A Subtle, but Pointed Reminder

I couldn't have said it better myself. Portland has an identity crisis, and we can't seem to figure out what we want in terms of sports in our long term future. The author points to the city up north as the poster child of getting things done for their teams.

Well, I'd hate to point out what happened to their former NBA team, but I think the issue there was a combination of apathy, anti-government forces, a city that wasn't sure why an arena needed to be upgraded when it was done a few years prior, a hated owner, and the NBA secretly involved with the change. I can't imagine the league really wanting to lose a top 20 TV market for their team, but they approved the move and we are where we are at. But, the city and team ownership has stepped up to help the Mariners and Seahawks with their various stadiums, and the city has done some forward thinking, which doesn't seem to be in short supply here.

Granted, there are some factors that helped with this situation. The 1995 vote to provide tax funds for the Mariners new ballpark happened just after the magical 1995 playoff run, and the end vote was really close, even with the renewed baseball interest. Qwest Field, just like the Rose Garden, was mostly paid for by Paul Allen with some involvement from the city with tax benefits and infrastructure changes. That playoff run doesn't happen, the Mariners are actually playing elsewhere, and we miss the 2001 historical season, the train noises in Safeco, Ichiro, none of it. It's also likely that the Seahawks would still be playing in the Kingdome, which had all the charm of a cave and the smells of the forest all indoors for everyone to enjoy.

But the key point of Portland not having the moxie to make something like this happen couldn't be more true. The original plan to bring baseball to the Memorial Coliseum and refurbish PGE Park for soccer was visionary, and took care of a need for MLS and helped upgrade the Rose Quarter from the doldrums it currently suffers from. But some short sighted architects and the Trail Blazers threw a monkey wrench in the plan, and the City Council blinked. It does appear that at least one city commissioner, Randy Leonard, is still interested in putting baseball at the MC, and I think he's got the right idea. The baseball plan would solve the ghost town the RQ is now, give the veterans a more usable and vibrant memorial, and revitalize an area that simply put, should be doing more than it is now. But, instead of us talking about this plan and getting excited, we sit 6 months later with the MC still standing, and more talk about what to do with it. My hope is that the city can stop with the blue sky conversations, and come up with something useful and tangible. I'd love to see some of the moxie from up north here, as long as they keep that god awful green color to themselves.

EDIT - At least one suburb has already stepped up to lure the Beavers there. Can you guess which one?

Timbers Early Season Preview

Honestly, what fun would things be if you knew the outcome ahead of time? Well, it might save for some anxious moments here and there, but at the same time, there is a sense of discovery and anxiety that come from the unknown. It can be terrifying, nauseating, and completely intoxicating. Where I'm digressing here is that I'm doing a Timbers season preview 3 games into the regular season, which might not seem like a good idea, but I'm doing it anyway. Part of this is that I want to do a preview after seeing most of the new players, and last Saturday was the final game for me to see most everyone, and I want to base my thoughts strictly on what I've seen.

I'm no footy expert, I've just been watching the Timbers since 2001, playing for almost a year, and watching as many games as I can from leagues all over the world, and so I think I have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. That's the neat thing about blogs, you can share your opinion in cyberspace, and people can do with it what they want. It's sort of the feeling that I described in the first paragraph, you might read this and see something that inspires you, or it could just be read as blah blah blah...

I did find a couple of entries about the team, from the Oregonian's early season preview, done a few days before the match in Vancouver, and the official team roster page. And with the number of new faces, it might be good to refer to the site because it's taken me a bit to get the names and faces associated. So without furtuer ado, here we go. Players in italics are here on loan, players in green are returnees from last year.

GoalKeepers (3) - Steve Cronin, Brian Visser, Chris Seitz

Cronin and Visser have been in camp for most of the year, Cronin signed from the LA Galaxy, and Visser from Purdue University. Cronin was the on and off starter last year, but suffered with the rest of the Galaxy defense in giving up tons of goals, although it was determined that most of them weren't his fault. The Timbers were looking for a full time keeper after last year's revolving door that saw 4 men man the pipes for us, and Cronin was signed to a higher salary that usual to get him for the next two years. Visser was a trialist that showed promise, and I thought he looked good in the exhibition game at U of Portland versus the Pilots before he got hurt. Cronin was very good in the Vancouver game, the one goal that he let in was a deflection, but he's got a strong leg, is extremely vocal and seems like a good organizer of the defense. However, Cronin was injured in training before the Carolina matches, and so we acquired Seitz on loan for two games from Real Salt Lake. He's got a cannon for a leg, and seems to have great hands, and performed admirably on Thursday for essentially being thrown into the deep end.

Outlook: I think our keepers will be a strength for us, especially since barring injury, we should have the same two guys all year. During 2007, we had one keeper, Josh Wicks, play most of the games except for friendlies, and the continuity kept things sharp, unlike last year's train wreck.

Defense (7) - Mamadou Danso. Scot Thompson, Cameron Knowles, Cameron Dunn, David Hayes, Stephen Keel, Takuro Nishimura

We led the league in 2007 in goals allowed and goals allowed average, courtesy of Wicks and the work of Scot and Cameron. Needless to say, 2008 was not nearly as successful, as the defense really was exposed by teams that pressured aggressively and could make quick crosses. It didn't help with the revolving door of keeper, but the defense digressed a bit.

We did get one nice surprise with the signing of Cameron Dunn last year, formerly from the California Victory. Dunn is heady, with a good sense of positioning and speed to push players to the outside, which is something that Thompson does very well, too. Knowles is as physical of a defender as you will meet, standing guys up anywhere on the pitch, and playing the game very smartly. With the loss of Leonard Griffin and Justin Thompson, you couldn't ask for better defensive anchors to return as Scot and the Camerons. They provide a savvy veteran influence, as well as an ability to play within themselves.

The new defenders bring some good skills to the table. Hayes is an all league defender from Atlanta who loves red boots, and has a wicked left foot. His long kicks are a huge weapon, and I don't recall us having a strong left boot in the back for a while. He also has good recovery speed, and plays positioning well. Keel is very tall, and also plays good positioning which makes up for the fact that he may not be as fast as the other defenders. He plays with a huge amount of passion, which is good as long as he keeps a clear head. He needs to take a page from Scot on that. Danso may be the best overall athlete in the back, as his motor doesn't stop when he gets on the pitch. I didn't see him back down from any challenge on Saturday and he played very calmly and collectively, which is a positive against Carolina, an extremely physical and chippy team by nature. Nishimura was another trialist from Japan, who is probably the fastest defender and most able to play the wings and run a lot. He also moved up to mid in the first Carolina game, so he shows some great versatility on the pitch.

Outlook: We will have a very strong defense, and can match physical and speedy teams with various lineups. I'm curious to see Dunn get a chance this year, but based on how well he played last year, I expect him to be a contributor this year. The backbone of this unit is Scot and Knowles, and how they play will dictate how this group performs.

Midfielders (9) - Tom Poltl, Tony McManus, Keith Savage, Johan Claesson, Ryan Pore, Brian Farber, Alex Nimo, Shawn Higgins, Josh Cameron

As you can see, of the nine guys on the team, we have only two holdovers from last year, as the midfield was a true mess last year. Players couldn't stay healthy last year, but I think the team also suffered from trying to play a style that wasn't condusive to the talent they had. It didn't help when former team captain Andrew Gregor was traded mid-season, which is never a good thing to have happen to what was supposed to be a key cog of the attack.

Nobody will ever outwork Poltl, as he plays very smartly on the pitch. He also plays on the ragged edge of passion, which leads to him getting a lot of foul calls and cards because of his style of play. The issue with Poltl is his height, which other teams really used against us last year with taller mids covering Tommy. Higgins, on the other hand, can play all over the pitch as he's a utility man. But like some utility men, he's really non-descript in playing, not doing anything special out there. He won't make mistakes, but at the same time, he's not going to generate much offense either.

Of the new guys, Claesson played in Sweden, Savage with Chivas USA from the MLS, McManus was in Atlanta, Farber was in Minnesota, Pore was with Kansas City of the MLS, Cameron was with Oregon State, and Nimo was with Real Salt Lake of the MLS. So you have three guys with MLS experience, one with international experience, two from other teams in the USL and a college guy. Not a bad mix to bring veteran experience with youth.

Claesson is very smart and disciplined in the midfield, attacking when he has an advantage. He also seems to scan the field quickly and makes passes designed to push the defense. Savage is the tallest midfield, and seems to be the strongest, mixing it up when he can. He tries to push things a bit much, but so far, it seems to be working well. Pore has the best motor in the mids, by virtue of his sweet goal and assist on Saturday, and he was pushed a lot by Farber, who got the other goal. They seem to play very well together on the wings, and they are very dangerous with their crosses. McManus is very much like Poltl, playing a very physical brand of soccer as evidenced by a card in the game Thursday. But his passion is also shown with a burning desire to outwork everyone, and he feeds off the energy from others. He's also gained a cult status in the TA with his work on our SCUSA board as TonyMcManus12, as he seems to have a love for quick phrases, working out, and drinking tons of G2. Nimo might be the fastest midfielder, but he's also the shortest guy out there, and he's not afraid to shoot from anywhere as evidenced by his play in Vancouver. Cameron might not get much time this year, but at least in the friendlies, he played mistake free ball, which is all you can ask from young players.

