Timbers Army

Last night I had quite an intense Portland experience: attending a Portland Timbers soccer game and cheering with the Timbers Army. I feel like I was officially initiated into the Rose City.

 

If you’ve never been to a Timbers game or don’t know much about the Timbers Army, it’s an experience that is difficult to explain. There is a reason these people call themselves “the Army”. They are highly loyal to their team and many of them might actually lay down their life for their soccer heroes. They wear their season ticket pass around their necks like a dog tag. They jump and march (never sit) in the stands while chanting special rally songs at the top of their lungs. They are led by “capos” (aka drill sergeants) who watch to make sure each and every army members is doing their part to cheer the team to victory. If you are standing there quietly, looking bored, you can drop and give them 50! Ok, not really, but you might get yelled at and will for sure get the death glare. They wave flags, not to surrender, but to rally the crowd. They wear (and sometimes wave) green scarves that state “No Pity”. They rip up their programs to create confetti… who needs programs? They know everything there is to know about their team!

 

So imagine being surrounded by 6,000 of these wonderfully enthusiastic, incredibly loyal, extremely loud, quite sweaty, intensely passionate people. It’s awesome! And how can you not join in? The spirit is contagious!

 

Thanks to my friend and hardcore Timbers fan Robby, my friends Hannah and Ross who are visiting from Texas (more on that soon!) and Drew and I received the ultimate Timbers experience last night: close up seats in the Army section, brand new scarves for us to keep and use often, and lots of instruction on how to fit into this stellar group. We took our duty seriously, served well and helped lead the Timbers to a 3-0 victory!

 

The Timbers gained a few new fans last night… when we root, we root for the Timbers!

 

Hannah and I with our scarves on, ready to cheer!

Robby teaching me exactly how to make Timbers confetti

Ross, Hannah, Mary and Robby taking a cheer break

my friend Valerie (another hardcore Timbers fan) showed me the ropes

Goooooooooooal... Timbers win!!!

Sunday, our section's cheering capo,

has unbelievable Timbers spirit (and lungs)

our Timbers Army group