Losing to better sides is one thing. But a result like this to a tomato can like Utah? That’s a whole level of dysfunction worse. That was a real distress beacon, from front to back, that the quality is not here. The glaring issue is coaching, but the roster construction issues are hard to ignore.
And let's hope the roster construction is not being ignored. We peons, er ... fans, won't know until things are announced (or leaked) but there better be a lot going on behind the scenes.
We need to waive multiple players before we can bring in anyone (we're already 1 over with Bixby)...and I believe we're already using 6 int'l slots: Hina, Muller, Obaze, Fleming, Beckie, Dias. Only 2/6 have proven they're starting quality, and that's a major misuse of those imo. Anyone know how many we have left (if any?)
Oh you're right about Beckie, I keep forgetting she's from CO. So we are currently using 5.
True, but not really ANY teams have much space, and I'm guessing they won't really want to trade a good player for a Sheva, or McKenzie, or Nally, (or all 3!) or one of our many GK's w/out pro experience. Allocation $$ is going away soon, yes? I don't even know how valuable it is any more if we were to offer it up...but still, no one is taking the back end of our bench lol.
Never thought I'd say it, but I'm very pleased I chose to attend the Timbers game tonight! Regret my (slightly tipsy) late night viewing of the Thorns game.
Four things:
- This is what the fourth or fifth best team in the league looks like! Welcome to life with a top heavy roster in a league with top tier teams with real depth on all three lines. Good-not-great teams drop points like this and that's just where this iteration of the Thorns are at in 2024.
- This roster needs some major upgrades- I can't watch another second of Christine Sinclair playing soccer for this club. It's brutal. Big offseason upcoming.
- Let's please not turn every poor result into a referendum on Soph's future. It's just not how real life works and thinking about it in that context is just gonna make everyone more stressed.
- Sentnor's a *player*!
(Hell of a kick save by Shelby on the Iffy chance late on btw)
It's not every poor result. It's all the poor results, in exactly the same way. Get her a real coach, some more help, and a roster that makes sense, or she walks. It's that simple.
It's a process. She wouldn't have re-signed if she didn't a) want to be here and b) have faith in what they were doing. She gave them a *very clear* window in which to get it --whatever "it" is-- done (i.e end of next season) before she has another decision to make.
Fan frustration does not replicate a player's feelings. It just doesn't. She gets to hear the plan from the owners and FO, we don't. The Thorns absolutely do have to do both the things you mention, but most of that work --assuming it happens-- will have to be done in the offseason. Rebuilds don't happen in two months (or even the course of one season) and it's foolish to think about it that way.
She said she wanted to be here to have a hand in making the changes the team needed, not because she thought the status quo was good. It was clear she's focused on the club's potential and recognizes its current flaws. If we don't see some major changes well before the end of the offseason, then we should worry. I would be happy to see some activity in the summer trade window, and I hope a new HC is announced by the end of the season, but the offseason HAS to be big.
It's not my frustration I'm worried about. It's hers. And you know as well as I do that if she's not feeling it here, the conversations with other clubs will start long before the end of next season.
My point is that she's perfectly aware of the situation and that whatever 4-8 position the Thorns finish in this year will probably have very little bearing on whatever her ultimate decision is in a year. She's not like "oh damn we're in 5th instead of 3rd, this isn't what they told me would happen!" It's the same roster as when she agreed to sign the contract a few months ago. I'm pretty positive that they laid out a vision and now they'll have to execute. Will they? We'll see!
(Also, while you're correct that she might not wait to make her decision until the day she hits free agency, she also can't legally speak with other clubs until next August)
Legally, you may be right. I know of European club signings that were worked out long before they were announced, and long before the window opened. Yes, that's tampering.
If she goes to Europe, she goes to Europe. Thorns have to make it so that there’s no other NWSL option that’s as appealing as Portland. But if we stress about it 14 months before it becomes close to time we’re just going to stress ourselves
This all sounds reasonable but does raise the question of why wouldn’t the owners want to share their plan, at least the broad strokes. If it’s a good plan it could be part of the club’s messaging through its communication and marketing plans. And people on this platform would love to hear what the plans are.
