Seattle Weekly's 'anti-soccer' stance comes under fire from fans

Seattle Weekly Editor in Chief Mark D. Fefer recently wrote about what he saw as yet another "soccer is the next big thing" current sweeping through Seattle:

"The magic of the 1970s Sounders was unique to that time—a time before the Mariners and Seahawks—and is no more going to be recaptured than Fremont is going to become "quirky" again. Sure, soccer promoters can pack Qwest Field for exhibition games by bringing the circus to town, in the form of Manchester United or the Mexican and Brazilian national teams. But the soccer "boom" in America, which was already supposed to have arrived at least a dozen times over the past 20 years, isn't coming on any faster now than the metric system."

Little did Seattle soccer fans know at the time that The Weekly has a history of not only doubting but purposefully ignoring soccer in Seattle. Knute Burger followed Fefer's weakly-informed opinion with this revelation:

"When I edited Seattle Weekly, I issued a ban on soccer coverage. Why edit a newspaper when you can't, very occasionally, act like a tin-pot dictator and shape it to your perverse desires? I left the paper two years ago but hoped the new editor would realize my no-soccer edict was a lifetime ban. Apparently not. There's a new dictator in town, and the moratorium has been lifted. The editor himself has written a column about soccer in Seattle. The good news: He's not buying the hype that it's the next big thing."

Seattle soccer fans were quick to call The Seattle Weekly out on its soccer stance.

This is a new soccer world, and Seattle is on the electronic edge of the new soccer generation. Fans soon enough found, read and responded in droves to Fefer's opinion piece. The Seattle soccer fan of today is used to using the internet to read about clubs both local and afar. We know that Paul Silvi (KING 5) dislikes  the sport and is only now begrudgingly covering the Sounders because of the 2009 arrival of Sounders FC of MLS. We get it. We know the reasons to doubt, and the reasons are plenty.

Somehow, though, Fefer's tone struck a nerve...and the nerve struck back.

In soccer forums and in The Weekly's own feedback area fans talked passionately about their sport and their team in this city.

Mati Bishop, a commentator on the new "Seattle Soccer Show" podcast interviewed Fefer following the initial outrage over his comments. The interview can be heard here. Fefer is cornered by Bishop and comes off looking like a guy who didn't do his homework.

"What of the 17,000 season tickets Sounders FC have already sold?"

"What is it about MLS play you find lacking?

"What teams do you follow?"

Fefer had no answers to back up his opinions, just generalizations that sound like they were spit wrote from the mouth of an American sports fan who doesn't know why professional soccer can't ever work in America, but it just can't.

Welcome to the new soccer world in Seattle, Mr. Fefer, where the fans fight back:

"Another sorry article written by a sorry Eurosnob who will never follow the game in the United States. Not once did the article mention the 17,000 season tickets all ready sold, nine months before the first match is set to be played, or the $20 million dollar deal with Microsoft who will promote Xbox on the teams jersey for five years in both domestic competition and on an annual World Tour. Nor did the article mention the repeated commitment by the ownership to "build a team that will compete on a global level" or the European style structure of the fan organization that will have the power to vote on whether or not to retain the services of the general manager every four years. Either this guy didn't take the time to do his research, or he found these things not worth mention in an article about how soccer will surely fail in Seattle."

(One of 25 reader responses to The Seattle Weekly editorial).

The conversation eventually will move away from a few people in some positions (or former positions) of local press power, to the bigger question of how Sounders FC will be treated in the Seattle press next year.

The signs point towards good coverage in both the Seattle P-I (Matt Gaschk, freelance) and Tacoma News Tribune (Don Ruiz). Matt Massey is a freelance soccer writer for the Seattle Times. We'll be watching to see if the Seattle Times joins in and all three put beat writers in place.

We won't be holding our breath to read anything from Fefer or The Weekly.

Still, this question lingers: Why would The Seattle Weekly, supposedly an 'alternative' publication, turn its nose up to what remains an 'alternative' professional sport in Seattle, perhaps even THE alternative sport? In case you haven't watched the Fox Soccer Channel lately Mr. Fefer  and Mr. Burger, soccer is cool.

Just like The Seattle Weekly once was.