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Tag Archives: soccer
Portland Timbers We Adore You
Our last regular season game was on October 22, 2011 and I’ve been meaning to do a love letter wrap-up to my Timbers ever since.
I’ve followed World Cup for years and years but I’ve never followed a club team before. I’ve never followed any sports team before. I’ve pretty much avoided going to sports. I have been to a few Trail Blazer games that were fun.
I had seen Timbers a bunch of times since I’ve moved here but I didn’t go regularly until the 2009-10 season before we moved up to Major League soccer. I never paid attention to the away games.
Hannah warned me that I would probably get pretty into it. She was partly correct.
I lost my mind.
It would be impossible to convey how much I loved this season of Timbers.
Here are some things about me: I hate waiting in line. I hate crowds. I hate events at stadiums. I don’t spend my money on random crap.
I did not hate any of these things when it was a Timbers match. Every single home game I was like a kid on Christmas day. I spent time planning my Timbers outfits. I bought plastic pants so I could sit in the rain and watch soccer. I bought two jerseys, a scarf and 5 t-shirts.
I saw 25 matches at home including U.S. Open Cup, exhibition and reserves. I saw 1 away match. I had a blast at every single time. And it’s not like we’re the greatest team. Well, we are the greatest team but we don’t win all the matches. I think we placed 12th out of 18 teams.
Losing to Seattle at home after being ahead was heartbreaking. That giant losing streak mid-season was rugged. I referred to them as the disappointing boyfriend I couldn’t give up on. Losing the last game at home was a bummer.
Winning our first home game ever was amazing. Beating LA Galaxy 3-0 was one of my favorite games of the entire season. And then Futty scored in stoppage time of our last game in Salt Lake to tie it up so we ended on a high note.
I know the team is going to change and every year is going to be different but this inaugural team will always have a special place in my heart.
Can’t wait until March.
Rose City ‘Til I Die
Yesterday I did the most rockstar thing I’ve ever done in my life.
I flew to Vancouver, BC for the day for a soccer game.
You could see the BC Place, the stadium, in this photo if you had incredible vision and a better photo.
Ticket partner used miles for one ticket and we split the cost of the second so then the price seemed “affordable.”
We bought our game seats through the supporters section but we didn’t travel by bus or train. There were only about 10 other people on the flight up who were on their way to the game.
The trip up went smoothly. We found another fan on the Skytrain and then as we were walking toward the stadium a few more fans founds us.
I was hoping that more and more fans would join us and when we got to the stadium we would have a giant group that could all do a big synchronized song and dance number.
As it turned out, the supporters had already been let in. I think it’s a league rule to prevent violence, which as far as I know isn’t really a problem in Major League Soccer.
So when we got to the stadium, we went right in and the place was empty except for 500 Timbers fans packed into two sections, some poor security guy whose ears were turning red and Groundskeeper Willie raking the turf.
I’ve never sat with Timbers Army. They are intense.
As always, we cheered our faces off from the time we got into the stadium, until the time they let us out, 20 minutes after the match ended. I didn’t realize how many songs I didn’t know the words to. I know them now.
My favorite, a new one for this game, to the tune of She’ll be coming ’round the mountain:
“Please don’t burn your town down when we win.”
This poor Grandfather tooks his grandson to the game and had the sad luck to sit in front of the Timbers Army.
It was a little concerned that I would find the supporters section too much, but nope. It was perfectly awesome.
The Whitecaps are the other expansion team to MLS this season and they’ve had a rough go of it. This was their first game in the newly renovated BC Place. It is a gorgeous stadium and they had a big turnout.
Sadly (for them) we denied them and won the game 1-0.
After the game I got to see my friend Pritpaul from my writing workshop, who I haven’t seen since we left.
And then we headed back to the airport.
A perfectly fabulous day. Gorgeous weather. Great city. Awesome stadium. Fun fans. Terrific game. Catching up with a beloved friend.
Is there anything that could make this day greater?
Maybe: having the guys from our team wander into our airport gate and say hello and ask if we enjoyed the game?
THAT HAPPENED!
Three times I had to get up and dash across the concourse because my head popped off and bounced away from the excitement.