I think they have done that in broad strokes: They've spoken about investing the the squad, the training facilities, and a new manager. Their actions so far have matched the words too- They fired the under-performing coach after five games and signed the star player to an extension. I don't want to carry all the water for the FO because they have a lot to prove, but I think it's reasonable to see what they do with a full offseason before losing our minds.
My broad point regarding Soph is that whatever they told her was good enough to get her to sign when she had no incentive to do so, and that makes me optimistic. Like I said, rebuilds take time. It's a foreign concept to Thorns fans because we've never had to deal with one, but it's a perfectly normal thing to go through in pro sports and they don't happen overnight.
Could prob use some work still, but at long last they have their own gd website. I didn’t see it in the search results when I googled Thorns quite yet (still the Timbers site is listed…) but it’s a start.
I really like the roster and player pages! Nice big pics of everyone. Sometimes I forget the names of our bench players and the pics on the old page were really tiny.
I wonder what they had to pay to get that URL? Peregrine wasn't willing to pay it, same way NWSL wasn't willing to pay that little railroad (now a train hobbyist site).
The wayback machines shows a squatter on it in 2003-2004 (wanted $5,000). It was registered to domainsbyproxy.com which is a private whois service that hides site owners. It is still registered there, through 2032. Most recent update was June 26. My guess is they paid a squatter.
Iger? Holy hell, that does not sound promising. He's really something.
"Willow Bay" has to be a stripper name, I mean, c'mon. TBF suppose it could also be a mcmansion development in Imperial County. "Zephyr Cove at Willow Bay, lots now available, models starting in the low $800,000s."
I wonder if having an owner with actual executive experience will help give them some direction. The collection of movie stars and soccer stars sure wasn't doing it. Also, I had to laugh at the phrasing, "the team now values itself at more than $300 million". Of course it does! It turns out it's a real number, though, since the Disney couple apparently bought in at that valuation.
Haha sure...but Gotham has a billion injuries lol and still are better than 9/12 teams. But sometimes these games just happen! They really missed Yaz Ryan, imo.
Either way, it's nice when other teams that should win their games drop points!
Yaz Ryan I really miss. And while I am mentioning somebody I miss; Morgan Weaver, and please don’t say she wasn’t playing well before she was injured. Sure she wasn’t scoring but she brought a lot of intangibles like defense, best high presser, huge engine of energy and speed. Then there was the joy of playing.
I am impressed with Linnehan, she is fast, composed, but is not the disruptor Morgan is and neither is Dias or Beckie. I hope she is back after the Olympic break.
Absolutely. Soph and Morgan mindmeld and make one another better, having arrived in the same rookie class. She is deeply missed and I ponder if she can even reach playing form before season's end. Of course she actually has to return to the active roster for that process to even begin.
Oh I def agree re: Weaver. I think coaching had her off, but there’s no doubt that she contributes a lot to this attack. Just being another *possible* threat, she makes Soph’s job easier because defenders have to keep an eye on her. They also have a good relationship built. Right now we have a very one-dimensional attack where all you have to do is mark Sophia out of the game and you’re taking away 85% of our attack. Esp with Liv (our only AM) out also. She no doubt should be our starter at LW unless Linnehan can take a huge leap…but that RW spot is up for grabs, hopefully by a new attacker brought in.
Linnehan may get there, but she hasn’t quite earned that respect from opposing defenses yet and so they still don’t mind giving her some time or space to mark elsewhere…
Yeah, they really did look sluggish. Aside from the first game of the season, it was the worst I've seen from them. Spirit seem to have Gotham's number, though....have beaten them home and away 2-0 each time.
It's coaching that got us here. For 12 years we, the theoretical "best team in the world", have only been able to attract literal amateurs to run the show with one (unfortunate) exception. It is far past time that we have a gaffer who has actually coached a D1/national team before, has a track record of success, can bring discipline to our attack, and can get the best out of big-name players. There are three such coaches in the league right now, all hired this year or last so presumably not available. The coaches who are wandering around the hiring hall are there for a reason. The fiction that we can find a diamond in the rough (we could debate if Parsons counts) has been proven to be a low-percentage approach with a high cost of failure.
Parsons was a mediocre tactician at best, but his ability to develop young talent and his support of a healthy team culture were top-notch. It's those things that have enabled the team to do as well as it has since his departure, but that effect is dying out, which I think is a large part of the withering on the vine that ABell4 talks about.
