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Dec 6 - On the player development front, 13-year-old Bradley Boyer, the first local youth player to train with the Werder Bremen Academy under the Bremen/Sounders deal, returned Saturday from his 2-week training session in Germany.

Nov 9 - The Sounders traded forward Mark Baena to the San Diego Flash for sweeper Michael N'Doumbe and midfielder/forward Anthony Farace. As part of the trade agreement, the Sounders also get some cash and San Diego's first two draft picks in the upcoming 2000 draft.

Nov 2 - The USL has put out a news release officially announcing the death of the CrapShootout. Expect MLS to follow suit. Other details from the news release:

• The point system will apparently be 4-1-0 plus a Bogus Point for scoring at least three goals.
• If the score is level after 90 minutes, extra time will be added in the form of two 10-minute, sudden-death periods.
• Apparently if you win after extra time you still get 4 points, and if you lose after extra time you get nil.
• Results from the recent survey at the USL site are reported.
• A-League Commissioner Francisco Marcos is quoted as saying, "I think this is a dangerous attempt at giving the new purist of American soccer their day. We’ll see how it goes for one year and we’ll see just how many of these soccer purists there are that say Americans will accept ties." [RES: Lighten up, Francisco! We're just ordinary soccer fans, not "new purists of American soccer." All we ask is that A-League and MLS soccer be played by standard rules. Now, can you reconsider getting rid of the Bogus Point?]

Oct 23 - Sung to the tune of the song in The Wizard of Oz after Dorothy's house lands on the wicked witch:

Ding-dong, the shootout's dead!
Which shootout?
The CrapShootout!
Ding-dong, the CrapShootout is dead!

Details from the recent meeting of the A-League Executive Committee (which includes Sounders co-owner Neil Farnsworth) are reported in a Michael Lewis column. In addition to unanimously voting out the CrapShootout, the committee decided:

• 2-match playoff series! If the teams split the two matches, most total goals wins. If tied in goals, the higher seed advances. Seattle Pitch is very pleased!
• Six teams from each of the two conferences will qualify for the playoffs, down from eight this season.
• The standard 3-1-0 point system will still not be used (Seattle Pitch recommends the 3-1-0).
• If tied after 90 minutes, a pair of 10-minute extra-time periods will be played, with the golden-goal rule in effect.
• The column has a great quote from A-League Commissioner Francisco Marcos: "It's pure soccer, no gimmicks. We'll see if the purists are right. If they are, great. If not, we'll go back to American gimmicks." Kudos to the A-League for banning the CrapShootout before MLS did!

Oct 21 - We've set up a brand new discussion board for fans of the Seattle Sounders at www.usldiscussions.com. The site also has the best discussions going for the A-League and the rest of the USL. The site is managed by Dan Barnes, a fan of the Minnesota Thunder.

Oct 16 - A-League Championship Match: Minnesota Thunder 2 - 1 Rochester Raging Rhinos (Lagos 43, Nowak 46; Tilley 56). Attendance 9,987. Congratulations to Minnesota, both for winning and for putting 10 kilobutts in the seats!

Oct 8 - Mark Baena and Ian Russell were named to the A-League First and Second Teams, respectively.

Oct 6 - Goalkeeper Bill May was called up to the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy to replace injured backup keeper Matt Reis.

Sep 25 - The Sounders were eliminated from the A-League playoffs by the San Diego Flash, losing two matches, 6-0 in San Diego and 1-0 at home.

Sep 6 - The end of the A-League regular season found the Sounders in 3rd place in the Pacific Division behind San Diego and Vancouver, and 4th place in the Western Conference. The Sounders had a record of 16-3-1-8 (W-SW-SL-L).

Aug 31 - The Portland Oregonian reported that Portland will get an A-League franchise that will begin play in the 2001 season.

Aug 15 - Host Spokane Shadow were runners-up in the PDL playoffs, losing the championship match 3-1 to the Chicago Sockers.

Aug 11 - Sounders away matches began being broadcast over the Internet by 1300 KKOL-AM.

