Sounders aquire Eddie Johnson from Montreal, at the cost of Fucito and Neagle

It was announced tonight that the Sounders have aquired US international and World Cup veteran Eddie Johnson, who had recently signed with the league and entered the allocation process for placement, from the Montreal Impact at the cost of Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle.

In the release Schmid and Henderson voiced confidence in Johnson's abilities, stating:

“Eddie is a high quality striker who is a very good finisher,” said Sounders FC technical director Chris Henderson, who coached Johnson at Kansas City. “We are very excited to have him join Sounders FC in our quest for another successful season.”

“It’s always difficult to part ways with two quality individuals who have contributed greatly to the success of our first three years,” said Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid. “We saw this as a unique opportunity to bring a player in with World Cup experience who can help us in our quest to win the MLS Cup.”

My initial reaction towards this trade is one of complete shock. While having not scored many goals, Fucito has proven an asset up front putting in the hard work hold up the ball and badgering away at the defense. He has been surrounded by something of a cult following as well, as proven by the Church of Fucito hash tag on Twitter. Even more shocking, however, is the loss of Neagle. His Federal Way origins gave him a strong connection to the city, and he has proven himself a that from the midfield scoring the game winning goal against RSL at Rio Tinto as well as the game winner in stoppage time against Sporting Kansas City at Lovestrong Sporting Park. Despite the immense sense of loss I feel for those two, I ultimately understand the motives behind the move. Not only can Johnson offer what the Sounders have sorely been missing up top to pair with Montero (size, finishing ability, as well as international experience to boot) it's known fact that the Sounders roster contains incredible depth especially with the other acquisitions made in pre-season/off-season. These losses may be jarring, but they do not cripple the team and they bring in a quality striker. As fans we must simply suppress out emotions and think logically. In the front office I trust.

Notes

• Notably, the Montreal Impact now have 5 former Sounders after today's trade (Fucito, Neagle, Nyassi, Wahl, and Montano)

Apple Announces Next OS X Iteration, Mountain Lion

Seemingly out of nowhere, at least for me for which this announcement jumped out me as I was browsing Cult of Mac, Apple has announced today the next version of OS X, to be dubbed Mountain Lion.

Delving into the details of the upgrade, Apple is continuing the process of migrating iOS applications and features back to the Mac. Most notable is the new Messaging app, Notification Center, operating system wide Twitter integration, and GameCenter. Messaging completely replaces iChat, much like Facetime allowing communication between your Mac and any iOS device. In fact, Apple has made the beta version of the application available here. Notifications Center finally provides a native notifications application/system, apparently almost identical to how it appears and operates on iOS. It will definitely be interesting to see how quickly developers get on board, as well as how the system competes with the current notifications solution for Mac users Growl. iOS 5 introduced full Twitter integration to the mobile operating system, and now that integration has found it's way to the Mac. Finally, there isn't too much to say on GameCenter past the unification it allows between desktop and mobile iOS gaming.

While I'm giddy at the thought of a new iteration of OS X, that feeling get's spoiled by the feeling that this upgrade feels, at least to me, to be coming far too soon. The current version of OS X, Lion, has only been publicly available for less than a year. It will be closer to a year by Mountain Lion's release, but that is a ridiculously short amount of time before essentially making it obsolete.

Album Review - Odd Soul

Review

Mutemath's third effort, Odd Soul, sees them take a fairly significant, although seemingly natural, departure in sound and overall style over their first two albums. Rather than continue down the path of electronica infused indie and alt rock, though those elements of their music are still present every now and then, they've instead opted to assume a pre-dominantly blues influenced sound that is incredibly groovy and classic evoking thoughts of music from the sixties and seventies.

A genre shift can be a tricky proposition, but Mutemath make that transition flawlessly creating music at an equal or even higher level than of their past albums Armistice and Mutemath. For that excellence you have to look no farther than tracks like the title track and album opener "Odd Soul" and "Prytania", as well as first single "Blood Pressure". "Odd Soul" in particular is perhaps exudes plenty of swagger and groove, serving to open the album in a big way. "Prytania" follows, offering an infectious groove and an incredibly catchy chorus to tie it all together.

As noted earlier, the bands indie/alt rock/electronica roots are not completely left behind. In particular, the songs "All or Nothing" and "In No Time" sound as if they could be right at home in Armistice, slowing things down with their incredibly chill and relaxing mood and sound. Both tracks are nothing short of absolutely fantastic, both tracks prove to be standouts on the album with their dominant and beautiful usage of electronics accentuated with drums and guitar. While "All or Nothing" sounds akin to what's found on The Dear Hunter's Violet EP of The Color Spectrum "In No Time", takes a much more atmospheric approach that, paired with the beautiful lyrics and beautiful vocals of Paul Meany, accomplishes musical bliss.

Verdict

Despite the genre shift Odd Soul proves to be Mutemath's best effort to date, exuding excellence from beginning to end. I highly suggest anyone with a remote interest for music check this album out.