Outlook: Creative, feisty, and able to make good crosses, this might just be the best midfield group we've had. But then again, we thought Andrew Gregor was the second coming, and he got ran out of town. The depth helps a great deal here, but one concern I have is the only mid over 6 foot is Savage, so some teams with a lot of height in the middle might use that to their advantage, unless McManus pummels them.

Forwards (5) - Taka Suzuki, Antou Jallow, George Josten, Jason McLaughlin, Mandjou Keita

Taka Suzuki has a very impressive resume from his play in Japan for their national team and with the J League, but after his wicked goal versus Seattle early last year, he suffered with inconsistent play and it seemed like his spirit was broken. I didn't see the same passion from him that I did during the friendlies in the first part of the year, and I wasn't sure if it was unrealized expectations, language barrier or missing home that led to his funk. Whatever it is, his first few games this year show an improved spirit, although his footwork is still lacking a bit. He had some great chances in Vancouver that he failed to finish on, and whether that's rust or what, he needs to improve on that.

Keita has a great work ethic, and seems to have a nose for the ball, although he hasn't notched a goal. He does lead the team in shots, so perhaps that will come with extra work, but so far, he's been a nice addition. Josten really showed good speed and pace in his first work on Saturday, carrying the ball well and making good decisions with passes. I look forward to seeing him more, as well as McLaughlin, who came in late Saturday and showed some spunk. I remember him from Atlanta, and he's got a good shot and can hold the ball very well. Jallow also came in late on Saturday, and he didn't do anything good or bad in his short time, but he did generate some good work during the friendlies early with some good decisions and work rate.

Outlook: Suzuki may be the face of the franchise, but it's the work of the others that I think will either spell victory or defeat. Suzuki needs to finish better, and at least with his four partners, he's got good passers and guys that can pass, trap, and shoot quickly. Gavin has used various lineups so far, and so I don't have a good idea what combination will work best, but I like Josten for the job at least for now.

Coaches - Gavin Wilkinson, Amos McGee

Gavin is an old school Timber from his playing days, and he's had success in 2007 and trouble in 2008. I think he's earned a shot to keep his job in 2009, but the true question is whether his normal style of long passes and crosses will work with a team this creative. He seems to have let guys add their flair a bit on the pitch, which might be a sign of things to come, or it could mean that Gavin takes more control later if the wheels fall off. This is by far the most talent he's had in his years here, so if the team can't win, I don't expect him to be able to keep his job. Amos McGee joins the team from Minnesota, where he was a Hall of Fame coach for many years, and he'll focus on assisting Gavin with the first team and coaching the U-23 team.

Outlook: Winning takes care of the issues here. If they win, Gavin will be fine, if not, he doesn't have much of a leash here.

Our next game is May 9th in Cleveland, and you can watch the game live on USL Live, or by visiting the Soccer City USA board (http://www.soccercityusa.com/) and finding a viewing site for Saturday. So far, Beulahland and Rogue Pub are confirmed for Saturday, but check there for more locations.

It's Been A Year Already

I'm officially 3 days away from my first anniversary, and I've spent a bit of time the last few weeks thinking back to what I was doing last year when I wasn't obsessed with dealing with some of my own interpersonal crap. The problem with baggage sometimes is that in trying to move it about, it becomes cumbersome and lord help you unpacking it. You might be able to find a place for it, but most of the time, the baggage is just unnecessary clutter, even if you aren't 100 percent aware of it. Well, I can say that now, but part of my struggle has been trying to find that happy place. And for me, it was relating to many of the events from last year's wedding.

I know girl and I didn't want to have a extremely religious ceremony, nor did we want to have it in a church. We both knew that we were marrying the person that completes us best, and there were no commitment issues, but at the same point, we wanted to share our love and good fortune with many people that had been along for the ride. My family, albeit small, was represented rather well with my dad, aunt and uncle, while Girl's family, as big as it is, was there as well. We also had dozens of my friends from all over that dropped in, from my bank days to days in Spokane and Boise, and plenty of our Timbers Army counterparts there. There were some notable no-shows, but at the same time, I understand that some things come up and what mattered was that people were there to support us, either in person or in spirit.

But the days leading up to the ceremony were crazy, with all of the last minute details, phone calls, planning sessions, picking up people, running errands, and just putting together all of the stuff needed to pull this off. We had a great bunch of friends step up and provide us a lot of help, with putting decorations together, taking pictures, cleaning up, and generally being great people. But hey, my friends are amazing, so I wouldn't have expected anything less.

And as far as being married, it's been the most amazing roller coaster ride. I've never been so happy at times, it makes my face hurt. I've never been so challenged to the point that I wanted to break down. I've never cried so much about things, or have loved someone as much as I do girl. The amount of work it takes to get two people to suddenly become a single working unit while maintaining a level of independence is quite simply daunting, and I am amazed at the people that can stay married for 30, 40, even 50 years and still love each other as much now as they did back on their wedding day. I love girl as much now as I did then, as we've gone through the challenges, triumphs, and pure mayhem that comes from being married. I've never been pushed so much in doing anything in my life, but then again, I've never wanted anything so much in my life, either.

So for us, we are heading out for a quiet weekend on the Oregon Coast, and we'll be back next week, and things will return to normal, or as close to normal as it can get for a married couple, living with their mother in law and 7 crazy cats. To those that have provided kind words, support, a shoulder to cry on, a beer to drink down or anything in support of our first year, I say thank you for being there when we needed it. It's been a crazy ride, but one that I believe has more fun, more twists and turns, and more happiness on the way.

POST SCRIPTS - You can't be serious. Apparently the town up north wants to corner the market on sports colors that make the eyes hurt and the sensibilities quiver. Couldn't happen to a better place, really.

The Trail Blazers have a magic number of 2 to qualify for this year's playoffs, ending their streak of 6 years without post season play. And I was beginning to like going to draft parties and talk about the possibilities. Seriously, it's about time for this team, and while we may not win a title this year, we have the foundation for something truly wonderful. And we are going to look good doing it, even if the uniforms are slightly changing. They've grown on me a bit, although at first glance, I have to say they weren't my favorite.

Save the Made in Oregon sign. As much as I like the Ducks, they don't need to mess with a Portland landmark, simply because they are renting the building that the sign is on. Icons are meant to be preserved.

One Crazy Ride, But We Always Win 3 to 2.

3:37 pm, March 11th. History was made in Portland, and it was a long, crazy ass ride.

I have been through emotional rides before, like when I lost my mom or on days at work where the shit is proverbially hitting the fan, but Wednesday was such a different experience. I won't ever forget what happened. But before I get to that, let's start at the beginning of the day.

I had asked for the day off from my job to make sure that I could attend the City Council meeting where the council discussed the proposal to bring MLS to Portland, in addition to discussing a new triple AAA ball park for the Portland Beavers. Talks had problems on the preceding Friday, but apparently, a deal had been struck over the weekend between Sam Adams (current mayor of Portland), Randy Leonard (city commissioner), and Merritt Paulson (current owner of the Timbers and Beavers). The deal was announced on Tuesday, and so the council was going to discuss the plan during their regular Wednesday meeting, starting at 9:30 AM. I went to bed that night after scrambling about to get caught up on work stuff, TV stuff, and helping girl so that she could come to the hearing as well. We went to bed rather late, and as usual, I fell asleep almost immediately after my head hit the pillow, but she had some nervous energy, because it was going to be a big day.

I woke up just before 7 AM, as girl had dropped her mom off at work, because her car was in the shop. She had gotten back, and was going to check email before eating and getting ready to head downtown. I logged onto the board (soccercityusa.com), and was checking on the headlines and topics. The board has been crazy, as members of the Timbers Army were preparing for today, posting links to various media outlets, sharing letters that they'd written to various people, and posted comments from people who either supported or hated the idea of MLS. As I sat down, girl had mentioned that they were asking for someone to read a letter from our friend Gary from Seaham. He had written a wonderful story about his first trip to Portland, the hospitality that he was shown, and how much he enjoyed the passion that the Timbers Army showed during matches. I originally wasn't going to testify, but when the opportunity presented itself, I didn't hesitate to say I would read it. Gary is a wonderful friend of mine, and he's done a lot for me personally after two trips across the pond, so I felt honored that it would be me sharing his words. After putting out the trash, showering and eating, we left the house at 8 AM. We wanted to be in the chambers by 8:45 AM so that we could sign me up to talk.

