accepted as "Professional" or top league at the time they won their championship.

The Seattle Mariners were a MLB expansion team in 1976 and in the team’s 40 seasons between 1977 and 2016 they have gone to the playoffs four times, making it to the ALCS three times but they have never made it to the World Series.

The Seattle Supersonics were an NBA expansion team in 1967 and in the 40 seasons between 1967 and 2007, when the team was stolen, they went to the playoffs 22 times. The team made it to the NBA Finals three times; 1978, 1979 and 1996, winning the NBA Championship in 1979.

The Seattle Storm were a WNBA expansion in team in 2000 and in the 17 seasons between 2000 through 2016 they went to the playoffs 12 times making it to the WNBA Finals twice, winning both times in 2004 and 2010.

The Seattle Seahawks were an NFL expansion team in 1976 and in the 40 seasons between 1976 and 2016 they have gone to the playoffs 15 times. They have gone to the Super Bowl three times, 2005, 2013 and 2014, winning the NFL Championship in 2013.

The Seattle Sounders were a MLS expansion team in 2007 and beginning their first season in 2009, this is not counting the team’s origin in the NASL in 1974 and USL time since. In the 8 seasons between 2009 and 2016 they went to the playoffs each season. They have gone to the MLS Cup Finals once, winning this year. In addition to this championship they have been US Open Cup Champions four times and they won the Supporters’ Shield once.

Now you are probably thinking “But Corky, how can a team from Seattle win the Stanley Cup? There isn’t even a professional hockey team there”

Well the answer is the Seattle Metropolitans, the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917, twelve years before the Boston Bruins won the Cup in the NHL.

The Seattle Metropolitans were an expansion team in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) in 1915 and in the team’s 9 seasons between 1915-16 through 1923-24 they went to the playoffs 7 times. They made it to the Stanly Cup Final three times in 1916-17, 1918-19 and 1919-20, winning in 1916-17 and tying in 1918-19 with the Montreal Canadians. The Stanley Cup in 1918-19 was suspended with Seattle and Montreal tied 2-2-1 due to the Spanish Flu outbreak.

I can also include MMA/UFC fighters

Randy Couture is from Everett and went to school in Lynwood, both about 20 minutes north of Seattle. In his 14 year MMA career he was the UFC Heavyweight Champion three times, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion twice, the UFC Interim UFC Light Heavyweight once, the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament Champion and is in the UFC Hall of Fame.

Benson Henderson grew up in Federal Way (Where I lived half my life), about 20 minutes south of Seattle. In his 10-year MMA career he has been the WEC Lightweight Champion once, the WEC Interim Lightweight Champion once, UFC Lightweight Champion once and he fought for both the Bellator Welterweight Championship and Bellator Lightweight Championship in the last 8 months, losing both times.

How about a couple of wrestlers from the Evergreen state?

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine was born in Seattle and in his 37-year career wrestling mostly in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF/WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) he won over 20 Heavyweight Championships, 16 Tag-Team Championships and a dozen or so various championships. He is also in 4 different Hall of Fames.

Daniel Bryan is from Aberdeen, about 2 hours west of Seattle and is also the birth place of Kurt Cobain. Bryan wrestled professionally for 17 years, which includes 6 years in the WWE, and he won a number of championships. In the WWE he won the World Heavyweight Championship once, WWE Heavyweight Championship three times, Intercontinental Championship once, US Championship once and Tag-Team Championship once.

Seattle may not compare to New York, Boston, Montreal, Chicago or LA when it comes to championships but when you consider that when Seattle teams have made it to their respective Championship game/series they have gone a decent .545% (6 out of 11 chances not counting the 1918-19 Stanley Cup that ended in a tie). Occasionally the Emerald City teams can put up the big win.

Congratulations Seattle Sounders FC On The MLS Cup Championship

Last night the Seattle Sounders FC won the MLS Cup over Toronto FC on PKs in front of a sold-out crowd in Toronto.

The Sounders seemed to be at a disadvantage the entire season with the loss of Obafemi Martins before the season started, coach Sigi Schmid was let go mid-season and then in September Clint Dempsey was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to heart problems. Toss in a playoff schedule that had Seattle playing away games against the top two teams in the MLS (FC Dallas and Colorado Rapids) and the deck was definitely stacked against them. Playing in Toronto where the weather was bitter cold, 10-degrees (F) at kickoff did not help.

The Sounders have been in the playoffs 8 of their 9 MLS seasons, they have won the US Open Cup four times, the Supporters Shield once and they have been to the Conference Finals twice before this season so they are a proven winner but have never made it over the hump to make it in to the championship game and last night’s game was ugly but they came out with the win none-the-less.

When I say ugly I mean ugly like they did not register a shot on goal during the 90 minutes of regular time or the additional 30 minutes of extra time. It came down to penalty kicks, which they won 5-4 and the title.

The only reason the Sounders won was because of the amazing play by goalie Stefan Frei who had a record seven saves on the shutout. He basically became a stone wall and his amazing save in extra time on a shot by Jozy Altidore should be considered the best save of the season. Because of his awesome array of stops Frei won the Finals MVP Award.

Seattle Sounders FC win the U.S. Open Cup

Today introduced another first for the expansion Seattle Sounders FC. With a hard-fought win against perennial favorite D.C. United at RFK Stadium, the Sounders bring home the U.S. Open Cup trophy. Not the greatest accomplishment that a team can win but definitely says something about this up and coming Seattle team.

The Sounders return to regular season play on September 12th when they return to RFK Stadium to play D.C. United again, but this time it is to battle for playoff position with the Seattle Sounders FC sitting 4 points out of an Automatic-Bid. Currently they are in first place for an At-Large bid to the playoffs but an Automatic-Bid would be so much better.

Seattle Sounders FC

I know that soccer matches are not something that you normally would find on a sports cards blog, but I have been a Seattle Sounders fan for a number of years now and even though I can not attend the games anymore I still keep up with the team in their inaugural MLS season (prior to 2008 the Seattle Sounders were a USL First Division team until the MLS offered an expansion to Seattle).

Anyway, the Sounders FC played in a Friendly against Chelsea FC this afternoon at Qwest Field. For those who do not know, Chelsea is one of the elite teams of the world. Since 2004 the Blues have been Premier League First Division Champions twice and Runner-up twice. They won the FA Cup twice (and are currently the FA Cup Champions) and the League Cup Champions twice with 1 Runner-up. They were also European Cup Runner-up in 2008. So, to play against Chelsea FC is an honor for a first year MLS expansion team.

While the match ended as a 2-0 loss, Seattle walked away with their head held high. Chelsea scored their first goal in the 12th minute and their second goal in the 35th minute, the remainder of the game saw two balanced teams controlling the ball well including some awesome defense by D Zach Scott in the last 10 minutes of the game. An exciting match overall and while a loss is a loss, it was still a great game to watch.