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| A feeling that, in retrospect, miraculously passed. |
I’ve struggled with where to start this look back at a 2021 season that was as complicated for me as it was for the Portland Timbers. I’ll keep the personal side short: I shut down this site in early August - and every intention of walking away forever - only to revive it on October 16. I still tweeted game threads and almost certainly watched more games than I missed, but that choice left a 13-game hole in the permanent record I only lightly consulted before writing this post.
That period contained both the lowest low - the 2-6 loss at home to the Seattle Sounders - and the season-saving high that was the eight-game stretch that saw Portland pick up a nether-stirring 22 points out of 24. For perspective, the Timbers picked up just 33 points over the other (shit!) 26 games of the 2021 season, which amounts to a piddling 1.27 points per game; for further perspective, they picked up 23 points over their first 17 games of 2021, a figure that, somewhat surprisingly, pans out to a superior, overall goal differential of 1.35…I don’t get bowling math either, but that’s a whole other goddamn story. Things ended better than they started, basically, and I wonder how far that slipped down the memory hole and for how many people.
To start with the biggest question - i.e., what to make of it all? - I’ m pretty sure that accounts for the struggle. On the one hand, I know I never expected the Timbers to reach MLS Cup; on the other, I never expected them to tank that badly when they won the right to host the same final, not with how they’d been playing on both sides of the ball. And yet, all it took in the end was the same kind of collective defensive brain-fart that had panicked and enraged Timbers fans since…honestly, I think that’s been a thing for some time, and playing a good defensive team to revert back to a form I noted in the last Timbers post before (temporarily) shutting down this site, a meltdown of a 1-4 loss at the Los Angeles Galaxy:
“What are the two most frustrating thing about the Timbers? My bingo card shows stupid defensive errors and aimless attacking moves. This game was a smorgasbord of both…”
While the way(s) Portland struggles/fails files under plus ca change, some of what looked like the biggest moments of 2021 came and, because I don’t have notes (I’m willing to dig up) on it, went during that 13-game gap. For one, fan/personal favorite Jeremy Ebobisse left for the barren, over-priced wastes of San Jose (as opposed to the fertile, over-priced glory of Portland) in August 2021. Quirks in timing - specifically, that loss in which Seattle handed the Timbers their asses six times, followed shortly by the 2nd beat-down at Austin FC of the season - filled the skyline with dark, heavy clouds. At least half the Biblical plagues descended on the Rose City just a few weeks later when Eryk Williamson limped off the field, never to return. Again, I’ve got no written record of exactly what I said or thought in those moments, but “we’re fucked” might have made an appearance or two.
The fact that the incredible 8-game run noted above came immediately after Eryk’s last game speaks to how damn weird 2021 was (as it passes quiet judgment on the MLS regular season). Had you bet me at the start of 2021 that the Portland Timbers would reach MLS Cup 2021 with neither Eryk nor Ebo on the field, I would have demanded triple-digits-to-one odds and with a firm handshake to back it up. The Timbers did it, of course, and stayed in it until the death-by-a-half-dozen-paper-cuts ordeal of a bad day at and/or facing the penalty spot. Timbers fans will always have Felipe Mora’s impossibly late equalizer - a goal that passed into fan lore the second after he scored it - but the beautiful dream of one more big trophy for the first Golden Generation of Portland Timbers . I can’t think of a better way to sum up a fairy-tale’s demise than to say, Diego Valeri barely played, Sebastian Blanco wasn’t all there, and Diego Chara out-ran death and still kept his boots on.
There’s some real pathos and tragedy in the above - e.g., Valeri, one of the best in MLS history, will never spur another team to glory, the wasted opportunity of Ebobisse’s time with the Timbers, and whither Blanco? - and, as someone who has panicked about Portland’s transition to the next generation since 2017 (at a minimum), one can call this the sea in which I swim:
“Look, I accept that I see signs of Chara and Diego Valeri aging out the same way your most rabid evangelical millenarian sees the Apocalypse in everything down to my dog farting at exactly 3:37 p.m. every day (coincidence?), but this was the first time I’ve seen Chara that far behind the play over and over in a game.”
