Soccer Culture
Cross Town Clash
While #SoccerInOregon continues with some great shots coming in, tonight may present a setting for some more great photos.
Lincoln High School and Grant High School will attempt to beat the state record of 5,000 people to attend a High School Soccer match this evening in a double-header with their girls and boys varsity teams both competing.
The game will be held just a Jack Jewsbury free kick away from JELD-WEN Field at Lincoln High School's field on the corner of SW 18th and Salmon with the Girls' Varsity kicking off at 4:30pm followed by the Boys Varsity at 6:30pm. The cost is an incredibly affordable FREE.
Timbers stadium announcer Kevin Flink will be on the PA at Lincoln to give an extra Timbers flavor as well.
Go Cards! Go Generals! Go see the match and help showcase why Portland is SoccerCity U.S.A.--at every level.
By now, you've seen Off Pitch with Hermes. If you haven't, catch up. You may also be somewhat aware that Jimmy Conrad was here for the last time we played Seattle interviewing Merritt Paulson, chainsawing, joining the Timbers Army, going to Kicking + Screening Portland, and podcasting with the Backcut.
What you may not know is that somehow KICKTV got Hermes and Conrad together for a unique Portland mashup all about soccer in Oregon and the importance of Cascadia.
Here's the weird, wonderful and magical result:
Nagbe's custom adidas cleats
In honor of the league's support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, adidas has reached out to a number of MLS players to design their own special boots. As a result, DCU's Chris Pontius, New York's Kenny Cooper, Seattle's Fredy Montero, Sporting's Teal Bunbury and our very own Darlington Nagbe have all become shoe designers.
Nagbe has been training in his special custom shoes for a couple of weeks now looking to break them in for matchday. He's definitely excited to have them.
“These will be my first custom cleats, I’m pretty excited," he said. "Adidas is famous for their stripes, so I wanted to make the stripes, laces and other pieces on my boots pink to support breast cancer awareness. I used black and gold on the rest of the cleat to draw attention and try to make the pink really stand out.”
Like 'em? You can pick up your very own pair here.
And just because he didn't want to feel left out, Timbers 'keeper Joe Bendik has some special pink gloves he's sporting as well.
@darlingtonnagbe look I got some Breast Cancer Awareness gloves! I feel just as special as you. Hah twitter.com/Jtbendik/statu…
— Joe Bendik (@Jtbendik) October 4, 2012
Who are you? Timbers Army in Seattle
There are Timbers fans everywhere. Portland, Gresham, Bend, New York, New Zealand.
Seattle.
Being a Timbers fan deep in Sounders territory is no easy feat. Do you wear your Timbers kit to Pike Place Market? How do you get down to JELD-WEN Field for games? Are there others out there like you?
We found one. However, he would only agree to an interview if we picked a pseudonym. Settling on the name "Mr. Pine"--chosen after the street of the same name that runs through both downtown Portland and Seattle--I spoke to him about the difficulties of rooting from afar, how often he gets down to Portland for games, and what it's like when the Timbers Army comes north to the Emerald City.
The Backcut Podcast sits at the intersection of Timbers, soccer & culture to explore the unique elements of the beautiful game. You can subscribe to The Backcut on iTunes in the same feed as the Talk Timbers podcast.
Yesterday it was all about Portland being among the Top Cities in America due in part to the presence of the Portland Timbers.
Today in "Best of" Lists, Bleacher Report takes a look at the 15 Coolest Club Logos in World Football. Here are a few to get you started:
How many do you recognize? There's at least one more in there that should be familiar which "[symbolizes] not only their club, but the entire state of Oregon with [a] logo and its homage to the logging tradition of the area."
Click photo to enlarge
The Portland Timbers are but one team among many in Oregon.
There are college teams, amateur teams, adult coed teams, kids U6 teams.
There are teams that are put together on the fly as two sides divide up, create a goal and start kicking the ball.
There is soccer being played on lunch breaks, in backyards, on park fields, beaches, forests, sidewalks, street corners.
This is Soccer in Oregon.
We want to see what Soccer in Oregon means to you.
Instagram a shot between now and October 12.