The traffic wasn't terrible for a Wednesday morning, but the drive into downtown didn't make me miss commuting into the core of Portland one bit. I love the people that jump lane to lane, or are doing other things while driving, but it's what you see in the morning, so it is what it is. We pulled into 4th street about 8:40 AM, and found a parking garage near City Hall, the site of the hearing. I figured we would be in and out within a few hours, as the council meeting was supposed to start at 9:30 AM with the vote happening around 11 AM. But I also remember my days of being in student senate at Gonzaga, and meetings almost invariably never followed the right schedule, as they often went long or ended way early. While I hoped that it would end early, I wasn't that optimistic about that happening. As we pulled into the garage, I took the ticket and pulled into the first floor and got ready to park, when girl said, "No, wrong spot, it's 106. Go one more over!", and sure enough spot 107 was open, so we parked there. I firmly believe in karma, so hey, anything I could do to help the cause, let's do it. I even pulled out my match day scarf to wear with my green shirt, so that I followed the color scheme of the TA. As we walked down to City Hall, we saw the Tri-Met number 10 to Sunderland, letting people off. Again, perhaps another sign, as I was ready to read a letter from a Sunderland AFC supporter to our city council in support of MLS.

We passed through security at 8:50 AM, and walked upstairs to see the semi-large group of Timbers Army already waiting to get into the council chambers. There was at least 50 people gathered outside, waiting for the 9 AM time to sign up and I ran into many of my friends, and a few Army members that I hadn't met yet but knew me and girl by face. Finn, our main TA organizer for MLS to PDX, made sure I was Ok to read the speech, and Obi even offered me a SAFC scarf to wear while reading Gary's letter, but I decided to stick with my match day TA scarf. It made me feel comfortable, and so as I wandered up to sign up, I felt ready and calm to go. I'd already been talking with various city council members by email to provide input about the decision, answer any questions they might have about MLS, and do what I could to provide information about Paulson's idea. The chambers opened up soon after 9 AM, and we saw Merritt walking in, and he stood outside, shook a few hands and thanked us for being there. After the bonding moment, many of us started to head in. There was already a half dozen news cameras there, following us in and taking pictures before things got rolling. The lower floor of the chambers was filled with TA, so many that they had to open the balcony for more seating. I don't think anyone expected this many people, as evident by many of the council meeting regulars who were used to getting close up seating. Today would be a little different.

At 9:35ish the Councilors and Mayor Adams wandered in, and things officially got going. The first hour was going through the agenda items before soccer, including two calls for Adams to resign, a prayer from a pastor, and the Palau foundation giving the city money. It was rather interesting to hear the discussion about various things, and the business was handled rather respectfully. I did find it funny that most of the people asking for Adams to resign didn't appear to be Portland residents, but at any event, around 10:30, the topic of MLS started up. Being a former college senator, I was used to the parlimentary rules of procedure, so following along was pretty easy. First, the task force chairman talked....and talked...and talked...and got grilled with some questions. I noticed a few people typing into their computers, and apparently, Oregon Live sent one of their columnists to follow along. Ryan White did a great job of following along, and honestly, I'm not sure I could have done such a good job keeping up and making it sound interesting.

The city attorneys came up, and talked more about the nuts and bolts, and got questioned more, as Commissioners Fish and Fritz were asking most of the questions. The deal had been brokered by Commissioner Leonard and Mayor Adams, who fielded and clarified things, but the attorneys and PDC guys talked for nearly another hour, until Merritt took the stand around noon time. By now, my stomach was still in knots as I'd expected to have been gone by now, but at the rate we were going, it looked to be a very long day. I even got my picture taken by the Oregonian with girl sitting next to me, I believe it was taken about 11 AM or so, about the point that I had wished I had eaten more than a bowl of cereal. The discussion continued, and there were many questions thrown out, some good and some not so good. Fritz indicated she hadn't seen the documentation until today, although if that was truly the case, she grasped some of the text pretty well. There was plenty of talk about seating, the ballpark, transportation credits, urban renewal districts, zero coupon bonds, and more finance talk than I'd heard since my college days. Needless to say, lots of details were discussed at great length.

Around 11:55 AM after Merritt left the microphone, Multnomah County Commissioner Ted Wheeler took the stand, and the next 45 minutes or so was punctuated as "the Leonard - Wheeler" bitch fest. I'd never seen anything like it, as Wheeler and Leonard took shots at each other verbally about urban renewal districts. Wheeler didn't want one formed because it would affect the county budget adversely, although Leonard pointed out that not only does the county have many now that they earn from, but that he'd mentioned to Wheeler 3 months ago this was part of the plan. Apparently, that fact didn't register until the thing became a back and forth trading of barbs, with a final "oh, snap" moment where Leonard basically said Wheeler didn't know what he was talking about, followed by Wheeler's "uh, your mom" retort. It was truly a spectacle to follow, but the events here did have an affect on things later. Wheeler was joined by someone from the Portland Public Schools, who said this proposal would hurt their budget, too, so please don't do it.

It's not that I have anything against schools mind you, but it seems like the PPS always has their hand out if they can get more money, and sure enough, it appeared they were upset that an urban renewal district would be put in around PGE Park that could adversely affect them. URDs allow an area to set up a taxable district, in which bonds can be issued. However, these bonds can affect the amount available for other public entities, such as schools, if they wish to either set up bonds, and they can impact the taxable values of properties in the area, which affects the amount they collect from the states and counties. In most cases, the bonds and other public financing work in conjunction with each other, but apparently, the county and PPS felt otherwise, and so it was their time to say their peace. Once this was done, more task force dudes came up and said their peace. It was interesting that the task force had unanimously agreed on the recommendation, and one of the guys admitted he was a no until that final meeting.

The public testimony finally got rolling just before 1 PM. Short statements good, but you have 3 minutes to talk and then you get cut off anyway. Most of the other council business has been pushed to other days and meetings, so at this point, we're in for the long haul. Most of the speakers have good things to say about MLS, including the president of the Oregon Sports Authority, some veterans who were happy at the prospect of getting a new memorial, and lots of Timbers Army, while many spoke against it, including a guy that felt the Coliseum made more money with cat shows than baseball, and a city employee that thought it was a waste of time. There was another veteran who said they were supposed to get use of the Memorial Coliseum, but apparently no one remembered this fact. He didn't seem to mind it possibly being torn down, especially at getting a new memorial.

At 1:25 pm, my name gets called, and I'm up there with two other TA, Kari Sue and Obi. It's Obi's fault that I joined the TA, so it was fitting that we were up there to testify at the same time. My part went rather well, I didn't butcher the letter too bad, and by 1:33 PM, I was done. The letter was from the heart, and while I missed some of the words, it was an honor to read it. Even the mayor liked the story, and within a few more minutes, I was back at my seat. I never felt such a thrill as actually standing up for something I believed in.

But my optimism was short lived as at 2:13 pm, the Portland Trail Blazers testified, and said the MLS deal, specifically the baseball part, harms them. Up until now, they'd been a willing participant, realizing that another tenant might bring more folks to the Rose Garden, an area that has really struggled to pull people there on non-game nights. While the Blazers had been supportive, they suddenly said that their idea for an entertainment district near there would be harmed by the baseball park, and it would cause them economic harm. I'm not sure what loud sound I heard first, Merritt's jaw dropping at the change of heart, or Adams and Leonard sitting dumbfounded at the situation. Even the local sports columnist, John Canzano, was disheartened at the conduct, and wrote about it at great length today. It's one thing if you were disrupting an already established area, but in the 15 years since the RG was built, it's still what it is, two arenas, some random office buildings and a restaurant. While baseball would fill in crowds on non-basketball nights, I think the problem here is as simple as asking this - Do the Blazers want competition in their market? Or Do the Blazers want competition in their market for revenue streams that they currently have a monopoly on? The Trail Blazers guy leaves hurriedly, and the room is still stunned at what just happened.

The testimony continues, Merritt goes back up to talk more, more legal stuff gets talked about, and around 3 Pm, they decide to see if they even want to vote today. When suddenly, Commissioner Saltzman proposes an amendment to remove the URD part of the financing, and the piece that the county was complaining about is discussed and gone. The amount of the financing is $15 million and so it will need to come from somewhere, either another source or a URD that the county and schools can agree upon, but either way, it needs to be in place by September 1st, when this agreement officially becomes binding after a vote. It appears that with this one change, perhaps we might get a vote and it will finally pass. It appears that Fish is leaning towards a yes, Saltzman and Fritz are no's, while Leonard and Adams are already committed yes votes. We hit 3:20 and then it's time for final remarks.

Fritz pulls out some soccer scarves, talking about being a huge soccer fan, and loving the game. She continues on about soccer, when her tone changes about not wanting to hurt the city or the Trail Blazers, and after a rambling roundabout speech, she said she can't support it, and so the first no vote is on the book. Fish steps up, saying he'd be the first in line to buy MLS season tickets, but he can't support the idea of harming county services, and so he's a no. I'm shocked by this one, because I thought he was a yes. The Army sits huddled in their chairs, realizing that our fate hangs by one final vote. If it's a yes, we are in, if not, the MLS dream is done. Saltzman starts to talk about financial terms, and not harming the city, but soon says "This seems like a good stadium deal for us and I look forward to discussing it more, so I'll vote yes"

The room explodes into a crazed celebration of cheers and tears. Girl cried in her seat, I sat there stunned and humbled while tearing up, and there was plenty of noise. Leonard and Adams soon cast their yes votes with short discussion, and soon enough, the deal is passed 3 to 2. There's still the 15 million dollar question, but we can go to MLS with the deal and go from there. It's now a matter of MLS saying yes to Portland. I shook Merritt's hand later, got to speak with Sam Adams a bit, and generally hugged and celebrated with the TA around there. It was a truly great moment, and one of historic proportions. I had truly seen the city at work, and while we got what we wanted, it wasn't without challenges.

