Interim Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer racked his brain, stared off into the distance with vacant blue eyes, and thought aloud.
Schmetzer has taken part in the Seattle-Portland rivalry as a player and a coach. He can vividly recall who he sat next to in the Kingdome (Steve Buttle). He can tell you where he met with Adrian Hanauer when the owner of the then-USL Sounders offered him his first head-coaching gig (Tully’s Coffee on 19th, across the street from St. Joseph’s Church).
But try as he might, Schmetzer could not recall a bigger Sounders-Timbers regular-season game than the one that will take place on Sunday at Portland’s Providence Park.