Game #41-Portland Timbers

Porland Timbers vs New York Redbulls
June 19th, 2011
Jeld-Wen Stadium

This is my second time in Portland, the first was a whirlwind night at a bar but this time more than made up for it. Me and the guys had our yearly dude trip, and the Rose City was this years destination vacation. The funny thing is that we were expecting bar hopping, frisbee golf and food carts...the rain and gay pride week said otherwise. No worries though, we still crushed it. Probably hit up 10 bars over 2 nights and had one of the cheapest (mind you cheapest, not best) steak dinners ever, $3.50 for a 6oz steak and fries! Well at the tail end of the trip I decided to hit up a Portland Timbers game with my college buddy Pete Oskin. I love the sport of soccer and was amped for this match, not only are the fans great but also one of the most famous players in the world was going to be on the pitch for the opposition...Thiery Henry of the New York Redbulls. A couple months back I went to a game in Seattle and was blown away by the fan base, they came in droves and were jumping the entire game. But Portland...wow, this city is soccer crazy! Everyone knew each team song, 20000 fans in unison screaming Rose City or PT SC...PT SC...PT SC. I especially like going to stadiums where fans love the national anthem. They do crazy things like the Chicago Blackhawks screaming the entire time, the Washington Caps screaming at the top of their lungs everytime the word RED is sung, and in Portland they would make the "PSSSHHHH" sound after each line just like a pair of symbols being smashed together while giving jazz hands...awesome.

As for the game, it started off pretty slow. Poor passing, missteps, blown opportunities, but once the first goal went in it was full speed ahead the rest of the match. The Redbulls tallied the first goal by some spectacular moves and a pass from Henry to Austin Da Luz. After that it was all Portland for the next 35 minutes scoring three goals sending the stadium in a frenzy. What I love about this team is the mascot, Portland Jack. He roams the stadium with a chainsaw and after each goal he makes a 3 inch cut off of a log laying in the home field endzone. But in the 73rd minute Henry put away a goal to cut the lead to 3-2 and the Redbulls tied the game in extra minutes on a penalty kick.

Overall it was a very exciting game. A total of six goals and two penalty kicks...can't get much better than that. I was just hoping for a home win as I wanted to see what the fans would do. Oh well, again great fans, great stadium, great time!