A Rainy Sunday in August

I have had a pretty busy week and weekend, and so the blog has been pushed to the wayside a bit. Not that writing down things isn't important, but trying to find some time during the days sometimes is hard. But, having a rainy Sunday evening helps as I'm finally starting to decompress from the busy schedule, and I can't be outside anyway...

Although I have certainly been outside a lot in my newest exercise thing, playing on an outdoor soccer team. Granted, my experience of playing has been a lot of pick up games in college, and kicking the ball around on occasion, whether it's with friends or my cats, who actually don't mind knocking tiny soccer balls about the house. So I was a bit intimidated to join up a team full of people that have actually played, some for many years. But I decided to give it a go, and what I've found out is that it's a load of fun, I'm actually about an average player, and our team is pretty good. The Timbers Army got together an outdoor team, and we have about 30 guys signed up to play. Plus, our kits are great looking, courtesy of Obi. We also got a lot of love from one of our home pubs, the Bitter End, who sponsored us this season. We've been playing a few friendly games, and Thursday night, I actually attended a small practice to show off some skills or just run around a lot. It was certainly a lot of fun, although Friday I was a bit sore from the running. Today's game was against a group of Somalian kids who are very quick and have some talent. We lost 6 to 5, but considering our first friendly was a 7 to 1 loss, I think we're improving. What will be nice is that with soccer on weekends, and bowling on Tuesday nights, I will have a lot of things to keep me occupied this winter. At least the result helped me feel good about the match, as I soaked my joints and legs in our gym's hottub.

I spent some time on Friday at our other home, the Cheerful Bullpen. The Bullpen was acquired by the folks that run the Cheerful chain here in Portland, and Friday night, a few TA members met up there to check the place out and rehang our soccer scarves. Through the years, we've collected many scarves from around the world, and the Bullpen let us hang them in the pub. The new ownership has let us do the same thing, plus gave us our own little area, the Skybox 107. What impressed me about the Bullpen on Friday was how open it is with a couple of changes. The beer tap was moved back, and a short half wall was removed from near the skybox, so the entire room looks opened up. With a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling, it didn't look like the place I'd been going to for years. I took a few pictures after the scarves were hung up, which didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it was a tough process working around folks and trying to get done before the Timbers - Craps kickoff at 8 PM. Hoss and I got all the scarves hung with some helpful supervision (ok, they told us when one of the scarves was upside down), and the only accident was my thumb being stapled. We did get done in time to watch the match, but in being exhausted, I decided to head home to watch. Girl has also been run down, and she was hanging out with her mom on Friday, so as I pulled in to watch, they were only a few minutes behind me.

The Craps - Timbers match had some decent moments, but we ended up losing 2 to 1. Swangard is actually a fun place to watch footy, with the benches very close to the pitch, and you can really hear the noise from the other fans. Plus, Vancouver BC is a great place to visit, with plenty of beautiful sites and things to do. We would normally have driven up, but money kept us close to home initially. Turns out that other social obligations came piling up, and so the trip to BC was replaced with lots of social gatherings. The team played well in stretches, although the winning goal in the first half was really rather soft. We've already played our fourth different goalkeeper, and nothing Chase Harrison did on Friday impressed me enough to call him our starter. But he's the guy now, so we have to rally around him. The Timbers' playoff hopes took a hit with the loss, and right now, we are currently tied with Montreal for the seventh spot. As I look at tonight's results, Montreal won versus Atlanta, so we are now dropped to eighth now which would mean we are out of the playoffs. We have 5 games left for the year, so it will be a nip and tuck battle over the next few weeks to see if we can get to the postseason.

Saturday was my annual fantasy football draft. I've been commissioner of a league for 15 years, and so it's nice to get together and see folks that I only see once a year. Every owner in the league either works for the same company I do, or did at one point, so we can all trade stories about our experiences. It's nice to see these guys, who many of them have moved into new jobs, started families, gotten married, but every year, we all drop our busy schedules to get together and talk some pointyball. As the commissioner, it's my job to keep the draft moving along and on track, despite everyone's best attempts to sidetrack me. I've struggled with making the playoffs the past few years, but I'm one of a few owners that can say I've won the title; I won year 1 and then back in 2003 with my record setting team, who put up more points than had been seen before. Too bad, my magic formula to recapture that hasn't quite worked out, but I still enjoy doing this after all these years because of the guys and gals. Seriously, it's great to hang out with them and talk football, and yes, we've had plenty of female owned teams, including one of our back to back champs. I'll probably talk about fantasy football a bit on the blog, either to mostly say my team is great or dude, what was I thinking?

We've also been dealing with some family issues this weekend, which I really don't want to share over the interwebs. It can be difficult to deal with your family sometimes, because unlike your friends who are chosen by interest and interactions and tend to come and go from your life as you progress along, family is yours whether you like it or not. I've been blessed with having some of the best friends a guy could have, and most of the friendships have been very long term, mostly because I treat people the way I want to be treated and I tend not to socialize with people that are jerks and use people. I have some ex-girlfriends I could put in the last category, but I'm done with them now cause I have the only woman I ever need in my life now. But in dealing with a new marriage, it's caused me to seriously look at family and the interactions amongst people. Why people seem to think they can take advantage of family or treat them like crap because of the relationship, I'll never understand, but it's the dynamics of many units. I know for me, the next few months, I want to work on mending relationships with some family members, and trying to be more understood in my feelings and actions. It's not going to be an easy process, but you go through it for the ones you love.

And now we are officially one week from Labor Day, the weekend that people most often indicate is the last weekend of summer, my job is to enjoy the rest of the outdoor time I can for the rest of the year. That way, I can build some more memories for the future. Ok, I've got some fajita cooking to get to, so talk to you all soon.

