Well I was only posting what the commentator said from memory, he may have said "converging" on the Timbers Army not "surrounding". I didn't mean to indicate that there were hundreds of cops and security surrounding you. Either way thats not important. Throwing fireworks on a nice field turf pitch is rather stupid. It's not a problem if you throw it on that garbage you play on at PGE Park however. Wish I could get my hands on a copy of that game, it sounds like a good atmoshpere, and some pretty good action. Totally unlike a Vancouver-Seattle game (action wise).
Kremmerhead - I would be happy to burn a DVD of the match and mail it to you. PM me on the soccercityusa message board and I will post it to you this week.
Sounds good. But if I end up dead after giving you guys my home address everyone will know who did it!
One of the Seattle guys is apparently going to send me the match as a video file, so I might be able to distribute it as a torrent. I recorded the Seattle audio, which I'll post tomorrow.
It's safe to say that I am pretty much a Timbers fan now. And Seattle too. I think that's illegal, but right now I am listening to the Portland - Vancouver game instead of watching the Chicago-New England game. Is there something wrong with me? Damn. Portland to MLS. NOW.
Portland can't even afford to dress more than 15 players a game. That and the crummy playing surface in their stadium kind of prevents a move to MLS.
MLS doesn't care about crappy turf. There are several examples of that in MLS. It's the lack of an investor willing to lose a few million a year, and sharing with a baseball team that kills MLS. And you're right about us not affording to dress more than 15 players, I'm afraid. We can't even afford to replace Dan Antoniuk's jersey that was torn badly by a Montreal player's grab (with no call, since it was in the box). In the home game against Vancouver last week, he wore the jersey of a player that was cut in pre-season. And don't forget the taped-up job in Minnesota. Timbers fans are ready to revolt, and they are quite justified.
I personally don't care about crappy turf as long as ther are no football lines on it. I'm not sure that the MLS would like the nextturf at PGE though.
Field turf is just as bad after a few years. Neither NexTurf or Field Turf are worth a damn if you ask me. I can't believe Rochester is putting Field Turf down in their new stadium. Might have been a top soccer facility if they had put down grass.
Serious props to you Portland supporters. Caught the tail end of the match on FSC last night against Seattle and had to blink a few times: an English football league type atmosphere with a bunch of singing fans in a small shed type stand having a great time, and their team was losing, far as I could tell! I couldn't figure out if you guys were playing home or away? Anyway, very impressive. If the Earthquakes are to become no more (God forbid), I know who my next Stateside team is. And I now have a USL club to support. Although I hear one of those clubs in the south east (Charleston, Charlotte?) has a classic traditional club bar, so maybe I'll support both. Great viewing and fan support from the few minutes I saw, hope they show it again. I checked for tonight but it's Everton vs Spurs, so at least we'll get to hear some more top notch away support. Anyway, I'm no expert on your league as yet, but just had to give you props, and the club strip is cool too. Might get me a Toyota shirt and one of them scarves. A mate of mine moved up to Vancouver, Washington recently so if he doesn't already know about this great local team to support, I'll e-mail him and tell him to get his arse down there! How far is Vancouver, WA from the ground? Sorry to read Allison's post that there are problems with the club. Hope you get it sorted and I'll e-mail FSC and tell 'em to get Portland on again for more games. Great stuff lads (and lasses). Anyway, down the pub now to celebrate the Quakes' win (and clink a glass in the direction of the Portland Timbers).
Vancouver, Washington is right across the river from Portland. 20 minutes to PGE Park tops from anywhere in Vancouver. It may be hard to be a Timbers fan right now with the way the team is performing, but we'll still get 500-600 at least in the supporters section(s) for each game and it's a great atmosphere. And your friend is more than welcome to join us. We always have scarves to sell ($8 each) and he can go to www.talktimbers.com if he wants to learn more.
I have to give props to the Timbers Army as well. I'm a Sounders supporter and I sat in the section next to you. Great support for your team. Unfortunately, there was one idiot who threw the firework (not really a flare). I'll also say, I think some of the chants were very unappropriate for the facility. Of course, that is not really a pro venue, it's a youth facility. I also thought using the flag to block the sun was ingenius. I bet if Portland would get an MLS team, they'd easily draw more than Seattle. Of course, I still want that franchise in Seattle. After saying all that, I'll be at the next Seattle-Portland match in Portland.