Tag it #SoccerInOregon.
It could be from a Timbers match or a pick-up game on the Oregon Coast.
Coaching your kid’s game in Bend or riding with the team on a long bus ride to Medford.
Juggling on top of Mt. Hood, Mt. Bachelor or Steens Mountain.
Show us soccer and what it means to you across this state.
(If you’re not in Oregon, you can still participate but be sure to include #Soccerin “Wherever you are” along with the #SoccerInOregon tag).
We’ll compile all the images to place on our Pinterest page (pinterest.com/portlandtimbers) to put up to a fan vote beginning on Oct. 15 with a winner determined by Oct. 19.
The Grand Prize Winner gets a framed copy of their photo plus two tickets and a media pass to photograph the final Timbers home match against San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 27. Second through Fifth place receive a Timbers scarf and framed edition of their photo. For full contest rules, visit www.portlandtimbers.com/soccerinoregonrules
So get out there. Show us what #SoccerInOregon means to you.
The last time around we faced Seattle, the Portland Timbers helped host a unique event known as the Kicking + Screening Film Festival. Set to the theme of rivalry, K+S Portland had films exploring the USA-Mexico rivalry, the long battles between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires, panels with directors, producers and our own Mike Fucito--who has been on both sides of the Portland-Seattle divide--and much more.
K+S London is in full swing now but take a look back at the Portland edition via the ubiquitous Jimmy Conrad.
Missed this one? Never fear. Rumors abound that K+S will return in 2013. Moreover, you can have your own mini K+S Festival courtesy of KICKTV as they stream online the full versions of The Ref (El Árbitro), about the daily life of a soccer refereem and FC Barcelona Confidential, a film with unprecedented look into the first season of president Joan Laporta's reign as president at the Spanish giant.
Yes, you can get your own Darlington Nagbe FIFA 13 cover. But did you know that among his many talents, he and Diego Chara are also expert surgeons?
The Chicago Fire help in an office while the San Jose Earthquakes show the dangers of two yellow cards and Sporting Kansas City explains the importance of player substitution in this new series of spots promoting Soccer 101 and the spectacular FIFA 13.
Want more Nagbe? Be sure to watch him on MLS 36 tomorrow at 4:30pm PT on NBC Sports Network.
Much has been made about the release of EA Sports FIFA 13 with special Darlington Nagbe downloadable custom covers, players talking about playing, and Snoop even getting in on the act.
However, another popular video game is nearing release and USWNT star and London 2012 Gold medal winner Alex Morgan joined talk show host Conan O'Brien to review it. As you might expect, it is genius.
Favorite line: "Puts the bird in its cage, shut the door, put it to sleep. Those are the moves that are going to make this game a winner."
Jimmy Conrad doing his thing
You may have noticed the flood of videos on YouTube from a channel called KICKTV. They have quick summaries of footy related news on The Mixer, compilations of all the goals in a week, a show all about soccer equipment called The Gear Show, there's looks into interesting online soccer video clips calle The Whip, and much more.
Perhaps one of the more visible people of this new soccer online channel is host Jimmy Conrad. Conrad, a former MLS All-Star, World Cup veteran for the U.S. national team and one-day member of Real Madrid, takes questions from fans, talks about the sport, and is their go-to guy to go on the road and dig into the interesting fun elements around the culture of soccer. The first big trip they sent him on was Euro 2012 whereupon he watched games in public squares with throngs of Polish fans, played pick up games in farm fields, and gave a unique perspective into the massive tournament.
Most recently, Conrad was in Portland interviewing Merritt Paulson, learning how to chainsaw, attending the Kicking + Screening Film Festival, and becoming a member of the Timbers Army at the huge Portland-Seattle Cascadia Cup rivalry match.
In the inaugural edition of The Backcut Podcast, I sat down with man-about-town Conrad to learn about what exactly the new YouTube soccer channel KICKTV is, why it matters to soccer fans, and how Jimmy got involved with it.
The Backcut Podcast sits at the intersection of Timbers, soccer & culture to explore the unique elements of the beautiful game. You can subscribe to The Backcut on iTunes in the same feed as the Talk Timbers podcast.
