SEATTLE -- Clint Dempsey doesn't want anything to do with your narrative. The 31-year-old Texan, with his brooding stare and down-home drawl, wants nothing of subtext or storylines. He has his own view of the game he just played - his Seattle Sounders drew 0-0 against FC Dallas in their Major League Soccer Western Conference semifinal second leg, advancing on away goals; his Sounders played well and created chances, but he should have scored.
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This theme, with slight variation, popped up in almost every answer he gave after the game. The team played well. The Sounders created chances. He should have scored. Happy with the result. The team tried to get goals. A save was frustrating.
Dempsey kept narrative - the merest whiff of narrative - at arm's length.
His omission from the USA squad, set to play at Craven Cottage, where he became an icon for Fulham FC? "I wish them the best, I had a good conversation with Jurgen [Klinsmann], and I look forward to 2015."
The upcoming Western Conference final series against the LA Galaxy? "It's whoever we play, we play. We don't really try to run through these storybook things."
Those "storybook things?" Just his team's chance to become the first MLS club to lift all three domestic trophies in a single season. And the chance to get the final say in his unacknowledged but definitely almost certainly real personal and professional rivalry with Landon Donovan. And maybe the opportunity to dethrone LA as the marquee franchise north of the Gadsden Purchase.
Others are more open to the storylines, like Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid - who just happens to have coached the Galaxy to their first-ever MLS Cup back in 2002.
"I guess that's the way the scriptwriters put it out," Schmid said. "We knew the road eventually would go through there, as they knew probably the road would go through us, so it's probably appropriate the two of us meet.
"We just have to be ready. And we will be."
Another Sounder ready to enjoy the ride is DeAndre Yedlin, the 21-year-old fullback trying to make history before he leaves to join Tottenham Hotspur.
"I think this is kind of a dream finish for MLS, for the league," he said. "They love this kind of game. With the hype around Landon, this being his last year, it's a great situation. There will be a lot of focus around this game."
All four conference finalists have compelling storylines. The New England Revolution have lost in the MLS Cup final four times and are looking to ride the incredible form of once-castoff Lee Nguyen to the promised land.
The New York Red Bulls, long synonymous with expensive failure have overcome previously intractable obstacles and are another team aiming for a first title, while potential retirement looms for team captain and global icon Thierry Henry.
LA would become the first team to five MLS Cups if it emerged victorious, and Landon Donovan, the Greatest Player In American Soccer History™, would end his career on top, having won his record sixth MLS Cup.
The Western Conference final pits the two most successful coaches in the league's history against one another. LA boss Bruce Arena could go on to extend his lead at the top with a fifth Cup win. Schmid could not only go on to claim the domestic treble, he could become the first coach in league history to win the Cup with three different clubs.
History awaits a triumphant Seattle. It has the biggest crowds in the league, plays the most entertaining soccer and delivers the biggest spectacle in MLS. The Sounders won the Open Cup. The Sounders won the Supporters' Shield. Only the Phillip F. Anschutz trophy, the biggest prize of all, remains unclaimed by the Rave Green. A combination of off-field preeminence and on-field dominance could create a juggernaut of a club not seen in this country since the heyday of the New York Cosmos.
Storylines, narrative - whatever you choose to call it, it makes the sporting experience richer. Major League Soccer knows the value of narrative. It has milked the final minutes of Landon Donovan's career - now down to two or three games - for all they're worth. Maybe Dempsey doesn't want that attention. Maybe he just wants to win the trophies and put the medals on his wall and get back to work next season. But he's a star. His team is on the cusp of history. And that's a story worth watching.