Dear Sounders fan. Please consider standing here! http://soundercentral.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=8
But it was a Pro game. That is all the matters. If some youth team played in Qwest would it then be ok to heckle them? No. It was a pro game, so for one night, that was a pro facility. So then the profesional "rules" apply. If the Timbers played in an open field with no stands whatsoever, I'd still be there and chant my heart out for them, I don't care where it is I'm going to act the same. If there had been a youth game going on 99% of the TA wouldn't have been sining the "blue" chants (well ok, we wouldn't have been there, but ...), but it wasn't a youth game. I know I kinda repeated my self, but the facility doesn't matter, the teams do, and the teams are profesionals.
You're right, the facility doesn't matter. I guess I really was thinking more about the 5 yr old kids all around. It wasn't very hard to tell the makeup of the crowd. My only point was that you could have adjusted a bit of the language. The rest was great. Heck, I heckeled that big slow dude you had playing in your back line. When he wore down, he was awful. Sounders were running right by him. Anyway, no worries. Look forward to seeing you guys back next time.
Oh geez, rival supporters being nice to each other. How boring. I'm happy to see us getting along. TA and ECS applauded each other on the way out which I thought was classy on the part of both groups. The fans in VAN-SEA-POR can work together to accomplish great things for soccer in this region. This has been the traditional state of affairs among our sister cities in a lot of cultural endeavors, whether they be mainstream or underground. Let's not lose sight of the spirit we all share. The problem with the language is established context. If we establish a context of fun and comraderie, then the language and the taunting will be taken in good spirit, as it was by most Seattle fans (... eventually, heh). Kudos. You may have a bit more work to do with the soccer moms, who were essentially cold-shouldering you, but consider that to be a psychological game in which strategy is a weapon. Sometimes compromise is an intelligent maneuver that goes a long way toward acheiving your goals in the long term, which hopefully is huge soccer support throughout Cascadia. *waves imaginary Cascadian flag* Be inventive in your compromise. Maybe some saucy serenade to all those "hot soccer MILF's" out there would endear you to them. Flattery gets you everywhere, heh. Hmmmmm ..... speaking of Cascadian flags, maybe the VAN-SEA-POR supporters should each obtain one and fly them at matches as a show of solidarity. - Paul
Great 2005 Tukwila Eclipse of the Sun http://www.soccercityusa.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1120930393
Which one? http://www.fotw.net/flags/us}casc.html http://zapatopi.net/cascadia.html This idea has merit. All three supporters clubs could fly at least one similar flag among the others. Especially nice for when Van-Sea-Port play teams outside of "Cascadia."
r f k. not only do we have a craptacular field, but we are the most storied team in mls. and being that im a resident of the middle of nowhere, and not independantley wealthy, its not likely i'll be going to a home Timber game anytime soon, but really like 'em. The team, especially the rocking supporters. Maybe I'll try and catch them at richmond. either way I am so gonna try and pick up some of your merchandise. Made me a fan of you club, wish they had more tv coverage.
I've watched a few games from RFK via webcasts this year and at least your field is grass. I've seen many highlights out of Portland over the years and listened to plenty of webcasts from teams visitng PGE and in nearly all of them they mention the high ball bounces and the bad turf. It's so bad that it looks and plays like astroturf. I'm not trying to rile up those Portland supporters who feel there is nothing wrong with their turf but it is horrible.
There's no disputing the turf is crap and that it sometimes makes for ugly soccer, especially with this year's Timbers team. MLS isn't a possibility, however, because the stadium is shared with a minor league baseball team that isn't going anywhere and the new baseball/soccer ownership has no interest in MLS. Get rid of baseball, lay down grass and PGE Park would be near perfect (see Women's World Cup Semis 2003). None of that is going to happen so we'll have to settle for having a great supporters group in semi-adequate stadium in a frustrating, yet fun, league. BTW, you'll be able to see PGE Park and the Timbers Army on Fox Sports Channel on August 5.
that'll be Chareston. Many will debate the level of USL vs. MLS and a varitey of other factors. me I just love soccer. Charleston is where I live and the owners of the Charleston Battery have done alot for soccer fans here in Charleston, it makes me proud to be a supporter the club. From the first SSS (seats 5,100) in the US to a great front office to the fantastic Three Lions pub at the stadium (thousands of peices of soccer memrobillia from around the world including dozens of autogaphed jerseys from around the world and hundreds of club and country scarves.) it is a great place to watch a match even if my team isn't doing that great this year. And while we don't have any where the numbers the Timbers Army has, we started finally centralized our more hardcore supporters and are up to about 40-50 per match in 'The Brig' hoping it will continue to grow until we can match portland one day....<dreams>
The chant that got the most soccer moms and dads pissed off? "Nate McMillan" clap clap clappity clap "Nate Mc Millan". It was fun to see actually - some MILF's laughing, some soccer dads standing up for the first time all night yelling at us and throwing a few F-Bombs. Clearly it is a sore subject for Seattleites