We live in a society that doesn't believe in sharing truth anymore, but rather placing doubt on ideas as much as possible because information can be skewed in many different ways. I don't want schools to be harmed, or the Trail Blazers to suffer monetarily, but at the same point, if schools can't find ways to more efficiently use their funds, why should they get more. And seriously, as much as I love the Trail Blazers, they seriously upset a lot of fans with their antics on Wednesday, and while I'll support the team, I have issues with the business end. But as we ended up at the Bitter End celebrating, none of that mattered. We all celebrated because for one night, we convinced a city that soccer was a good thing, and we got three powerful people to believe in it's future in Portland. And when Merritt came into the pub later to celebrate and buy drinks for everyone, it showed exactly what kind of a guy he is - one that loves Portland and wants to see this happen.

I did send thank you notes to the council, to Ryan for his humour, and to the Trail Blazers, and while I was cordial in every one of them, I won't forget the lessons learned on this journey. There's a lot more work to be done, but at least for now, we have achieved something that just a few months ago seemed like a pipe dream. And I will remember this day when I'm sitting in PGE Park in 2011 as the Timbers open up their MLS campaign, and realize just how far this city has come in such a short time.

A Lesson in Politics

Tuesday was a red-letter day for me in many ways. I saw the good in some people assuming leadership of our country, while I saw others in charge of our community watch their political clout fall apart like falling dominoes. I’ve spent a few days trying to figure out how to write about it, and this is probably the twentieth draft I’ve come up with, but that’s how significant I consider what happened.

While the country focused on Barack Obama becoming our 44th President, Portland became embroiled in scandal as our current mayor, Sam Adams, admitted to having a relationship with an 18 year old man he had been mentoring, and they had met when he was 17. Adams had denied any wrongdoing up until Tuesday, even saying that allegations of misconduct were grossly exaggerated because the relationship was platonic. However, Willamette Week, a local alternative newspaper in Portland, presented new evidence earlier in the week and they were ready to go to press on Wednesday to break the news that Adams had indeed lied. Before that happened, Adams changed his story and even admitted that he had asked the boy to lie about the situation if asked. The past few days have seen a crazy media frenzy, web posts calling for support or resignation, and a near paralysis of city government.

As I read through and listened to Obama’s speeches on Tuesday, his demeanor, language choice, and composure struck me in giving a speech of that much significance. The first African American taking office as the President, and he showed mettle that even I didn’t believe he had. He basically admitted that as a country, we’ve lost our way and it’s not going to be easy to get back on course. Some of our allies don’t like us very much, the parts of the world that want us to suffer have grown over the past 8 years, our credit rating and reputation around the world have sunk to new lows, and everyone, business and personal included, are struggling to make ends meet. Getting out of this mess won’t be easy at all, and yet, his words filled me with optimism and hope. I know things are pretty bad right now, it’s hard not to pick up a newspaper or watch a newscast and not see the reports of job layoffs and, bad economic news, and come to the conclusion things are OK, unless your math skills are suspect. What Obama showed more than anything was true leadership, saying that while things are bad, they can get better and I will do what I can to make that happen. It won’t be easy, because there are obstacles in the way, and our choices will involve short term pain and suffering, but we must go through this to realize the end success. It was an incredible honest and forthright display, and one that makes me proud to have this guy as my President. He’s not Black, he’s not African American, he’s the President, and I am ready to see what he will do during his presidency. So far, closing Guantanamo Bay prison and freezing salaries of some White House staff is a good start, and agreeing not to torture prisoners I think adds some icing to the cake.

What our previous President failed to realize what that the rules apply to everyone, including himself, and his various decisions about the War, corporate oversight, torture, and diplomacy as a whole were all grossly wrong. Hindsight will do that to some people, but until the very end, there was no admission of guilt, no real regrets until it was towards the very end when he admitted, “we probably shouldn’t have declared victory when the job wasn’t done.” It was a surprising admission, but I think received entirely too late, because the damage was already done.

Which bring me to the tale of Sam Adams. The depth of this story is becoming very clear over the past few days, as the general timeframe and events are being put together. He met the teenager, who was an aide of a State Senator and agreed to mentor him. In spending time together, they grew fond of each other, and apparently, they hooked up after he turned 18. They have remained in some contact, but nothing more since then. When asked about the boy, Adams said the relationship was above board, and he was simply mentoring him because he was struggling with coming out. The allegations never went any further until recently, when Adams was forced to admit the true nature of the relationship and admit that not only did they have sex, but that he asked him to cover it up. This information, had it been known before the election last year, probably would have affected the voting, but we don’t know for sure. One of the reporters from the Mercury, another alternative newspaper, became a sustainability chief for Adams recently, despite questions about her background and the fact that she was the main investigator for their publication into this story when she was a reporter. Oregon’s Attorney General has indicated he’ll investigate the situation to see if there was any wrongdoing, and Adams hasn’t decided whether he’ll resign or fight, but the entire situation is a true mess. There's even been talk of a recall happening later this year. If you read the various links I’ve posted, you can see that this is one truly messed up situation.

From my own experience, I’ve mentored young people from my university, and I think the idea is one of the best gifts you can give a young person. I don’t think anyone in college can fathom what it is like in the working world, and having someone guide you through the trials can be a wonderful thing. But then again, most of the mentees are high school or college aged, and so they may be naïve to how things really work. Some of my mentees were female and attractive, but I was more struck by their talent and desire to succeed, and I didn’t view them in any other way but as a person asking me for help. I’m also reminded of their age when girl and I recently attended a Portland State football game, and I was caught staring at the cheerleaders, and girl pronounced to me, “Hey, you are old enough to be their father!” The staring immediately stopped, and I sat there, embarrassed at my gawking.

But then again, I’m a straight male. The whole issue here is dealing with a gay mayor and a gay young male. Things work a lot differently in that world, as I have learned in talking with some of my friends who happen to be gay. Hookups happen a lot, and it’s nothing for them to have one night stands with random folks, much like what you might see in any other bar anywhere in the world. People meet up and sometimes they have sex, right after they meet. It happens, and there’s not a whole lot that people offended by that can do. The best hope you can do for children about sex is to educate them on the dangers, and hope they make the right choice. Needless to say, I’ve made some smart choices, and some rather dumb choices, but nothing bad has happened. I consider myself lucky in that respect.

I’m not a public figure, though, I’m a guy living in Portland with my wife and cats. My background matters to her, my employer, but I don’t have to face the intense scrutiny that folks in the public eye face daily. There isn’t a whole lot of things that are considered taboo anymore, and so anyone interested in politics should prepare themselves to have their private life ripped apart, examined to no end, and then put out on display for all to see. It’s a tough existence, and I applaud anyone with the stomach to actually put up with the process. But we’ve made this process ourselves, by allowing quick snap judgments to determine a candidate’s likeability, and information can be distorted in efficient 30 second snippets. That happens when people allow single issues to determine their thoughts about potential candidates, or voters don’t take the time to actually read and try to understand the issues at hand, so they choose either not to vote or vote based on the quick snippets. Trust me, you can do some effective damage with simple, short ads. Just look back at the Smith - Merkely campaign for Senate, and watch the carnage from that campaign, as both sides took shot after shot, and in the end, Merkely was left standing, barely.

I can understand why Sam Adams chose to bend the truth when asked, because he felt like the alternative would be distorted and lessen his chances of winning. But he also had a chance to do something truly noble that day, and not play the game of politics like everyone else, and instead he answered a political question, albeit a risky one, with an even riskier political answer. I’d expect someone with 20 years of experience in politics to take that tact, and personally, the part about him having sex with the boy doesn’t bug me. As far as we know, it was an act between two consenting adults, and it’s none of my business. Things like this happen all the time, but in this case, it’s a public figure involved and he originally told a lie to cover it the facts.

We expect our leaders to perform with integrity and humility, and what Sam Adams did shows neither. He should have displayed the tenacity to live with the truth, and let things fall where they may, but he didn’t. And now, the city waits to see what happens next. Selfishly, I really want MLS to come to town, and Adams is a major proponent to this idea, and now I’m not sure of it’s future with this. While we have the desire and passion, there isn’t a true political heavyweight involved with this if Adams resigns. And for something like this, you have to have someone with the foresight, integrity and ingenuity to make it work, and while Adams has two of the three, the integrity is now called into question.