The counterpoint should be obvious at this point: the Portland Timbers not only reached, but won the right to host MLS Cup, with only Chara 100% present and serviceable throughout. If you take Chara out of the equation, that’s pretty much the story of Portland’s 2021. Just three (3) of the players who started 2018 MLS Cup at Atlanta United FC started in MLS Cup 2021. Moreover, all three of them (Chara, Larrys Mabiala, and Blaco) are all in the mid-30s. All that’s just another way of saying the transition has already happened. Mostly. And, because few things are as true in this world as Father Time’s cold, shitty grip, it ain’t over yet. I saw what looked like thoroughly credible word that Steve Clark won’t return for 2022 - confirmed this morning that they poor fucker’s going to Houston - and, no, I don’t like it. I saw thinner, unofficial reports about the Timbers cashiering its entire backline and, if that comes to pass, I will feel feelings I don’t often feel as a soccer fan, which is to say pissed off, (further) betrayed, and…just confused? I guess?
To add one more unexpected, personal note, when you reduce the panic about the transition down to its basic, psychological need, it amounts to wanting to feel good about new model before the corporation retires the old ones. As noted above, that moment has more than less arrived and…despite the sum of the 2021 season giving me more than enough reasons to find peace with the transition and hope for the future, I haven’t. Because I agree with the general theory that this off-season will finally see the turnover I’ve expected since the depth of the Trump years (2018, roughly), I’ll forgo putting that angst into words. I, like you, will know more by First Kick 2022. Moving on…
I prepared for this post by reviewing what I wrote about the Timbers this season between April 19 and July 31, 2021; the stuff ‘n’ emotions of mid-October today are still close enough to be fresh. As noted above, Portland had just 23 points by then, a 7-8-2 record and, I’m confident on this, a negative goal differential, probably a bad one. Still, that one thing that stood out through all those posts was a fairly steady confidence that they’d get better as players came back into the line-up. Blanco had actually made the bench as early as June 19, as it turns out - along with Mabiala and Chara, who’d missed less time, obviously - but I was waiting on Jaroslaw Niezgoda to come back almost as much. All that grew more urgent when Eryk went down and Ebo left, but I’ve grown obsessed with the idea that having a player or three who can sub on and change the game draws the line between Heaven (the playoffs) and Hell (the opposite) in MLS these days.
Besides exceeding my expectations for the season, the Timbers got there in ways both expected and unexpected in 2021. I’m going to close out this post by riffing on some themes that came to me as I reviewed those old posts I wrote. In the order they came to me….
1) The Year of Asprilla
In a just universe, Dairon Asprilla would have had 2021’s Goal of the Year (this is blasphemy!), but I’d take his steady production over that bright, shining moment ten times before I’d refuse it once. More than any other attacking player on the low side of Mora and Blanco (full-season approximated, of course), Asprilla carried Portland through the season. The man became a regular at just the right time and he has to continue if Portland wants to continue as a good team. For the record, I saw the outlines of that early (from notes on the April 24 win over Houston):
“I’m higher on Asprilla this season than I have been at any point in his career. He looks like a real, scary option. For, like, the entire season.”
And lost it in the rearview now and again (from the April 19 post):
“Dairon Asprilla had a collection of chances at the end of the first half and the only thing I can think to say about any of them besides, ‘he missed’ is that I think he would have done better to look for someone to set up behind him instead of going for that bicycle kick.”
“Instead of going for that bicycle kick.” Irony, you magnificent bastard…
2) Passing into Legend...
“…to believe that ball would clear the defender, the chest it down like you were finishing a plate with brittle ingredients, and then to shatter LAFC ‘keeper, Tomas Romero’s five-hole wide-open like that. Diego Valeri couldn’t have scripted a better 100th career goal, not with the assistance of the gods”
Like a proper heretic, I forgot that Valeri scored his 100th career goal last July, and in a moment of particularly lethal poise, no less…but I don’t think anyone, including Valeri, saw his 2021 as the "Cinderella Story" I celebrated in my notes. After picking at this through the first half of the season, this note (and from notes after the June 19 win over SKC, no less) sums up the season:
“I appreciate that picking at Valeri makes people cranky, but, for perspective: Valeri could turn a game damn near on his own as recently as three years ago; one year ago, he could tip the balance: now…well, it’s tricky. Those turns he made last night suggests he can still find that breaking moment, but I expect the question of how to get the most out of Valeri to keep sharpening.”
