
EDIT: The original article was taken down from Oregon Sports News. Here is a link to the original content that appeared from David Mylet.
Often I wake up in the morning and check Twitter for a laugh. I got one this morning when I read David Mylet's piece in Oregon Sports News. I know I shouldn't link it here because it's nothing but click bait. Still I'm going to for the readers who have no idea what I'm talking about.
It's a classic, "I'm not saying you're racists but you're racists," piece. One of the most jaw-droppingly laughable parts is when Mylet says the Timbers Army has no ideology despite the fact we have a pretty well known ideology. It even extends beyond racism to anti-homophobia. In fact we were named Gay4Soccer's ally of the year. It's such a jaw-droppingly laughable statement that it almost boggles the mind. It's not like we've ever taken a political stance on anything before.
The Timbers Army aesthetic (flags, chants, scarves, smoke bombs, drinking) has largely taken its cue from English soccer fandom. That shouldn’t be a surprise, since Europe (and especially England) has an iconic relationship with soccer. But what is a bit disturbing is the close connection between some English soccer rooting sections (or “firms”) and the British white supremacist movement, in particular the National Front.
Actually, David our atmosphere is taken more from South America since British clubs have had all-seaters since the early 90s. Comparitively we make a club in England look like a morgue and I'm fairly certain if they catch you on CCTV in England lighting a smoke bomb in a stadium they ban you for life along with a hefty amount of time in jail. I really like the logic involved in that statement towards the end. It goes sort of like, "your last name is Schmidt. You have German ancestry. You must be a Nazi." It makes about as much sense. I'm fairly certain Mylet watched Green Street Hooligans and used it as an official reference point for this piece.
The rest of it gets so bad I don't even have the time to get into it. The logic goes, "soccer is a popular sport. In other parts of the world some soccer supporters are racists. Therefore in Portland the supporters are racists too." There's also some stuff about the Green and White Army chant based on the Twisted Sister song, "We're Not Gonna Take It." To Mylet it means we're racists, not that the Timbers club colors are also green and white.
I'm not exactly sure what Mylet's angle was on this one. Maybe he's just trying to get some click bait so someone looks at something he wrote. Congratulations David Mylet. You got some clicks. My real question is probably for the editors are Oregon Sports News. When are you going to let Sarah Palin start writing a column for you?
When stupid just doesn't cover it there is always facepalm.