But does that mean he won’t be a good mayor and he can’t get past this? Absolutely not, which is why I am hoping he remains in office long enough for the facts to come out and the investigation to be completed. People make mistakes, and part of showing integrity is admitting to an error in judgment and then doing everything possible to restore people’s confidence. Politicians are human, and I think anyone that expects them to be completely without baggage is just being unrealistic. I don’t even think Gandhi or Jesus could survive some of the true attacks that some people have endured running for office. But true leadership means standing up and taking responsibility for what you’ve done, and I’m hoping that he does that, for the good of the city. Running way now just makes things worse for everyone.

Monday, Monday

Filling in some gaps from yesterday's post and talking about a few other things.

MLS Update - The St. Louis story is attached here, and paints the picture of their economics. The stadium site is tied together with some other development, such as retail and restaurant, which means there's more potential to make money but there's more things that have to fall into place in order to make it happen, unlike stadium only. St. Louis would be a great market to add to MLS, being centrally located in the US and it's the birthplace of US Soccer. But I think that there are other cities that are as good of a bid or better.

Atlanta is looking at other possibilities for teams, but not at soccer. Seems like a decent enough market, but I also know that competition for sports dollars is tough when you have the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB all within town, and the Braves are really a top draw there regardless of their record. Miami's bid includes the Barca name, a big club from Europe along with other big footy names possibly coming to town. It's not so much that I think the team will do badly in Miami, but seriously, you've had two chances to make MLS work there and they've failed for various reasons, including attendance and ownership. And your USL entry has had the worst attendance the past two years in a row, so by all means, give them another team and see how well it goes. You have to wonder about how many chances you get until it's raising the red flag. Philly's stadium issue is still up in the air, despite them being on tap to join MLS in 2010, and so right now, this leaves Vancouver and Portland.

Vancouver BC would be a great market for MLS, they have great fans, a beautiful city, and a history of great support. The instant rivalry with the fish guys from the Emerald City makes it a win, and if you were able to include Portland with that, it makes it that much better because you have a built in Pacific Coast rivalry. The only thing that Portland needs to do is get the money figured out.

The following thread on my home away from home on the interwebs has all sorts of MLS news, including information about the task force meetings that are occuring here for Sam Adams' stadium committee. This is the group tasked to recommend stadium options for not only the MLS Timbers should that occur, but a home for the current PCL Portland Beavers. It's important to consider the future of both teams, and while MLS would be great here, you can't ignore baseball because there is a market here and people like to watch the game. But it must be in the right spot. The task force meetings are open to the public, so anyone can drop in and learn more.

Super Bowl - Ok, admittedly, I knew Pittsburgh was going to be a good team, and they were going to make the playoffs. I didn't have them picked for the Super Bowl, but I figured they'd be in the hunt to get there. And they did, providing a most brutal win versus Baltimore. The game was physical, bruising, and defensive, exactly what you would expect from two divisional rivals. Players said they are happy getting an extra week off to recover from their playoff game, and they weren't kidding.

But Arizona? Seriously, I had them as the third best team in their own division behind the Seahawks and the 49ers, who I thought would have figured things out enough to be competitive. And all Arizona did was win while the Hawks imploded badly and the 49ers digressed enough so that their coach, Mike Nolan, was fired and is now in Seattle coaching the defense. So they won the division, but then after not winning a playoff game in 40 some years, they not only win their first game vs. Atlanta, but they beat Carolina and Philadelphia to get to a Super Bowl. I would have never guessed it, which is a great thing for the NFL getting fresh teams in there.

But just because Arizona is a surprise doesn't mean the Steelers will win this game easily. The NFC is loaded, and Arizona beat some very balanced teams to get to this point by having a great offense and a defense that made plays when needed. Should be a fun matchup, even if it wasn't completely expected.

Trail Blazers News - The guy that shoots three pointers really well is going to the dunk contest. Rudy Fernandez will participate in this year's Slam Dunk contest. If he dunks like he shoots from the outside, this could be a load of fun to watch him. Either way, it's great that a Trail Blazer will be at All-Star Weekend, especially after so many years of being snubbed until Brandon Roy broke that streak last year. I expect Rudy and Greg Oden will be in the Rookie game, and Roy will be selected as a reserve, which will be very deserved honors.

Timbers News - There are rumours the 2009 season schedule is coming out on Wednesday, January 21st. I'll believe it when I see it, but the source is someone I believe, so look here for more information. We know at this point, our home opener is April 30th versus Carolina, which is a Thursday night. Apparently, the hipsters need a place to go.

Local News - According to recent studies, Portland and Wonder white bread have something in common. Uh, really. The study proves what anyone that hangs out around town knows, young people are flocking here in droves because of the art, music, culture and vibe of the town. Seriously, what's not to love about a town that loves its strip clubs, pubs, and sports teams? Well, the fact that many of the people coming here are caucasians.

But really, while race may be lacking in some areas, I challenge the fact that we aren't diverse here. If you think of sexual orientation, this place is amazingly diverse in places where gays and lesbians congregate. Plus this town has various conventions and gatherings for geeks, comic book folks, gamers, beer guys, and sports fans. I've never lived in a town where there were so many festivals in celebration of different things.

Admittedly though, the housing issue means gentrification, and the areas where African Americans traditionally lived have now been changed into areas where young people, mostly white, are buying houses. It's tough when you have the demand here like there has been, and people are priced out of the area and pushed out into the suburbs. My area is incredibly diverse with Mexican Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and caucasians melding together, and I see lots of different folks about town. Mind you, when I lived in NW Portland, I didn't see much diversity but then again, it was a trendy part of town. But seriously, if you are going to talk about diversity here, I think it's better to talk about interests and about who people are rather that what they look like, and in that case, Portland is an incredibly diverse, almost quirky paradise.

Ok, off to go watch the Trail Blazers tonight. Be good and don't get blown away!!

The Start to the Holiday Season

I've been a bit of an emotional mess the past few days, and you'd think around the holidays, I'd be in a slightly better mood. I mean, I've eaten enough turkey the past few days to grow feathers, I only went to one store today for shopping and got out in 10 minutes, and my job has been going really well lately. And things with me and girl are amazing, but I got some news that one of my dear friends lost her mom to cancer this past week, and it's reminded me a lot of me losing my mom.

For the uninitiated, my mom died in 2005 due to cancer. They didn't catch it in time for her to go through chemotherapy or other treatment, and so she was gone that quickly. I got a call on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend to come home and see her, and within a week, I was saying goodbye. It's probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had, mostly because of my closeness to my mom, and sitting there at her side watching it happen. I knew there was nothing I could do but wait, and I have never felt so powerless in my life. There's no amount of money that could have changed anything, and while prayer helped my peace of mind, it left me a lot of time to be with my thoughts. I kept wondering what I was going to do, and how I could handle losing an important piece of my life. But before she died, I told her about my planned trip to England in early 2006 and how important it was for me to go, but I was hesitant in going. She said, "You'll never have another chance to do something like this, so you need to go." The trip I took was in her honor, and to prove that I could do something like that.

Soon after her funeral, I came back to Portland and poured my life into my job and my friends, and very soon after that, girl and I started dating. Almost 3 years later, we are married and living happily in Portland. But admittedly, I wish that my mom was here now, to meet girl, to have been there at my wedding in person, to be here when we have our first child, to be here to be part of my life. And there have been times that I get mad at how unfair it is that she's gone. I know she's in a better place, and I'm happy she's not in pain anymore, and that there's a part of her that's with me all the time, but sometimes it just doesn't seem like enough.

I spent a lot of time afterwards dealing with my feelings for my mom, and admittedly went through a "rose colored glasses" phase, where I only thought of happy thoughts and good things about our dealings. Unfortunately, life is full of all sorts of moments, and I had to come to the reality of who my mom was - a wonderful woman with a big heart that was secretly scared of things she didn't know anything about and she spent her life letting other people control how she dealt with things. Time and time again, men made decisions that affected her and she put up with the situation to keep the family harmonious. I have an extremely strong female in my life now in girl, and seeing how my mom dealt with things, well, I can see why sometimes I have issues making tough decisions. I don't want to make anyone mad, even if it means that I do something that I don't want to or shouldn't do.

But, in the process of losing my mom, I've begun the process of finding myself and so far, it's been a pain staking, emotional, fun, annoying process. I see some of my strengths in my temperament, but yet I also tend to be quiet sometimes when I need to speak up. Girl has given me a lot of strength and support, and I'm better because of her, but it's funny to think that I met her just before one of the most significant times in my life. I think my mom would love girl a lot, and they'd be the best of friends, but sadly, the only talks they've ever had were spiritual. I think they were talking about a lot of my weird quirks, I'm sure.

The thing is that death is a normal part of life, and it's something that everyone will have to deal with at some point. It's natural to be angry, to be sad, to cry, but in the end, life for the rest of us goes on and you can't stop living it. I think for me, that was the lesson I needed to learn the most, and I still am learning it every day with each new challenge I encounter. If I could give my friend any bit of advice, it would be to remember the good and the bad, because those things are part of the same person. You may not like everything they did or said, but they loved you no matter what, and it's important to remember that.

