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Category Archives: TIMBERS!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Here’s a link to all the 12 Days of Christmas photos. I don’t know how to make it so that the whole post shows up so you have to click through to see the photos. That’s on my list of things to fix someday if I’m feeling ambitious. It’s probably easier to go to the main page and scan through the photos that way.
Here’s my wrap up for the year post.
I had one new publication which you can find here: The Last Willow Stick on the River which originally appeared in Yellow Medicine Review, Spring 2012.
My other big publishing success was my eBook of short stories: Red Tape Stories From Indian Country. If you need a last minute gift, I can’t think of anyone whose life wouldn’t be brightened by a book of stories about Indians with time machines and hostile fish and other unexpected problems. It’s available anywhere you can buy eBooks. Here’s a link: Amazon. It’s cheaper than a beer at Jeld-Wen.
One of the highlights of my year was seeing a million Timbers games (a million is not enough!). I’m sure you’ve got time on your hands, why not check out my endless photostream? Wait, there’s more. I have a separate photostream for the Sounders rivalry matches.
We also had a terrific trip to New York this summer. Photos here.
I’m sure other stuff happened but I can’t think of it right now and as usual, I spent the morning working on my story so now I’m behind on everything else and I need to fold clothes and make gravy and wrap presents.
I’ll be offline for about a week. Thanks for stopping by.
Hope all your holiday wishes come true.
What It’s Like to Love the Last Place Team
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.
Greatest Football Supporters
Fan Appreciation Day at Jeld-Wen Field.
These are our seats as seen from the pitch.
Ticket partner and I approached this thing all wrong. There are something like 14,000 season ticket holders which we didn’t compute in any intelligent way.
We arrived at the field early. There were maybe 30 people in line.
Rather get free hotdogs inside we went for our usual pre-game pizza and beer at a place next to the field.
We finished right at the time the gates were opening and at that point the line wrapped halfway around the stadium. D’oh!
Here I am on the player bench. I just realized I should have photoshopped this photo with the one above but too late now.
By the time we got inside there were already long lines formed at all the stations.
There was an autograph station, photo station with a group of players at the log, another photo station with a group of players at one of the capo stands and then players on the field with mobs around them.
Corner kick!
We picked the line for the locker room tour, a place I have been dreaming of visiting since my very first game. Of course the dream would involve the players actually being in there but this was still pretty good.
Unfortunately, no photos in the locker room. Also no touching things. There’s a meeting room that looks like an employee lunch room, workout area, rehab facilities, the actual locker room with all their stuff. Perkins had a bunch of slabs by his locker. Then a climate controlled boot room. Then we came out of the tunnel and my little fangirl head exploded.
During the event the players were herded off the field and to duty at one of the stations. Ticket partner took my photo with Kalif! as he was being dragged off to the log station. I don’t have favorite players, I love them all, but if I did, Kalif would be one of them.
By the time we got out of the locker room the event was half over. We wandered around on the field for awhile and finally decided we didn’t want to wait in another line so we took off. Now we know how it works for next year.
FAN APPRECIATION DAY!
Just got back from Fan Appreciation Day at Jeld-Wen Field home of the Portland Timbers. More photos to come. Here I am next to the players bench. The coach stands in front of the bench here. I said a bunch of bad words and kicked it in his honor.
Also, this is happening. I think I’ll do a lap around the block on the way home from work tomorrow and turnover the magic number. This is my second time turning 100K in my own car and I remember doing it once in a car with my family. I remember us driving around and all watching the odometer and shouting: 99997! 99998! 99999! Very sweet memory. I wish we could do it together tomorrow.
Graduation
Today Sinéad graduates from high school.
This is a me holding her when she was one day old. Wow.
I have a million notes here for stuff I want to write about but the EuroCup started today! Team Germany!
For some reason I thought the tournament started tomorrow so today was to be my day of amazing productivity. I was only productive until I realized that the Poland v Greece game was on. First impression: Poland has the cutest goal keepers. Other revelation: Michael Ballack is doing commentary for ESPN!