I won’t bore you with all the details because I know you already stopped reading, except for Hannah and I’ll send her an email later. Not because she’s a Timbers fan, but because she’s a Fan Girl fan. Fortunately, the only person I know who is as big a Timbers fan as I am was there. So we’ve spent the last 24 hours going over it in minute detail:
Me: So then he took out his earbud and said, “What? Oh. Thanks.”
Ticket partner: Right. Then he went and sat down.
Me: I can’t believe he talked to us!
GREATEST DAY EVER.
Auction Fever
Wednesday night there was an auction at the game. You could bid on each player’s jersey. If you won, you got to go on the field after the game to get the jersey off his back and get your picture taken.
Even the entry bid was rich for me. It’s not like we’d have to go hungry, but I have a lot of grown-up responsibility things I need to do with my money in the next couple of months.
But I’d just had two beers, a bacon cheeseburger and a basket of fries so I felt like anything could happen.
I decided to bid. I figured it was just the low bid and I’d probably lose and if no one else bid, I’d get the jersey and my Kalif moment.
The thing is, once my name was on that piece of paper, that jersey was mine. I was obsessed with it. I went back to the auction table before the game started and at the half just to see how the bidding was going. In my head I kept bumping up the number I would be willing to go to so I could win. You know, with this money that I don’t really have for pure folly.
Of course at three minutes before the auction ended they texted me that my bid had been beat. I would have to double my bid in order to win. So then I thought of other players that I like (honestly, I like all of them) and wondered if I should run up there and see if their jerseys were still available.
Except I was watching the game and why was I desperately trying to throw my money at something, anything, so I could go home a winner. I managed to reel myself in.
As we were leaving I bragged about how much money I’d saved.
They had a Make-A-Wish kid at the game and it is a fantastic and heart-twisting story.
Big Giant Wrap Up Of All Things (For Now)
Party Beverage Crew preps for the party.
World Cup is Finished: Games 63 and 64
Game 63 between Germany and Uruguay was pretty fun considering everyone was bummed to be there and only wanted to win because it would be better than losing. Germany had a bunch of different players including a goalkeeper named Butt: I hope he names one of his kids Stinky. I liked Uruguay a lot, esp. Diego Forlan, but I was still glad Germany won.
Game 64, the final between Spain and Netherlands, was a turd. The players were whiny and brutish. The pace was clonky. The ref should have gotten the trophy.
I’m glad Spain won.
And I’m glad the tournament is finished.
I went to a Timbers game last night — only 4 more home games plus an exhibition. At least for now. Plus a Sounders in Seattle in August. But otherwise I’m winding down. (Heh heh)
Last night Timbers played Miami. At one point the kids sitting behind us yelled: Put in LeBron. Later when the Timbers scored, this kid who had brought a plastic piggy bank modeled after the World Cup trophy ran to the front of the stands and held it up. He was wearing a Barcelona FC jersey. It didn’t even make sense. He got sent back to his seat.
Cranky bear takes it out on the utility pole.
4th of July Weekend
The night before we left on our trip there was a surprise playoff game between the Timbers and rivals the Seattle Sounders. The stadium was sold out. The scene was insane — loud and boisterous. The game was fantastic and went into overtime and then to penalty kicks. It was a late kick-off anyway and with all the extra stuff I didn’t get home until 11:30pm. So I was completely thrown off schedule by a worthy cause (except we lost by 1 PK).
(Also quick Sounders question: what is that name of that color for the uniforms: “booger”?)
Then I had to get up at the crackass of dawn so I could take care of all my last minute stuff so we could be on the road by 8am to drive to California.
Trip went smooth. We had a big party weekend in honor of my Dad’s 80th birthday. It was perfect weather. Tons of great food. Awesome company. Everyone helped out. Now that I sit here to write this, I don’t have any details. I was so frazzled getting down there I didn’t even have my little notebook. I always have my little notebook. It was an epic party. I’ll put more photos on Facebook.
The Pamily
We’ve had this smoked salmon in the freezer and I keep forgetting about it. I finally went online to look for some recipe ideas.
I found one for smoked salmon and sausage chowder that sounded promising even if it isn’t really chowder weather. The “sausage” part of the recipe was chopped pepperoni sticks. Why would you even think of that?