Jul 13 - In third-round action in the US Open Cup, the Sounders played well against the Colorado Rapids and gave themselves a chance to win, but ended with the short end of a 1-0 decision. A perfect strike by Colorado defender Matt McKeon from 40 yards with a tail wind comprised the lone goal. The Sounders are knocked out of the Cup tournament and the Rapids advance.

Jul 11 - In a pre-match press conference, the Sounders announced an exchange agreement with SV Werder Bremen of the German Bundesliga, which will involve players, coaching, and youth camps! Werder Bremen have loaned 19-year-old midfielder Alexander Nouri to the Sounders for the rest of the 1999 season.

Jun 30 - Sean Henderson joined the Sounders and played the full 90 in a 4-1 win at New Orleans. Oliver Heald played his first A-League match as a Sounder after visa paperwork cleared.

Jun 29 - When the Sounders face the Colorado Rapids in the US Open Cup match on July 13, they won't be facing their ex-goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann. His contract was purchased by Fulham of England's First Division.

Jun 16 - The Sounders have bolstered their midfield by signing two veterans, Ralph Robertson and Oliver Heald.

Jun 15 - Mark Baena was named to the A-League All-Star team.

Jun 11 - Christian Michner suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament 20 minutes into his first appearance in an A-League match last Friday against the US Pro-40 Select. Michner is out for the season and scheduled for surgery. Troya Cowell has gone home to California for personal reasons and will not be back.

Jun 7 - The Sounders have signed 23-year-old midfielder Christian Michner, 6'2" and 180 lb.

May 28 - The Seattle Sounders announced that Peter Hattrup has been appointed a playing assistant coach.

May 20 - The Seattle Sounders Selects have signed Eastlake High, University of Maryland, and U-20 national team defender Nick Downing for the remainder of the 1999 season.

May 3 - The Sounders have re-signed defender George Singh and added Nick Kalafatich, a forward from Seattle Hibernian and Caledonian FC and a native of Gig Harbor. This brings the roster to 18 players. Singh was on the bench as a potential sub for the opener in Vancouver. Kalafatich is waiting for paperwork to clear from a stint with a German pro club a few years ago.

May 1 - Vancouver 86ers 1 - 2 Seattle Sounders (Sulentic 43; Baena 33, 41). The Sounders start their season with a win!

Apr 29 - Fernando Clavijo has moved back outdoors, taking a job as assistant coach for the MLS Metrostars. He will be supporting head coach Bora Milutinovic. Clavijo just finished his job coaching the indoor NPSL Florida Thundercats, and two years ago was coach of the CISL Seattle SeaDogs until that league folded.

Apr 25 - M Peter Hattrup and D/M Kieran Barton have been signed. Hattrup has been playing indoor with the Milwaukee Wave. Barton played with the Spokane Shadow last season and for the Sounders the year before that.

Apr 15 - Goalkeeper Preston Burpo has been re-signed. Burpo re-earned a roster spot by playing well in the preseason matches.

Last year's 'keeper Dusty Hudock, waived by the Miami Fusion after three matches, has signed with the Charleston Battery. The Sounders would have been glad to put Hudock back on the roster, but he will get a substantially higher salary in Charleston.

Apr 13 - Rookie goalkeeper Peter Van de Ven has been waived.

Apr 12 - The Sounders have signed midfielders Troya Cowell and Shan Gaw.

Apr 7 - Goalkeeper Dusty Hudock, taken by MLS Miami Fusion in this year's supplemental draft, has been waived by Miami to get back under the roster limit after they added a pair of midfielders. Miami's number one 'keeper from last season, Jeff Cassar, just returned from the injured list and Garth Lagerway, picked up off waivers on February 27, claimed the backup spot by virtue of more MLS experience. Hudock had started in all three Miami matches this season.

Mar 26 - The Sounders have signed 26-year-old midfielder Troya Cowell, who played last for VC Westerlo of the Belgian First Division. In 1997 Cowell played for the San Francisco Bay Seals.

