Elegida la bandera de los seguidores del Seattle Sounders FC

El Seattle Sounders FC, equipo de fútbol del estado de Washington, ha elegido una bandera para sus seguidores, que combina la bandera del estado, las cruces de la Union Jack y la calavera, un motivo frecuente en la simbología de los aficionados al fútbol.

Flag contest: Sounders fans already showing 'team spirit' before first kick

Joe Saarhiem is more than ready for Sounders FC kick off on March 19th The Bellingham resident won the "GOALSeattle.com Sounders FC Season Ticket Flag Contest" that awarded a season ticket to the top flag. The season ticket was donated by a fan who supported the NASL (and USL-1) Sounders and made a promise on the BigSoccer forum that he would buy and donate a season ticket if the new team continued the tradition of the Sounder name. Sounders FC chipped in a jersey and Kasey Keller-signed soccer ball for the second and third place winners. In a very cool 'Sounders fan showing some love move', Joe has decided to take the second place prize so that the second place winner, Joe Olson of Gig Harbor, can go to matches too.

The contest ran from late January until last weekend when judges and an online poll picked the winner. During the contest flag makers posted photo and video updates of the their progress. It also became clear that perhaps more than one of the finalists was relying on winning to be able to afford going to matches at all.

When Saarhiem was contacted as the winner, he took the contest for a new spin. "I started this project a month ago and and could not be happier with the results. But with that said, I think it would be best to give the season ticket to the guy who made the Chief Sealth flag (Joe Olson). You see I have two season tickets in the south end already and what I can gather from various message boards he has none. It would be a shame to know that flag #3 is sitting in a living room on game day and not flying proudly in section 122. I would trade down to the jersey knowing that one more die hard SSFC fan was able to stand, sing, and support our Sounders, that would be enough of a prize to me."

Joe's move was appreciated by the other Joe (Olson, of Gig Harbor.)

"Wow! What a Monday morning," Gig Harbor Joe told us via email a few minutes ago. "When I first received word that I had come in 2nd place in the flag contest I was naturally a little disappointed not to have won, but I was grateful to Sounders FC for kicking in a nice consolation prize and I was certainly very happy to have had so many Goal Seattle members vote for my flag. It was very gratifying to read some of the nice comments that were made. Then I received another email....

"I read it so fast I had to read it again, and nearly fell out of my chair in the process. What a great feeling! I'll be there March 19th, in General Admission, waving Chief Sealth until my arms quiver. First, I'd like to thank the man behind it all for being so generous in giving away a season ticket and for creating such a cool competition. I've already created several flags for fun, but this competition forced me to push the boundaries of both my creativity and artistic ability (of which I have very little). I think all of the entries show how much this team means to the fans and it felt good just to participate. Whoever the mystery man is, he has several beers on me when he comes to town.

"Lastly, I'd like to thank Joe (the competition winner) for so graciously deferring the 1st place prize to me. You won't see such a gesture as that (to a complete stranger, I might add) in today's society very often. He also has a beer on me when we are able to meet."

Saarhiem is still the official winner of the contest. His flag got nearly 40% of the vote and was chosen tops by both judges. Saarhiem was born in Portland Oregon and has lived all over the northwest. The 2000 graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle is currently an operations manager for a seafood marketing company in Bellingham.

"The hardest part about making the flag," says Saarhiem, "was that I decided to use a blue fabric background, so it took mulitple coats of fabric paint to get the proper colors. In retrospect I would have gone to a white cloth background and maybe saved a few coats of paint. (Try painting a yellow circle on blue cloth).

Be sure to look towards the south end of Qwest Field this season to see both Joes' flags. "March 19th seems like a dream right now," concludes Saarhiem. "I know it's a few days away really and the atmosphere, excitement and electricity of the opening match will be overwelming. I will probably waive the flag so furiously that I may take off and land in the section above me somewhere. I'd like to thank all the people that voted for my flag and i look forward to hoisting a pint with you all very soon!
COME ON YOU SOUNDERS!"

Kudos on the teamwork, Seattle fans. Take note, SSFC!

Seatle Soccer Examiner