—by Garrett Dittfurth

*this is just me writing and not reflective of the 107ist board or anyone but myself*

So where are we at? Five games, 3 draws and 2 losses. I'm not quite ready to toss the towel in yet and repeat 2012. We have definitely had some problems. Our inability to defend set pieces is troubling considering that was a problem last year going into it and nobody bothered to address it this year. Paparatto is looking like a huge bust at this point. Personally I'd rather The Great Wall of Gambia be back in there and to be really honest I'm not a big fan of that pairing either. I'm a pragmatist in pretty much all things and that pairing appears to be the lesser of two evils at this point. Futty has been around for years and while he is a great person we know his limitations as a defender. Kah is also a good person, but a walking red card waiting to happen. Paparatto is the new guy and there are only so many excuses one can make that he is the new guy trying to figure his way out in MLS.

Fortunately our offense seems to have found their way against Seattle. Chara, on his birthday (congrats, dude!), was nails. It's almost like he spent 3 years luring scouts into thinking he had no nose for the goal just for this day. Maybe it was luck but if he can recreate that performance a few times a season that bodes nothing but good things for the Timbers. Urruti impressed me the entire match. He made smart runs and made Seattle's defense pay a lot of attention to him. When he had his opportunity he capitalized with a golazo. If he is able to add on to this nothing but good things will come.

I want to point something out. History. I am not trying to go all OG on some people but I really want to point it out because I think it makes us who we are. The Timbers have never been good for long stretches. The NASL Timbers had a magical run. The USL Timbers had a great run in 2004 then crashed out of the playoffs. There was also an unexpected run in 2007 followed by another crash out in the playoffs. 2008 was a nightmare and then the push for MLS happened. Every borderline MLS player in USL wanted to be here because of where the team was going. 2009 was amazing...right up until Cameron Knowles had his leg broke in Montreal and the wheels came off. Crashed out of the playoffs again. 2010 was a weird year. It was mostly a MLS tryout for a lot of players and nothing ever seemed right as the coach played players who they felt might have a spot on the MLS roster rather than USL players that were better (cough cough Scot Thompson).

I'm not being critical to management regarding 2010. I understand their position as I'm a pragmatist. I still want to make a point regarding our history. We have traditionally had a mediocre to bad team. Sometimes we are good. What has never changed is our commitment to supporting our team. We were there in 2006, 2007, 2008, etc.

Years ago there was a message board. It was the way everyone interacted with the Timbers outside of going to games. Allison Andrews was the moderator and it was called Soccer City USA. SCUSA for short. At some point it devolved but without it I can guarantee you we wouldn't be in MLS. One of the themes that came about when SCUSA was still around was the idea, "so what if we suck," (#SWIWS). Yes I want to win. Yes I would prefer to trash talk my friends in Seattle rather than having to deal with their barbs about our terrible defense. You know what though...looking back I had a hell of a lot of fun in 2012 despite the fact the team was miserable in almost every regard.

Buck up. The season is long and we're just getting on the horse. It may be a bumpy ride but I can guarantee you no matter what once you're done it is going to be a lot of fun. We may scream a lot during the ride both in joy and pain but just let it ride. You're a Portland Timbers fan. This is how the ride is supposed to be. Nothing new going on here. Own it.