Which is why around the holidays, I try and keep in touch with my friends and family a bit more, especially since you don't know what might happen. I may not be the best at keeping in touch, but I do my best to let people know that I think of them often. I mean, the holidays should be about giving of yourself, and sharing time with the people you care about. When I read the news story today about a guy getting trampled at a Walmart, it made me angry because the holidays for many folks are now about buying and consumption. I understand that we all take things for granted, and it's easy to get caught up in the moments like that, but we all have to remind ourselves that it's not what you can buy people, it's what you can give of yourself that matters. And you never know when you might lose someone close to you, so it's important to start now. Even if it's a phone call, an email, a text, or whatever, but say something. You'll be surprised how you feel afterwards.

And in relation to my last story about the Civil War, apparently, there's been a lot more animosity between the schools that I realized, but I still think this is the most friendly but nasty rivalry ever. I mean, Duck grads marry into Beaver families, I see Ducks rooting for Beavers at some points, that's not something I'd expect to see at say, a Auburn - Alabama rivalry. But that's something that makes this place rather unique, and one of the many things to love about Oregon. Hope it's a great game, and go Platipi!!

Follow Up From Yesterday, Soccer Gets Serious in Portland

Ok, I spent some time thinking about yesterday's post, and I came to the conclusion that I grew up in an era of sports where sports were the game and now they reside in a world of entertainment and money for those fortunate to play. Back in my day, players stayed with their team for their career and you identified the player with the city they played in - Ripken, Bird, Magic, Stockton, Elway. Now, the days of free agency are here, and players move about so often, it can be difficult to keep track. Seriously, Shaq has played with 4 NBA Teams, Farve is now a Jet, Montana ended his career in Kansas City, and Randy Johnson has officially been with 5 MLB teams.

And Fantasy sports give fans the opportunity to put their general manager skills to the test, and do it in a way that you don't have to deal with any sort of reality. Instead of dealing with locker room issues, playing time questions, and many of the distractions teams deal with on a regular basis, fantasy allows you to pick and choose players at a whim and trade them in most cases whenever you like. The real world doesn't work like that, much like the real world doesn't give you instant replay to make the correct call or decision about things. The safety net isn't present, so decisions get made based on gut instinct and things fall where they may. But you don't have people calling up sports radio about your fantasy team getting destroyed by 40 points, or calling for a new coach.

I think expectations get fans in trouble, and perspective goes out the window when you start to listen to hype machines. And when those things start ranking seventh graders for potential pro prospects, it's hard to say that's a good thing. It's tough enough to play sports nowadays with costs up and school districts cutting back on sports, you then have the pressure of potentially playing for college and then possibly the professional ranks if you are good enough. Despite the overwhelming odds against a kid playing professionally, parents and kids often see sports as the way out of bad home situations. So with all of this going on, why should anyone expect expectations to be reasonable?

Because it's the right way and healthy way to approach sports. Sports can teach kids valuable lessons about working hard and playing as part of a team, but also that life isn't fair sometimes and you might lose a close game now and then. But when the effort is enough, the talent comes together at the same time, and things work out, winning can be the most amazing feeling ever. And keeping winning in perspective that it's special and losing isn't the end of the world is something that every sports fan should keep in mind. It's ok to celebrate, and it's ok to cry and curse, but it's also important to keep playing no matter what.

In the world of Soccer Portland style, my friend Obi runs a great little podcast called the 107 Report, which usually focuses a lot on the Timbers, but he did a great edition about MLS to Portland, starring some of the Timbers Army members that really understand what's happening with our bid. Based on his take, there's trouble in Philly, Vancouver has a pretty solid bid in place, and Portland is a serious contender for a team provided we figure out how to finance the stadium. It's always an interesting listen, so if you want to get a refreshing take on footy things with some cool musical interludes, visit http://www.the107report.libsyn.com/ on the interwebs for a listen.

This past week, we also saw a press release that a USL Premier Development League Team (PDL) is coming to Portland, affiliated with the Timbers. The Timbers play in the United Soccer League's first division, the top flight, while the Timbers PDL would play in the third division, filled mostly with local soccer talent wanting to showcase their stuff. The PDL plays from May to June against teams from Salem, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Victoria, and Abbotsford BC. Player development has been an issue for the Timbers for years, trying to develop and keep young players here, so this move makes logical sense. A player starting out can play here, hone his skills near the pros, and possibly be playing on a larger scale locally. While PDL players don't get paid, it is a stage to show some skill, and the Timbers name carries a lot of weight so I could see some players coming out just to try and play on the big stage. I also foresee some players that spent their years withering away on the Timbers bench, only playing in friendlies or blowouts actually getting some playing time to see what skills they have. Seriously, it shows the commitment to soccer that Merritt Paulson is making, and he's not just looking at MLS for his future, but potentially at making USL a strong option if we don't move up.

It was also announced that the Portland Rain will join the Women's Professional Soccer League next year, bringing women's soccer to the pro ranks here. This town loves women's soccer, from mad support for the University of Portland's women team, to sellout crowds during the Women's World Cup back in 1999 and 2003 here in town, so it's not a surprise that an organization finally recognized the potential for a team to do well here. We haven't heard many particulars about the Rain, as the website is rather generic, so I'm sure there will be more details coming. But the fact that someone is willing to commit time and resources to bring a product like this to the Rose City shows how well the great game is supported here. Plus, women's soccer is very entertaining, as they show a lot of the great skills you see in men's leagues throughout the world. Not that I have an issue with women's professional sports, but with soccer, lack of skill isn't an argument that holds much weight for critics to discount it.

Gee, with all this footy, I just might be more busy this coming summer. Not like that's a bad thing at all, and along the way, I'll be cheering and singing.

Everyone Needs to Take a Chill Pill...Except for Our Friends Up North

I have rather been enjoying the new sports station in town, 95.5 The Game. It's nice to have sports on the FM dial, and they've actually started to talk about more interesting stuff than 9 straight days of "What would you do if you were the Trail Blazers GM?" as the main topic. I get that we have a rather tough sports market, with one major sports team (NBA's Trail Blazers), a professional team in a lower division (USL's Timbers), two minor league teams (WHL's Winterhawks and PCL's Beavers), two state schools within two hours of Portland (U of O, OSU) and two colleges within town that draw some attention (Portland State, Univ of Portland) as your choices of teams to follow and talk about. The Trail Blazers dominate the airwaves and talk, simply because they are the big game in town. And the team is actually expected to do well this year, with new players coming on board, so the expectations are higher than they've been for a while.

But it's these expectations that are really becoming a source of frustation for myself. I get that this town loves this team, and we have some great new players coming in (Oden, Fernandez, Bayliss) to the mix of guys that finished 41 and 41 last year, and everyone at this point is relatively healthy with only a few minor injuries that are keeping some players from camp. Greg Oden has the potential to be a dominating center in the NBA for years to come, but so far, he's trying to recover from his micro fracture knee surgery and he's dealing with a tender ankle from an injury the past few days. When he rolled his ankle in practice, Coach McMillan, Oden and Kevin Pritchard, the GM of the team, all said, "He's fine, stop worrying", but yet we all are wondering what's going on and will this guy stay healthy. When you're the top game in town, everything about you becomes that much more exaggerated, and even things like a simple rolled ankle become the topic of conversation for hours and hours.

I get the team is important, and we all want them to do well. It's easy to sit here and think the team is still a bit snake bit, especially after getting the number one pick in 2007 only to see Oden get injured, but really the situation is what it is. Guys get banged up all the time, and the surgery that Oden has takes about a year just to get back to playing and moving more fluidly. I understand the team wanting to be cautious, but I think that the Trail Blazer fans need to exercise the same caution as well. It's not the end of the world if Oden is slow in rejoining the team, we still have a talented core that will get better with more experience and a deeper bench. We'll be in the hunt for the playoffs, and Oden just makes us that much more dangerous, but right now, it's the preseason and last time I checked, noboby wins a title simply because of what they did in the preseason.

The other recent topic is the problems that the Seattle sports market have been having, with the NBA Sonics leaving town for Oklahoma, the Mariners having the second worst record in MLB, the Seahawks struggling early, the Huskies and Cougars being collectively terrible, and MLS still a year away from town. There's nothing really positive of note, with the exception of the WNBA Storm that recently made a playoff run, and so there's the question of what happens to a town's sport reputation when the teams there collectively are terrible? I have looked back on my most recent notes and I can't recall any city experiencing anything like this, where you have no real distraction in sports. And let's face it, in our world of sound bite politics, economic woes, wars in the world, global warming about, and bad things happening around, sports can provide a true diversion from the real problems of the world.

The question is really should we in Portland care about these problems, especially since the Pacific Northwest is thought of as a region and the problems there might make folks think sports here is collectively bad. It doesn't help matters when two Seattle teams aggressively market their teams down here due to no close competition (Mariners, Seahawks), and television spends lots of time feeding their games here all the time, so they are thought of as regional teams. The new MLS team is also trying this approach to persuade soccer fans to travel up north. The thought from sports radio is that we should be concerned because of association and reputation of the Pacific Northwest matters, so we should worry.