I ended up making a sort of dip thing to spread on crackers that wasn’t wonderful and a pasta thing that was only okay. I think the problem is that this is some stout smoked salmon. It was like forest fire smoked salmon. I think it would better served as a nibbling snack on a warm afternoon with cold beer to wash it down.
Party! Note my bday gift to my dad: a custom authentic German National Team jersey.
Last note related to the Timbers game. Don’t you love it when you joke around with random strangers? Rather than cracking a joke and having a random stranger look like they’re about to call the police? I joke around with random strangers a lot because I’m uncomfortable in social situations and this is how my coping has evolved.
Before the games, co-worker and I go to this sports bar next to the stadium for burgers and beer. The booths are always full when we get there but we like this terrible little table that’s between the doors to the restrooms and the edge of the bar. They keep the brooms and vacuum right there.
There’s a TV right above the table and there was a guy standing in front watching it. We asked if it was okay to sit down and he said sure.
I struggled to get my chair out with the brooms right there and said: We like to sit by the vacuum.
The guy sad: Well, yeah. That’s the best spot most places.
He stood there a minute longer and then said: I’m going to move along. It’s creepy to stand here while you two are sitting there.
Oh well, seemed funny at the time.
Last item for this post:
I just went through my comment spam and this is my favorite, I wish it was a real comment:
“I didn’t quite get the point this to begin with. But when I read it a fourth time, it all started to make sense. Thanks for the insight. Absolutely something to spend some time on.”
FIFA WORLD CUP GAME 62
Me and my Mentros (sp?). Josa and Fernando made a bunch of these as a fundraiser to take Fernando to Disneyland. I picked this one because it has a hat and magnifying glass. Ryan got Darth Vader. I didn’t know you could do special orders. Like the handy place I keep my camera when my dress has no pockets? Photo from July 4 party by Aileen Wilder.
FIFA WORLD CUP GAME 62
Germany v. Spain 0-1
Wah. My team lost today. They played pretty much doo-doo. During the first half they seemed to have minimal interest in trying to score. And Spain played great.
It’s going to be a fun final on Sunday with Netherlands and Spain. And I get to see Germany play one more time in the consolation game on Saturday.
Then soccer will be mostly finished (still have Timbers) and I can become a productive member of society again which I’m sure will please a number of people but particularly the one I live with.
Tonight I got home from work late and made myself do some exercise. All I did on vacation was eat, drink and sleep. I needed to move around a bit.
Then I did the first major yard watering of the season. While the side part watered I worked on the garden and pulled a ton of weeds, harvested 3 beets — I’m eating the greens for dinner — and 4 little potatoes. I’ll never go hungry again!
Vacation Done, Soccer, Write-a-Thon Week #2
Klamath River Bar, July 4, 2010
We’re home. We had a fantastic trip. Tons of great people and great food.
I had three naps that should have space shuttles named after them.
Photos and details to come this weekend. (Not of the naps. Not much to tell there.)
I’ve got several more busy days ahead.
FIFA World Cup Games 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61
All four quarter-final games were fan-freaking-tastic.
Netherlands sent Brazil home – amazing.
Uruguay and Ghana – heartbreak city.
Germany destroyed my cute Argentina boys in the best possible way.
And Spain and Paraguay – that second half was insane.
I did not get to see today’s game because my DVR was re-setting itself when we were leaving and it wouldn’t let me program something that far in advance. I already know the score but there’s a replay tonight that I have set so I can watch tomorrow.
And I’m going to work super early so I can get caught up and take a long lunch for the Germany v Spain game.
Write-A-Thon Week #2 Update
3953 words this week.
Thanks again to all my sponsors. I think I’ve almost made my goal. I haven’t had time to check all the details since I returned. Still plenty of time to donate if you’re bored and have nothing to do. Info about the Write-A-Thon here and my donation sponsor page here.
FIFA World Cup Games 55 and 56
Look what snuck out since I was out in the garden on Sunday.
Round of 16 is finished. Only 8 more games. And two days off. Quarter-finals don’t start until Friday.
Paraguay v. Japan
The Paraguay kits look like they came from Santa’s workshop. I want red-striped socks like that.
