PDX Away... Finally
So.
It's currently day 8ish of quarantine.
Can't leave my apartment. There aren't any sports... so decided to type up a tight experience.
In 2019 during LAFC's second season I finally took my trip to my 2nd favorite place on the West Coast... Portland.
I've had ties to Partland basically my entire adult life. Not many people know this but I worked a short amount of time at Adidas (it was the start of my retail career, can't start with the best ammmmirite?) and I got to travel with the brand and check out PDX a few times. My true Sneaker/Sportswear brand has always and unfortunately/fortunately forever will be, Nike. So I've always wanted to go to Portland/Beaverton to check out Nike HQ. So since around 2012ish-2013ish I've been taking yearly trips up to Portland and they have always revolved around Nike but I have always wanted to check out Providence Park since I have so many homies that are die hard Timber's fans. Unfortunately I would only go to PDX in the witner so I was never there during an MLS season... until I added a 2nd trip to 2019.
Quick note... for my bday in January 2019, I was laying in bed and thought man... lets go to Portland and copped a ticket for a match while LAFC way away from The Banc... fuck! it was the trip to New York to play v NYCFC. UGH. I should have just gone to NY instead, I fucked up.
So I went to PDX and March and told everyone, "yo I'll be back in June... to finally go to Providence Park... with LAFC" everyone thought it was cool and dope for me to finally experience "The Timbers Army" whoa scary right? This was way too early in the season and no one really knew wtf the 3252 was about to do in Season 2.
As we fast forward to June towards the weekend away, I just have to remind everyone. There was a small but mighty group that took over Yankee stadium vs NYCFC and then... the big one. The San Jose takeover... over 1000 LAFC/3252 members took over the Earthquakes stadium to make it a home game for LA's comfortable 5-0 win in San Jose... one of those moments again "Oh shit... this is going to be wild"
One thing we noticed is that Portland didn't have any home games until 6/1 vs LAFC... So their home opener will be against US?!?! OH FUCK LETS FUCKING GO. Since before the season started everyone had the Portland game circled... then the talk started happening... away tickets started selling out... hotels and airbnb's went up, especially after what happened in San Jose... Timbers fans were like nah, that's not happening at our home opener.
So we get closer to the trip and only 4 OH members make the trip and we're not really sure what to expect. This is my first ever away game outside of LA County and we get word that about 300-400 fans are traveling. Then 400-500 and then "oh it's a little over 500"
The 4 of us are kind of scattered around Portland and we were told to meet at a McMenamins Pub... there were a few around Downtown Portland so me and one of the homies meet up on our way to meet with the other 2 OH members and the rest of the supporters. As we get there it's a bar FULL of LAFC supporters and the talks start rising again, "there is actually over 700 of us in the city!"
Anyways Liverpool just beat Tottenham in the Champions League final and all I cared about is getting some beers in me before we get to "march" to the stadium. I look at my map and I think oh cool, just down a few blocks down the street. Then the chants go off and we start a full blown party in the pub and out of nowhere I hear... Lets Go and people start chugging their beer, closing out and making their way outside. About 15 people make it outside when the black and gold smoke bombs go off. 5mins later there 200 people are outside on the sidewalks and traffic begins to back. 10mins after that the bar is almost cleared out and the street is COVERED with fans and we start our march. We smoked joints, popped off smoke bombs, marched towards the stadium and completely destroyed all traffic. We even marched through a block full of Timbers bars and they talked their shit and we talked our shit but no real conflict, we're only rivals on the pitch. We made it to the stadium... as we stuck out chest out as we just marched through their city a bit... they got us back hahaha they only had one metal detector so they corralled us next to their stadium under the summer sun and roasted us and sober-ed us up for about 2hrs. Then we finally made it into the stadium and they had us in one away section... but the 700+ took over 2.5 sections.
So as we start to warm up our vocals we can hear how loud the Timbers Army can get. So we know they're loud, they are the tifo masters and have had their cult supporters for a long time, but we were ready to ruin this homecoming. We knew their tifo was going to be sick and we knew they were going to go bonkers... so a bunch of 3252 members were going up and down the rows and sections letting everyone know "we go absolutely ape shit when the anthem finishes, just wait for the signal from the drummer"... They have someone to sing their anthem and as they start... so do we, we sign the anthem the way we do at our stadium, they finish their anthem and we're already anticipating the drum signal because we finished singing the anthem like 5 seconds before them (I am literally getting chills typing this) and in my head I feel like for a quick quick quuiiiick second there is total silence. I look over to the Timbers Army and see their tifo being raised and then
*BANG BANG* DALE! DALE! DALE BLACK AND GOLD! *BANG BANG* DALE! DALE! DALE BLACK AND GOLD!
