This evening, several of us went up to see a Portland Timbers game. This year marks the Timbers first year in the MLS. With the upgrade to major league status, the former PGE Park was transformed into Jeldwen Field.
Looking at the Timbers Army section and the log that Timber Joey, the mascot, cuts from every time the Timbers score a goal.
We had a few hours to kill so we walked around downtown Portland.
North Park Blocks. As we walked through, a guy in a wheelchair saw my Timbers hoodie and our Timbers scarves. He said “is it scarf time already!?” and we said “YES!” so he pulled a scarf out from under his chair and put it on. And this is why Portland is awesome.
Yes, the glasses seen in the TV show “Portlandia” are real. In fact, I saw quite a few hot girls wearing these sorts of glasses. Life imitates art or art imitates life? It’s hard to say in Portland.
A drunk dude had fallen over backward through some newspaper boxes. We watched him for about 15 minutes flail around on the ground while a circle of eight or ten police officers stood by casually watching him. After a while, some paramedics arrived and removed him from the area. Stay classy, Portland.
The sketchy delivery truck that the Timbers Army sells merchandise from. I bought a scarf here and a hoodie at the official Timbers fan shop. Next time I think I’ll get a t-shirt from the sketchy truck.
We got in line an hour or so before the gates opened.
Temporary bike parking for the game.
The line moved surprisingly quickly once it started going forward.
Some dude dressed as a turtle.
Into Jeldwen Field!
We found seats in the 7th row just behind the goal.
Bumblebee soccer. I rooted for the highlighter green team. The highlighter orange team ended up scoring more goals but everyone was a winner at this match.
First smoke bomb of the evening.
The Timbers Army starts to get warmed up.
The flag of the Great Nation of Cascadia.
We never sat down and never stopped singing and chanting for the entire game. Heck, we started chanting and singing as soon as we got into the stadium!
Kids line up to say hello to the players as they come in.
Chanters gonna chant.
Another smoke bomb. This might have been after we scored a goal. Or just because it was fun to set one off.
This smoke bomb was much more powerful than the previous one.
Perhaps a little TOO powerful. The inhalers started coming out and everyone used their scarves to cover their mouths and noses. The acidic, burning metal-flavored smoke was not friendly on the lungs.
Next time, we’re thinking about bringing proper gas masks.
The Timbers Army flag drifts across the stadium. The guy in the lower left is one of the capos. That is, a capo in the non-mafia sense.
Another smoke bomb gets let off.
Lots of smoke this time. We covered our mouths and noses again.
It’s a real experience being in the Timbers Army section.
Some time later, the game finished with a huge 1:0 win for the Portland Timbers against the unbeaten (until this game) Real Salt Lake, and we departed.
On our way out of the parking structure, Brent’s Honda sprang a leak in the radiator core. We ended up a few blocks away pulled over at the side of the road. A quick call to AAA later and we got a tow back south. It seemed an appropriate end to an awesome night. I am certain that I will be back at another Timbers game in the near future.