Parsons was also an excellent talent spotter. Some of our best offseasons (like 2015-16) and acquisitions (Horan, Smith) came on his watch. Agreed about his tactics though, and his in-game substitutions were often head-scratching.
In an ideal world we'd hire him as general manager.
Quick pivot from the car crash that is San Diego (but semi-related?)…looks like KK just started following Molly Downtain on socials (who is also now private) who mysteriously resigned from SDW’s FO at the beginning of the season. Wonder if we get some announcements during the break…maybe see a split of KK’s duties with Downtain becoming the President of Soccer Ops, or, the GM. Or maybe a diff position within the FO…?
Thumbs up not just for making a salient point w/ a pun, but for doing so by evoking the favorite singer of the iconclastic classical pianist (and enthusiastic pun-making Canadian) Glenn Gould.
It's true. They don't know ball. Also, their team stinks and the organization is not particularly good except for the social impact stuff. Besides that, model franchise! =)
My face (while cleaning my house and passively listening to the game) was like :O
Said they’re all vibes and white noise but not intimidating lmao. I’ve heard her say PP is an intimidating place to play so I love it. She always keeps it real lol.
It's funny cause she's exactly right. Even when I went last season for the game we shall not ever speak of again, it was packed and people were loud(ish) but there was somehow no atmosphere at all. It's much better for LAFC games which makes me think there's not a lot of fans that go to both like there are for the Thorns/Timbers.
Fwiw tho, the acoustics are also one of the great things about PP. The walls make the sound echo compared to those new SoCal stadiums which are just big and open, letting the sound out.
For me, the downgrading of the Thorns to good but not great has paralleled the same phenomenon in the USWNT. The league/world has simply caught up.
Overall, that’s a good thing for the sport. But as a Thorns fan, I hope that the ownership and GM adopt the ruthless team building attitude of NYJ, KC, and the Spirit, and bring us back to being AAA caliber, fast!!!
"But as a Thorns fan, I hope that the ownership and *new* GM adopt the ruthless team building attitude." I don't think KK is up to the task. She's a big reason why we're where we are right now.
"If the hour-and-a-half-long scoreless draw in Seattle was like watching paint dry, the hour-and-a-half-long scoreless draw in Utah was like watching paint dry while getting poked in the kidney with a sharp stick and being hit over the head with a wet sock full of ball bearings."
"[L]et’s go into the match stats, because what the hell, I had to watch this turd twice and I’ll be damned if I just walk away without rubbing your noses in it, too."
God, we were so bad against Utah that their ownership cleaned house right after the Royals didn't beat us despite outplaying us.
With the stats and your analysis it’s more clear than ever how fortunate the Thorns were not to lose that game. With an imminent coaching change unlikely I guess we all just pray for divine intervention and for the rest of the season to go by as quickly as possible.
When Emma Hayes pointedly says, "Nobody wants to work for an asshole" I believe a message is being sent. No chance she's not deeply familiar with Ellis.
I see yr. point, but I do think a Thorns crowd, given their numbers, history, and having pressured our own malignant former owner into selling (and into firing his malignant GM) might lend some real weight towards getting this the attention it deserves, and to encourage those Wave fans who may be disgusted w/ how that FO is being run.
I brought this up at the time the Yates report dropped-how the hell did Ellis go unscathed? Then San Diego hired her! No club should touch her ever again. With Ashton coming in, things are about to get bad down there. Maybe Girma wants to come play with Soph? Let’s make it happen.
Losing to better sides is one thing. But a result like this to a tomato can like Utah? That’s a whole level of dysfunction worse. That was a real distress beacon, from front to back, that the quality is not here. The glaring issue is coaching, but the roster construction issues are hard to ignore.
And let's hope the roster construction is not being ignored. We peons, er ... fans, won't know until things are announced (or leaked) but there better be a lot going on behind the scenes.
We need to waive multiple players before we can bring in anyone (we're already 1 over with Bixby)...and I believe we're already using 6 int'l slots: Hina, Muller, Obaze, Fleming, Beckie, Dias. Only 2/6 have proven they're starting quality, and that's a major misuse of those imo. Anyone know how many we have left (if any?)
And there's no way to know who we *can* waive, since we don't know who's on a semi-guaranteed contract, or even how many.