It was so loud it was deafening, I couldn't hear anything for like 2-3 seconds. I just remember looking around and I can see all my friends I recognized 20-30 people around me all losing their fucking minds. We didn't hear anything from the Timbers Army. Even a homie of mine sitting in a section across from 3252 texts me "holy shit y'all loud" hearing us shut this stadium down brought legit tears to my eyes and all I could think was "damn man, we're in Portland. We're not at our stadium but we're going to make our team feel home" and then Vela scores on a keeper's mistake in the 6th minute. The stadium goes absolutely silent and we are in our section going fucking wild. Up 2-0 at half and we were ready for more.
2nd half starts pretty whack as Timbers score a goal within seconds! But a siiiiiick cross from Harvey to Latif and we made it 3-1 and it was over! Timbers attacked and attacked but were only able to make it 3-2, sick ass bicycle kick goal by Brian Fernandez I think. We celebrated so hard. Before, during and after the match. This is the match when Will Farrell joins the 3252 with "This is our house" chant. It was simply incredible. We were held in our section until the stadium cleared out and we went even harder with an empty stadium because we never stopped. We finally get to leave and there's a ton of Timbers fans waiting for us to trade scarves and simply give us props. NO ONE in their MLS history has had an away team show up with that much away support and silence the Timber Army not even their actual rivals from Seattle (shame on them)
Overall incredible time in Portland, it was my first taste of a huge traveling support outside of going to Carson and it was the best time of my life. I feel like I can replay that Dale Dale chant in my head all the time and just seeing everyone lose it just to prove to everyone that we have true active support and we follow our team everywhere, it was life changing. It felt unreal to have so many Timbers fans applaud us and give us credit/respect for what we do in the stands. This was only 1.5 seasons in... this is just the beginning and this is the imprint we're leaving everywhere we go.
I can't wait to go to more away game....
It's currently day 8ish of quarantine.
Can't leave my apartment. There aren't any sports... so decided to type up a tight experience.
In 2019 during LAFC's second season I finally took my trip to my 2nd favorite place on the West Coast... Portland.
I've had ties to Partland basically my entire adult life. Not many people know this but I worked a short amount of time at Adidas (it was the start of my retail career, can't start with the best ammmmirite?) and I got to travel with the brand and check out PDX a few times. My true Sneaker/Sportswear brand has always and unfortunately/fortunately forever will be, Nike. So I've always wanted to go to Portland/Beaverton to check out Nike HQ. So since around 2012ish-2013ish I've been taking yearly trips up to Portland and they have always revolved around Nike but I have always wanted to check out Providence Park since I have so many homies that are die hard Timber's fans. Unfortunately I would only go to PDX in the witner so I was never there during an MLS season... until I added a 2nd trip to 2019.
Quick note... for my bday in January 2019, I was laying in bed and thought man... lets go to Portland and copped a ticket for a match while LAFC way away from The Banc... fuck! it was the trip to New York to play v NYCFC. UGH. I should have just gone to NY instead, I fucked up.
So I went to PDX and March and told everyone, "yo I'll be back in June... to finally go to Providence Park... with LAFC" everyone thought it was cool and dope for me to finally experience "The Timbers Army" whoa scary right? This was way too early in the season and no one really knew wtf the 3252 was about to do in Season 2.
As we fast forward to June towards the weekend away, I just have to remind everyone. There was a small but mighty group that took over Yankee stadium vs NYCFC and then... the big one. The San Jose takeover... over 1000 LAFC/3252 members took over the Earthquakes stadium to make it a home game for LA's comfortable 5-0 win in San Jose... one of those moments again "Oh shit... this is going to be wild"
One thing we noticed is that Portland didn't have any home games until 6/1 vs LAFC... So their home opener will be against US?!?! OH FUCK LETS FUCKING GO. Since before the season started everyone had the Portland game circled... then the talk started happening... away tickets started selling out... hotels and airbnb's went up, especially after what happened in San Jose... Timbers fans were like nah, that's not happening at our home opener.