Japan is so cute and so much fun to watch.
Is there anything more heartbreaking that losing in penalty kicks? I didn’t see the entire game but loved the 90 minutes I watched. Sorry to see you go Japan.
Portugal v. Spain
I really like both these teams and hate to see one go home early. Portugal seemed to have it together for the first half and made tons of great shots that didn’t go in. But then Spain took over. Later they substituted with dreamboat Fernando Llorente who had the misfortune of getting his shirt torn and then he had to go change it which ESPN cut away from. What the hell ESPN?
These last phases of the World Cup are so much knuckle-biting. Can’t wait to see Germany and Argentina this weekend and grow another 50 grey hairs.
Bus Accident this morning
This morning my bus got in a fender bender.
I’m too lazy to look for the cite but I’m positive that state law in OR and WA says cars must yield to the bus. Where the commuter bus gets on the freeway two lanes merge into one. Mr. Crazy-Guy seemed to think the bus should yield to him. From what I could see, he invented a 3rd lane in the middle, honked his horn for about 3 minutes and bent his side mirror.
The bus lets him go ahead and he stopped in front of bus, parked and a guy looking the lost Carradine brother jumped out and ran for the bus.
The bus driver opened the door. I thought we were all going to die. Crazy guy started yelling why didn’t the bus yield. Why did he break the mirror. Stop! No one was going to go anywhere.
The bus driver agreed, we’re stopped and he initiated his procedure. He phoned the transit people, made arrangements to get us on another bus and then passed out passenger witness cards.
All the passengers looked at each other and said: “Uh, wasn’t he trying to cut off the bus?”
Meanwhile crazy guy got out his camera out and took photos. Then came back and argued some more.
Our bus driver is cute, sorta like Kal Penn, remained completely calm the entire time. He said, “We have video cameras all over this bus, I’m not going to argue with you.”Â
Crazy guy examined the damage further and decided his side mirror wasn’t really broken and he needed to get going because, you know, “He had things to do.”
The bus driver was like, “Hard cheese pal. We’re in the process now. You can’t run off.”
Meanwhile, the passengers on the bus are seething because they’re going to be late for work. Not me, although I was also seething, it was because I was going to miss the kick off for the Paraguay v. Japan game.
The next bus arrived to pick us up and one of the passengers went over to say something to crazy guy. I almost followed with my camera.
What was he thinking? Don’t pick a fight with the bus. Even if the bus driver is wrong, which I don’t think he was this time, just take your foot off the gas. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he finds out he’s responsible for the damage to the bus.
– – –
I’m going to be offline for about a week. When I return, more soccer updates and Clarion West Write-a-Thon Week #2 Update.
FIFA World Cup Games 53 and 54
This is the hallway between the restroom and our office. It’s always kinda awkward if someone else is coming down the hall. Do you say hello? Do you ignore them? And it’s awkward to follow or be followed. But it’s awesome for me to practice my tumbling passes like my round-off flip-flop flip-flop whip-back flip-flop double-twisting layout. You gotta be careful at that dog-leg though.
I’m taking actual leave time later this week so I don’t really want to burn through a lot of leave time watching the games. Ionly watched the first half of the Netherlands v Slovakia. I decided to watch the second half of the Brazil v. Chile game which was a bummer because they were up by 2 at the 2nd half when I started and got another goal in the 58th. No point in watching when Brazil is up 3-0. So I tried to get a bunch of work done in anticipation of Spain v. Portugal tomorrow. The other game is Paraguay and Japan and that should be good, too.
There was one point during the Netherlands game that sounded like a parody of Dutch soccer commentary. “Van Hooten to Van Spooner. Van Cucumber picks it up then to Van Harken. Passes to Van Wicket.” Where was Van Halen?
Slovakia needs a new hair-stylist. I’m all for daring hair but those mohawk things aren’t working for me.
This is me at the yoga studio. That tiger means business. No slacking. My arms are about to fall off right now from class tonight.
I didn’t phone my old webhosts today because I was hoping beyond hope that it would be taken care of magically behind the scenes. That’s on the list for tomorrow. Also I ordered an item online that I desperately need before the end of the week. I actually paid the ridiculous charges for 2-day shipping.
