Seattle game tifo with Clive Charles.
You’ve probably been wondering, what’s up with these Timbers she’s so crazy about? She never talks about them anymore. Has she moved on? Was that just a passing obsession? Is she now into collecting expensive purses or going to foreign film festivals?
No.
I still love the Timbers. I still go to every home game including the reserves and exhibition games if I am in town.
When I started writing this I hadn’t seen them win since June 24th. They actually won another game on July 3 but I was out of town.
They won big this weekend breaking an 8 match winless streak and sending the fans cartwheeling into the aisles.
Here’s how I was summarizing the season before that win.
Positive things.
I’ve been on the jumbotron 4 times! I visited the Timbers locker room! One of my tweets was on the jumbotron (at a reserves game). One of the Timbers retweeted me and one of the Timbers responded to one of my tweets.
We’ve gone through two buy-12-get-one-free pint cards and two frequent buyer slice cards.
I know what you’re thinking: “Uh, this positive stuff is all about you.”
That is true.
My beloved team is in last place in our conference. When I started this post there was only one team in the league with fewer points than us. By 1. Since Saturday’s win there are 2 teams with worse records.
It is rugged being in love with the last place team. Some team has to be in last place but it’s usually someone else’s team.
My team leads in all the worst statistics. We’ve never won a game on the road. We’ve lost games in the last minutes. We’ve lost leads. We’ve never come from behind. If there’s a miracle goal or a miracle play, it happens for the other team against us. We’ve had games where we made millions of shots on goal but none in goal. Too bad the game isn’t whomping the ball over the top of the net.
We hosted an exhibition game against EPL team Aston Villa. Almost the entire roster was out on the field which I loved.
Every week on our TV show we’re building on some tiny moment of non-horribleness. One game we tied 0-0 and they were talking about building on that. We tied on the road. We’re building on that. At least we scored on the road.
These are the things we’re building on.
But this team has the most loyal fans in the universe, including me. And they know it. Well, they don’t know about me personally. But check out the Army section:
Green smoke means GOAL!
I don’t mind if we’re not the best. I don’t mind losing sometimes. But holy moly, every game takes 10 years off my life because even if we’re ahead I can never enjoy it. I can’t trust my guys to keep it together. That lady screaming “whistle!” starting in the 79th minute is me.
I still love them and I’m still RCTID. This life and the next.
Check out Boyd’s smile. I also like media guy with his pointy finger. This was from an earlier match before Troy Perkins was traded to Montreal.
Lots more photos here: Timbers! Here’s the photoset from the Sounders rivalry match.
I’ve read this post three times. Thanks for articulating what it’s like to be so in love with a team and how wrenching it can be when they’re lagging. Whenever I find myself totally wrung out after a match that we’ve lost (and I mean MY team, the Sounders, of course), especially when we’ve lost it in stoppage time (like ON MY BIRTHDAY), I think, “Why, oh, why do I put myself through this?!” But, then I remember those moments of pure perfection that aren’t even necessarily associated with goals, but with stunning athletic ability and generosity and joy when one player successfully crosses the ball to another player and then there’s a one-touch shot that threads multiple needles of players to get inside the box and maybe even the net. It’s totally worth it. The ups. The downs. I will also follow my team in this life and the next. I am so happy to know another woman who feels the same way, rivalry or no rivalry, no matter who wins. Thanks for being my soccer gal pal!
I think the last time the Washington Redskins were a winning team was before I hit puberty.