3) More Mora
I confessed a fan-crush on Mora multiple times early in the season and, though his numbers for 2021 explain why he’s not a star forward (but who shits on 11 goals and 5 assists?), he’s still equal parts useful and sneaky. The man’s literally my size (and weight, in my prime), but he holds up play like someone four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier and his technique and combination play makes him the force-multiplier any team (including Portland) can use near goal. As with Asprilla, I hope he sticks around.
4) Yeah, Yeah, the Statue Cliché
In my mind, and for this league, Diego Chara counts as one of those once-in-a-generation players; the same goes for Valeri, obviously. The fact he played for my team can only be described as a blessing. If he’s not the best defensive midfielder in MLS of the 2010s, he makes a damned loud argument for the honors.
5) Wondario…& Sons?
I didn’t fully appreciate how much I’d liked what I saw from Dario Zuparic until I reviewed all those early posts, but I drowned him in fulsome praise to the end of July - and probably beyond when I started blabbing again. For what it’s worth, and despite their occasional, arguably over-frequent bumbling, I still think that Zup, Larrys, Bill, Zac MacGraw and Steve Clark gave Portland a sufficiently solid back-line personnel and depth that I’d focus…elsewhere, I guess? I say that fully acknowledging that raw numbers (e.g., 52 goals allowed) absolutely mangle that argument mid-thigh, if not higher, but, even with the six goals they surrendered at Seattle, Portland’s defense allowed just 21 goals over the second half of the regular season, aka, just 1.24 goals per game, and that’s rounding up. Blow-outs aside, there's a case they held up well enough. Still, Zuparic feels like more and more of a good find every time I watch him play. Moreover, he excels at one thing that I suspect will help the Timbers in the post-Chara era - e.g., he steps into incoming passes like a boss. Bottom line, I can see letting Larrys go due to age, but I’ll be deeply perplexed if Portland gets rid of Bill or MacGraw.
6) Our Once (and Future) Logan
The parenthetical in that sub-head alludes to (very) loose rumors that Logan Ketterer is moving on from his current gig - and just after the Timbers let go of Clark. The politics of Ketterer joining the Timbers full-time plays into a larger dynamic/narrative (which I’ll discuss at the end) about the front office’s relationship to its core fans, but, to stick entirely to on-field matters, Ketterer did all right when Portland called him up. Unless I missed something, he only had the bad loss on the road against the Philadelphia Union, but that felt awfully collective - and, if nothing else, he can say he saved a penalty kick against the all-time leading scorer in MLS, Chris Wondolowski, and that’s a good enough story to pass on for a generation or two.
7) The Shorter, Wider Chara
Of all the players in Portland’s line-up, I’m most fascinated to see what happens with Yimmi Chara. He might not be the best player on the roster, but he does a lot of the individual soccer skills (e.g., shielding/generally managing the ball) well enough that he’s comfortable playing just about anywhere north of defensive midfield - and that includes lining up as a No. 8.
8) From “Jet-Pack Fullbacks” to Mourning to One Player’s Redemption
“I’m standing by the “jet-pack fullback” phrasing in that it contains two thoughts: 1) everyone has seen one (Bravo), but they’ve always fallen short of what was promised (Van Rankin).”
Somewhere in their run at the CONCACAF Champions’ League, I thought I saw the outlines of greatness in Claudio Bravo andJuancarlos Josecarlos Van Rankin [ht, Claykavalier for the correction] - especially on the attacking side, hence “jet-pack fullbacks.” By the end of May, I was wondering whether Portland could get Jorge Villafana and Marco Farfan back in town. Despite his high-risk/high-reward style of defending, Bravo won me over by year’s end, but Van Rankin…suffice to say the infatuation has cooled. I saw and heard some weight of the blame for Portland’s defensive struggles fall on both players (and the fullbacks in general), while also seeing some of the same shift off due to the way Gio Savarese plays his fullbacks. I’ll be curious to see what, if anything, changes about all that, whether personnel or how they’re used (though, for the record, I can't imagine Portland will let go of Bravo).
9) A Wish for 2022
I don’t know how the Timbers train for crosses outside of set-piece scenarios, but between making the same runs or getting stuck in a place where they collectively make no runs at all, I hope coach, staff and players put their heads together this off-season and come up with something far, far better…shit drives me crazy.
