With the 2009 MLS season set to kick off Thursday in Seattle (TV: ESPN2, 9 pm ET), MLSnet.com's Jeff Bradley looks back at the past 13 years of MLS season openers, starting with the inaugural season when "there was Eric Wynalda, blonde bowl-cut whipping in the wind, faking Jeff Agoos right out of his scrunchy in the final minute of the match, and curving one to the far side-netting."

Another found memory from 1996 is the crowd of 69,000 that rocked the Rose Bowl to witness Jorge Campos (and a cameo by "Melrose Place" star Andrew Shue) and the L.A. Galaxy down the MetroStars' "team of indoor players and recent college grads," reminds Bradley.

Other highlights include 1998's fairytale story of the Fire's first game MLS at Soldier Field, where Chicago-born Frankie Klopas scored both goals in a 2-0 victory, or "Rocket Roy Lassiter, playing for D.C. United against his original team from Tampa and scoring a couple of goals to help United roll, 5-2, at the Sombrero" in 1999.

 

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