brian costello
All this week, MLSsoccer.com is taking a look at "food and its relationship to the beautiful game." Some of it delves into how nutrition is making an impact on players' on-field performance, like this article, and others take a look at some of the unique aspects of food culture and soccer.
Considered among the best press box food in league, MLSsoccer.com interviewed JELD-WEN Field Executive Chef Bob Bumbraugh on how he prepared the food for the big match against Seattle Sounders and a little insight into the delicious "Timbers Bacon."
Photo: L.M. Parr
Sitting atop the standings in the Women's Professional Soccer League's Northwest Division with a 3-1-2 record, the adidas Timbers Alliance club Portland Rain host the Issaquah Soccer Club (3-1-1) tonight at Lincoln High School in Portland (Presented by Billups Worldwide). With only a point separating the two teams in the table, and an Issaquah side with a league leading goal differential of +9, tonight's match should be a doozy.
The best part for all of you?
Tonight's match is 100% FREE.
Kickoff is at 7pm PT and open to one and all. Get your soccer weekend (Timbers @ Rapids Saturday at 6pm on KPDX, Spain vs. Italy Euro 2012 final Sunday at 11:45 on ESPN) started and support women's soccer on a beautiful night for a match.
You like soccer. You like going to pubs. You like playing pool. But how do you combine them into the best time AND potentially win a trip to the 2012 MLS Cup?
The Budweiser PoolBall Tournament has the answers.
What’s PoolBall? This:
So now that you’re intrigued, you want to play. While the PoolBall field will be set up at numerous upcoming pub partner viewing parties and home matches for all to play, we have four slots available in a special tournament bracket culminating in a Timbers Army championship match at the Timbers Army Barbeque.
Photo: Budweiser
Just to up the stakes a bit more, the winner of the Timbers Army tournament will then go on to battle the champion of the Seattle Sounders’ Emerald City Supporters group. The winner of that showdown then goes to MLS Cup and will have $2,500 donated to the supporters group of their choice—in this case, the Timbers Army.
Numerous smaller prizes and goodies are available along the way with great swag, scarves, autographed items and more. All you have to do is be 21 and over as of June 30, grab a friend (teams are made up of two players each) and register here. A random drawing of entries will then determine the four slots we have available. The Timbers Army also has a selection of slots available to play here.
Dates of early round bracket play are as follows:
6/30: @ On Deck - Timbers @ Colorado Rapids
7/3: vs. San Jose - @ JELD-WEN Field
7/7: @ Thirsty Lion - Timbers @ Real Salt Lake
7/14: vs. LA - @ JELD-WEN Field
7/21: @ Maher’s Irish Pub - Timbers @ FC Dallas
7/24: vs. Aston Villa - @ JELD-WEN Field
All are welcome to play on the above dates but to be part of the tournament, you must register for the drawing.
Channel your inner Minnesota Fats-Pele love child and sign up!
With the Timbers looking ahead to Saturday's match with Colorado Rapids (6pm PT, KPDX TV, Timbers Television Network; 750 AM The Game / La Pantera 940), many corners of the media are still talking about the incredible environment on display last Sunday in Portland's 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC.
The Portland Business Journal took a look at how MLS worked to promote the game on a national scale and how they're looking to further expand rivalries across the league.
Photo: Craig Mitchelldyer
Today, The Guardian in England published a great examination of the constant game of tifo one-upsmanship between the Timbers Army and Seattle's Emerald City Supporters. With the Timbers Army's massive banner fresh in Portland fan's minds, Graham Parker writes,
[As] the latest banner was raised, and the latest visual gauntlet laid down, it was hard not to respect the sheer dedication and commitment the Timbers Army had put in to honoring one of their club legends [Clive Charles] this Sunday, whatever the origins of the art form in the US. Multiple hundreds of hours of labor go into producing an image that may appear only momentarily, but that has the potential to leave an indelible memory.
Speaking of the hundreds of hours of work put into creating the tifo, be sure to watch this Friday's June 29 Timbers in 30 (6:30pm PT, Fox 12 Oregon) as they'll have a special behind-the-scenes look into how the latest banner was constructed.
The Sporting News sent ace soccer writer Brian Straus here on Sunday to cover the Cascadia Cup battle. Calling the rivalry "among the most intense in American sport," Straus goes in-depth to try to figure out why our corner of the country has bred such an undying competition between the two communities. Comparing the Portland-Seattle clash to other rivalries from around the world doesn't quite work as its roots lie in a different area.
The Glasgow neighbors are divided by religion -- the Protestants support Rangers and the Catholics back Celtic. Elsewhere around the world, great (and occasionally violent) soccer rivalries revolve around politics, economics or geography. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s about civic identity.
Want to know more about how that civic identity operates within the larger ideal of what the very term "Cascadia" means? Portland Monthly's Martin Patail goes behind the deeper concept of the term and how "The Doug"--the green-white-blue flag with the massive Doug Fir emblazoned in the center that can be seen flying at all matches between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver--is really part of a bigger discussion about a region's "independent state of mind."
It's clear the Cascadia ideal and rivalry therein--be it on the field or off--is stronger than ever.
John Strong, voice of the Portland Timbers, headed out east a little ahead of the team this week as he travels to Kansas City to make his national broadcast debut on the NBC Sports Network. Calling the Midwest rivalry game between Sporting Kansas City and Chicago Fire at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Friday evening at 5pm PT, Strong will be joined in the booth with former MLS player and Olympian Brian Dunseth.
