Great time to be a Portland Sports Fan

I watched the Timbers game last night on ESPN. I'm no big soccer fan, but that was pretty cool, a great atmosphere, a great soccer stadium, and 20,000 people had a great rain soaked time. The announcers couldn't stop raving about the venue and the fans. Even my wife, no fan of spectator sports, watched the game with me and enjoyed it. I will definitely take my family to a game if I get a chance. The live experience must be unreal, and I'm sure my kids will dig it.

The most unreal part of the game: When the Timbers GM got kicked out by the ref!! That was hilarious!

 

My cynic pipe? I'll reiterate that I spent about half of my life in (Salem) OR and am a lifelong Blazers and soccer fan. But let's be honest with ourselves - unless the Blazers somehow manage to win the title, they'll just be another footnote in yet another NBA season. We'll be overshadowed by the glamour teams and cities like LAL, Miami, Chicago, etc. and even current smaller market darlings like OKC.

And soccer in the US is always going to be soccer in the US. It'll have a spike in interest every four years during the World Cup then fade away into relative obscurity the rest of the time. And it's not popular simply because it's "not meant for TV" - if so, how do you explain the popularity of baseball? The only thing more boring than baseball to watch on TV is golf (and I'm an avid golfer). Baseball's all about going to the ballpark, sitting in the sun (not so much in OR but that's why God created arenas with roofs on them), chillaxing with a $10 dog and some beers.

When the Quakes (they were the Clash at that time) started up here some years back, there was a buzz around the community but that fizzled away. Even after they won their two MLS titles in the early 2000's, there was hardly a burning car or dumpster to be found anywhere in the city. Ask your local sports fan around here and they probably wouldn't even know that the team has won a single championship much less name the years they won them in.

So whatever appeal the Timbers have now, let's hope for the team and city's sake that it has more staying power than what the Clash/Quakes got.

 

Understandably, you gotta experience Jeld-Wen to know what I'm talking about. This town was starved for another team, and the Timbers came to the rescue. I don't really care about basking in the US spotlight, or being overshadowed, all I care about is a thriving Portland, And I know Timbers Football will thrive here in the NW.

 

Futbol.

 

Futbol.

 

The problem with the Timbers was never the lack of fan support in Portland, but the national lack of support for soccer. The Timbers didn't fail; the leagues they were in did.

 

I hear ya, I just think with the Sonic's and Van. Grizzlies gone the NW soccer rivalry's will fuel the league unlike ever before.

 

Really glad we have a soccer team in Portland. Can't to be able to go see them live. Soccer to me has always been a sport that isn't that much fun to watch on TV but really exciting to watch at a stadium. The big difference between attendance at Soccer stadiums and at NBA stadiums probably won't be that big but what sets the three major sports venue's aside from each other is their huge TV contracts.
Soccer won't really be big in the US until they can get a big TV contract and tens of thousands of fans watch every game and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

Around the Horn just teased a Timbers segment. I bet PTI addresses last evening as well.

EDIT: Blazers vs Mavs was the first topic of the show.

EDIT: Timbers will be the 5th topic on Around the Horn. Nice!

 

Around the Horn just teased the TA doing the National Anthem with "Awesome? Or just Portland? Tell me you saw this last night!" Haha!