That’s it for the walk down Memory Lane. Before signing off till 2022, I have a brief note on the politics surrounding the Portland professional soccer scene because that was also part of 2021.
I doubt I have to catch up anyone who finds this post on things on the Portland Thorns side like the Paul Riley shit-show, or the recent signing of Sydny Nasello. There are times when the Timbers/Thorns front office seems to go out of its way to antagonize its most visible fans (e.g., the Iron Front stuff…straight outta Newberg, I tell ya). And, if the Timbers do recall Logan Ketterer to the team, I’m confident a chunk of those fans base will take that as yet another provocation. And I get that. I really do. That same group of fans organized a boycott of the concession stands at Providence Park toward the end of 2021, one that shows no sign of moving management, but some noise beats the hell out of silent acquiescence…
…but it doesn't erase the very real “yes/no” dynamic of following spectator sports: walk away and feel clean or stick around and live with a faint stain that will never entirely wash off. “Wealthy, ego-drunk shithead” has to be the dominant profile among owners of professional sports teams, whether its Portland’s own Merritt Paulson or the Russian oligarch who might own your favorite EPL team - and don’t get me started on the fucking ghouls at FIFA. Assuming I go to a game again (odds are well better than even), I’ll honor the boycott and shake my fist at the bastards from my tiny platform as I do it…but I’ll also do so without expecting anything to change. To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, the very rich are different from you and me…
Speaking for myself, I’ve learned to bite back the bile by enjoying the community of other fans and fellow travelers. You’ll always have each other, basically, even if you hate your goalkeeper.
That period contained both the lowest low - the 2-6 loss at home to the Seattle Sounders - and the season-saving high that was the eight-game stretch that saw Portland pick up a nether-stirring 22 points out of 24. For perspective, the Timbers picked up just 33 points over the other (shit!) 26 games of the 2021 season, which amounts to a piddling 1.27 points per game; for further perspective, they picked up 23 points over their first 17 games of 2021, a figure that, somewhat surprisingly, pans out to a superior, overall goal differential of 1.35…I don’t get bowling math either, but that’s a whole other goddamn story. Things ended better than they started, basically, and I wonder how far that slipped down the memory hole and for how many people.
To start with the biggest question - i.e., what to make of it all? - I’ m pretty sure that accounts for the struggle. On the one hand, I know I never expected the Timbers to reach MLS Cup; on the other, I never expected them to tank that badly when they won the right to host the same final, not with how they’d been playing on both sides of the ball. And yet, all it took in the end was the same kind of collective defensive brain-fart that had panicked and enraged Timbers fans since…honestly, I think that’s been a thing for some time, and playing a good defensive team to revert back to a form I noted in the last Timbers post before (temporarily) shutting down this site, a meltdown of a 1-4 loss at the Los Angeles Galaxy:
“What are the two most frustrating thing about the Timbers? My bingo card shows stupid defensive errors and aimless attacking moves. This game was a smorgasbord of both…”
While the way(s) Portland struggles/fails files under plus ca change, some of what looked like the biggest moments of 2021 came and, because I don’t have notes (I’m willing to dig up) on it, went during that 13-game gap. For one, fan/personal favorite Jeremy Ebobisse left for the barren, over-priced wastes of San Jose (as opposed to the fertile, over-priced glory of Portland) in August 2021. Quirks in timing - specifically, that loss in which Seattle handed the Timbers their asses six times, followed shortly by the 2nd beat-down at Austin FC of the season - filled the skyline with dark, heavy clouds. At least half the Biblical plagues descended on the Rose City just a few weeks later when Eryk Williamson limped off the field, never to return. Again, I’ve got no written record of exactly what I said or thought in those moments, but “we’re fucked” might have made an appearance or two.
The fact that the incredible 8-game run noted above came immediately after Eryk’s last game speaks to how damn weird 2021 was (as it passes quiet judgment on the MLS regular season). Had you bet me at the start of 2021 that the Portland Timbers would reach MLS Cup 2021 with neither Eryk nor Ebo on the field, I would have demanded triple-digits-to-one odds and with a firm handshake to back it up. The Timbers did it, of course, and stayed in it until the death-by-a-half-dozen-paper-cuts ordeal of a bad day at and/or facing the penalty spot. Timbers fans will always have Felipe Mora’s impossibly late equalizer - a goal that passed into fan lore the second after he scored it - but the beautiful dream of one more big trophy for the first Golden Generation of Portland Timbers . I can’t think of a better way to sum up a fairy-tale’s demise than to say, Diego Valeri barely played, Sebastian Blanco wasn’t all there, and Diego Chara out-ran death and still kept his boots on.
