365:  Well, how are things going so far?
Brad Evans:  It’s been about a week so far.  We’ve done a little bit of running, a little bit of possession.  It feels good to be out here.

365:  I’m curious what it’s like on the day of the expansion draft for someone who is available to be chosen.  What were the emotions that day?
BE:  It was pretty interesting.  It was a whirlwind of events.  We (Columbus Crew) won on Sunday and they didn’t tell us who was on the list.  Monday was a travel day so Tuesday morning we went in and met with (GM Mark) McCullers and he told us who was protected and unprotected.  Wednesday morning we left for home for Thanksgiving and that morning I was on the airplane and I got a text message from my agent saying ‘give me a call back, you’ve been picked up.’

365:  Of course everyone here in Seattle is very excited about the Sounders, but I would think it would be understandable in anyone’s mind if your heart dropped at least a little bit when you found out you were chosen to come here.  Is that what happened?
BE:  With this league it could go either way.  I would have been excited to stay (in Columbus) because we have a good core going and it was a championship team.  I made a lot of friends and have great relationships with the guys, so in that way it did kind of sink.  But coming out here, it’s an exciting time.  Look at this place (Seahawks practice facility in Renton, WA), it’s unbelievable.  We got started a little early to get the guys together so it would be exciting both ways.

365:  And you have Sigi (Schmid) here, so that’s familiar.
BE:  That’s familiar for sure.  He’s familiar with my style and I know what to expect from him.  Getting the feel from these guys, they haven’t had a coach like him.  He knows so much about soccer that everyone’s impressed and respects him.

365:  For this year, what are realistic expectations for this team or for any expansion team for that matter?
BE:  I think with expansion teams you’d like to have more wins than losses for sure.  You never know what to expect.  You’d like to think that this is different than any other expansion team and I think we do think that way, but we haven’t set any goals yet.  I’m sure when the season gets closer we’ll start doing that.  We’ll have goals for a certain point total, how many wins, how many wins at home and making our home a staple.

365:  What have you heard about Freddie Ljungberg’s status?
BE:  He’s not here right now I don’t think.  He’s still rehabbing, I know that.  There really hasn’t been much talk about it but I know the guys are looking forward to getting him out here for sure.  Anytime you can be around a DP it’s something to learn from so I think everyone is excited.

365:  Tell me your thoughts about Seattle so far, both about the city and the buzz you’d noticed surrounding this team.
BE:  The buzz is everywhere.  You look everywhere; it’s Sounders, Sounders, Sounders.  It’s a huge soccer community.  It’s phenomenal.  As far as the city goes it’s a big city but it’s got green everywhere.  It’s totally different than any place I’ve lived.  When I was in Irvine (CA) and Phoenix it was totally desert.  Like Columbus it’s a good soccer city for sure.  You look at home many season tickets they’ve sold; they want to have the whole stadium sold out with season tickets!  We’ve almost got two months until the season starts and if they could do that it would be phenomenal, almost unheard of.

365:  Thank for the time, Brad.
BE:  Thank you.