So we get closer to the trip and only 4 OH members make the trip and we're not really sure what to expect. This is my first ever away game outside of LA County and we get word that about 300-400 fans are traveling. Then 400-500 and then "oh it's a little over 500"
The 4 of us are kind of scattered around Portland and we were told to meet at a McMenamins Pub... there were a few around Downtown Portland so me and one of the homies meet up on our way to meet with the other 2 OH members and the rest of the supporters. As we get there it's a bar FULL of LAFC supporters and the talks start rising again, "there is actually over 700 of us in the city!"
Anyways Liverpool just beat Tottenham in the Champions League final and all I cared about is getting some beers in me before we get to "march" to the stadium. I look at my map and I think oh cool, just down a few blocks down the street. Then the chants go off and we start a full blown party in the pub and out of nowhere I hear... Lets Go and people start chugging their beer, closing out and making their way outside. About 15 people make it outside when the black and gold smoke bombs go off. 5mins later there 200 people are outside on the sidewalks and traffic begins to back. 10mins after that the bar is almost cleared out and the street is COVERED with fans and we start our march. We smoked joints, popped off smoke bombs, marched towards the stadium and completely destroyed all traffic. We even marched through a block full of Timbers bars and they talked their shit and we talked our shit but no real conflict, we're only rivals on the pitch. We made it to the stadium... as we stuck out chest out as we just marched through their city a bit... they got us back hahaha they only had one metal detector so they corralled us next to their stadium under the summer sun and roasted us and sober-ed us up for about 2hrs. Then we finally made it into the stadium and they had us in one away section... but the 700+ took over 2.5 sections.
So as we start to warm up our vocals we can hear how loud the Timbers Army can get. So we know they're loud, they are the tifo masters and have had their cult supporters for a long time, but we were ready to ruin this homecoming. We knew their tifo was going to be sick and we knew they were going to go bonkers... so a bunch of 3252 members were going up and down the rows and sections letting everyone know "we go absolutely ape shit when the anthem finishes, just wait for the signal from the drummer"... They have someone to sing their anthem and as they start... so do we, we sign the anthem the way we do at our stadium, they finish their anthem and we're already anticipating the drum signal because we finished singing the anthem like 5 seconds before them (I am literally getting chills typing this) and in my head I feel like for a quick quick quuiiiick second there is total silence. I look over to the Timbers Army and see their tifo being raised and then
*BANG BANG* DALE! DALE! DALE BLACK AND GOLD! *BANG BANG* DALE! DALE! DALE BLACK AND GOLD!
It was so loud it was deafening, I couldn't hear anything for like 2-3 seconds. I just remember looking around and I can see all my friends I recognized 20-30 people around me all losing their fucking minds. We didn't hear anything from the Timbers Army. Even a homie of mine sitting in a section across from 3252 texts me "holy shit y'all loud" hearing us shut this stadium down brought legit tears to my eyes and all I could think was "damn man, we're in Portland. We're not at our stadium but we're going to make our team feel home" and then Vela scores on a keeper's mistake in the 6th minute. The stadium goes absolutely silent and we are in our section going fucking wild. Up 2-0 at half and we were ready for more.
2nd half starts pretty whack as Timbers score a goal within seconds! But a siiiiiick cross from Harvey to Latif and we made it 3-1 and it was over! Timbers attacked and attacked but were only able to make it 3-2, sick ass bicycle kick goal by Brian Fernandez I think. We celebrated so hard. Before, during and after the match. This is the match when Will Farrell joins the 3252 with "This is our house" chant. It was simply incredible. We were held in our section until the stadium cleared out and we went even harder with an empty stadium because we never stopped. We finally get to leave and there's a ton of Timbers fans waiting for us to trade scarves and simply give us props. NO ONE in their MLS history has had an away team show up with that much away support and silence the Timber Army not even their actual rivals from Seattle (shame on them)
Overall incredible time in Portland, it was my first taste of a huge traveling support outside of going to Carson and it was the best time of my life. I feel like I can replay that Dale Dale chant in my head all the time and just seeing everyone lose it just to prove to everyone that we have true active support and we follow our team everywhere, it was life changing. It felt unreal to have so many Timbers fans applaud us and give us credit/respect for what we do in the stands. This was only 1.5 seasons in... this is just the beginning and this is the imprint we're leaving everywhere we go.
I can't wait to go to more away game....
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