Seattle Sounders FC gets it.

The first-year franchise is giving its fans everything they want — an exciting, winning product on the field and a great environment at Qwest Field for watching a soccer game. And the diehard Sounder supporters have responded: Nearly 30,000 fans show up every game during the team’s inaugural season. In fact, attendance has been so good that the Sounders FC brass made 4,000 more seats available Wednesday to meet demand for tickets.

But that’s not all the Sounders are doing for all of the avid soccer fans in the Puget Sound area.

They also announced last week that Seattle will welcome another soccer power for a “friendly” match against Sounder FC this summer. FC Barcelona will play at Qwest Field on Aug. 5. The Spanish club recently qualified to play in this year’s prestigious European Champions League finals. The team includes world stars like Lionel Messi of Argentina, Thierry Henry of France and Mexican defender Rafael Marquez.

The match with Barcelona will come a month after the Sounders take on another European power, Chelsea, at Qwest. Seattle will take on the English Premier League team on July 18. Qwest Field is also set to host the MLS Cup, the league championship game, in November.

“We have stayed consistent with our commitment to provide value and an unparalleled fan experience for our season ticket holders who have supported us from day one,” said majority owner Joe Roth. “We are thrilled to include matches featuring two of the world’s most popular teams in Chelsea and FC Barcelona and the MLS Cup.”

Professional soccer is rolling in the Pacific Northwest, and I’m a little surprised. Obviously, soccer has been tabbed as the world’s most popular sport and is basically a religion in South America and Europe.

I just didn’t think that it would take off like it has in Seattle, where fans have supported the Mariners with great passion ever since Safeco Field opened during the spring and summer months.

But the departure of the Sonics last year left a void in the Seattle sports scene that the Sounders have more than filled.

Time will tell if the support the Sounders are currently receiving is just a flash in the pan, or if the professional soccer team will be able to sustain the sellout crowds at Qwest Field.

The Sounders have even gotten my attention this year. Currently, I have a couple of toes on the soccer team’s bandwagon. That means if I am channel surfing, and I happen to come across a Sounders game on the TV, I will watch a little bit and check the score.

But professional soccer has never really been my thing.

There are still plenty of things that I really don’t get about the sport and I’m pretty sure that I probably never will.

Like why is Seattle’s professional soccer team named Sounders FC? What does FC mean? From perusing the squad’s Web site, I’m pretty sure that the two initials stand for “Football Club.”

I always thought that to be called a “Football Club,” a team would have to include a quarterback, use an un-round ball and the players are required to wear shoulder pads. But that’s just me.

I don’t think our hometown football team will ever be called Seattle Seahawks Soccer Club.

Another issue that I don’t get about soccer is stoppage time. This is when a half ends and time is added to the match by the referee, at their discretion, to ensure the full amount of time is played.

Why not just stop the game clock when there is an injury or something else? Then the fans would know exactly how much time is remaining.

And the last and most agonizing fact about soccer that I just don’t get is all the flopping that takes place during a game. It’s easily the biggest obstacle soccer faces to becoming popular in America.

Even Sounders’ head coach Sigi Schmid was recently quoted as saying there is too much flopping in his sport.

“You watch soccer anywhere in the world,” Schmid said last week. “A guy gets hit in the thigh and he grabs his knee. A guy gets hit in the ankle and he grabs his knee. A guy gets hit in the shoulder and he grabs his face. It’s just wrong.”

I’m sure that there is some point to the constant flopping, like giving teammates a breather. But it gets very annoying to see a world-class athlete fall to the ground and spasm in pain for a couple minutes before popping right back up to take the free kick.

“I used to say when I wrote a column: if the guy rolls over three times, there’s no injury,” Schmid said. “If he rolls over twice there might be a little knock. If he rolls over once, he probably has a strain. If he doesn’t move at all, he’s probably really hurt.”

Aside from the flopping, I’m officially “coming around” on professional soccer. Give me a little more time and you might see me down at Qwest Field sporting a Sounders FC scarf with my face painted neon green and blue.