yazan07

Even though I've been following DC pretty closely the past couple years, I can't help but feel closely linked to this Portland team. Wishing for the best for Porter and the Timbers this year. Hopefully Nano makes the team, Darlington finally takes off, Porter has an excellent year and makes it to the MLS final. If they make it to the final against DC, then my allegiance will be tested.

Look at our boy Caleb, he fits right in! I wonder how much seniority was taken into account when they posed for this picture. You got the old fat guys in the middle, and Porter, Heaps, and Olsen hidden in the back corner.

I'm certain I don't know what you are talking about.

Yeah that interview is okay, but not quite as good as this one I found. (hint: make sure to read the comments section) http://www.5mtko.com/2013/01/04/our-caleb-...without-the-as/

http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/news/featu...-take-next-step

Brown's Ryan McDuff won it. Scott just won the fan voting portion but I guess not the whole thing

Wow he really tried that with Wil also? I wonder who else, if anyone, he is tried to acquire the rights to?

Wednesday night I walked past Wil and Chad and their mothers as Wil was saying "well we're probably going to be teammates again." This was right after he told me he couldn't disclose where he was signing haha. Can't wait to see more of our guys in the league.

A few more moves have happened. F Ryan Johnson and GK Milos Kocik have been traded to Timbers FC from Toronto. The thing I am most excited about though is the rumor going around now that Porter is about to sign US National team midfielder Mix Diskerud. I guess on top of reuniting Zips he's also going to reunite with some members of his U-23 National team? Mix is currently playing in Norway, and while Norway's league apparently that great, a lot of pundits would argue it's a step backwards to leave opportunities in Europe to come to the US. If the whole thing is true, says a lot about his desire to play for Porter again. Hopefully he'll get some more guys for these reunions I want to see. Michael Nanchoff? Juan Agudelo? Zarek Valentin? Blair Gavin didn't get picked up in the stage 1 re-entry draft, but I guess it's common for teams to wait for the second stage.

And to celebrate being a Crew fan you just bought a Timbers jersey? haha. I'm afraid all the excitement of Caleb at Portland is going to shake my faithfulness as a DC fan. I guess I'll probably root for Portland as well and just be conflicted when the two face off.

Didn't really want to start a new thread so I just threw this here. Kinda just came across this article from a month ago that I think we overlooked. There were questions about where Saad Abdul Salaam came from since it was apparently out of nowhere, and this kinda sums it up. http://www.ohio.com/news/top-stories/marla...r-team-1.350581

Well, looks like Trapp is probably gone http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/12/report...-mls-offer.html

Hey, I think we have a few Porter/Portland things scattered around and I figured since this is going to be a thing we are all pretty much going to want to keep tabs on, let's just have one big thread. Caleb is already shaking things up in the Rose City with what looks to be the roster overhaul some had expected. So far, some of the moves we have seen are: -Timbers midfielder/defender Lovel Palmer and defender Steve Purdy not resigned -Sporting KC defender Michael Harrington to Portland for allocation money -RSL midfielder Will Johnson to Portland for allocation money -Timbers defender Eric Brunner to Houston for allocation money -Timbers defender Kosuke Kimura to RBNY for allocation money and the thing I think we are all either more excited or disappointed in; -Bryan Gallego's homegrown rights trade from RBNY to Portland. I am definitely interested to see where this team goes. Really interested in the Gallego thing. I kind of agree with the sentiment above that if homegrown rights can just be traded, it does in some ways seem to defeat the purpose. But what I am more interested in, is the fact that Bryan agreed with this means he must REALLY hold Caleb in high regard. I mean, what else could make a Jersey kid want to give up the chance to play for his hometown team, the one he probably grew up rooting for? That is huge. He is giving that up, along with the ability to have his family come watch him in games and all the other perks of playing for your local team. His faith in what Porter is planning on doing must be big. I am also happy to see this and know that I can continue not caring about Red Bulls since our players will be staying away from there. Many, including myself, scoffed at the idea of Porter "getting the boys back together" in Portland, but he picked those players to come to Akron for a reason, he saw something special in them. I'll be interested to see if he goes after any other former players. Before, I didn't think he would do it unless it fell into his lap and made just as much sense as any other player, but the fact that he is willing to pay for player's homegrown rights (wonder how much of the trade that cost?) means it is not unfathomable that we could see someone like say, Scott Caldwell, go to Portland. Can't wait to see how this unfolds.

Blair Gavin's contract was not picked up by New England.

Um the kid from G-town apparently has close to 6000 votes already!?