There’s some real pathos and tragedy in the above - e.g., Valeri, one of the best in MLS history, will never spur another team to glory, the wasted opportunity of Ebobisse’s time with the Timbers, and whither Blanco? - and, as someone who has panicked about Portland’s transition to the next generation since 2017 (at a minimum), one can call this the sea in which I swim:
“Look, I accept that I see signs of Chara and Diego Valeri aging out the same way your most rabid evangelical millenarian sees the Apocalypse in everything down to my dog farting at exactly 3:37 p.m. every day (coincidence?), but this was the first time I’ve seen Chara that far behind the play over and over in a game.”
The counterpoint should be obvious at this point: the Portland Timbers not only reached, but won the right to host MLS Cup, with only Chara 100% present and serviceable throughout. If you take Chara out of the equation, that’s pretty much the story of Portland’s 2021. Just three (3) of the players who started 2018 MLS Cup at Atlanta United FC started in MLS Cup 2021. Moreover, all three of them (Chara, Larrys Mabiala, and Blaco) are all in the mid-30s. All that’s just another way of saying the transition has already happened. Mostly. And, because few things are as true in this world as Father Time’s cold, shitty grip, it ain’t over yet. I saw what looked like thoroughly credible word that Steve Clark won’t return for 2022 - confirmed this morning that they poor fucker’s going to Houston - and, no, I don’t like it. I saw thinner, unofficial reports about the Timbers cashiering its entire backline and, if that comes to pass, I will feel feelings I don’t often feel as a soccer fan, which is to say pissed off, (further) betrayed, and…just confused? I guess?
To add one more unexpected, personal note, when you reduce the panic about the transition down to its basic, psychological need, it amounts to wanting to feel good about new model before the corporation retires the old ones. As noted above, that moment has more than less arrived and…despite the sum of the 2021 season giving me more than enough reasons to find peace with the transition and hope for the future, I haven’t. Because I agree with the general theory that this off-season will finally see the turnover I’ve expected since the depth of the Trump years (2018, roughly), I’ll forgo putting that angst into words. I, like you, will know more by First Kick 2022. Moving on…
I prepared for this post by reviewing what I wrote about the Timbers this season between April 19 and July 31, 2021; the stuff ‘n’ emotions of mid-October today are still close enough to be fresh. As noted above, Portland had just 23 points by then, a 7-8-2 record and, I’m confident on this, a negative goal differential, probably a bad one. Still, that one thing that stood out through all those posts was a fairly steady confidence that they’d get better as players came back into the line-up. Blanco had actually made the bench as early as June 19, as it turns out - along with Mabiala and Chara, who’d missed less time, obviously - but I was waiting on Jaroslaw Niezgoda to come back almost as much. All that grew more urgent when Eryk went down and Ebo left, but I’ve grown obsessed with the idea that having a player or three who can sub on and change the game draws the line between Heaven (the playoffs) and Hell (the opposite) in MLS these days.
Besides exceeding my expectations for the season, the Timbers got there in ways both expected and unexpected in 2021. I’m going to close out this post by riffing on some themes that came to me as I reviewed those old posts I wrote. In the order they came to me….
1) The Year of Asprilla
In a just universe, Dairon Asprilla would have had 2021’s Goal of the Year (this is blasphemy!), but I’d take his steady production over that bright, shining moment ten times before I’d refuse it once. More than any other attacking player on the low side of Mora and Blanco (full-season approximated, of course), Asprilla carried Portland through the season. The man became a regular at just the right time and he has to continue if Portland wants to continue as a good team. For the record, I saw the outlines of that early (from notes on the April 24 win over Houston):
“I’m higher on Asprilla this season than I have been at any point in his career. He looks like a real, scary option. For, like, the entire season.”
And lost it in the rearview now and again (from the April 19 post):
“Dairon Asprilla had a collection of chances at the end of the first half and the only thing I can think to say about any of them besides, ‘he missed’ is that I think he would have done better to look for someone to set up behind him instead of going for that bicycle kick.”
