I was there. It was insane.  It was a long, but joyful ride home that night. Even though it was 3am when I finally crawled into bed, it was still hard to fall asleep. Enjoy this crappy video of an amazing moment in the history of Timbers vs. Sounders Cascadia clashes.

 

It’s entirely possible this pin actually reads “Vote. No Pity,” but I much prefer VOTE NO PITY!  Timbers Army East Coast Platoon is always on-point with their ancillary support items. It’s Election Day. Get out and vote. 

Bands FC reimagines soccer team logos as band logos, or vice versa. Some of them are really, really good. Some aren’t. Here’s Tool and the Portland Timbers. 

Ah yes, a trip down memory lane to that time when we had such great hopes, but 1 Taylor on the roster turned out to be 2 too many. The Taylors weren’t conventional brothers, but they were in the Brotherhood of the Own Goal. This is a panel excerpt from a David Squires cartoon in the Guardian extolling the joys of the Australian A League. 

20 wins, 10 losses, 167 points. [Source: 1970s Soccer USA]

UPDATED: Another MP tweet in the full post.

Merritt Paulson may have given us a spoiler on what the 2019 kits will look like when he replied to a fan-designed kit in a tweet. “…we jumped through hoops to design the 2019 kit.”  Confused?  Hoops in the context of soccer jerseys refer to horizontal bars or stripes.  T2 kits from 2016-17 had hoops, as did 2002-2003 Timbers. It’s getting impossible to find old Timbers jerseys online, as there is no definitive record, and with Timbers and Timbers 2 both existing in USL at different times, well Google isn’t very helpful.

I’m picturing Merritt hunched over his phone, trying to decide whether to submit his reply, agonizing over ruining the surprise. That’s what I’m picturing, but it’s a safe bet to assume he didn’t do that though. Of course, it could be just a common phrase with no hidden inference. 

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Merritt Paulson riding one of those electric scooters en route to Providence Park before the match against Columbus. That same match, Columbus Crew owner and pariah of supporter’s culture Anthony Precourt was spotted stalking the concourses of Providence park. 

[Photo: Katelin Renee] 

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A lot of the Timbers fans were scratching their heads when we signed Steve Clark. You also have to wonder what was going through Steve’s head when he found out. It had to be a strange situation, being the guy whose (celebrated) legacy in Portland was giving up a goal to Diego Valeri 27 seconds into our 2015 MLS Cup victory. Sure, he was a backup, backup keeper, and what were the odds that he was going to see playing time? Then Jeff Attinella gets subbed off due to injury at an away game vs New England.  After only a few minutes in the game he makes a great save, but coughs up a goal on the rebound.  That had to be his worst nightmare, but to his credit, he played well the rest of the game, and the general (informed) consensus is that the was not at fault for that goal. 

All of the sudden he has to make his home debut in front of the Timber’s Army. That’s a lot of pressure for any new keeper, let alone someone with Clark’s history. 

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But Seattle dropping a Deuce… or the Deuce dropping Seattle… Who knows how it went down, but Clint Dempsey has retired from professional soccer, mid-season no less.   At least we know what happened with Caleb Porter.

Remember those first couple of weeks he was on the team? It seemed like subbing him in was an automatic goal or two. He’s had some highs and lows since then. The last couple of years here have been a little spotty. For some it was hard to reconcile his public plea (through his agent) to be traded shortly after signing a contract extension. Last year he was briefly in the mix for Golden Boot in the beginning of the season but would exit with a nagging injury that ultimately forced him to miss the rest of the season. If you had a nickel for every time Caleb Porter said that Adi would be back to play in 2017, you could probably play a video game or two. The highs were there though, and you can relive all the goals at the Oregonian. When he wasn’t scoring he provided plenty of other highlights in his holdup play, dishing off to others. Grabbing the chainsaw after his brace against Seattle and his gam winning goal on his final match have definitely secured his legacy in Portland. I can’t think of a better way to leave on a high note. Strange how an obviously talented player with impressive stats can lose value to team because he doesn’t fit the way a team plays. The mechanics of managing an MLS squad are hard to comprehend.  And now he’s off to FC Cincinnati, who might even loan him out to Montreal. Timbers.com has a nice video tribute to Adi, who seems like he really appreciated his time here in Portland. So long, Adi. Thanks for all that you did for PTFC.

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