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Sounders give deserving fans their title banner

It started as a vague, insistent rumbling, like something industrial grinding over in Pioneer Square.

But this was rhythmic. And it got louder. It was coming closer.

It was a mobilized army of soccer fans — thousands chanting and singing in a display of support for a team that hadn’t yet played a game.

The symbolism was obvious: The Seattle Sounders FC fans were at a level above MLS standards before the team ever kicked a ball in the spring of 2009.

So often over the seasons, the stories were about the fans, the attendance records, the sellout crowds.