Less about the actual soccer, more about being a Portland Timbers fan.
Timbers.com reporting that Jimmy Conway has passed away. Jimmy is one of 5 players in the Timber’s Ring of Honor. Famous for his time in NASL as a Timber, but a bigger legend in Oregon soccer beyond playing days for his contributions in coaching and growing the game in Oregon.
Continue reading “Jimmy Conway – R.I.P.”
This Dale Mitchell photo comes courtesy of the Facebook group 1970s Soccer USA, your one stop location for NASL golden era ephemera, and the indoor soccer decline years. The button on the right is from the collection of Chris Conrad who loaned it to me to photograph.
Continue reading “Dale Mitchell”
Our Timbers are hot tonight, watch them boom the Thunder out of sight! Check out this NASL era Timbers tifo, as seen in the Phil Soar book Soccer: The World Game, published in 1978.
– Thanks to Aaron Cullen for the tip, photos.
Continue reading “Timbers Tifo, 1975 Style”
After throwing his hat in the ring for the USMNT, and either passing on the LA Galaxy, or not receiving an offer, Caleb will be replacing Greg Berhalter, who did just take charge of the USMNT. I wonder if this is a bit of a letdown for him. He’ll be going home to Ohio, but how will Crew supporters welcome the former coach of the team that robbed them of a 2nd MLS Cup at Mapfre? It’s also potentially very exciting to take charge of a team with a fresh new ownership group intent on revitalizing the club. I just hope they give him a pass on this first year if it doesn’t go well. Why? He’s coming in without a lot of time to spare, taking over someone else’s system and players. It’s a team whose very existence has been in upheaval for the past year. I hope he does well, just not too well.
BTW – I’m trying to find the source tweet that mentioned Porter passing on LAG. It said LAG only offered a year contract and Porter wasn’t interested.
What better way to start the new year than to take a look at some pics from years gone past, thanks to 1970’s Soccer USA. It’s a great page to follow on FB. 7 vintage NASL Timbers images after the jump.
Continue reading “New Year, Old Photos”
20 wins, 10 losses, 167 points. [Source: 1970s Soccer USA]
A few years back Mamadou “Futty” Danso was my 6 year old son’s favorite player. I suspect it mostly had to do with his name. He would sit in the kitchen doing his homework and you could often hear him muttering “Futty” repeatedly under his breath. I hated to break it to him when I found out he had been traded, because I feared he would take it hard. He did, in fact, start crying after I told him. In the past few years he often still chooses the Montreal Impact when playing Fifa, even though he knows he has moved on from that team too.
Futty recently responded to some fan questions on Reddit, mostly Timbers-centric. If there can be any doubt why he was was a bit of a fan favorite, read his responses here. I would have taken Futty over anyone named Taylor in 2016…
[Photo: Google image search via OPB.org, however the image doesn’t show up on the page.]
You can be forgiven if you don’t know what this has to do with the Timbers. If you’re wondering, read on.
The most gracious man in the MLS has donated the ball he used to score the MLS Cup record setting 27 second goal to the Timbers Army. The images above are from the video and picture in the Timbers Army post that broke the news. Is it possible to retire a jersey number while the player is still playing? Let’s do it! Have you seen the fan-created patch that commemorated the event? Catch the patch and a replay of the goal after the jump.
When my buddy Tom told me his wife had been a cheerleader for the Portland Timbers, I initially scoffed. I had never heard of the team even having a cheer squad–what soccer team does? I couldn’t find a single reference online to there ever being a squad. Nobody I asked had ever heard of it. I thought it must have been a misunderstanding.
Then he brought in the uniform.
The team indeed did have a cheer squad…for one season. The 1981 Portland Timbers were in their seventh year in the NASL as part of the Northwest Division. To add a bit of pizzazz and entertainment to the match, a group of local young women were recruited to accompany Timber Jim as the Timber Jills dance squad.
When I heard about all of this, I of course had to hear more. So one night last fall, as we were on the eve of clutching our first MLS Cup Championship, Tom and I recorded a conversation with two of the members of the squad, Brenda Becker and Judy Bennett, to hear about this mostly forgotten part of Timbers history.
In addition to their story, there are clips of some old school stickers, programs, and of course…the uniform.