Never do this. This is the second time I’ve done it and the item wasn’t delivered in 2-days. It’s not like they give you your money back. I have my fingers crossed for 3-day shipping tomorrow otherwise yet another hysterical phone call I have to make.
Oh. Also, we received a check from the government for approximately half of the ginormous sum we paid for our federal taxes. Seems I missed out on a deduction we were eligible for because we earn our money from working. I’m not making that up.
I love paying less taxes as much as the next person but offering a deduction for earning money “from work” sounds spectacularly stupid. But, we’ll take it.
Clarion West Write-A-Thon Week #1
The reason I took this photo is to show Thighs. See the guy with his shorts pulled up? I’m not sure what’s up with that. The people on our left call him Mr. Funny Pants. The people on our right call him Diaper Boy. I shouted: “Pull down your pants!”
4200 words for the Write-A-Thon this week.
I’ll be honest, they aren’t great words. But I put something new down every day this week.
Thanks to all my sponsors so far. I’m still a bit short of my goal so if you’ve like to donate there’s more about the Write-A-Thon here and my donation sponsor page here.
And if you’re not sure what to do, just drop me an email.
Oh yeah, and if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s my tuckerization by Michael Swanwick.
Timber Joey — would you like to touch his wood?
FIFA World Cup Games 51 and 52
Germany looked FANTASTIC this morning. I’d like to take Podolski’s ’32 goal out for drinks some time. A really fun game. Oh yeah, bad call against England. That was a black mark. But 4-1 England it’s not like they were looking so great until that moment.
I talked to my Mom after the game and she said she saw the last 10 minutes and “it was a really good game.”
“Mom,” I said. “Germany was up 4-1 at that point. The game was over.”
“I know,” Mom said. “But I get so nervous that was the only part I could watch.”
During the Germany game I started making up a Tiger Beat profile for Phillipp Lahm.
Favorite color: blue
Favorite food: schnitzel
Favorite Twilight character: Bella
In the next game Germany is up against my mullet-licious boyfriends from Argentina which is really a bummer because I like both these teams so much. I’ll be rooting for Germany.
I watched the first half of the Argentina v. Mexico game. In this game, Argentina won a goal that they didn’t really earn because of another bad call. They won 3-1 so I think they proved themselves. I decided to stop watching after goal #3 because I had some other things that needed to get done before I went downtown to watch another soccer game.
Timbers v. Tampa Bay
Finally, the Timbers win one. Warm sunny day. Cold beer.
There’s a guy in our section a few rows back who’s a screamer who seems to enjoy screaming more than paying attention to the details of the game. One of his favorite things to scream is, “Both ways, ref. Both ways.”
I have no idea what that means but the kids sitting behind us took this up — in a hilarious way — and started saying at completely random times: “Both ways ref, both ways.” Which made us laugh every time.
FIFA World Cup Games 45, 46, 47 and 48
Co-worker returned from vacation a couple of months ago and announced: I’m making a rubberband ball. Here’s the progress so far.
None of these games knocked my socks off.
I watched Portugal play Brazil. Boring.
How come the players argue with the ref? I’ve never seen a ref change his mind. I’ve never seen a decision changed. It seems like challenging a guy with a fistful of yellow cards is a bad idea. But they still do it.
The Spain v. Chile game was slightly more interesting until the last 10 minutes when they realized they were both going through and they just kicked the ball to each other.
That’s not what the fans came to see.
The minute the game was finished I ran outside. Due to the endless bad weather the yard had been severely neglected and needs a firm hand in every corner.
Today I worked on the berry area.
This is my second bowl of raspberry harvest. I’m not sure what to think. We’ve had the same raspberry patch since we moved in. We’ve never gotten more than enough berries to eat as a snack when working out there. I neglected it no more than usual. It’s a miracle.
In the background are the asparagus and baby broccoli I’m roasting tonight. The asparagus has been neglected in the fridge for almost a week. A bunch of unexpected stuff came up and we didn’t eat dinner at home as much as we thought.
Tonight I get to see Concrete Blonde – yay. Last time I saw them the show didn’t go too late. I think we were back in the car driving home by 10:45. I hope it’s the same tonight.