“Instead of going for that bicycle kick.” Irony, you magnificent bastard…
2) Passing into Legend...
“…to believe that ball would clear the defender, the chest it down like you were finishing a plate with brittle ingredients, and then to shatter LAFC ‘keeper, Tomas Romero’s five-hole wide-open like that. Diego Valeri couldn’t have scripted a better 100th career goal, not with the assistance of the gods”
Like a proper heretic, I forgot that Valeri scored his 100th career goal last July, and in a moment of particularly lethal poise, no less…but I don’t think anyone, including Valeri, saw his 2021 as the "Cinderella Story" I celebrated in my notes. After picking at this through the first half of the season, this note (and from notes after the June 19 win over SKC, no less) sums up the season:
“I appreciate that picking at Valeri makes people cranky, but, for perspective: Valeri could turn a game damn near on his own as recently as three years ago; one year ago, he could tip the balance: now…well, it’s tricky. Those turns he made last night suggests he can still find that breaking moment, but I expect the question of how to get the most out of Valeri to keep sharpening.”
3) More Mora
I confessed a fan-crush on Mora multiple times early in the season and, though his numbers for 2021 explain why he’s not a star forward (but who shits on 11 goals and 5 assists?), he’s still equal parts useful and sneaky. The man’s literally my size (and weight, in my prime), but he holds up play like someone four inches taller and 30 pounds heavier and his technique and combination play makes him the force-multiplier any team (including Portland) can use near goal. As with Asprilla, I hope he sticks around.
4) Yeah, Yeah, the Statue Cliché
In my mind, and for this league, Diego Chara counts as one of those once-in-a-generation players; the same goes for Valeri, obviously. The fact he played for my team can only be described as a blessing. If he’s not the best defensive midfielder in MLS of the 2010s, he makes a damned loud argument for the honors.
5) Wondario…& Sons?
I didn’t fully appreciate how much I’d liked what I saw from Dario Zuparic until I reviewed all those early posts, but I drowned him in fulsome praise to the end of July - and probably beyond when I started blabbing again. For what it’s worth, and despite their occasional, arguably over-frequent bumbling, I still think that Zup, Larrys, Bill, Zac MacGraw and Steve Clark gave Portland a sufficiently solid back-line personnel and depth that I’d focus…elsewhere, I guess? I say that fully acknowledging that raw numbers (e.g., 52 goals allowed) absolutely mangle that argument mid-thigh, if not higher, but, even with the six goals they surrendered at Seattle, Portland’s defense allowed just 21 goals over the second half of the regular season, aka, just 1.24 goals per game, and that’s rounding up. Blow-outs aside, there's a case they held up well enough. Still, Zuparic feels like more and more of a good find every time I watch him play. Moreover, he excels at one thing that I suspect will help the Timbers in the post-Chara era - e.g., he steps into incoming passes like a boss. Bottom line, I can see letting Larrys go due to age, but I’ll be deeply perplexed if Portland gets rid of Bill or MacGraw.
6) Our Once (and Future) Logan
The parenthetical in that sub-head alludes to (very) loose rumors that Logan Ketterer is moving on from his current gig - and just after the Timbers let go of Clark. The politics of Ketterer joining the Timbers full-time plays into a larger dynamic/narrative (which I’ll discuss at the end) about the front office’s relationship to its core fans, but, to stick entirely to on-field matters, Ketterer did all right when Portland called him up. Unless I missed something, he only had the bad loss on the road against the Philadelphia Union, but that felt awfully collective - and, if nothing else, he can say he saved a penalty kick against the all-time leading scorer in MLS, Chris Wondolowski, and that’s a good enough story to pass on for a generation or two.
7) The Shorter, Wider Chara
Of all the players in Portland’s line-up, I’m most fascinated to see what happens with Yimmi Chara. He might not be the best player on the roster, but he does a lot of the individual soccer skills (e.g., shielding/generally managing the ball) well enough that he’s comfortable playing just about anywhere north of defensive midfield - and that includes lining up as a No. 8.
8) From “Jet-Pack Fullbacks” to Mourning to One Player’s Redemption
“I’m standing by the “jet-pack fullback” phrasing in that it contains two thoughts: 1) everyone has seen one (Bravo), but they’ve always fallen short of what was promised (Van Rankin).”
