Once again retired co-host of Soccer Made in Portland. Author of The Morrison Report. I still like Bruce Springsteen, but now on a new app.
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There are a few non-MAGA conservative commentators who remain worth reading (David French is excellent even if I often disagree with him), but so many have just reverted to writing about how liberalism is simultaneously dead and responsible for conservatism’s slide into MAGAism.
Their specific brand of conservatism hasn’t won an election in 21 years and now has no home in any major party, so of course Bret Stephens and Ross Douthat can’t stop writing about the downfall of liberalism after Democrats lost one election.
Very often these policies are also solutions in search of a problem. The Iron Front fiasco in Portland is a perfect example. Most fans (including me!) had no idea or only a vague idea what it was until MLS decided to crack down on it. The stadium wasn’t politically charged until MLS made it so.
Does this mean fans might periodically see messages that they disagree with? Yep, and they can and should be expected to handle that maturely. But that’s far better than the inevitable conflicts that arise from trying to stop that from happening.
When you try to regulate speech in places like stadiums because it’s “political,” you put yourself in a never ending series of untenable line-drawing (and redrawing) positions. MLS should just draw the line at vulgar and bigoted speech and get out of the game of deciding what speech is “political.”
Tough day for the idiom about a prosecutor being able to indict a ham sandwich.
One of the through lines of the modern Republican Party is that it doesn’t want to deal with actual problems. So over and over it takes absurd positions to justify an easy way out. War in Ukraine? Cut a deal with Putin. COVID? The cure is worse that the disease. Climate change? Fake news.
I think @chrislhayes.bsky.social nailed the metaphor on Ezra Klein’s pod when he compared the dynamic to a parent being asked about a misbehaving child at another table and responding “I don’t care; that’s not my kid.” Mainstream commentators right, left, and center don’t see MAGA as “their kid.”
We’ve reached the first perilous point of the season for the Timbers. They’re only two points above falling into the play-in picture with a difficult slate of games ahead. Onboarding the new signings is going to be important, but that’s usually a bit of a process and the danger is immediate. #RCTID
He scored two, made a mistake on one, and was overall the Timbers’ best player by some distance. Young players make mistakes. I’ll take a highly influential and involved performance with a mistake over an anonymous one (of which he’s had several) without one 1000 times over. #RCTID
Tremendous performance from Kelsy tonight. Figuring out his holdup game is what will unlock his ceiling, and we saw it tonight. A more technical and athletic Fanendo Adi is what he can be. Work to do to get there, but closer tonight than he’s been. #RCTID
The gap between Evander and Da Costa so far in this game is…woof. #RCTID
Feels like a two true outcome game for Evander. He’s scoring or he’s getting sent off. #RCTID
But honestly the turn and ball out to the wing was even better than the goal. #BAONPDX
But whether this will move the needle for 2025 is hard to say. It’s just a short—and bumpy—runway from here. And there are longer-term questions, albeit of a different nature, surrounding each of their acquisitions. #RCTID
Really interesting window for the Timbers. They’ve emphasized bringing in former MLSers—evincing a desire to focus on 2025. I’m intrigued by Rojas and Carballo—particularly as a glorified trialist. Velde is an interesting, if high-risk, scouting play. And they came to the right outcome with Santi.
Well I think we know how Trump got his inflated D.C. crime figures. Apparently he counted all the times this guy, seemingly the world’s tiniest weenie, illegally drove without a seatbelt.
Probably have to call him Paul Frogrock now, right?
To point out the blindly obvious: This is why D.C. needs to be a state. The residents of D.C. are American citizens but have been deprived of the basic political right to self-governance that the citizens of states enjoy.
Now is a good time to sell Santi. The team isn’t a trophy contender. There are multiple starters at his position on the roster. And there are imminent cap benefits to a sale. The answer here can’t be “We don’t want to sell.” It must be “Our number is $6M. Help us get there and we’ll do it.” #RCTID
Th issue isn’t that they’ve made Portland a bad place to play. The issue is that their go-to answer when an opportunity elsewhere arises for a player is “no.” And when that’s the too often case, it incentivizes players to take more extreme steps like this. #RCTID
The Timbers portray themselves as the victims in every one of these instances. It’s always an impulsive player or an unprofessional agent or something. But the fact that it happens over and over to them pretty clearly shows that they’re a big part of the problem. #RCTID
I mean… The more this happens the harder it gets just to blame one bad apple. #RCTID
Never should’ve traded our offense for the Pirates’ at the deadline.
And they could prove to the world that they’re willing to sell players before things turn toxic and untenable! I like Santi quite a bit as a player, but the case for a move—at a reasonable price (and the reported figures aren’t that far off)—is pretty clear. #RCTID
Selling Santi wouldn’t be the craziest thing for the Timbers to do. It’s clear from recent DP signings that the transfer budget isn’t unlimited. So they could use the money. It’s not really a “win now” year. And Santi’s going to have a larger cap hit in 2026 without a clear starting spot. #RCTID
This is going to have to be a scouting play for Grabavoy and company. By resume, this is a pretty mid DP signing in 2025 MLS. So the bet here will be that the fit that they see in Portland can bring out something more. #RCTID
Firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a round of weak economic data is the most cartoonish, two-bit dictator move there is.
