Less about the actual soccer, more about being a Portland Timbers fan.
Maybe the photo editor for The Oregonian needs to make a case for not getting a demotion. That sure looks a lot like Jorge Villafana, and not Zarek Valentin. This image appeared online as well as in print. It reminds me of the time Yahoo Sports thought Ridgewell was Lucas Melano. I guess all handsome foreigners look alike to them. Now that there are 2 cases, I get to create a new tag for mistaken identity.
– Thanks to Jerry Simmering for the tip.
Continue reading “Oregonian, Oof!”
Are you sick of these yet? I’m not. Thanks to Bruce Harris for these photos.
Continue reading “More Roof Strut Action”
They’re here at last! The pro-hoops crowd is not going to be entirely satisfied, but these look sharp!
Of course, 30 minutes after I got back from my trip downtown to photograph the roof struts yesterday, they actually started lifting one of them up.
UPDATE: Added another shot from a crane.
Continue reading “Very Uplifting”
I’m not going to lie. I spend way too much time refreshing the live construction cam at Providence Park, but for the past few weeks all the assembly action has been happening out of frame. The official Providence Park feed doesn’t update daily, but I did find another Twitter feed from @bobthebuilder4u that’s got some gold in it. Welding and semi trucks driving around on the pitch look so… wrong. Bob makes more updates than Providence Park. He’s a construction guy so he’s chiming in on what’s going on. After you’ve watched a few of his videos you realize he’s not on the actual crew, and he’s just a guy who belongs to the MAC club. Yes, I said “MAC Club,” But at least I didn’t say “The MLS.” On a side note, it drives me nuts that Bob holds his phone in portrait mode while he shoots those videos, so I drove downtown to try and get my own photos. I ended up slinking into Providence Sports Care Center until I was politely, asked to leave. All the photos from inside the park were taken behind the glass.
Continue reading “Hide and Seek With Hidden Roof Struts”
Jamie Goldberg has written a very interesting piece on Caleb Porter in The Oregonian that talks about what it’s like for him to get back to work, and how he feels about watching Portland from afar. He watched the first 5 away games, but could not bring himself to watch the home opener, and is not looking forward to that first Crew match in Portland, come 2020.
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”
Looks like a case of mistaken identity, or a complete fabrication. No American newspaper is reporting this, and it makes zero sense from a Timbers standpoint.
American newspapers: Management of the American Portland Timpers Club approves a offer from the #الأهلي Saudi club to annex the Argentine games maker (Sebastian Blanco/Sebastian Blanco) 🔶 Portland Administration waiting for the player approval
Twitter
UPDATE: Debunked by Jaimie Goldberg on Twitter on more than one occasion.
I added 18 new tattoos to the Timbers Tattoo Gallery, bringing the total up to 64!
The Portland Timbers posted a gallery of construction pics on Facebook. from all kinds of angles your average poacher can’t provide. Definitely worth checking out.
It seems like we’re the only team in MLS that hasn’t announced a new roster addition, outside of the SuperDraft. Today we have confirmation of the addition of center back Claude Dielna from the New England Revolution, and the unconfirmed addition of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic from the Slovenian top division side NK Olimpija Ljubljana. Reaction ranges from excitement over adding another French speaker to the back line with Larrys Mabiala, or lack of excitement over picking up someone that the lowly Revolution doesn’t want anymore. As for the goalkeeper, I guess Gavin and Gio still aren’t ready to recall Kendall McIntosh from his development loan to T2.
Eagle-eyed Bruce Eaton noticed what appears to be a discrepancy in the original renders and the live construction shots. The original renders show what appears to be a 4th row of seats at the very top that are missing from live construction cams and newer renders.
UPDATE: Added a few new renders and a link to the 3d model that shows the new additions.
Continue reading “The Case of the Missing Seats”
More construction action not visible form the security cam. This picture was shot from a crane by Walt Jensen.
– Thanks to Travis Glenn Blankenship for the tip.
Portland Timbers and Liam Ridgewell have mutually agreed to part ways. Liam’s comments in late 2018 implied he didn’t want to have to battle for his position. The Timbers have unquestionably been better with him on the filed for us, that match against the Red Bulls not withstanding. However, he was expensive, and missed a lot of games injured, as well as a handful after butting heads with Saravese. When he was on the pitch and fully engaged we loved him. I’ll remember him for his great distribution, a good hard foul every now and then, and an occasional Ridgy Roll. Well, that and the swimsuits and boating. Richard Farley has nice recap of Ridgy’s tenure on Timbers.com.
Continue reading “So long, Liam”
For the past few days the construction cam made it seem like outdoor work had stopped, but the Providence Park Twitter feed shot from another direction revealed parts of the roofing structure being assembled on the pitch.
– Thanks to Mitch Gray for the tip.
Continue reading “The Roof Begins.”
First we gave them Fanendo Adi mid season. Next, they took Darren Mattocks as their first pick in the expansion draft, and later that day they picked up Kendall Waston in a trade. The day after Christmas we traded them Alvas Powell for some GAM. On January 3rd they made an offer for Ozzie Alonso, and a day later they’ve announced Pa-Modou Kah as an addition to their technical staff. FC Cincinnati is now being referred to as Cascadia East in some online discussions. They could do worse, that’s for sure. And they only have to beat Orlando to not finish last in the east, so they’ve got that going for them too. They could be interesting to watch.
Update: Looks like Minnesota is trying to outbid Cincinnati for Ozzie.
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.
Check out the live construction cam set up at Providence Park. Shots are uploaded every 15 minutes, and there’s a time lapse available. You can also click through previous photos, but so far I haven’t gotten the date picking functionality to work.
Update: Added some more stills of precast sections and crane at work.
Continue reading “Live Construction Cam!”
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”