Seriously, that is one of the best things I have ever heard. You stayed late after the game Sunday to wait for the team right? Was anyone else on the board around for that? Let me tell you, that was one of the most emotional non-female related experiences I have been through. It was hard saying bye to those players, and it was REAL hard saying bye to Porter. There were some very raw emotions there that night. And as Porter began to leave that field for the last time, he stopped, turned around and gave those of us remaining one last inspirational speech. It was something. Then he rode off into the sunset like the majestic stallion he is. Wait, what did I just say?

That's a good way to look at it, comparing them to their predecessors. Another way to measure their readiness for the pros though would be to look at the teams they will likely be joining; Columbus for Trapp, Sounders for Yedlin, RBNY for Gallego. And by that measure, like you, my opinion is that the chance of earning minutes and thus being a value to their team decreases in that order. Red Bulls have not been kind to their home grown players, their track record points to spending big money on internationals instead of relying on their homegrown players. I think Trapp could get minutes at Columbus, DeAndre, I don't know about, mostly because of my lack of familiarity with Sounders' fullbacks. I know they started a DC reject at leftback on multiple occasions, so maybe they aren't that strong. In 2010, there were a few guys like Kitchen and Nagbe, who we KNEW would be gone at the end of the year. I don't see any of these three as that certain. Now, the player I have heard is more likely to leave is Serna, whose Rapids are not that strong and could probably use his help in the midfield. He's a real small dude though, not sure how he holds up in MLS. Hope most of these guys stick around. As mentioned above, I know that was a big reason for hiring Embick, which I personally feel is a pretty shortsighted reason. If it doesn't work out, well, I don't know.

Here's an article about how Kofi has started playing again for Houston: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012...ust-time-dynamo Also, I guess in all the excitement of Scott being up for the Senior Class award, among the other things that have been happening for our program, it was kind of overlooked that Darlington Nagbe in up for Goal of the Year AGAIN. He is in the final four, against Fredy Montero and Patrick Ianni from Seattle (hopefully Sounders fans' votes will be split) and the Revs' Lee Nguyen. Voting closes at midnight, Pacific time, TOMORROW. Let's do it again. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012...oal-year-winner

Interestingly enough, anyone else think that of the teams in our corner of the bracket that got a bye, UConn might actually be the weakest? Creighton and New Mexico are tough.

5. boo

West coast schools and southern schools who won't used to the cold weather. I also wouldn't mind repaying Charlotte and our old buddy David Mayer for last year. VCU could also be a fun one with Dave Giffard coming home to visit.

When does voting end?

Students don't even show up to soccer anymore and we're currently sitting at #1 in the country. If that is any indication of what the turnout for basketball is going to be, the forecast is pretty grim. Can we please just fire the whole marketing department and get a new one?

I thought this deserved it's own thread. I have spoken with a few of you about it on a couple of occasions, but I think it needs to be addressed on a bigger scale. Ever since it was announced that this was Porter's last season, the focus immediately turned to who would be the next coach, "#Embick2013," and looking past this season. The attitude seems to be that even though Porter is still the coach, that because he is leaving and Embick is taking over, Embick is now our coach and Porter never happened. Well, I'm not really okay with this. Until Porter accepted another job to advance his career, he was a saint. Although I haven't heard much negative talk about him, I haven't seen the same support for him. Anyway, this is turning into a rant about my personal feelings on the topic, but really the main reason I wanted to start this thread was because I don't think it would be right to let the Porter era end without some sort of thank you. I don't need to list the accomplishments we have had under Porter, we all know them. And I think it would be an insult to his time here to not do SOMETHING. I just don't know what. I think some kind of awesome tifo would be really cool, but that would take some thought and some work. Ian, I know you will probably read this, and I think you should try to get the leadership of the rowdies involved. I asked AJ about this one time and he said something about balloons. I just don't think balloons is really good enough. I just want to honor Porter for all he has done. If there is any kind of mixed feelings about him, I guess I sort of understand since this is kind of an unprecedented situation. Yeah he is leaving us, but it's not for another school. If that were the case I would be pretty upset. He deserves something though. I believe he has given nothing less than 100% to Akron up until now and won't commit any less until December 15. I think we owe him the same. Only other dilemma with doing something is when is the appropriate time to do it? Best time is his last home game, but of course we don't know when that will be. This weekend is our last regular season home game. I know that's soon. We could also bank on the MAC tournament. And we know we'll have some NCAA home games. But when is the best time to do it? Please leave your thoughts on this so we can try to put something together.

Alfred doesn't really look 90 minutes match fit in my opinion, but still has some nasty skills