Arlo White, the new voice of the Seattle Sounders, arrived in the radio booth with five minutes to spare to call the Seattle-Philadelphia opening game Thursday. His day began in London, where he awaited word whether his passport would be available for him to fly to Seattle to do the First Kick.

White, a former BBC radio commentator, was ready to head home when he got word that he could pick up his passport. For the flight to Seattle, he was upgraded to business class  -- "It was like being told that I’d made the England World Cup squad," he said -- and he arrived in Seattle two hours before kickoff.

White still need to get from the airport to Qwest Field, and he got there thanks to his escort: a state trooper on a motorcycle. "I could barely believe it," he said. "The officer parted the traffic on I-5 like Moses and the Red Sea."