Sensationalist Sports Site, Deadspin, Attempts to Pan Timbers Army

Oh man, what a title! I tried to get the gist of what I'm about to write within a few words... I guess nine will have to do.

Anyway, you may be wondering: "what's up? Why am I reading about another sports news site on a blog about the Portland Timbers?" Well for a singular reason: apparently, Gawker's (yes the over sensationalist blogging network that uses way too many over zealous titles for what is ordinarily pretty standard news) sports site Deadspin has decided to pan the Timbers Army for Sunday's display. According to them we're all a bunch of lushes who were just too hung over to give our usual display.

You can read the full thing here.

Anyway, I'm not here to return the favor and, in fact, I can see where this article is meant as more humorous than anything else. Still, in true Gawker-esque fashion, Deadspin is attempting to make headlines where there are none, even going to far as to say we were an "embarrassment" for a game that was "nationally televised." Of which neither were true.

The truth of it was yes, the usual raucousness was missing from Sunday's game, but not by much. Despite being an early Sunday game on Memorial Day weekend, the Timbers Army still put on the most impressive display of all Supporters Groups for the entirety of the weekend. Which is fantastic, but not always necessary.

I think our ego's might have gotten a little ahead of us since the April 14th game. Our goal (or at least my goal when chanting) isn't to get on television, as Deadspin suggests, but rather to cheer on my team. I was doing it last year when there was no television and nobody talked about us. I think this is important for keeping up the level of energy. We chant because we love the Timbers, not because we want to maintain the spotlight of American supporters group stardom. The way I see it becoming now is almost similar to how cheerleading has become a sport unto itself whereby they used to be for pumping up the fans, now they only care about their own competitions. That's not something I particularly care to be a part of...

So who cares if the Timbers Army wasn't 100% on Sunday or didn't make it on national television. It's simply important to remember why we're cheering and chanting, to energize the team. We don't need to maintain the April 14th home opener level of energy across every single game.

And believe me, Sunday was by no means a disappointment. I was unfortunately stuck in the press box to cover the game, but you guys sounded just as loud and impressive as ever. The primary difference I noticed was everybody was merely late to arriving at the stadium (45 minutes before kick off rather than the usual 107 minutes).

And yes, once again, I'm well aware that Deadspin's article is more humorous than anything else. My point here isn't to retaliate against them (although I do detest Gawker), but rather point out that Sunday's display was still great no matter what Deadspin or the Timbers Army blog says.