Somewhere in their run at the CONCACAF Champions’ League, I thought I saw the outlines of greatness in Claudio Bravo and
9) A Wish for 2022
I don’t know how the Timbers train for crosses outside of set-piece scenarios, but between making the same runs or getting stuck in a place where they collectively make no runs at all, I hope coach, staff and players put their heads together this off-season and come up with something far, far better…shit drives me crazy.
That’s it for the walk down Memory Lane. Before signing off till 2022, I have a brief note on the politics surrounding the Portland professional soccer scene because that was also part of 2021.
I doubt I have to catch up anyone who finds this post on things on the Portland Thorns side like the Paul Riley shit-show, or the recent signing of Sydny Nasello. There are times when the Timbers/Thorns front office seems to go out of its way to antagonize its most visible fans (e.g., the Iron Front stuff…straight outta Newberg, I tell ya). And, if the Timbers do recall Logan Ketterer to the team, I’m confident a chunk of those fans base will take that as yet another provocation. And I get that. I really do. That same group of fans organized a boycott of the concession stands at Providence Park toward the end of 2021, one that shows no sign of moving management, but some noise beats the hell out of silent acquiescence…
…but it doesn't erase the very real “yes/no” dynamic of following spectator sports: walk away and feel clean or stick around and live with a faint stain that will never entirely wash off. “Wealthy, ego-drunk shithead” has to be the dominant profile among owners of professional sports teams, whether its Portland’s own Merritt Paulson or the Russian oligarch who might own your favorite EPL team - and don’t get me started on the fucking ghouls at FIFA. Assuming I go to a game again (odds are well better than even), I’ll honor the boycott and shake my fist at the bastards from my tiny platform as I do it…but I’ll also do so without expecting anything to change. To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, the very rich are different from you and me…
Speaking for myself, I’ve learned to bite back the bile by enjoying the community of other fans and fellow travelers. You’ll always have each other, basically, even if you hate your goalkeeper.
Oh what a minefield you've stumbled into with your political musings. (I kid.)
ReplyDeleteI guess the first thing I'd say is that there is no common agreement yet that PTFC is actually an autonomous people's collective that plays soccer as a fundraiser for specific sociopolitical causes.
Second, my more cynical viewpoint of the business of MLS soccer is that the smart operators are the ones who bought MLS franchises purely for asset appreciation. Kinda like scooping up Bitcoins in 2010. It's already proven out as an investment for most of them, were they to sell. The owners may tend toward ego-drunk, but what important CEO anywhere in America doesn't lean toward sociopathic and/or narcissistic? It's the proven personality profile for leaders in all industries.
And Russian oligarch owners are so last week. The hot ticket right now is a middle east sovereign fund. Get in on some of that fine oil money as it gets reinvested before we're all driving around in Teslas. Of course Portland, were it to be resold, would likely end up owned by a consortium of tech bro's and rich entertainment industry types - none of whom would live anywhere near PDX.
Josecarlos ;-)
ReplyDeleteDammit! Also, thanks! Correcting, and giving credit.
DeleteA lot of what I'm getting at follows from you're second paragraph: a certain kind of person has that urge to get super-rich, and the related urge to field a proxy army who are forbidden to use their hands in a dick-measuring contest against some other asshole's proxy army. (At least it's not the Colosseum, right?) And your point about asset appreciation, in particular, get to how thoroughly insulated a guy like Merritt is from, for example, a concessions boycott.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really bothered by Logan Ketterer coming back (though I can also see how it going sideways, assuming he does return) than I am at the stuff around the NWSL. Condeming Riley was the no-fucking-brainer of no-fucking-brainers, an absolute sitter from a moral perspective, and they blew it. And that continues: "we will investigate" is rich asshole for "fuck off, peasants, and mind your own business." As a society, we've just sort landed on excusing wealthy people from, not just punishment, but from basic decency (which, for what it's worth, I think rots a society from the inside over time). I guess the only consolation the rest of us have is reminding rich shitheads how much we (or just I) loathe them, and as often as possible, even if they misinterpret the hatred as envy.
But, yes, throwing money at rich shitheads is baked into the spectators sports contract. The work of continuing to follow/enjoy spectator sports isn't unlike going to Disneyland - i.e., just turn off your brain, let it happen, and accept that nothing you'll do makes sense.