Look down

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So, on Saturday, the Portland Timbers (the local soccer team and member of USL Division 1, the division immediately below MLS) lost their first game at home since 2006, and I've been bummed ever since. I try to remind myself that it's not that big a deal. In many schemes of things, it's not. But, I just can't get over it right now.

I think, in large part, it has a lot to do with the way I feel connected to the team. I mean, the other two teams I support (Real Sociedad in Spain and Derby County in England) are very far away, so I don't have a strong identity connection to them. While I get bummed when they lose (well, except for Derby this season, where I only got bummed when they lost by more than 3 goals), it doesn't feel like I lost too. Not quite.

The Timbers represent where I was born, where I spent a number of my summer vacations, and where I currently live. I'm a season ticket holder. I'm a proud member of the Timbers Army [link] [link] and the fighting 106th (106 being the section I sit in). It's just a much more physically committed relationship to the team. So, when they lose, it really sucks. And when they lose at home it hurts. Also, they lost to local rivals the Vancouver Whitecaps (or Whitecraps, as we lovingly call them. It's childishly immature enough to be funny). Losing at home in a local derby hurts for a couple days. Luckily, we've got another game at home on Monday. It's a game we should win. If we do, all will be better. No, a win against Miami doesn't fully cure a loss to Vancouver. But, we haven't won in our last 5 games (4 draws, 1 loss), so a win will be a welcome sight.

Aside from that, not much has been going on. Work is work. Jeremy and Lucy are coming to town to visit and catch Eddie Izzard. I'm very excited about that. I've fallen obsessively in love with The Mighty Boosh. The show just makes me giggle something evil. I now spend my free time practicing my Old Gregg impersonation. Also, I've "joined" a group called Action Movie Tuesdays. This may come a surprise, but the group watches action movies on Tuesdays. It was started by a co-worker and one of her friends. She's recruited me and another co-worker. Here's the blog: [link] My posts are by 'The Saint Jeff Peden Memorial Death Fest'.

I've been intermittently absent from dA for a while now. Sorry. I'm a bum. I promise I'll try to be more present.

Yo.

***Monday, May 26th Addendum (which you might as well ignore because I'm just ranting about today's game)***

It really sucks to lose a game when you play bad. You are irate when you lose a game due to horrible refereeing. I will admit, Timbers supporters often blame too much on the referee. I tend to keep quiet on this when discussing games with other fans because I think they overreact to the way referee's handle a game. I mean, the referees in USL 1 are bad, but they're bad all around. Both teams suffer. That didn't happen today. Today was atrocious.

First, a PK was awarded when the Miami player clearly slipped. It happened right in front of us. I looked over to the linesman, and he waved his hands to signal play on, but the ref said, "no, it's a penalty." Never mind the lineman's better angle, he'd made up his mind.

From the start of the game, the ref called fouls against the Timbers for things Miami had done seconds earlier. Our manager got upset about this and was promptly red carded (honestly, he probably voiced his feelings inappropriately). As the game continued, the ref would yellow card Timbers players for actions Miami had done seconds earlier. I don't mean, a Miami player kicks a Timber's player, the Timber's player retaliates, and he's the one that's caught. Not like that. I mean, Miami defender uses his arms to jump over the back of a Timber's player to head the ball. No foul. Timber's defender uses his arms to jumper over the back of a Miami player to head the ball. Foul and a yellow card.

The only accurate yellow card shown in the game (unless all the rest were from Timber's players mouthing off [not likely]) was a second yellow card (i.e. a red card sending off). I'll give the referee his due, it was a yellow cardable tackle. However, the meaningless first yellow card the player got (for illegally backing into a player to try and win a header) was fully undeserved.

Last season, Preston North End (PNE) did a tour of the US for their pre-season preparations. They played a game against Monterrey (from Mexico), a game against Seattle, and a game against Portland. PNE lost all three games. They lost to Portland on a late, bad PK call. After they played Portland, I visited their website to see if they had made any comment about the game. They had a few articles, though i couldn't read them due to the fact that I had to be a paid member of the site to get access. But I could read the article titles. One of them: "US Tour: Worst Refereeing We've Ever Seen."

Yo.

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