Not long after I interviewed The Nation sports correspondent Dave Zirin following yesterday's World Cup Final, he headed over to CenturyLink stadium to see his first-ever Sounders game. Between his interview, Spike Friedman's dispatch about unfinished rail lines and Brazil's neoliberal emergence, and Argentina's loss, one could feel pretty down about soccer right now. But the Sounders won for the second time in a row over their arch-rivals, the Portland Timbers, 2-0 (highlights). And I could hear the 65,000 fans roaring all the way from the Central District.

Dave fell in love with the team, its fans, and even the ticket pricing. "Having recently returned from Brazil where I attended World Cup matches, it was not difficult to count off the ways that this experience was not only different but also 'ethical' in the way a FIFA-run tournament could never be," he writes today.

Aww, shucks. Seattle and its soccer team rock. Thanks for telling the world, Dave!