But if we trade, we don't need to increase the roster number; more likely we might reduce it. Whether we increase the quality is another matter.
We have 7 international slots, which means we have two free, since Beckie's a US citizen, as are Alvarado, Reyes, and Payne.
Oh you're right about Beckie, I keep forgetting she's from CO. So we are currently using 5.
True, but not really ANY teams have much space, and I'm guessing they won't really want to trade a good player for a Sheva, or McKenzie, or Nally, (or all 3!) or one of our many GK's w/out pro experience. Allocation $$ is going away soon, yes? I don't even know how valuable it is any more if we were to offer it up...but still, no one is taking the back end of our bench lol.
Yeah, I'm afraid you're right about the bench.
Baby Bixby was born! She’s a keeper!
https://www.instagram.com/p/C88dyG2R0o1/?igsh=cmZhanMwdnE3cGVt
Never thought I'd say it, but I'm very pleased I chose to attend the Timbers game tonight! Regret my (slightly tipsy) late night viewing of the Thorns game.
Four things:
- This is what the fourth or fifth best team in the league looks like! Welcome to life with a top heavy roster in a league with top tier teams with real depth on all three lines. Good-not-great teams drop points like this and that's just where this iteration of the Thorns are at in 2024.
- This roster needs some major upgrades- I can't watch another second of Christine Sinclair playing soccer for this club. It's brutal. Big offseason upcoming.
- Let's please not turn every poor result into a referendum on Soph's future. It's just not how real life works and thinking about it in that context is just gonna make everyone more stressed.
- Sentnor's a *player*!
(Hell of a kick save by Shelby on the Iffy chance late on btw)
It's not every poor result. It's all the poor results, in exactly the same way. Get her a real coach, some more help, and a roster that makes sense, or she walks. It's that simple.
It's a process. She wouldn't have re-signed if she didn't a) want to be here and b) have faith in what they were doing. She gave them a *very clear* window in which to get it --whatever "it" is-- done (i.e end of next season) before she has another decision to make.
Fan frustration does not replicate a player's feelings. It just doesn't. She gets to hear the plan from the owners and FO, we don't. The Thorns absolutely do have to do both the things you mention, but most of that work --assuming it happens-- will have to be done in the offseason. Rebuilds don't happen in two months (or even the course of one season) and it's foolish to think about it that way.
She said she wanted to be here to have a hand in making the changes the team needed, not because she thought the status quo was good. It was clear she's focused on the club's potential and recognizes its current flaws. If we don't see some major changes well before the end of the offseason, then we should worry. I would be happy to see some activity in the summer trade window, and I hope a new HC is announced by the end of the season, but the offseason HAS to be big.
It's not my frustration I'm worried about. It's hers. And you know as well as I do that if she's not feeling it here, the conversations with other clubs will start long before the end of next season.
My point is that she's perfectly aware of the situation and that whatever 4-8 position the Thorns finish in this year will probably have very little bearing on whatever her ultimate decision is in a year. She's not like "oh damn we're in 5th instead of 3rd, this isn't what they told me would happen!" It's the same roster as when she agreed to sign the contract a few months ago. I'm pretty positive that they laid out a vision and now they'll have to execute. Will they? We'll see!
(Also, while you're correct that she might not wait to make her decision until the day she hits free agency, she also can't legally speak with other clubs until next August)
Legally, you may be right. I know of European club signings that were worked out long before they were announced, and long before the window opened. Yes, that's tampering.
If she goes to Europe, she goes to Europe. Thorns have to make it so that there’s no other NWSL option that’s as appealing as Portland. But if we stress about it 14 months before it becomes close to time we’re just going to stress ourselves
This all sounds reasonable but does raise the question of why wouldn’t the owners want to share their plan, at least the broad strokes. If it’s a good plan it could be part of the club’s messaging through its communication and marketing plans. And people on this platform would love to hear what the plans are.
I think they have done that in broad strokes: They've spoken about investing the the squad, the training facilities, and a new manager. Their actions so far have matched the words too- They fired the under-performing coach after five games and signed the star player to an extension. I don't want to carry all the water for the FO because they have a lot to prove, but I think it's reasonable to see what they do with a full offseason before losing our minds.
