Hopefully you've read Richard Farley's excellent article that details much of the work and effort that went into analyzing and vetting Nicolas Lodeiro's signing. If you haven't, you may as well do so now because it takes awhile and if you start now you might be finished by the time Farley joins us on the show in the second segment.

There's a lot of stuff in here that readers of this site probably have heard, but there are still some nuggets that are absolutely fascinating. The most notable is that the Sounders have apparently developed some kind of program that allows them to compare players across various leagues and gives them an idea of how they'll perform in MLS. In any case, Lodeiro was their obvious top target and GM Garth Lagerwey seems to suggest he was willing to sacrifice this year if it meant signing the guy the organization really wanted.

Jeremiah, Aaron and Richard also discuss the Sounders' recent run of good form and look forward to the massive Cascadia Cup clash on Sunday. Oh, and they name this the winner of the #shoephone meme contest.

Just when this season seemed lost, when you thought you might get your weekends back or at least were prepared to stop worrying about results, they pulled us back in. Sure, the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 win over Orlando City was just one win and the standings are pretty much unchanged, but Aaron, Jeremiah and Likkit are feeling ... hope.

It's still a long shot and it could be ripped away with a loss against Real Salt Lake, but the Nos Audietis group actually sees something positive on the horizon. And even if they don't make the playoffs, this run toward the end of the season at least promises to be interesting.

Beyond being competitive, the Sounders are just fun to watch right now. There's a joy to the team since Nicolas Lodeiro's addition and it appears to be infectious.