Portland Timbers We Adore You...

About a year and a half ago, our good friends the Blattners introduced us to the world of the Portland Timbers. At the time, the Timbers were only a USL team, just below MLS, but the Blattners were hooked and had to share. Below is Natalee and Laura at our first Timbers game, a match between the Timbers and 30+ year rivals, the Seattle Sounders. PGE Park (now Jeld-Wen Field) was rocking that night...our ears were ringing with PTFC chants and various other lyrics, some not so tasty, but it was fun, even though we lost in a PK shutout.

Since, I have attended numerous Timbers matches and have this guy below to thank for it. He's gotten me so hooked I even suggested buying $70 tickets and driving all the way to Seattle for the first ever MLS matchup between PTFC and the Sounders.

Timbers fans are crazy. The Timbers Army spans multiple sections behind the north goal. They sing, chant, wave flags, dance, and set off smoke bombs the entire game. Every fan leaves the game with various chant running through the brain, such as "Portland Timbers, we adore you, Portland Timber to you I SING" followed by dancing and people singing the Tetris song. The picture below is post game after the Timbers beat their rivals Vancouver (BC) Whitecaps.

Jeld-wen field is awesome. It's been around since the 1940s and holds a lot of noise. It's a bowl in the middle of downtown Portland. It's had 13 consecutive sell outs and has become one of the "things to do" since becoming an MLS team this year.

Hudson had been BEGGING us to take him to a game. When we had the chance, by winning 3 tickets through Intel, we took him this last Saturday. He loved it and learned a little about Soccer. I had a good opportunity for 1:1 coaching. After the game, I asked him what he had learned from the game..."I learned that you need to spread out." Music to a Under-8 (yrs old) coach's ears.