My broad point regarding Soph is that whatever they told her was good enough to get her to sign when she had no incentive to do so, and that makes me optimistic. Like I said, rebuilds take time. It's a foreign concept to Thorns fans because we've never had to deal with one, but it's a perfectly normal thing to go through in pro sports and they don't happen overnight.
I followed Sentnor during her UNC career and am a big fan. I think we were lucky she didn’t drill one into the net yesterday.
A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT:
www.thorns.com
Could prob use some work still, but at long last they have their own gd website. I didn’t see it in the search results when I googled Thorns quite yet (still the Timbers site is listed…) but it’s a start.
I really like the roster and player pages! Nice big pics of everyone. Sometimes I forget the names of our bench players and the pics on the old page were really tiny.
I wonder what they had to pay to get that URL? Peregrine wasn't willing to pay it, same way NWSL wasn't willing to pay that little railroad (now a train hobbyist site).
Who owned "thorns.com" before? I've probably seen it, after mistakenly typing it in to try to find the Thorns, but I can't remember what was there.
The wayback machines shows a squatter on it in 2003-2004 (wanted $5,000). It was registered to domainsbyproxy.com which is a private whois service that hides site owners. It is still registered there, through 2032. Most recent update was June 26. My guess is they paid a squatter.
SEO probs takes a while to register lol
Look science and libraries are my thing, not computers, so I don’t know what that means lol
Pretty much means the google search engine doesn't recognize the site well enough yet haha
SEO = Search engine optimization. It's what you do to move your site higher in Google search results.
Huzzah!
Is Friday night the end of Portland's Interim Interregnum?
The transition from Ben Kenobi to Ben Kenover? (wait, that doesn't sound good at all)
I mean, this league... last year's top 2 on the table, separated by a single point, are drifting listlessly through midseason with no permanent HC.
Whodathunkit?
Parity or Parody? ¿Porque no los dos?
ETA 56% of our scoring headed to the Olympics, another 15% out injured. IOW everything is JUST FINE.
I Kennot stand much more of this. When did Kenergy turn into Kentropy?
They say this cat Tabo has had a bad month as a coach...
Shut your mouth!
But I'm just talking about Gale....
We Ken dig it!
(Bonus points for anybody who knew that our man Tabo was born in Zambia and spent his early years in Tanzania)
Wilder, this says it all:
"this was a disappointing result for The Thorns and we need to see some real change."
ACFC is an actual Mickey Mouse club lmao: https://www.semafor.com/article/07/02/2024/disney-ceo-bob-iger-and-willow-bay-to-by-soccer-team
Iger? Holy hell, that does not sound promising. He's really something.
"Willow Bay" has to be a stripper name, I mean, c'mon. TBF suppose it could also be a mcmansion development in Imperial County. "Zephyr Cove at Willow Bay, lots now available, models starting in the low $800,000s."
I wonder if having an owner with actual executive experience will help give them some direction. The collection of movie stars and soccer stars sure wasn't doing it. Also, I had to laugh at the phrasing, "the team now values itself at more than $300 million". Of course it does! It turns out it's a real number, though, since the Disney couple apparently bought in at that valuation.
Another article about this (https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/angel-city-fc/story/2024-07-02/willow-bay-angel-city) says that ACFC had income of $31 million last year, but lost money.
(a) How did they bring in that much?
(b) How did they spend that much? It wasn't on player salaries!
OMG SEATTLE! Ties it up in the dying moments...eat shit Gotham!
Sorry y'all, I very much enjoyed that lol. So unfortunate we couldn't gain ground this week because several top teams dropped points.
Who doesn't love a 99th-minute own-goal to knot it up???
(Also goes to show that other teams have some flaws, just sayin')
Haha sure...but Gotham has a billion injuries lol and still are better than 9/12 teams. But sometimes these games just happen! They really missed Yaz Ryan, imo.
Either way, it's nice when other teams that should win their games drop points!
Yaz Ryan I really miss. And while I am mentioning somebody I miss; Morgan Weaver, and please don’t say she wasn’t playing well before she was injured. Sure she wasn’t scoring but she brought a lot of intangibles like defense, best high presser, huge engine of energy and speed. Then there was the joy of playing.
I am impressed with Linnehan, she is fast, composed, but is not the disruptor Morgan is and neither is Dias or Beckie. I hope she is back after the Olympic break.