A Very Busy Sunday - Fan Observations from Last Night vs. Montreal

Yesterday, the official high in Portland was 104 degrees. Trust me, it usually never gets that hot here ever, but this was our third straight day of temperatures over the century mark, and it was absolutely miserable. I grew up in Boise, ID, where the temperature would get above 100 very regularly, but being here in Portland, it just doesn't reach that maximum all that often. So people usually find relief at home in the air conditioning or at a movie or something...

We were hoping to find it watching an EPL match on Saturday, as West Ham took on Wigan to start the season. Girl and I are huge Hammers fans, and we wanted to take in the season opener to chat with fellow fans, plus give them some trinkets we got while over there last April. However, the venue we chose forgot to open up, so we ended up at Rose and Thistle, a nice pub in the inner SE part of town. West Ham won 2 to 1, but it wasn't without its adventures with potential injuries, defensive breakdowns, and craziness. That's what being a Hammers fan is all about, it's like a roller coaster ride. But at least we found a cool temperature place to watch, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which was nice.

Much like the Timbers have been this season. Full of expectations and optimism in April, the team has struggled with injuries, inconsistent play, and lineup shuffling. Our opponent, Montreal, was in a similar boat, both teams really needing a win to further their cause. A planned tailgate before the match did occur in rather sweltering conditions, but plenty of folks were optimistic that the Timbers would end their home losing streak on Saturday. I decided after wandering about, I would take in the coach's chalk talk session with season ticket holders before the match. This would also ensure that I got my Taka bobblehead before the insanity at gate opening, so I wandered over to listen to Gavin talk.

I'll say this, Gavin is passionate about soccer in Portland and this team. He spoke very candidly about the team, saying that some players haven't lived up to their expectations, and some were given chances that they just didn't take advantage of. And the team was hurt significantly by the loss of Josh Wicks right before the season. He was a big part of the heart and soul of the team, and while there have been some great keepers here this year, we miss Wicks a lot. It's great having Bryan Jordan back, but we've underperformed in the midfield and it's time to go back to basics. Anyone watching this team for the past few months can see that, but I also think that some of the tentative play has to do with coaching decisions that have guys playing tentatively. You also have situations like with Taka, who is a very talented player but not somebody that has scored a lot of goals in his career. He's also been a victim of players targeting him with extra defense and attention, and Taka hasn't adapted to it very well. He's a strong player, and doesn't get pushed around easily, but I think he's a valuable asset to our team this year. Gavin also spoke in length about Chris Brown's 3 game suspension, and the teams that reviewed the video showing the incident. He still can't figure out why 3 games were given, and neither can any of us who saw the video. But it was nice to see that the passion is still there, and they are optimistic about the team's chances this year.

And with things being very hot and sticky, they would need to put out a big effort against a disciplined Montreal side, one who has also struggled this year. The game kicked off at 99 degrees at 7 pm, and both sides played a rather boring first half with few chances. The second half, the team and the TA turned up the heat and loud, and we netted two beautiful goals. Montreal got one back late, but we held them off for the 2 to 1 win. It was a much needed effort, and while the Shed was loud, the numbers were back to 2004/2005 side with many empty seats. The temperature just kept folks away, although the recent play probably didn't help either. But chants were flying, banners unfurled, and a great atmosphere for everyone. I can also say that I got a short video of Chris Brown's second goal and the end of game celebration for the team. It was a magical night, and one where I was proud of our team stepping up and playing their hearts out. Cameron Dunn played well in defense, but I thought having Chris Brown back really helped solidify the midfield and gave us pushes forward with a purpose, something that we'd been missing.

As I walked out, I stopped by and ended up helping the MLS to PDX table for a few minutes. We got over 500 emails from folks, wanting to know more about the efforts to bring MLS to town. I'm impressed that this many people were curious about MLS, and really wanting to know more about it. Apparently, the word is out, and people want MLS here. It will be interesting what will happen the next few months as Merritt moves forward with his plans. I did make it to the Bullpen in time for Kathy's retirement. She's done a lot for the TA over the years, and I couldn't think of a nicer person who deserves a break. The Cheerful folks will be coming in to refurbish the Bullpen, and I know they'll do right by everyone, cause if they do, the TA will come all the time. But I can't wish Kathy enough good thoughts on her being able to retire and relax after so many years of running the BP.

Sunday morning, the TA outdoor team got together for a friendly game vs. Midway, a team made up of firemen. And they were really hot, as evidenced by them putting 7 on us in a 7 to 1 win. They played in Division 3 last year, and didn't win a game, but they'd played together for a couple of years and it showed with their discipline and passing. While the TA looked better in our uniforms (thanks Obi), we really chased a lot and got out of position a lot during the match. We did have some good moments, and it leads me to think that we'll be OK during the season. At least we'll have a fan club of supporters already, as over 15 folks showed up to wish us well, and they even got a chance to strike up a flare and do some flag waving. Very nice.

My weekend ended up with watching the new Star Wars movie, the Clone Wars. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and so I had planned on going, despite the negative reviews. And I can safely say that it didn't suck as bad as the reviews made it out to be, but I wouldn't put this movie on the top of any best Star Wars movie. It had moments of great action, but the plot clunked a bit at points trying to do too much. Overall, it was worth me seeing it, simply because I can say that I've seen every Star Wars movie in the theatre, this would include the original trilogy, the re-releases with new footage, and the final trilogy which had its moments, but struggled a bit to find itself at times. Science fictions folks can be merciless at times in their scorn of scripts or movies, and I think I can say they were right about Star Wars 1 because it had enough plot holes to drive a couple of tanks through. Metaclorions? Are you serious??

I may not have gotten much relief from the heat, but with my teams winning, it was a great weekend all the way around. Have a good one..