Timbers Army

#JerseyWeek has taken over MLS this week with new kits dropping in Houston, Toronto, New York and Colorado among others.

The Portland Timbers get into the act with a unique event this week at Last Thursday on NE Alberta in Portland. Long a bastion of art galleries and creativity, the Timbers will unveil their new primary and secondary kits as part of the art show Green & Gold: A Tribute to the Portland Timbers.

Along with players Diego Valeri and Ryan Johnson being on hand to present the new kits, curator Chris Haberman has put together a show that features original artwork created by fans and inspired by Timbers soccer. Spread across the galleries of NE Alberta, The Talisman and Best Art Gallery will have the bulk of the show and each will be for sale to the public with proceeds split between the artists and the Portland Timbers Community Fund. Other participating galleries include Guardino, Six Days Art Co-Op, Screaming Sky, Antler & Make House and the Red Rover trailer. Hop on the ever popular pedicabs and buzz up and down the street to see them all.

Haberman will also have a large mural piece of his own that fans will be invited to help contribute to and will be installed at JELD-WEN Field for the 2013 season.

Following the jersey unveiling, staff from the adidas Timbers Team Store will be on hand to start selling the new primary and secondary kits. 

Photo: David Blair

Just home from our second weekend of Dribble Oregon where I was joined by David Horst and Jake Gleeson for a bus adventure that took us to Medford and Eugene. 

Medford is a great town. Full of history and nature. We planted trees with Friends of Trees Saturday morning along Bear Creek, a tributary of the mighty Rogue River. The trees that we planted will shade the creek keeping it cool for salmon as they spawn. We even planted a few wild roses hoping they bring luck to our new team.

Our clinic was busy with Timbers fans and future stars. I was worn out from kicking and chasing soccer balls with the kids. My former rodeo traveling partner surprised me with his son at the camp. It was great to catch up with him and see his son running around with the coaches.

Sometime during the autograph session I noticed Jake's accent had turned from Kiwi to kind of Russell Brandish English. I confronted him about it in Eugene the next night and he confirmed that it was true though he did not know why. I am sure there are pictures floating around of David sticking his tongue out at a little girl. I can attest that he did not start this battle nor did he win. Best set of questions at the clinic, "Why is soccer so hard?" asked by a young male participant followed by, "Why is soccer so easy?" asked by the girl who beat David.

Finally time to relax at 4 Daughters Irish Pub. We met with fans from as far away as Shasta City, CA.

I enjoyed the bus ride to Eugene though I'm not sure the rest of the group did as I sang along to all the songs from Rock of Ages. Thankfully Jake helped me with some of the duets. 

Eugene's tree planting was a completely opposite experience from the day before. We planted pine trees in a grass lot formerly used as a gravel parking lot. It was quite the struggle to get the holes dug but today there are nine new trees making the lot look more like a park.

Kick City is a great indoor facility with two fields a soccer store and a pub complete with TVs that happened to be showing the NFL Playoffs. We were entertained the entire time. Eugene taught me one thing, I am not and will never be a goalie. I took shots to my chest, legs and head (thankfully protected by a helmet) that I never saw coming and I have finally admitted to myself that I am indeed "sluggish." If I recall correctly David took a good shot as he was playing out of position. Thankfully there was time to relax following the sessions as we signed autographs and took pictures with all the kids.

After the clinic it was off to The Old Pad. Another great pub full of Timbers fans. My cousin Kindy came down to surprise me! It was great to see her and all the Timbers Army Echo Squadron. There we learned that both Jake and David had great first cars, are looking forward to playing under Coach Porter and were happy to bring the Cascadia Cup to Portland where it belongs.

Last weekend, on a soccer pitch in SE Portland, two over-forty teams came together first to play a match. At halftime, they were then called upon to save a life.

Old Growth FC—one of the Timbers Army’s network of amateur clubs in the Greater Portland Soccer District (GPSD)—was playing Celtic FC when one of Celtic’s players, Gheorghe Lupu, slumped at halftime of their match with what appeared to be a heart attack.

The Oregonian and KATU both have stories profiling the quick thinking of teammates Dr. David Silvestre who performed CPR, Emile Lemoine who ran into a nearby school to find a portable defibrillator, and Old Growth FC’s Dale Montgomery—a trained paramedic—who administered the automated external defibrillator (AED) all working together to save his life.

PortlandTimbers.com contributor and Old Growth FC member Kip Kesgard was playing in this game. This is his story:

I was walking off the pitch at halftime where they were up 3 goals to none. As I walked past their bench, I saw them surrounding one player that seemed to be struggling a bit while sitting down, but I didn't think much initially. I grabbed my water bottle as Rustam, our coach was calling us over to the halftime huddle when I saw the activity at the Celtic FC bench start to get more feverish. The player [Lupu] having issues was now laying on the ground and his face was purple. I said to the coach, "I think there's something serious going on over at the bench," when at the same time, they started calling for anyone that knew CPR as the player had lost consciousness and wasn't breathing. Dale, one of our defenders, is a paramedic, so he immediately headed over to assist along with Rustam who was CPR trained. Others started calling 911.

We were all worried when the initial compressions didn't seem to be working and Dale suddenly took off for his car for something. I followed him while I heard footsteps and somebody from Celtic FC was behind me running asking if Dale had one of those things to shock people's chest. I yelled a defibrillator, and Dale said no, but check inside the school. As the Celtic player [Lemoine] ran to the gym, Dale grabbed a small portable plastic mask which I assumed was to help with the airway and ran back to help. Rustam and the Celtic FC player [Silvestre] that was medically trained had stayed behind to administer compressions.

It felt like forever as we waited for the ambulance to arrive, but moments before that, our friend was running from the gym holding a small white box with wiring, and I put it together that it was an AED, the portable defib machine. As we all huddled about in support, the shock was administered and we saw the collapsed player regain consciousness although he was very groggy. Clackamas Fire and Rescue arrived moments later and drove onto the track to get close to the bench. They immediately checked him out, put him on oxygen, talked with the folks that had administered care, and then asked all the players to grab their things so they would know which bag was the fallen player’s. They left moments later to take him to the hospital, and at least from what I've been told, he spent some time in ICU but he was doing pretty well. Under the circumstances, the CPR administered by the players and the AED helped keep him alive and most likely brought him back.

This whole thing just reinforced the importance of knowing CPR and getting accredited in that life saving skill, and I know that Old Growth FC and the rest of the Timbers Army Football Clubs are working with the 107ist to set up training for our team members that want to learn.

In an update on OGFC’s Facebook page, the Celtic coach said the Lupu was doing well and expected to undergo bypass surgery today. His doctor also said, “he should be able to get back out onto the pitch in about three months with no worries.” Here's to the quick thinking of both teams and to a full recovery for Lupu.

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.