In a major blow to the booming cardboard-cutout, faux-fan industry, but in a major buzz for humanoid fans and the teams they love, people will soon populate stadiums, yards and other gathering spots in the state of Washington.

By March 22, all 39 counties will have some COVID-19 fan attendance restrictions removed for outdoor events such Mariners, Sounders and OL Reign games, as well as high school sports, rodeos, motorsports and other outdoor events.

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As far as stand-up people in sports, Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer and general manager Garth Lagerwey are solid guys. If they say something, they generally mean it, and it wouldn't be like them to screw with anyone's career.

But it took them sooo long to secure a contract extension for coach Brian Schmetzer that it felt as if something was up.

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The Seattle Sounders hoped that Saturday’s MLS Cup final in Columbus would herald their arrival as a dynastic force in league history by winning consecutive league championships and a third title in five years.

Instead, a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of the Columbus Crew served as a curt ending to a disrupted season.

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The final seconds of the Seattle Sounders’ MLS Western Conference final against Minnesota United FC will be enshrined quickly in Seattle sports history. Monday night provided one of those rare moments where time freezes and reveals the incredible.

The Sounders triumphed 3-2 thanks to a 93rd-minute goal from Gustav Svensson -- the first time in league history a club won a playoff game despite having trailed 88 minutes into the contest.

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Seattle Sounders FC’s back line punched the club’s ticket to the Western Conference finals Tuesday night. Defenders came up big at both ends of the field in a 1-0 win over FC Dallas that showcased grit rather than glitz.

The trip to the league’s penultimate playoff round is familiar. The club has made it to the conference finals in four of the past five seasons.

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Los Angeles FC came to Lumen Field focused on righting a perceived wrong a year in the making -- avenging the 3-1 dismantling the Sounders handled them after a record-smashing 2019 regular season in last year’s Western Conference final. Instead, Seattle sent them packing with a 3-1 win, with all goals scored or manufactured by striker Raúl Ruidíaz.

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Defending MLS champion Seattle Sounders FC ended the regular season with a touch of flair, bucking a recent trend of dreary results in time to secure the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference MLS Cup playoffs.

After a goal-packed second half provided a 4-1 win over San Jose at CenturyLink Field Sunday, the club learned it will open at home against No. 7  LAFC on Nov. 24 (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

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I wish there was the equivalent of an air quality index meter for this sort of thing. Or maybe something like an antigen test. But there is no plausible marker to measure what's happening. So in the absence of a quantifier, I'm going to give it at least an identifier.

The Foghorn Leghorn Seattle Sports Week: A Set of the Most Unheard of Things I've Ever Heard Of.

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The Seahawks staged a mock game Wednesday at the otherwise-empty Clink, which was football-useful but utterly irrelevant culturally. Another unarmed Black man in America had been gunned down by police, this time in Kenosha, WI. The Seahawks joined others in the sports world furious about another atrocity -- Jacob Blake, 29, was shot seven times in the back, in front of his three children.

Coach Pete Carroll was among the outraged.

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My favorite descriptor of our neighbors to the north is that Canada is the law office above a good party bar.

Well, the party seems over, for a good long while, anyway.

"Knock-knock, Canada. It's us, America. Some trouble down here. We, um, need a place to crash. Got a couch? Yes, yes, we're wearing masks. Mostly. Some."

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Road trip! Five to seven weeks in a Florida resort town, away from the fam, paid to hang with the guys!

After three months in quarantine, it sounds close to ideal.

Unless, of course, someone ends up seriously ill, or dead. But Major League Soccer and its defending champion Seattle Sounders are willing to risk it.

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A Seattle Sounders FC support staff member who worked the March 7 at CenturyLink Field match against Columbus is in isolation after becoming the club's first confirmed case of COVID-19 from the novel coronavirus, the club said in a statement Sunday.

The person did not have access to the general public, the club said, and became ill four days after the match. No other cases within the club have been identified.

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Despite a smart, coherent, calm presentation Wednesday morning by Gov. Jay Inslee, executives of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan that was unique in civic history, my guess is there's still some skepticism about the drastic measures ordered to mitigate (not contain) COVID-19, the disease produced by novel coronavirus.

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My most recent pro sports locker-room media scrum came in January in the visitors' quarters at Green Bay's Lambeau Field. I was about eight feet from Marshawn Lynch when he offered prophecy worthy of the Oracle of Delphi.

As you may recall, following the 28-23 playoff loss to the Packers that ended the Seahawks season, Lynch ascended the altar and offered a rare, pithy encyclical directed primarily at younger NFL players.

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A longtime Sounders fan, Doug Dragovich sat at the bar with a beer in Swannie's next to Occidental Park Saturday afternoon, awaiting the March to the Match. He was fully aware that Seattle was the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis gripping the U.S., so much so that instead of taking the train from Shoreline, as he usually does, he drove with two friends to Pioneer Square. Germs, y'know?

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Unlike Italy, where sports and public health officials have banned spectators from all stadiums during matches until April 15 due to a more serious outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Seattle Sounders will carry on with a 7 p.m. Saturday match at the Clink against the Columbus Crew, based on updated guidelines from Seattle and King County health officials.

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At the moment, quiet apprehension fills the Seattle sports scene. Football is over, and so is Washington's college basketball's home seasons. The Mariners are away at spring training. But high school winter sports are building to their annual climaxes. The Sounders opened their MLS season Sunday with a win at the Clink in front of a typical crowd of 40,126.

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Much has made of the Seattle Sounders' desire to be "a big club," meaning a well-regarded powerhouse elevating beyond MLS into global soccer's pantheon of consistent excellence. Winning two MLS Cups and playing in three of the past four was a good start.

However, losing Thursday at home in the opening round of CONCACAF Champions League to an underdog outfit traveling from Honduras was a crappy follow-through. So, failure Sunday in the MLS regular-season opener against Chicago was not an option.

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Relative to the euphoria surrounding the Sounders when last they were seen publicly --  a November civic parade that followed the MLS Championship won in spectacular fashion on the home grounds -- Thursday and Friday held a heavy load of glumness.

Since the MLS season opener is noon Sunday against the Chicago Fire, Seattle has little time to ditch the pouty lower lip from Thursday night's clank at the Clink.

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After the Sounders were thoroughly outplayed in the first half Sunday, yet dodged and ducked to a scoreless draw, general manager Garth Lagerway looked over at his boss. Club owner Adrian Hanauer, a kid from Mercer Island who came to wealth and then to Major League Soccer with a passion to create a team with a global brand in a global sport, was tighter than yoga pants on Santa.

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