John Rooney's name is either a blessing or a curse, I suspect. On different days. He's the mercurial Wayne's brother and is either not quite the talent his brother is reputed to be, or is a talent in his own right but is beset by unrealistic expectations because of his brother, or his brother is not quite the talent he's cracked up to be and so John's shortcomings are really not that big a deal. Regardless, the youngster with the big name has been in the Pacific NW training and visiting teams like the Sounders and the Timbers since last fall. This past week there was a small piece in the paper. (It's almost always a small piece in the paper.) that John has signed for MLS and will be available.
As a member of the Ould Guard of Portland Timbers supporters, I find myself wondering about the calculations which might go on in the strategy room of the PTFC leadership. If the young Rooney has any talent at all and can play decently at this level, with the special seasoning of some 'heart', would he be a marquee draw out of curiousity as much as anything else? If he has no talent at all, it's hard to believe the team would bother with him. Gavin Wilkinson comes across as a very practical man, not unsympathetic, but not given to flights of fancy with the club's money and limited roster slots. Not to mention the rest of the leadership. All give evidence of a very carefully calculated decisionmaking process. And I applaud them for that.
Wil be interesting to see where the youngster lands. Regardless, it's got to be a hard road getting respect when your brother's Wayne Rooney.
I have been writing officially and unofficially about the history of the game in Oregon for a decade or so. The story of soccer before the original arrival of the Portland Timbers and the subsequent ascendancy of University of Portland as a college soccer power is complicated and somewhat mysterious. It's a detective story if you will. Just after the turn of the Twentieth Century, early adherents to "Association Football" played in the Portland area for a trophy which was donated by Judge Cameron, a figure whose career has mixed characteristics. The Cameron Cup, regardless, was the state championship trophy for many years. As I researched the game, I spent a fair amount of time trying to get a handle on what had happened to this fabled cup. Without success. It appeared to have faded into legend decades back. And for me, finding the Cameron Cup and figuring out what had become of it acquired the status of 'quest'. It was a 'grail quest' of sorts, likely doomed to endless frustration.
Imagine my amazement and excitement, then, when I received a note that the Cameron Cup and another ancient trophy, the Bennett Cup, had turned up and were being returned to Oregon! Not only that, but there was a picture of the two included. I was in hog heaven. More needs to be done to trace the journey of these two trophies through the past half century. Worth noting is that one of the early Cameron Cup winners one century ago is M.A.A.C. or the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club now known as the MAC Club. And one of the last holders of the Cup are Club Germania, the German social club which still exists and carries its tradition proudly.
Somewhere in today's landscape of the game, I hope there is a place to honor and explain the Cameron Cup and the earliest origins of soccer in Oregon. Maybe an exhibit case with facts and images in the new Key Bank Club at the Portland Timbers stadium?
We'll see. In the meantime the Grail quest has turned out not to be like the quest for the Hunting Beast in the Once and Future King. King Pellinore might be disappointed but almost any "Rose City Till I Die" fan should be extremely pleased. Our lineage is ancient.
What a great time to be alive! I can stream the battle between the two giants of La Liga when I get home from work at my leisure. Thank you ESPN3. And the game is worth ten times the price of admission. Barcelona balanced its controlled, soporific, point to point play with brilliant little gems of attack. The score mounted slowly but steadily. One. Two. Three.....then a long break. Then four. And finally at the end, a fifth goal as the clock ticked off. Real Madrid were less than gracious. C. Ronaldo shoved Barcelona coach, Guardiola-Sala, thirty minutes in as the skipper held the ball for the throw-in. After he'd given it to the Real star. Petulant to say the least. And at the end, sadly, Messi was hacked down hard as he pulled away from another scrum with ball at his feet.
All of that is an aside. Barca showed brilliant team play and exactitude in dissecting the Real defense. For every one of the five goals there were two attacking runs that could easily have turned their way into the net. I know a lot of folks think Barca's feint, push, pull back, go wide, come in style is boring. I think it shows amazing discipline. More, I think Barca's players across the board exhibit better field vision than any other team I've seen. They look at the three choices presented them, and often take the least obvious. Like chess players and magicians, they realize that misdirection is often the shortest way to the back of the net.
I was glad, truly glad that I got to see this match. It was enchanting despite the petulance.
So tonight in LA the Seattle Sounders fairytale run ended. Worse it was ended by the likes of Beckham and Donovan and all the darlings of the press. After two shots at the Galaxy, the Sounders couldn't even force the finale to pks. I mean no disrespect but I watched the second match of this contest and wondered what it will mean to the Sounders phenomenon. Seattle has had a charmed existence since it went up to to the big time. Their marketing team turned soccer into the hottest thing in the Emerald City since the Space Needle went up. And for the first runs around the track, it seemed like a magic carpet ride. Seattle won the Lamar Hunt Cup and then repeated the feat, the first MLS team to do so. They made the playoffs in their inaugural year and are making a second run this time around. All that being said, I wonder how deep the passion for soccer runs in 'the Sound'. In their years in the USL the Sounders were drawing miniscule crowds so the audience of folks who can speak to the 'old days' when the team slugged it out in the NASL isn't that big. And there's a whiff of faddism in the recent enthusiasm for the Sounders. I'd be less than honest if I didn't note that the passion for the Portland Timbers ( Rose City Till I Die) wasn't ladled most heavily amongst younger audiences who could not have been part of the traditional audiences.
But it's all good. Portland Timbers are supercharging their side, probably the biggest investment to upgrade the team since Louisiana Pacific threw money in the kitty some thirty years ago. John Spencer is a coach to be reckoned with. And there's a smell of 'flounder' blood in the air that should incite lively participation from the 'street'.
I like it. I'll be sitting with me mates in Section 209 when the curtain opens. Hey Timbers, let's rock.
