Last week, we reported that MLS had balked at the idea of offering the name Sounders as one of the choices in the online poll to pick the name of Seattle’s new MLS team. Fan pressure, though, seems to have contributed to a decision to allow a write-in choice, and a movement has started for Sounders as the choice.

A conversation with a Seattle soccer fan should be familiar to supporters worldwide. There is much use of terms like “tradition” and “history,” and most invoke the same vivid memories, dating back four decades in some cases, of ludicrous attachment and childhoods immersed in ticket stubs and team memorabilia. The sense of community, even between generations, is palpable, and it is all tied together with the Seattle Sounders name.

Even with the vagaries of American pro soccer, which have seen the Sounders history bounce between leagues, the continuity is clear in the minds of the fans. Younger First Division (USL-1) Sounders supporters like Clayton Hanson, who know the NASL only through websites and bar stories, still see those teams as their own.

According to him, “because of the name, the colors and the bits of institutional continuity, I could put myself in the shoes of some other anonymous schmo watching the NASL Sounders advance to the Soccer Bowl to face Pele and the Cosmos.”

This sense of history isn’t unique in American sports, but in American soccer it is nearly nonexistent and something to be prized on that basis alone. Sounders, as MLS would have it, is a name and (more importantly) brand with a fixed context.

But the clear message from Seattle fans is that, in the words of David Falk, operator of the Goal Seattle website, Sounders “is the only name that represents soccer in Seattle.” The community, history, and civic pride go along with the name in all of its uses, from the NASL days forward. In the words of lifelong Seattle soccer fan Jared Hooper, “If you take away our name, you are asking fans to archive decades of memories.”

Many fans also see the pro-Sounders effort as a campaign on behalf of fans across the league as well as in MLS. Sons of Ben president Bryan James has urged his members to vote for the name in solidarity, saying:

I think that the recent wave of expansion has actually forged supporter groups together. We will hate each other during the season, but at the end of the day, we are all American soccer fans who want what is best for the sport. Sounders is one of the few names to survive the transition from NASL to minor league soccer and continues to go strong. For American soccer fans, the name should represent an opportunity to continue a tradition in a nation that so sorely lacks it.

And Sean, one of the leaders of Seattle’s Emerald City Supporters, emphasized the importance of the fight for future markets entering the league:

This is not just about MLS in Seattle, this is about the entire MLS and US soccer. What happens when Montreal, Portland, and/or Vancouver come into the league? Should they have to abandon their history because MLS/Garber do not want to recognize soccer tradition before 1996? I understand building a league for the future. That said, you can also build for that future through solid connections to the past.

Such are the reasons that Seattle fans have campaigned for MLS to bring the Sounders name along with the USL team’s owners and players. Particularly on fan sites like BigSoccer, Seattle fans have been urging locals and soccer fans across the country to cast write-in votes for Seattle Sounders. Sixteen hours into the voting, which started on Thursday morning, the poll had registered 6,300 votes from across the country.

There is no indication as to which name has the upper hand, though certainly the campaign has been noticed. During last night’s MLS First Kick broadcast, commissioner Don Garber acknowledged the support that Sounders had recieved and mentioned the write-in option on the team’s vote, almost a first among official statements on the poll.

Says David Falk of the vote: “This is a write-in vote for “Seattle Sounders,” but it would also send a loud message to Don Garber and MLS owners that fans matter, and that our country has a tradition in this sport before MLS that they need not avoid or ignore.” He is right, and Sounders is the correct choice for the city and the league.

“Zhongguo, Zhongguo — ha, ha, ha. Zhongguo, Zhongguo bi sheng,” the crowd shouts, simultaneously beating yellow, stick-shaped batons to the rhythm. “Jia you, jia you.” Rough translation: “China, China — ha, ha, ha. China, China must win. Let’s go, let’s go.”

One of about 20 cheers approved by authorities, it’s drilled a half-dozen times, orderly repetitions practiced in a meeting hall darkened by stained gray carpet squares and wood paneling. Thirty red and yellow paper lanterns dangle overhead, casting faint light on government slogans papering the walls.

Welcome to the “Beijing Civilized Workers Cheering Squad,” a public-education program to teach sportsmanship, all part of a larger Olympic etiquette campaign to show off a polite, prosperous and powerful China.

…

“We are not going to shout profanities in front of foreigners because the Olympics is a show for foreigners,” said Lui Wei, a 21-year-old spectator attending a recent Guo’an game.

Said foreigners were off buying books on Chinese swear words and were not available for comment.

For now, Beane has an informal involvement with the team that includes an office in the Earthquakes’ temporary headquarters.

“It’s something I want to help grow,” Beane said, at pains to point out he’s not leaving the A’s. But, “at some point, I anticipate that involvement growing.”

He won’t offer any more than that. However, it is curious that three times during a short phone conversation Beane praises assistant GM David Forst’s ability to run the baseball team without him.

“I feel like we’ve got two GMs here anyway,” Beane said.