Absolutely. Soph and Morgan mindmeld and make one another better, having arrived in the same rookie class. She is deeply missed and I ponder if she can even reach playing form before season's end. Of course she actually has to return to the active roster for that process to even begin.
When did she last play, April?
Oh I def agree re: Weaver. I think coaching had her off, but there’s no doubt that she contributes a lot to this attack. Just being another *possible* threat, she makes Soph’s job easier because defenders have to keep an eye on her. They also have a good relationship built. Right now we have a very one-dimensional attack where all you have to do is mark Sophia out of the game and you’re taking away 85% of our attack. Esp with Liv (our only AM) out also. She no doubt should be our starter at LW unless Linnehan can take a huge leap…but that RW spot is up for grabs, hopefully by a new attacker brought in.
Linnehan may get there, but she hasn’t quite earned that respect from opposing defenses yet and so they still don’t mind giving her some time or space to mark elsewhere…
Spirit sure looked toothless this weekend. Couldn't produce a meaningful attack despite 20 shots and 14 on goal.
Pity.
Yeah, they really did look sluggish. Aside from the first game of the season, it was the worst I've seen from them. Spirit seem to have Gotham's number, though....have beaten them home and away 2-0 each time.
This turned out to be a weekend when we could have gained some ground. Sigh...
Yeah, just like the Seattle game. Double sigh.
It's coaching that got us here. For 12 years we, the theoretical "best team in the world", have only been able to attract literal amateurs to run the show with one (unfortunate) exception. It is far past time that we have a gaffer who has actually coached a D1/national team before, has a track record of success, can bring discipline to our attack, and can get the best out of big-name players. There are three such coaches in the league right now, all hired this year or last so presumably not available. The coaches who are wandering around the hiring hall are there for a reason. The fiction that we can find a diamond in the rough (we could debate if Parsons counts) has been proven to be a low-percentage approach with a high cost of failure.
Parsons was a mediocre tactician at best, but his ability to develop young talent and his support of a healthy team culture were top-notch. It's those things that have enabled the team to do as well as it has since his departure, but that effect is dying out, which I think is a large part of the withering on the vine that ABell4 talks about.
Parsons was also an excellent talent spotter. Some of our best offseasons (like 2015-16) and acquisitions (Horan, Smith) came on his watch. Agreed about his tactics though, and his in-game substitutions were often head-scratching.
In an ideal world we'd hire him as general manager.
Here's the Reddit compendium on the SD situation:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1duvaha/numerous_formercurrent_san_diego_wave_players_and/
Thanks for that. With all that's flying around, it's good to have a compendium.
Quick pivot from the car crash that is San Diego (but semi-related?)…looks like KK just started following Molly Downtain on socials (who is also now private) who mysteriously resigned from SDW’s FO at the beginning of the season. Wonder if we get some announcements during the break…maybe see a split of KK’s duties with Downtain becoming the President of Soccer Ops, or, the GM. Or maybe a diff position within the FO…?
Or, of course, it could be absolutely nothing lol
I am willing to read into anything, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant/unlikely.
With regard to the GM role, hopefully KK realizes that she can forget all her troubles, forget all her cares, so go Downtain.
BTW, this deserves the full lyrical treatment:
When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go - Downtain.
When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know Downtain.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go Downtain
Things will be great when you're Downtain
No finer place for sure Downtain
Everything's waiting for you.
Don't hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows Downtain.
Maybe you know some little places to go to
where they never close Downtain.
Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You'll be dancing with 'em too before the night is over
happy again.
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go -Downtain
Where all the lights are bright Downtain
waiting for you tonight Downtain
you're gonna be alright now
Downtain
Downtain
Downtain
And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to
guide them along.
So maybe I'll see you there
we can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
so go Downtain
Things will be great when you're Downtain
don't wait a minute more Downtain
Everything is waiting for you
Downtain
Downtain
Downtain
Downtain
Downtain
Downtain
Downtain...
Thanks y’all this has been stuck in my head all morning now lol.
Even David Lee Roth loves Petula
From Van Halen's "China Town":
It's all happening downtown
You painted daughters of the Tong underground
Don't mess around
Just found out that Petula Clark is still performing a bit, 85 years (!) after she started. Her most recent release was last December.
