Anyone who has been to a Seattle Sounders FC match will tell you the crowd is like nothing you've ever seen.
They stand. They sing. They chant. They drink beer.
It's all part of the experience of going to a match in this soccer-crazed corner of the country. More so than most other regions (simmer down, Portland Timber fans), Puget Sound is football savvy. It recognizes and appreciate the nuances on the pitch. It realizes that for 90-plus minutes, the crowd at Century Link should be a blanket of unity and support for the club.
They stand. They sing. They chant. They drink beer.
But during last week's match, two men apparently weren't feeling the soccer love.
A 24-second video clip - taken with a phone, posted on YouTube and re-posted on Deadspin.com - has been making the rounds on the web. It depicts two men in the southeast section of the "CLink" in a heated argument over whether one of them should sit or stand.
(Click here to read the Deadspin article and watch the video. WARNING: In true Deadspin fashion, the article's headline contains some language that some might find offensive)
Apparently, the exchange started because the fan in front refused to sit down. According to the article, the person who first posted the video wrote that the guy in back walked down a few rows and became aggressive.
This section is not a sitting only section, or else something probably would have been said to us as well as the other people who stand all match at some point in the 13 other regular season matches.
When the guy in front wouldn't sit down, the guy in back responded in taste-of-your-own-medicine fashion and screamed into the guy's ear, "GO SOUNDERS GO!"
The clip doesn't depict the resolution, but Good Lordy, it's the visual equivalent of hearing nails on a chalkboard. Made me squirm.
Here's the thing: I can see both sides of the argument.
My wife and I became season ticket holders last season. We bought stubs in a standing section, which was great most of the time. We stood. We sung. We chanted. We drank beer.
But this year, we bought tickets on the opposite side of the supporters section at the south end, or "Brougham End," of the pitch.
The reason we chose seats in a different, and admittedly much calmer, section is twofold. First, we wanted to start bringing our 4-year-old daughter to the matches. Second, it's a sitting only section. The ticket lady even told us that on her renewal sales pitch.
Based on the video, our new section is adjacent to the one depicted in the video. (Lucky me. I gave up my tickets to that particular match). Still, I can't quite tell whether that section is designated for sitters only.
We've seen others engage in the sit-stand debate. Our general rule last year was, even we didn't like it, we stood. All match except half. From the "Scarves Up" ceremony before the first whistle to the fireworks after the final one. It was tough with a kid, but we stuck it out.
Now that we're in a sitting only section, I'd probably be upset too if the people in front of me stood while the rest of the section sat. Was the section in the video designated for sitters? Who knows?
Would I have taken the "aggressive" approach utilized by the screamer?
Heck no. I'm not trying to go viral on YouTube.
But I want to know from you, Patch users and Sounder fans, who do you side with in the video? Do you support the screamer or the refuse-to-sit-downer? Let's have a lively (but civil) discussion in the comments below.
