The long, dark offseason is nearly over. The schedule is out. Rumors of player departures and acquisitions are popping up in the strangest places. It’s time.

Let’s do this.

One more call for volunteers:

We’re looking for folks to join the travel, tifo, merch and membership committees. Grab an oar, folks, the boat is about to push back from the dock. Click here for links to the Google doc sign-up pages and more info about what it is we’re looking for. Don’t hesitate, the sign-up pages will close February 7. (But you can still email us at info@rosecityriveters.org if you want to volunteer later.)

And a preseason gathering:

Does it feel like forever since you’ve seen your fellow Thorns friends? Or, in social media cases, made or gained new followers and friends, but have never met them in person? It is time for our first Riveters meet-and-tweet. On February 21st, after you spend the morning planting trees, come out to Bazi from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.. We will be reminiscing about seasons past and watching the 2013 NWSL championship game, as well as discussing the upcoming season. There will be merch for sale, food and beer to consume, and new and old friends to hang out with.

(Heads up, a sing-along version of Purple Rain will follow our gathering, but is a separate event. If you want to stay for His Royal Purpleness, you’ll need to make a separate reservation through the Bazi website (bazipdx.com).)

(That was a lot of parentheses. Sorry.)

And some other stuff:

We’re working on info for away travel, not just for Seattle, but for each of the other eight NWSL cities. We’ll shout when that info is ready to release, so hold off on buying game tickets just now.

As far as Portland-based away day viewings, we’ll be looking for places you guys would like to gather to watch together. Bazi Bierbrasserie has been fantastic and will show most, if not all, away matches, but we’re looking to expand our reach. Do you know of a place in your neighborhood that might be willing to screen matches for us? Without knowing the television schedule, venues will need to be capable of streaming (ideally with sound), must be accessible and, ideally, should be all-ages. Extra points awarded for venues on MAX or bus lines for our mass-transity friends.

We’ll be doing some work on the website over the next few weeks to make it more functional. If you’ve got ideas or suggestions about what works and doesn’t work, please pass them along. Again, info@rosecityriveters.org.

I think that’s it for now. Go on about your business.