More importantly, Beane seems to be a true fan. Many, and probably most soccer fans in the U.S. are also fans of football, baseball, etc. in a way that you don’t see from execs in other sports. If Beane defected to the Earthquakes, it might do a lot to dispel the idea that soccer has its own niche and appeal that doesn’t translate to the “baseball guys” or “football crowd.” Certainly, a move like that from one of modern baseball icons would be a huge attention-getter. Beane definitely has some of the right ideas for soccer’s future in the the States:

“It’s not just sports culture anymore,” Beane said. “Now it’s become pop culture.”

Is there just something hokey and forced about bands yelling out team names and players? Probably. It’s hard to take a good melody and beat seriously when the lyrics would have been rejected by Big Ten song-writers of the 1920s as too corny. And of course, it’s hard to take corporate-sponsored music seriously as a fan expression.

On the other hand, OK Go’s Chicago Fire entry rocks.

UPDATE: An addendum after the jump.

Having apparently rained all over the DCenters’ parade, I felt compelled to re-attempt-to-listen to these songs, and yep, they still suck.

The problem is that a sponsored team “anthem” is emblematic of all the lamest parts of American sports fandom. Songs like these are expressly meant to be pump-up music (or worse, TV-ad music) for the standard U.S. sports audience, so what you get is, by necessity, inoffensive and vaguely reminiscent of Jock Jams. It’s got bass and the team name so can play it to generate some canned enthusiasm and kid-dancing for the Jumbotron, but it’s not authentic, it’s not interesting, and it’s certainly not linkable to American soccer’s fairly mild hardcore. No supporter’s group is going to be able to sing along to Latinoish pop or indie rock even if it wanted to.

So what we get with the “Represent” songs is basically the muddle of cheesy mediocrity you’d expect. The ones that work the best are OK Go’s Chicago Fire song and, despite myself, The Rapture’s Red Bull anthem, but they’re only OK since they’re both amped-up electronic rock songs where the lyrics barely matter since the sound is cool. Mike Jones’ Dynamo song isn’t that bad largely since modern rap lyrics are such utter crap that it couldn’t possibly matter less what he’s talking about. But the others are just truly awful; avoid the TFC and Real Salt Lake songs if you value your ear drums.

(By the way, it’s worth mentioning that good “produced” sports music knows its place. The “Represent” songs aren’t just bad, they’re annoying since they seem to take themselves way too seriously AND they sound like complete tools. Seriously, what in God’s name sounds worse or ruins a decent song quicker than an “indie” band chanting “R! E! A! L!” or a repetitive “DC! United!” intro at corporate behest? Do they or adidas realize just how slimy it feels, let alone sounds? Contrast that to the aforementioned Arsenal rip-off songs, or Chas and Dave, or die Toten Hosen’s hilarious soccer song “Bayern.” You’ll see what I mean.)

This is just a case of adidas forgetting that soccer benefits from product differentiation, not the same stuff that works in baseball stadiums. The best music in soccer comes from the stands on gameday, and that’s not a formula to be messed with.

In fact, the only two groups that MLS hasn’t tried to attract are the ones that actually have showed up to see the games from day one: the hardcore fan, so to speak and those of us out here who actually follow and enjoy sports. You know us; we’re called sports fans.

And, this being Chicago, he has some words for the Fire’s notoriously awful treatment of Section 8:

Apparently, all these loud, happy folks are bad for business because they might scare off the tremulous whites in the suburbs and their towheaded young. Oddly enough, this has not hurt the Cubs’ bottom line, but I’m just repeating what people wearing suits who work for MLS have told me.

This isn’t anything we haven’t heard or covered here before, but more commentary of this kind is always good to see.

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Depending on the club, the cheapest Bundesliga ticket for an adult will set you back between 8 and 10 Euros. Those tickets are, of course, for a part of the grounds many younger and non-German fans only know from hearsay, namely the terraces.

Now, it’s important to note that there is by and large only one reason most Bundesliga grounds still have standing areas: because the fans wanted it that way.

With a young and unsettled league, there’s still hope that supporter power can take root in the States. In some places, like DC and Toronto, organized supporters have won a good deal of cooperation and leeway from their clubs. The Sons of Ben already have a wide-ranging list of consultation demands on everything from team colors to stadium design elements to game-day transportation deals. And following Toronto’s success, Don Garber’s comments have seemed to say that MLS now recognizes the vital need for dedicated support, which bodes well for both existing and future groups.

Then again, tell that to Red Bull fans.

They do not quite get it, bless them, but America’s soccer fans are giving it their best shot. The LA Galaxy fans – or boosters, as they are amusingly known over there – recently marked the debut of their latest signing by donning Beckham wigs, and directing some good-natured taunts at the small knot of followers of their opponents, Premiership Chelsea, on a pre-season tour.

Kelner may not have the right terms (“boosters”?), but he’s certainly mastered the shallow and condescending view of US soccer that people like Wells can’t seem to dent.