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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."
Photo by Craig Mitchelldyer
Yahoo! Finance's Businessweek.com just published a list of America's Best Cities with Portland coming in at No. 5 overall. Utilizing a number of different criteria (number of restaurants, bars, libraries, museums, professional sports teams, park acres by population) along with economic data, Stumptown made the list on account of it being "beloved of America’s hipsters, do-it-yourselfers, and localist foodies."
Another big reason? "[The] popular recent arrival is the city’s Major League Soccer team, the Portland Timbers, which regularly sells out its games."
Last Saturday afternoon ahead of the Timbers-D.C. United match, NBC Sports aired the excellent MLS 36 episode devoted to Timbers midfielder Darlington Nagbe. The concept of the show follows a player for 36 hours on and off the field in the lead-up to the match. In Nagbe's case, it was all shot ahead of the Timbers 2-1 win over Vancouver in August--a match where scored.
But I know how these things go. On Saturday, maybe you were too busy pre-functioning for the Timbers match that you missed it, your DVR went on the fritz, you were playing your own soccer game in the backyard. These things happen.
Never fear, the excellent episode featuring Nagbe is set to rebroadcast numerous times. Here's a handy schedule for you to mark your calendar:
Oct. 5 - 1:30pm PT, NBC Sports Network
Oct. 6 - 8:30pm PT, ROOT SPORTS
Oct. 10 - 1:30pm PT, NBC Sports Network
Oct. 12 - 12:30pm PT, NBC Sports Network
Oct. 12 - 6:30pm PT, KPTV (in place of Timbers in 30)
Oct. 21 - 3:00pm PT, ROOT SPORTS (following the Vancouver-Portland Cascadia rivalry match)
Oct. 23 - 1:00pm PT, NBC Sports Network
Oct. 25 - 4:30pm PT, NBC Sports Nework
Oct. 30 - 1:00pm PT, NBC Sports Network
Oct. 31 - 1:30pm PT, NBC Sports Nework
Oct. 31 - 9:30pm PT, NBC Sports Network
Here's a teaser to get you hooked.
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.
GoZips.com
The No. 7 Akron Zips continued their quest of the Mid-America Conference with a 4-0 thrashing of the Univ. of Buffalo on Friday night. Junior Reinaldo Brenes (right), who previously had only one goal in 32 career Akron matches, exploded for a first half hat trick scoring in the 12th, 24th, and 38th minutes.
It was Akron's first hat trick since current Vancouver Whitecaps rookie Darren Mattocks achieved the feat against the same Bulls in the Zips' last meeting at Buffalo in 2011.
Senior Scott Caldwell, who assisted Brenes' second score, added his team-leading sixth goal of the season in the 88th minute on a penalty kick. Akron has now gone 391 minutes without conceding a goal as senior David Meves picked up his 44th career Akron shutout—just four off the all-time record.
The Zips, who have won the last seven MAC regular-season titles, are also 42-2-3 against MAC schools under seventh-year head coach Caleb Porter. Moreover, UA has lost just once in its last 57 home matches (49-1-7), dating back to the start of the 2008 season. The win has them move up one spot in MLSsoccer.com's rankings to No. 3.
At least one Timbers fan attended the match at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field and made his way to greet Coach Porter.
I think I'll just leave this here #RCTIDtwitpic.com/azom3l
— RCTID in OHIO (@RCTIDinOHIO) September 30, 2012
Here too is Porter talking postgame along with Brenes about the match against Buffalo as well as some highlights. It's a fascinating analysis of how Porter sees the game. Most dominating stat perhaps? Akron did not allow a Buffalo shot on goal for the entire match:
Speaking of Brenes, the midfielder/defender made TopDrawerSoccer.com's Team of the Week along with Timbers U-23s' goalkeeper Spencer Richey who picked up a shutout for the Washington Huskies in their 1-0 win over Oregon State. Fellow Timbers U-23s' goalkeeper Justin Baarts also had a shutout for the University of Portland on Friday when the Pilots blanked the San Francisco Dons.
With October upon us, MLS is once again launching their Soccer Kicks Cancer campaign to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer awareness and treatment.
What this means is the return of the pink balls, special pink MLS W.O.R.K.S. ribbon patch on every player kit, pink shoelaces, pink sweatbands, and more--potentially even pink goalkeeping gloves. All 19 clubs are participating and there will be limited edition Breast Cancer Awareness gear available as well.
Additionally, there will be an auction of the pink match balls and game-worn gear on MLSSoccer.com/works starting on October 15.
Learn more about the whole event here.
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.