Ahh nice! Petula Clark an anthem of my generation.
And if she brought Dahlkemper with her, we'd get Downtain Abby
Thumbs up not just for making a salient point w/ a pun, but for doing so by evoking the favorite singer of the iconclastic classical pianist (and enthusiastic pun-making Canadian) Glenn Gould.
Yoooo Angeli just said the Angel City fans don't know ball live on air lmaooo
(She remains the absolute best)
It's true. They don't know ball. Also, their team stinks and the organization is not particularly good except for the social impact stuff. Besides that, model franchise! =)
My face (while cleaning my house and passively listening to the game) was like :O
Said they’re all vibes and white noise but not intimidating lmao. I’ve heard her say PP is an intimidating place to play so I love it. She always keeps it real lol.
It's funny cause she's exactly right. Even when I went last season for the game we shall not ever speak of again, it was packed and people were loud(ish) but there was somehow no atmosphere at all. It's much better for LAFC games which makes me think there's not a lot of fans that go to both like there are for the Thorns/Timbers.
Fwiw tho, the acoustics are also one of the great things about PP. The walls make the sound echo compared to those new SoCal stadiums which are just big and open, letting the sound out.
Angeli > Angel City
For me, the downgrading of the Thorns to good but not great has paralleled the same phenomenon in the USWNT. The league/world has simply caught up.
Overall, that’s a good thing for the sport. But as a Thorns fan, I hope that the ownership and GM adopt the ruthless team building attitude of NYJ, KC, and the Spirit, and bring us back to being AAA caliber, fast!!!
"But as a Thorns fan, I hope that the ownership and *new* GM adopt the ruthless team building attitude." I don't think KK is up to the task. She's a big reason why we're where we are right now.
Ya know, ya can't spell jealous without Jill Ellis.
OK, I guess you can. But they SOUND so similar!
Match report up: https://rivetingpdx.com/2024/07/03/thorns-fc-brutal/
Chief, I'm sorry for your loss... of time.
"If the hour-and-a-half-long scoreless draw in Seattle was like watching paint dry, the hour-and-a-half-long scoreless draw in Utah was like watching paint dry while getting poked in the kidney with a sharp stick and being hit over the head with a wet sock full of ball bearings."
"[L]et’s go into the match stats, because what the hell, I had to watch this turd twice and I’ll be damned if I just walk away without rubbing your noses in it, too."
God, we were so bad against Utah that their ownership cleaned house right after the Royals didn't beat us despite outplaying us.
(weak correlation, I know, but fun to say!)
With the stats and your analysis it’s more clear than ever how fortunate the Thorns were not to lose that game. With an imminent coaching change unlikely I guess we all just pray for divine intervention and for the rest of the season to go by as quickly as possible.
The hits just keep on coming...
https://x.com/alikriegsfc/status/1808597436631502995
Just imagine being a player on SDW with Jill Ellis and Camille Ashton at the top. Talk about a culture of anxiety...
Would gladly take Sheridan, Girma, and Shaw if they wanted out... ::)
Hell, I'd take pretty much their entire roster save for McCaskill. Starters, depth, or trade pieces... it's all useful.
When Emma Hayes pointedly says, "Nobody wants to work for an asshole" I believe a message is being sent. No chance she's not deeply familiar with Ellis.
I'll be at that SD game on Friday. Could the Riveters lead a "Fire Jill Ellis" chant for the full ninety?
Will be a battle of the bands between "Fire Jill Ellis!" and "KK do your job!"
Could backfire. What's needed is to have SD fans, not opponents', demanding her ouster.
I see yr. point, but I do think a Thorns crowd, given their numbers, history, and having pressured our own malignant former owner into selling (and into firing his malignant GM) might lend some real weight towards getting this the attention it deserves, and to encourage those Wave fans who may be disgusted w/ how that FO is being run.
Maybe flip the script and instead support the Wave players and staff. "We believe you!"
Will Ellis will be there in a VIP box? That could be fun.
I brought this up at the time the Yates report dropped-how the hell did Ellis go unscathed? Then San Diego hired her! No club should touch her ever again. With Ashton coming in, things are about to get bad down there. Maybe Girma wants to come play with Soph? Let’s make it happen.
I did too. Totally swept under the rug.