Already I love this tournament.
I’ve got thirty soccer games to watch this month on top of my usual Timbers duties plus the US Mens National Team has its first World Cup qualifier game tonight. I’m going to be busy.
Have Another Piece of My Heart
The Portland Timbers are dismantling my heart piece by piece from the inside out. This is starting to remind me of all the times I was madly in love with someone who was completely wrong for me but I wasn’t about to give up as long as there was a tiny bit of hope. I’m still going to stand by my men because that’s the kind of girl I am, but I wish I could spend the day on the couch finishing my wine cube and eating a bucket of cookie dough and watching Sense & Sensibility and The Lake House.
When the Morning Cries And You Don’t Know Why
The guys first time wearing their new third kits.
I’m still too traumatized to talk about the game last night so I’ll tell you about the guy who sat next to me.
There’s something like 12,000 season tickets. I think most of the tickets around us are season tickets but there is only a handful of people who go to all the games like we do.
Three guys I’ve never met before sat in the seats next to us. They were kinda rowdy, especially the guy next to me, we’ll call him Jason, who was loud. Jason told me he normally sits with Army and how he was all hardcore and apologized and said he liked to be noisy.
I told him I was happy to have a rowdy guy next to me because I yell quite a bit myself. We also took note that there was a kid in the row in front of us and adjusted our cheers accordingly.
At one point Jason pointed to one of the Timbers and said: That’s the news guy. He’s from Cameroon.
Me: Actually, that’s Palmer. He’s from Jamaica.
Jason: Oh. I guess it is Palmer.
Later in the game he pointed to a different player and said: That’s the new guy. From Cameroon.
Me: That’s Jean-Baptiste. He’s from New Jersey.
Jason: What a coincidence. I’m from New Jersey.
(I just checked the bio and it says Jean-Baptiste was born in Brooklyn. So I was wrong, too, but at least I had the right country and even the right general area.)
Me: Songo’o is the one from Cameroon.
(We have a guy on our team with an apostrophe O in his name. Is that awesome or what?)
Then, when a bad thing happened near the end of the game, Jason stood up and said, “We’re leaving. I am not enjoying this.” And they left.
What a big fat soul-patched lemon-in-his-hefeweizen ironic-eyewear fair-weather faker! He better not show up in my section again.
The Things We Do For Love
Season opener!
Timbers billboard Burnside and Broadway (taken from moving car)(don’t worry, I wasn’t driving)
I was trying to show off my professional game-day chic but I can’t take a photo of myself to save my life.
Solid rain from the time we left the car until right now when I’m back home and summing it up. My coat doubled in weight it was so wet. My new gloves I bought were wet, too. Pruned hands. Damp hair. I was happy but I would have been happier if I was dry.
Timbers won 3-1. Goals by the rookie, John-Baptiste! The guy hired to score, Boyd! and my fave, Kalif! Worth cold feet and more.
It’s Official
You can slap the Timbers logo on anything and I will buy it.
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Timbers Shrine
Oh, so you thought the endless nattering about the Timbers was over just because soccer season is finished?
Nope. Not yet.
This is the Timbers’ Shrine at the office. Co-worker is my ticket partner and they give season ticket holders a lot of gifts but only one per pair so we keep everything at the office. Remember the story about my axe photo? That’s the poster. I finally got it framed. The signed t-shirt and signed photo co-worker won in auctions.
The mini-soccer ball on the left is something the players throw into the stands before the game starts. I had to elbow a little kid in the head so I could get that, thrown by Darlington Nagbe who won Goal of the Year.
They also give away things at the games. We missed the t-shirts and the plastic replica of the stadium (darn!) But that big thing on the right is a skateboard deck. I was going to take it in and get wheels put on it but I was afraid the urge to then try to ride it would be too great and I’d break my neck and feel like a moron.
I don’t know where we’re going to put the stuff we get next year.
