Category: Culture

From J to Z

Not sure what to do with yourself now that the construction cam is out of focus and most of the action is off camera? You MUST check out the new podcast form Zarek Valentin and Jeff Attinella. From J to Z is already 3 episodes deep in only 10 days. I hope they don’t burn out. Make sure you start with episode 1 where the guys talk candidly about the their experience in the MLS Cup. This is must-listen content if you have any interest at all in player personalities and what makes them tick, or peeking behind the scenes of the MLS experience from the vantage point of the guys on the field. The real value of the podcast is that it’s not semi-scripted front office media. To be fair, the Timbers social media group has made some really compelling content recently and has significantly stepped up their game in the past year.

One of these figures is a larger than life legend

 

One of these figures is a larger than life legend, and the other is Paul Bunyan! Timber Jim outside Providence Park showing off his Paul Bunyan sticker benefiting the Kenton neighborhoods restoration efforts for the beloved Paul Bunyan statue. Get yours at Green Zebra grocery in the Kenton neighborhood. Check out that ring! Then check out the Timber-themed patch that the sticker was based on.

Timber Jim IPA

Somehow I missed this Hopworks release of Timber Jim IPA that benefits Meals on Wheels People. Jim does not stop doing things for other people. I had shaken his hand a couple times at matches did not really meet him as person until he found out about a patch I made modeled after the Paul Bunyan statue in Kenton. He wanted to use the image for stickers as a fundraiser for restoration efforts. (More on that to follow) It was wonderful to meet him in a non-Timbers context. He is gung-ho about everything he does. Jim’s mother used to drive for Meals on Wheels up until she started needing their services. Watch him talk about it on KPTV. Despite Widmer’s official relationship with he Timbers, this is at least the second collaboration by Hopworks with a Timbers figure.

[Images via @hopworksbeer]

New, Improved, Official Patch Gallery

The Timbers/Thorns patch gallery I built for PTFZine.com has become the official online archive of PTFC Patch Patrol, and has a new home at PatchPatrol.com. Updates have been happening solely on the new site for a while now, which is a group effort. Aside from adding new patches as they are released, a lot of the updates fill in missing information for older patches. At the time of this posting there are 381 patches in the archives! Check it out!

Key Bank Club Doughnut Destroyers

You know the Key Bank Club. We all love to hate them because they show up late for the matches and the TV camera’s show empty seats. I knew they got free hot dogs, but they also get free doughnuts. Not just any old doughnut, but fancy, match specific Voodoo Doughnuts. It’s like they sail their yachts on see of money over there… They finally have a sectional patch called the KBC Donut Destroyers, made by one the wise guys who sits in that section, who assured me is always there before the match starts. UPDATE: I’ll be adding subsequent team doughnuts to this post when I get pics.

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Timbers and Thorns Patch Gallery

I added a Timbers and Thorns patch gallery to the site. It’s a work in progress. So far, 209 entries, which includes patches designed by the Timbers organization, No Pity Originals, and unaffiliated supporters. There are lot of gaps in the information, but this is a good start. Patch culture, designing and trading is a strong subgroup of the Timbers Army community. Check out the Patch Gallery. You may notice one of the categories is called “Merritt Badges” instead of merit badges. It’s not a typo, rather a reference to owner Merritt Paulson. And just like merit badge you get in a Scouting program, you have torn these too.

The Seattle Rickroll Tifo

seattle-tifo

I went to the Seattle away match last Sunday. Not a lot of positivity to take home from such a decisive loss, except for the overwhelming failure of the ill conceived  ECS tif0. Normally, matters of tifo quality are shouting matches between the supporters groups directly involved. However, in this case, Seattle’s Rickroll tifo has met with universal ridicule, even outside the MLS.  Even if you agree with the ECS statement, there’s no denying that the execution was poor.  MLS wants to promote the biggest/best rivalry in the league in order raise TV ratings and increase interest in the league? How dare they! This is the second Seattle tifo flub this season, if you’re keeping track.

Is this Seattle Sounders tifo the worst ever? The internet thinks so. – Fox Sports

The day the Tifo died… – A Medium Corporation

We Need To Talk About The Sounders’ “Rickroll” Tifo – Paste Magazine

Seattle Sounders fans hold up Rick Astley lyrics in weirdest tifo ever – Sports Joe

Seattle Sounders fans display bizarre tribute to 80s pop legend Rick Astley – The Sun

For the Nutmeg News, this is like shooting fish in a barrel…

6400 Word Dissertation To Accompany Next Sounders T.I.F.O – Nutmeg News

 

No More Portland Boys

The Timbers Army board announced today that the Portland Boys chant will not be featured or initiated by the Timbers Army, effective immediately. It’s no hard to understand why the chant was eliminated even if you disagree. The specific line I will miss from this chant is not the controversial one, but the one that gave me juvenile glee in hearing on national TV. Can you hear the TA sing (“Portland Boys?”) I DON’T HEAR A FUCKING THING!

Screen printed poster on display at Fanladen, originally a No Pity Original. (I think)
Screen printed poster on display at Fanladen, originally a No Pity Original. (I think)

If I have a home game still on the DVR, I’ll see if I can find and capture that part of the chant for the sake of (rude) history.

The Timbers Army march in the Pride Parade

pride-parade

I just barely managed to catch a picture  of the Timbers Army marching in the 2016 Pride parade. As usual, the TA made us proud.  Catch  a little video after the jump. UPDATE: Timbers Army posted a link to some photos by Ray Terrill.

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“I’ll Go With You” and Some Notes on Inclusion

I didn’t grow up in a sports house. Sure, we would watch the big games and I had a workable understanding of the more popular American sports, but we didn’t have any obsessions or even alliances to teams. As a kid, I didn’t have even much interest in sports and that culture seemed very clique-ish to me; it felt exclusionary. It’s hard to get very invested in something that is designed to keep certain people out. I don’t think that’s the intent of many sports cultures, but it’s often the result.

I do some speaking on social media and digital culture as part of my day job and I often cite the Portland Timbers—and by extension, the Timbers Army—as examples of community engagement. My standard line is, “Soccer is their product, but community is their brand.” And that’s not a throw-away comment, the community built up around the team is what makes it special. But what is community without inclusion?

With all the news in the last couple weeks regarding restrictive (sorry, I mean BULLSHIT) laws governing the use of public bathrooms, I was delighted, but not surprised, to see a statement from this community I have become so enamored of. It’s a simple, but powerful statement.

I’ll Go With You

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