Mar 24 - The Sounders held the first of three consecutive days of tryouts. More than 65 players tried out.

The Sounders have released four players that were on the 1998 roster. Placed on waivers were:

• Preston Burpo -- 26, goalkeeper
• Fabian Davis -- 24, midfielder, capped for Jamaica
• Paul Gelvezon -- 28, midfielder
• Kei Kinoshita -- 27, midfielder from Japan

Mar 23 - Defender Jason Annicchero has been re-signed for 1999.

Mar 16 - Goalkeeper Bill May has been signed. May played for the San Francisco Bay Seals last season and for the University of Washington a year earlier.

Mar 13 - The Sounders have signed three rookies from the University of Washington. All were named to the all-MPSF first team, and Nguyen and Waibel were named to the Far West Region second team.

• Viet Nguyen - forward, 5'6", 130 lb, hometown Tacoma, 7 goals and 6 assists with UW in 1998.
• Craig Waibel - defender, 6'2", 170 lb, hometown Spokane, 4 goals and 1 assist with UW in 1998.
• Peter Van de Ven - goalkeeper, 6'2", 185 lb, hometown Santa Ana, CA, 0.79 GAA with UW in 1998.

The signing of player/assistant coach Bernie James was announced by the Sounders.

Mar 1 - Forward Erik Storkson has been announced as being re-signed for 1999.

Feb 23 - The Sounders have announced that defender Randy Mann has been signed for the season.

Feb 17 - Sounders forward Mark Baena has signed a 2-year contract. Last year Baena was the leading scorer for the A-League and was named the league's MVP.

Feb 11 - The Sounders will work more cooperatively with Seattle's Division IV side, formerly called the Seattle BigFoot, now called the Seattle Sounders Selects. The Sounders news release predicts more player movement between the two teams than in the past, and they may practice together once a week. Ownership of the Sounders Selects stays with Bill Hurme (the original BigFoot owner), and the Coach will still be Paul Hurme (yes, Paul is Bill's son).

Feb 8 - In yesterday's A-League college draft, the Sounders picked three seniors from the University of Washington: forward Viet Nguyen, defender Craig Waibel, and midfielder Chris Wolff.

The goalkeeper situation appears headed towards resolution as the Sounders acquired Bill May, who tended nets at the U of Washington a year and a half ago, from the San Francisco Bay Seals for midfielder Ryan Edwards, also a rookie from the same school last season.

Forward Patrick Beech, who delighted fans with his skills last season, was traded to New Orleans for the draft pick used on Waibel.

And ex-Sounder midfielder Vicente Figueroa, who had reached a verbal agreement to return, is going to try out with the Kansas City Wizards even though he wasn't picked in the MLS supplemental draft.

Feb 7 - Kansas City selected Brandon Prideaux as the second overall pick in the MLS supplemental draft. With the fifth pick in the draft, Miami selected Dusty Hudock. Darren Sawatzky, who has been working out with the Sounders and has impressed, was picked by Colorado in the eighth spot.

In the MLS college draft, the only player with local ties picked was Leighton O'Brien from Federal Way, first pick of the third round. O'Brien, who has been working out with the Sounders, was also drafted in the A-League by the San Diego Flash in the territorial round.

Jan 19 - The USISL has changed its name to USL (United Soccer Leagues), trying to mimic all of the successful US professional sports leagues that have a 3-letter acronym. The A-League will still be called the A-League. In a slight to the Canadian teams in the A-League, Dictator Marcos said in his press release, "United Soccer Leagues is for the United States."

Jan 11 - Dusty Hudock has been selected to play for the A-League/D3 Pro/PDSL Select Team, which will take on a team of 16 seniors from NCAA and NAIA college men's teams in the 1999 Umbro Select All-Star Classic on February 6 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Also named to the same team was Craig Waibel, who captained the UW Huskies as a senior this past season. Waibel is listed as a player from the PDSL Spokane Shadow.

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