Score

[5/5]

Top Picks 

Odd Soul, Prytania, All or Nothing, Allies, Equals, In No Time

Sounders Pick Up Four In Supplemental Draft, Plus One More From RSL

The Supplemental Draft, intended for the distribution of the remaining college players invited to the Combine and left over after the SuperDraft, took place this morning and saw the Sounders pick up four more players plus another via trade after the draft was over. With their first pick, 33rd overall, they selected UCSB defender and little brother of DC United midfielder Chris Pontius, Tim Pontius. Second, immediately after their first pick and 34th overall, the Sounders selected EPL reserve midfielder Jason Banton. With their third pick, 53rd overall, the Sounders then selected University of Washington forward Abdul Aman, And finally with their fourth pick, 72nd overall, the Sounders picked up Cal Poly defender Wes Feighner. Only hours after the draft, the Sounders announced the acquisition of midfielder Andy Rose in a trade with Real Salt Lake for the rights of one of last year's draft picks Leone Cruz.

The most exciting of these picks is definitely Banton. He has many striking similarities to Steve Zakuani. Much like Zakuani he came up through the youth systems in the Premier League, not only that but he is much in the same mold as Zakuani as a player, providing an attacking presence on the left wing. Through these similarities, he definitely has plenty of potential. I certainly look forward to seeing how he developes as a player and how he ultimately fits in with the Sounders.

Sounders Sign Cordell Cato

His signing had been rumored for the past couple of months, and yesterday the club confirmed the signing of the Trinidadian 19 year old. Apparently much along the lines of former Sounder Sanna Nyassi, Cato is said to be a versatile player who can play up top (in fact the news release states him as a forward) or on the wing who has plenty of pace.

It looks like the Sounders are going after regaining much of the pace on the right wing that was lost when Vancouver took him in the expansion draft last year and subsequently traded him to Colorado. The incredibly young age is a great bonus, meaning he'll have plenty of time to develop and settle into the team. It will be interesting to see what sort of role that Cato will find himself playing.

Detroit Auto Show Picks

Acura NSX Concept

The concept that really took this year's Detroit Auto Show by storm was Acura's NSX concept. Just over six years ago the production of Acura's flagship sports car ended, and ever since there have been rumblings and rumors of a new model. Now it seems that the NSX is back on track to getting a second generation an re-entering production. What is most notable about this concept, as I'm sure you tell by the image above, is the styling whose sharp lines prove to be incredibly attractive. The much detested power plenum grill is incorporated, but thankfully Acura's designers have quite tastefully integrated the company's controversial signature look into the concept.

2013 Cadillac ATS

Late last year Cadillac unveiled their next full-size sedan, the XTS, at the LA Auto Show. Now they've taken the wraps off of the long-rumored ATS, which offers full competition to BMW's 3-series. The styling is very much in line with that of the previously mentioned XTS, taking Cadillac's design language to a higher level.

2013 Dodge Dart

When it comes to small cars, Dodge has been struggling a bit lately. The Caliber, the rather popular Neon's replacement, was never really able to find success and now that the small car segment is heating up in the US Dodge desperately needs to stake their claim in the market. Sourced mainly from Alfa Romeo, it seems that the Dart could do just that. Gone is the inelegant truck-like styling, and in enters much more attractive and flowing lines. The Dart's taillight design greatly mirrors that of the Charger refresh, a very welcome sight. Unfortunately, for now at least, Dodge only plans to offer the sedan body style.

Lexus LF-LC Concept

Lexus' styling has exactly been all that breathtaking, but they're slowly beginning to change that with the new GS and now the LF-LC concept which has been stated to be the inspiration for all future styling of Lexus models.

Lincoln MKZ Concept

It's no secret that Lincoln has been really struggling lately, and this concept car is intended to show what the future will hold for the Ford sub-brand. The MKZ concept features styling more in tune with the swooping four door coupe style currently in trend. It is certainly much more appealing to the eye than anything currently on offer by Lincoln. Hopefully this soon to be production car will lead to a reinvention of the luxury brand.

Sounders Pick Up Duran And Sodade In SuperDraft

The Sounders certainly surprised many by selecting Creighton defender Andrew Duran with the first round pick, ignoring some enticing Generation Adidas players like Enzo Martinez and Dom Dwyer in the process. Later with their second round pick they selected UAB forward Babeyele Sodade. As previously mentioned, there was much surprise surrounding their picks, especially of Duran. Those critics are simply looking at the pick according to the players available at the time of the pick, not from the perspective of a team that has has positional needs that need to be fulfilled. While the team finished second in the league last season, defense was becoming a bit of a concern and an area that was promised to be addressed in the off-season; the pick of Duran reflects that. While the team scored the most goals of any team last season, forward was another position of concern, as Fredy Montero was the only forward last season to reach double digits when it comes to goals. O'Brian White certainly looked good early on into the season, but he was quickly sidelined with a blood clotting issue. Sodade is intended to fill the void left by White while he remains out, as well as providing the size that left with Nate Jaqua.

Of Sodade, Schmid said:
"Sodade is a big presence up front, he's got good pace, he showed well at the combine. He's had a good career at UAB and he's the kind of player who could be a surprise guy like [Sporting Kansas City forward] C.J. Sapong was last year."

Of Duran:
"He is a player that's very two-footed. He's comfortable playing on the left side of the center in the back as well as the right side. He was the main defender on the team that was the best defensive team in the country last year so he's got to be doing something right."

Quotes sourced from The Seattle Times Sounders FC Blog