By Tim Clinton
It's a tale of two top tier professional soccer teams both named the Seattle Sounders.
The first arrived in 1974 and was a member of the North American Soccer League. It lasted through 1983.
The current Sounders team that occupies Lumen Field showed up in 2009 as a Major League Soccer expansion franchise.
Seattle's original Sounders played outdoor and indoor soccer, calling Seattle Memorial Stadium and the Kingdome home during its tenure.
They reached the 1977 Soccer Bowl championship match, playing the retiring Pele and the vaunted New York Cosmos at Civic Stadium in Portland, Ore. on Aug. 28.
The Sounders came from behind to forge a 1-1 tie, but the Cosmos won the clash in the end by a 2-1 score.
Jimmy McAlister helped Seattle on its way to the final, winning the NASL's Rookie of the Year award.
The NASL version of the Sounders made history as a winning team but, like the song says at current games, "Now they win like never before."
Seattle made the MLS playoffs every year from its 2009 inception through 2022, winning MLS Cup championships in 2016 and 2019.and taking second in 2017.
The Sounders have won other titles as well. They took the U.S. Open Cup four times and won the Supporter's Shield in 2014. They have competed in the CONCACAF Champions League seven times, taking the title in 2022.
The Sounders took the 2016 MLS championship by a 5-4 score in a penalty kick shootout over host Toronto after holding that team without a shot on goal previously in the match,
Jordan Morris of Seattle was named as the MLS Rookie of the Year that season.
The Sounders traveled to Toronto again for a 2017 championship rematch and came up short, 2-0.
Seattle played Toronto in the final for the third time in four years in 2019 and this time hosted the match, drawing a stadium record 69,274 fans.
The Sounders prevailed, 3-1, to cap off a season where Morris was named as the MLS Comeback Player of the Year in a rebound from an ACL tear.
Seattle rode a surprising playoff surge into the Western Conference Final last year and is aiming for better things to come in 2025.
As for Morris, he scored his team record 87th career goal in a 5-2 victory over LAFC on Saturday, March 8.