Friday’s match is the first of five matches Strong will call with Dunseth for NBC Network and he is already adjusting to the KC heat.
Greetings from Kansas City! Where it's officially 49 degrees warmer than when I left my house this morning! twitter.com/StrongMLS/stat…
— John Strong (@StrongMLS) June 27, 2012
Photo: Portland Timbers
Soccer fans will undoubtedly recognize Strong on Friday and they should also be familiar with Dunseth who is the main soccer analyst for Real Salt Lake broadcasts as well as having been an analyst with Fox Soccer. It will be a great rivalry match to watch with a familiar voice to help guide the way. Keep an eye on @StrongMLS and @BP_TOW on Twitter for updates from the road.
David Horst has been picking up the honors this week with his CenturyLink Man of the Match performance in the memorable 2-1 victory over Seattle. MLSsoccer.com also bestowed an honorable mention to him in their Week 16 Team of the Week.
But perhaps most interesting is MLSsoccer.com taking a look at his first ever MLS goal in their great Anatomy of a Goal series. Calling his strike via Franck Songo'o's corner kick "textbook," editor Greg Lalas gives us the X's and O's of how Horst's gamewinner came to be.
Got a story, tip, soccer tidbit to share? Send it in to thebackcut (at) portlandtimbers.com.
You like soccer. The people in your office like soccer. You all like soccer. It's simple.
But where can you get all the soccer-loving people in your office to play soccer? The 2012 Portland Timbers Corporate Cup, that's where.
A unique tournament that brings Pacific Northwest corporations together for soccer and corporate networking, the tournament also helps raise money for one of the Timbers' Stand Together Community Parthers: Portland YouthBuilders.
The tournament proper takes place over Aug. 10-12 at the Howard M. Terpenning Complex in the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District with a championship match happening at JELD-WEN Field on Aug. 18. There's a team social event at Kells Irish Pub, great networking opportunities and, oh yeah, a heck of a lot of soccer to be played over a short period of time.
Tournament brackets are broken into men’s competitive, men’s recreational or co-ed so there's opportunities for all.
One key element: THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER YOUR TEAM IS THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 30.
Find out more on how to register and all the other details at www.timberscorporatecup.com.
Update: Teams from Alaska Airlines, Widmer Brothers, CMD Portland, Wieden + Kennedy, Nike, Microsoft, the Portland Timbers front office & adidas all have registered teams so far. Come join in the fun!
The lunch hour is upon us. That means time for a sandwich. And with a sandwich you need bread. What's that you say? Franz bakes organic bread with special Timbers collectible cards?
Sandwiches just got even more exciting.
Starting today, Franz launched a special set of Timbers collectible cards that can be found in their Friday Harbor Organic Great Grain, Willamette Valley Organic Great Seed, Big Horn Valley Organic Whole Wheat, and San Juan Organic 9 Grain loaves.
Each package comes with one card and the complete set numbers 12 in all: John Spencer, Eric Alexander, Kalif Alhassan, Kris Boyd, Eric Brunner, Diego Chara, Jake Gleeson, Jack Jewsbury, Darlington Nagbe, Troy Perkins, Brent Richards and Franck Songo'o.
Who knows? Perhaps your new card will inspire you to create a newly named sandwich concoction. Happy hunting!
Update: Fox 12 Oregon went to Franz Bakery's headquarters in NE Portland to see the unveiling of the cards along with Timber Joey.
Got a story, tip, soccer tidbit to share? Send it in to thebackcut (at) portlandtimbers.com.
While the Portland-Seattle Cascadia Cup rivalry chatter increases to a fevered pitch, let us not forget all the excitement happening over in the Euros. Portugal eliminated the Czech Republic 1-0 on Thursday in the quarterfinals and today at 11:45 am PT on ESPN, the formidable Germany will take on the suprising Greece.
Now you could watch Taylor Twellman and Alexi Lalas break down the game in a cool holographic virtual tabletop on ESPNFC.com. Which is great, no doubt. And looks like something from the future.
But perhaps you be better served going back a ways--both in history and in philosphical theory--by referencing the great Germany vs. Greece match so ably presented by Monty Python years ago:
What do you think? Who is Greece's new version of Socrates in this Euro 2012 clash? Or will the Germans triumph via the argument that "reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics"?
Got a story, tip, soccer tidbit to share? Send it in to thebackcut (at) portlandtimbers.com.
Photo: Ethan Erickson
Jacob Klinger of Soccer 365.com has an excellent profile of the Timbers' Brent Richards as part of their series on MLS Homegrown players. It takes a look at how the Camas, WA native came to be Portland's first-ever Homegrown player and charts his career from youth to college to Timbers U-23s to the professional ranks.
With interviews from coaches and teammates, it's a great examination growth that Homegrown players can have on teams in the MLS.
As Timbers general manager Gavin Wilkinson says in the piece,
"When you live in that same neighborhood you feel a little bit more desire. I think you’re willing to run through a brick wall," Wilkinson said. " ... I just feel it’s great for all concerned and all involved to have a local player on the field."
Head over to Soccer 365 and give the whole piece a read.
Got a story, tip, soccer tidbit to share? Send it in to thebackcut (at) portlandtimbers.com.