Honestly, I couldn't disagree more with that thought. While the Trail Blazers were the laughing stock of the NBA, I didn't see a lot of Sonics fans worried about association, but rather glad their team wasn't this embarrassing. I get frustrated at sports fans from other areas assuming that just because I live near Seattle, I follow their teams out of loyalty. I have a different love for my NFL fix, and it's because of my grandmother that I follow the Broncos to this day. I follow the Mariners out of my general interest of baseball, but I'm more inclined to follow the Padres or Giants because of their farm teams around. People in Seattle don't think twice about whether their town's reputation reflects on Portland or any of their neighbors, as a matter of fact, many NBA fans that are sad at losing the Sonics have purposely said they won't follow the Trail Blazers even though the team is close by out of principle because the team is in Portland.

I get that sports fans out of the region tend to lump our cities together, and don't realize there has been quite a bit of rivalry between Seattle and Portland over the years, which carries over to matches with Winterhawks - Thunderbird, Timbers - Sounders, Ducks - Huskies, Beavers - Huskies, etc. Fans may be cordial to each other in some respects, but there is some dislike between cities. Seattle thinks of themselves as the grand jewel of the Northwest, center of commerce, trade and a large focal point, and because of it's somewhat trendy nature, Seattlites tend to think highly of their town. And of course, Portland wants to copy us in every way, because secretly they want to be just like us. Portland, on the other hand, wants so badly to be taken seriously on it's own, we try to do weird and quirky things to stand out, yet secretly we want to be accepted as a big city with things to be proud of in as normal of a way as possible. Portland wants to be hip and trendy, but do it on its own terms. And some of the trendiness might filter down from up north.

I think it's great that we have a bit of a rivalry between our cities, and quite frankly because of that rivalry, I don't really care what happens up north. I didn't want to see the Sonics leave, but honestly, none of the key players in the situation really tried hard to keep them there. If anything, I'm more upset that my Trail Blazers have to travel more because of not having a close rival anymore because of the situation, but we'll make the best of this situation and of any situation where we compare ourselves to Seattle. Because as much as Seattle wants to be trendy and hip and cosmopolitan, they want to be those things plus friendly and engaging, which is what Portland has already. I've never been in such a welcoming and friendly city, vibrant and full of energy, and willing to do things here on our own terms. I think our reputation will continue to grow and prosper, and whatever problems are happening up north will eventually cycle out or people will just stop caring about it and it won't be one of the great diversions. Just keep doing what you do, Portland, we're just fine the way we are.

I'm Still Stunned To Hear About It.

It's ironic that Kevin Duckworth died on Monday because of problems with his heart, because people often said he used his heart and passion for people the right way, by giving of himself to the fullest. He was on the Oregon Coast to participate in a free basketball clinic for kids when on Monday night, he had trouble breathing and lost consciousness. Paramedics attempted to revive him, but they were never able to wake the giant, and the Trail Blazers lost one of their special players.

I moved to Portland in 1989 after graduating from college, but had followed enough sports to know about the Trail Blazers history and key players. When I had decided to move here, one of the key reasons I came was to watch the NBA in person, and I even worked out a plan with my boss at the time to leave early from work to go get tickets to a couple of games in exchange for working through a few lunch hours. It was worth it to get to see a couple of games that year in the Memorial Coliseum, and as the year rolled on, the team continued to win and won the right to play for the NBA Title. I was amazed at how crazy this town got with Blazer Mania, and I fed into every bit of it I could. But it was not only because of the greatness on the court, but the passion and sense of community off the court that impressed me. I heard of many stories of people interacting with the players, saying how nice these guys were and how they took time from their days to give something back. Kevin Duckworth was the person I heard about the most in this respect.

He was our starting center, all 7 foot 1 inch of person, wearing double zero. While he seemed to be at the right place to pick up rebounds and tap ins for points, he also dealt effectively with opposing centers in blocking shots and being a general nuisance. He wasn't the key cog of our offense, we had players that could fill those roles, but Duckworth filled the unsung role of stopper and rebounder while other players took headlines with their spectacular plays. You never heard him complain about it, the only criticisms he took in were the ones where he had off nights in shooting and he resolved himself to do better. He struck me as a very sensitive, heady player, as evidenced by some slumps in his career that seemed to take him longer to ride out than most. Being a sensitive type myself, I can relate to the fact that we sensitive folks are often harder on ourselves that we need to be, which seemed to fit his persona. But Duckworth did his job, made a few All-Star teams, and was a key component to the Trail Blazer runs in the early 90's.

What you also saw from him was numerous community appearances and engagements. He seemed to be everywhere to help anyone that needed it. He forged a special relationship with the children at William Walker Elementary school in Beaverton near his house, often visiting them during the school year to speak. When he retired from playing, you still saw Duckworth making appearances, working at his restaurant in Vancouver WA, and being visible around town. He was at many Trail Blazer games, watching the next generation take the torch, and appearing for the team as an alumni ambassador. He seemed to relish in his role as a spokesperson, touching people with his stories, demeanor, and smile. When you read the words and stories told by his coaches and teammates, they all talk about his engaging personality and ability to make people feel comfortable.

But all was not quite right with Kevin, as evidenced in recent appearances where he had gained a tremendous amount of weight. He was never the smallest guy about, but it was obvious that he had been putting on some weight recently. But he seemed to be as active and busy as ever, until Monday when trouble developed. I don't know much about his medical history except for what I read today after his autopsy, but I know enough about health and exercise to know that if you gain a lot of weight and don't get a lot of exercise, that's not good for your body. And the autopsy released today indicated that the cause of death was congestive heart failure combined with high blood pressure and other factors. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put the pieces together and figure out what happened. You wonder if the people around him had said something out of concern or love to watch what he ate, or to get more exercise, or to just watch himself. It's hard to know even if there were those conversations if anything would have changed, but what's true is that a legend has been lost.

People have been asking what is the best way to honor Duckworth's memory. The team is holding a memorial service for him on Saturday at the Memorial Coliseum, the home of many of his great games. I think that's a great start, but I think the team has a chance to do something really special here. Duck's career numbers probably don't warrant retiring his number, and I'm sure the team will don special patches for him this season, but my suggestion is to rename the community service award given by the team in Duckworth's honor. For a guy that gave so freely of himself and represented the town and the team in such a positive way for so many years, I think it's a truly fitting way to honor him in a way that I think he'd appreciate.

It's rather difficult for me to even talk about death still, as the topic still reminds me of the loss of my mom back in 2005. I was called out of the blue to come visit her in the hospital and a week later, I'm planning her funeral. We can't choose how we die, we can only build the memories of a lifetime to share with the people around us. While my mom's death was difficult for me to deal with, I learned a lot about myself and the people around me. I had dozens of friends pick me up and keep me propped up and doing things, even if my instinct was to just hide from the world. I found the love of my life amongst these amazing friends, and we were just married this past April. I've changed my life in numerous positive ways, and honestly, I'm not sure if I'd have done this otherwise. What death did for me was made me realize how important people are to me, and how important it is to them that I'm happy in whatever it is I do. I found peace, love, and acceptance from a group of soccer fans in Portland, and I can never thank them enough for what they gave me.

My hope is that while Duckworth's death is seen as a tragedy, it is also viewed as inspiration for people to live their lives to the happiest because it is truly a gift. It might inspire change, passion, or tears, but as in his life, Duckworth's presence inspires us all to be better people and give of ourselves to make our little part of the world a better place. Even though I never met him personally, I feel like I've lost a brother but I've also gained an appreciation of what life has to offer.

Why MLS Will Work For Portland

It's been a big week for soccer in Portland. Merritt Paulson has decided to throw his hat in the ring to snag one of two expansion teams in 2001 for Major League Soccer, and he wants to bring one of those teams to the Rose City. Within hours of the announcement, footy fans in Portland have mobilized efforts to email or write city officials, build a website for the effort, talk to people they know about MLS, and do everything possible to get folks buzzing about MLS.

The arguments for Portland as a MLS city are pretty substantial. You have a city of 2.4 million folks, the 25th largest television market in the U.S. with only one major sports team (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), a city that has hosted 2 legs of the Womens World Cup in 1999 and 2003, hosted US Mens National games, has a soccer program at University of Portland that has won 2 NCAA titles on the womens side and has been very powerful on the mens program, and has a USL Division 1 team that currently draws between 8 to 9 thousand fans a game. Plus, the USL Timbers boast one of the most passion filled supporter groups in football, the Timbers Army, who are known worldwide for their support of their club. In full disclosure here, I've been a member of the TA since 2004, met my wife in the section, and have attended home and road games religiously over the years. I see the passion in the TA in the stands, but I also see the passion in their help with Habitat for Humanity, Dornbechers, and other charitable groups. I've also seen them help their own when one of them couldn't pay their medical bills after a significant illness, donate to a special school program in England, and help a young cancer patient who had her cheer bag stolen who was a huge Timbers fans by replacing many of the things stolen.

