Except we just fucking finished it!

It’s been a week and I still can’t even handle it. Back in June, July… I was ready for the season to be over. Like, let’s just unplug the season and plug it back in a few months later to prepare for January/pre-season.

But then suddenly we got a new player and others were finally healthy and oh yeah, we dropped Sigi and let Brian take the wheel. I think the best case scenario that we all thought was that we wouldn’t end the season scraping the bottom of the barrel. But then we kept winning and playing better and when we went to the locker room at the half, down a point, we came back out and didn’t give up.

And the next thing I know, I’m scrambling to get a rental car and a flight home from Toronto at midnight the night before I fly out to DC.

How did this even happen?

I am so beyond thrilled for my team, my city, my soccer fam. For Zach Scott, ending his 15 year career with the Sounders by hoisting the cup. Unbelievable.

It was brutally cold on Saturday in Toronto. I believe the game time temp was somewhere around 24F – which is cold, but considering we were what felt like 8 miles up, the wind was  biting and I have no idea what the windchill factor was. I had two hand warmers in each glove, one against my palm and the other on the back of my hand, but I could still hardly feel my fingers. I had two larger heat packs (the kind for cramps or muscle aches) stuck to my back. I had three hoods as well as a hat, and of course my scarf which covered my mouth and nose for most of the time. But the worst was my legs and feet. I wore boots with my thick sounder socks, but by the time I got back to my hotel at 1am I couldn’t feel my toes much at all and I couldn’t bend them.

With a 4:40am wake up, I decided against a shower (horrible mistake). It took forever to fall asleep (I think I got about 2 hours of sleep) and I woke up still shivering. The worst. But that said, TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Because we’re champions now.

Four US Open Cups, a Supporter’s Shield and finally the MLS Cup.