Not only does Portland love soccer, the grass roots effort of the Timbers Army make this market extremely unique. We assist the team in marketing matches, have traveling fans at most of the Timbers road games in the USL, and we work on support through our website, Soccer City USA. I view this site as our life line, as we post rumours about signings, ideas about TIFO, gatherings to watch away matches, post thoughts about the team, talk about soccer in the world, and generally build a community. With this crazy, nutty group, I've found a home that I wouldn't have thought possible a few years ago. They love their city, they love their team, they love soccer, and they share this with anyone willing to participate.

But the TA is more than just a scarf and showing up to matches. There is a history of events, ranging from the early days of a small group to over 250 people going by bus to a match in Seattle this year. It's traveling throughout the world to show love and support for your team, as evidenced by fans showing their scarves everywhere they go. We've worked out deals with our Front Office to help them support the team and do it in the best way as possible, while also explaining many of the edgy things the TA is known for doing over the years. We may not agree all the time, but the FO knows that the TA is behind the team no matter what. What we do is grass roots, and many people chip in with their time, talents and money to do things to support the team. Many ideas for banners or TIFO start with a simple post, and then suddenly the idea takes off on its own.

What my point in talking about all of this is the fact that while Portland may have all of the technical demographics desirable for a soccer team, we also have a city that is passionate about their teams and are willing to do a lot for them. The days of Blazer Mania still ring true in this city after almost 30 plus years, with people showing team colors, attending games and generally buzzing about the team. This is after the dark ages of 2002 to 2005, where the team's antics soured a town and a region with drug arrests, trouble with the law, not caring about the fans, and taking a "I do what I do for people that cut the check" kind of attitude. The town responded to this by turning their back on the team, hitting the Trail Blazers in the pocket book. The team responded by drafting character guys, and building a young, hungry group of players, and last year, the team finished at .500 with our all star Brandon Roy leading the way. The town is in love with the Blazers again, and fans can't wait to fill the Rose Garden this fall. It means literally that we love our teams no matter what, but won't support anything we feel is wrong. Winning isn't the only thing that is important to us, we need to have a team that we can be proud of, full of good character people who care about the city and us with as much passion as we do for them.

It's an arrangment that could work for MLS a great deal. I know that there are some significant money hurdles to cross, as we haven't had the fortunate luck of our rivals up north. Seattle will be joining MLS in 2009, mostly because of having big money guys involved with their bid. Their current owner wanted to get MLS, solicited some big money investors to help coordinate the money part, and got a big help from MLS by them saying Qwest Field is an MLS acceptable stadium. They originally built the stadium for both football and soccer, but ended up making it more football friendly in the end. MLS has pushed teams to have soccer specific stadiums, but gave Seattle the green light to stay in Qwest, saving the ownership group there millions by not having to build their own park. Oh, and then they enlisted Paul Allen as part owner, who just happens to own Qwest as well, so now the team can save more money as well. I'm happy that MLS is coming to the northwest, but I'd rather they be here than up north, but I'm hoping that MLS does well to give credit to the Northwest as a soccer friendly region. If the team falls flat up there, it could sour MLS on future expansion to the Northwest, so selfishly, I want them to do well although not too well.

Paulson need the city's help to pay for the stadium upgrade of PGE Park, targeted at $30 million, and a $35 million investment for a new stadium for the Portland Beavers Triple A team. The stadium location would be in a couple of spots, but most likely in Lents, an area in SE Portland off highway I-205 that has large parcels of land near a little league baseball complex. While many baseball fans don't want to leave downtown, the situation of sharing a park with MLS won't work and right now, the Beavers need their own park as much as the Timbers need a park specifically for them. Upgrading PGE Park for MLB would cost significantly more than MLS, and I'm not entirely convinced that Portland could support an MLB team for 81 home games at a crowd of 25,000 to 30,000 average. PGE Park isn't even big enough for that now, but I think eventually MLB makes sense here. It's just that MLS now makes more sense.

I hope the city understands what a unique opportunity we have here to help set up the future of Portland. We have a soccer crazy town, ready and waiting, and all it takes is a small investment and some belief that we really are Soccer City USA. I know that the city has many competing groups wanting money for services, and it's tough to justify spending money on a stadium when schools and police need money as well. But the investment in the future of soccer not only gives you a jewel of a stadium for the Timbers, but allows extra tourism money from potential USMNT and USWNT games, World Cup games, friendlies with EPL teams, and other large events. There's a potential gain obviously in civic pride if the team does well, and it gives another major team for this city to get behind and support. Right now, the Trail Blazers are the game in town, and there's more than enough room to have another team come into town and gain some attention. Plus, you are talking about a league that has television coverage for most of its matches, which means exposure for Portland. It's a win-win proposal for soccer fans and for the city of Portland.

If you are interested in participating in this effort, visit mlstopdx.com or soccercityusa.com and read more about the future of MLS. For me, I can't wait to showcase Portland to the rest of the soccer world. You cannot stop us, We are the Rose City...

Weird Week in Sports

If you had told me that there would be a weird week like this in sports in our area, I'd have probably said you were nuts. But then again, strange stuff happens in threes and we have three of the more bizarre, sad stories in sports.

A lot of attention was turned towards a recent Molalla - Estacada girls basketball game that turned ugly when a coach wouldn't leave the court after being ejected. The official tried to get the coach to leave the court, but after he wouldn't the crowd erupted into separate brawls and spats. There were accusations of insults leveled at both sides, and accusations of bad sportsmanship, rude behavior, and general disrespect on both sides. Since I wasn't there, I can only take the word of the reports and stories, and say that all parties are sad that this issue blew up so badly. It's as simple as obeying the official, and if you've been ejected, you leave the court. We've all been at games where the officiating is questionable or seeming to favor one side over another, but there's no excuse in attacking a ref or disobeying a direct rule. As much as I love the antics of the Timbers Army of which I am a member, I've never felt that we would physically attack an official or do them harm. Yes, we've called officials all sorts of names that can't be mentioned in family newspapers, but we keep a line at the insults and don't cross it. It may not be sportsmanlike in some respects, but then again I can't think of any reason where assault would be considered acceptable towards an official.

Meanwhile, the Portland Winterhawks have been asked by the WHL to fix their operation. The first WHL American franchise to win a Memorial Cup, the team has a rich history of titles, great players that have had great NHL careers, crazy crowds, and some of the best sports fun in town. Now, the team seems to be a shell of themselves, playing to sparse crowds and losing a record number of games (up to 52 total losses as of this post for this season). The WHL is concerned about the lease and the front office, and have asked the team to address both concerns. The folks owning the arena, the Portland Trail Blazers, have said the lease is fine but you need to get more people to come to the games. However, the team is just struggling with injuries and youth. It's the same cycle the Trail Blazers were in back in 2003, when the team was struggling at the gate with a team that nobody wanted to come watch inside a town that didn't care. Paul Allen put the team up for sale, and tried to find someone to take the team off his hands after his ploy to refinance the Rose Garden financing didn't work and the arena was put into bankruptcy holding. The bad apples were traded away, new leadership was brought in, and new players matching a better attitude came in and the results are obvious. The Trail Blazers are struggling right now, but being the youngest team in the league, they are playing near .500 ball with a full arena, a city falling in love with them all over, and the media drooling over the possibilities. I don't know the Hawks ownership, but if the league calls you out, there's got to be some truth to what is being said about the team. Regardless, it's a bad situation and one that needs to be resolved because this team and the hockey fans deserve better.

Racing fans are feeling out in the cold after the merger of Champ Car and the IRL went through, which in effect cancelled Portland's Champ Car race normally run in June. I'll admit that while I never attended a race personally, I watched the race on TV more than a few times and I paid attention to the results. It's a source of civic pride to see our town host racing's best and put on a great show, which happened for 24 years. The race falls victim to declining attendance plus the issues that first caused the IRL - Champ Car split. Back in the late 80's, Indy Car dominated racing attention and the media, and race drivers were very public figures. But the Indy 500 owners wanted more attention and control over the races, and tried to mandate teams joining a league, the IRL. Some teams and races didn't want to participate, and they formed Champ Car and set up a competing circuit. About that time, NASCAR started gaining popularity and hasn't looked back since while Indy and IRL struggled to keep some attention towards them. The merger will ensure that the best talent hits Indy during Memorial Day weekend and the Indy 500 race, but what you end up having in other areas is cancelled races and hurt feelings. It's hard to compete with the NASCAR marketing machine, they do a great job marketing races that essentially are long races with guys turning left for 3 hours. That being said, Portland's race falls victim, mostly because of struggles to get attendance up and no major corporate sponsorship.

What all three things remind me of is the seriousness of the world of sports, how we take some issues and make them bigger than they are. It's important for folks to follow the rules and be good sports, but at the same time, we've allowed sports to become less of the fun thing we played growing up and more like a business. And the thing about business is that it's all about the bottom line. It doesn't matter about winning, losing, effort, talent, it's simply making the results profitable. In a way it's sad because the innocence and purity of sports suffers, because the game results often don't matter in relation to the bottom line. What I'm hoping we can learn about all of this is that sports mirror real life closely, but ultimately sports needs to put the games and playing first. Maybe it's a simplistic wish of sorts, but at the same time, how a team plays matters more to me than wins and losses any day.