This is the soccer equivalent of a Golden Sombrero for Atletico San Luis, right? #RCTID
Very good photo selection for this piece. You’re in fine Blogathon form right now.
I agree that it might be hard to schedule some games at Providence Park. But there are without a doubt *many* feds that would play at PP. And it’s hard for me to believe that the WNT players wouldn’t agree to play, eg, Mexico in Portland every few years.
Maybe. I’d be pretty skeptical of that argument given the costs of boycotting Portland and the fact that the issue certainly doesn’t seem ripe for renegotiation. But if that’s the case, they should tell us that instead of just giving us the cold shoulder.
The countervailing point is that the WNT player’s union has far more connections to Portland than the men’s. It’s hard to believe an organization in which Sam Coffey, Sophia Smith, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kling, etc. have been influential over the years wouldn’t agree to play in PDX once in a while.
It is! But it doesn’t meet CBA stadium size requirements. So they need a waiver from the union.
USSF apparently can seek waivers to play in Kansas City, but not Portland? If it’s somebody else’s fault that USSF has boycotted Portland and its fans, they should tell us that. Alas, we’ve received the silent treatment.
Most of USWNT’s players and many of USMNT’s players over the years regularly played on Providence Park’s turf without incident. Maybe that’s the explanation for USSF’s silent boycott of Portland. But if so, it’s a terrible one.
Coming up on 12 years since either senior national team played in Portland with no explanation from anybody at USSF.
Maybe the best performance of the season from the Timbers last night. Still lacking some punch in the attack with Antony out, but they controlled things enough that they were never really under it. Very encouraging if they can show that’s more than a blip. #RCTID
(The next layer of this story, BTW, is that this is the most obvious example of the impunity that Miami feels. That attitude doesn’t come from nowhere. Mildly surprised that it actually came back to bite them here, but it’s strong circumstantial evidence that MLS has let many other instances slide.)
The fact that this was a “very difficult decision” tells you all you need to know about this rule. If the league is torn about enforcing a clear rule against its most prominent players, then the rule is dumb and should be abandoned for everybody.
From my place as a normie liberal, I’m befuddled by the Mamdani freakout. I have some skepticism about some of his proposals, but his campaign seems overwhelmingly positive, responsive to people’s actual concerns, and carrying some ideas that are worth trying in areas we don’t have great answers.
MAGA was infuriated by the former because Trump was obscuring their quest for evidence to confirm that Epistein ran a cabal of pedophilic liberal elites. They rejected and rallied around Trump as to the latter bc it undermined their theory that Epstein’s supposed associates were liberal elites.
Those surprised by MAGA’s different reactions to Trump balking at disclosing Epstein materials and WSJ reporting Trump’s creepy letter to Epstein misunderstand conspiracies. Conspiracy theories aren’t open-minded searches for the objective truth. They’re quests to confirm presupposed theories.
It’s overcooked to say this is why the Timbers have been stuck in the muddy middle for the last few years. But it’s very fair to look at this and wonder whether there’s a level of sophistication in the Timbers’ soccer operation that their competitions have achieved but PTFC hasn’t. #RCTID
I mean they came up with another word to include in the name that has some relevance to the surrounding region.
You’re not wrong. But let’s take a moment to appreciate that it’s not, like, FC Denver as would be the standard for most new teams these days.
You may think the Timbers wound up last place in this survey, but the Timbers’ data folks are here to tell you they finished *tied* for last place. #RCTID
I think we’re better off with #BillOrBomb, wouldn’t you agree?
Yeesh, even Neville’s grousing about the uncalled penalty is uninspired. Yes, it should’ve been called. But also it would’ve been an unearned bit of luck from an unforced error by Caliskan. So it’s not like that deprived the Timbers of a result they otherwise earned. #RCTID
Tons of injuries right now are undeniably a major factor. But that’s the kind of situation in which coaches earn their contracts. And the last 135 minutes from the Timbers have been downright dire. Phil Neville’s reputation as a calm seas skipper remains intact. #RCTID
I’m growing firmer in my belief that the MLS West basically shakes out as follows: Good Teams: San Diego, LAFC, Vancouver, Minnesota, Seattle Okay Teams: Portland Bad Teams: Everybody else.
It’s been obvious for some time that certain clubs have workarounds for roster rules that, as a practical matter, aren’t available to the league’s middle class. The middle class owners have plenty of power to change this, but haven’t. At this point the story is that they’ve handcuffed themselves.
Folks pointing out how Republicans’ proposed cuts to public broadcasting will mostly undermine outlets in deep-red rural areas as tho it’s a bug of the Rs’ bill are missing the point. That’s exactly what they’re trying to do. They want to lock *their voters* in an partisan information environment.
It’s not just marketing, but that’s certainly part of it. But it is very much a lesson from the Timbers handling of the Riley fallout. They chose to ignore their committed fans’ concerns and *explicitly* said they were pivoting to attracting other fans. Now they have empty seats and flash sales.
Every empty seat in Providence Park and flash sale for Timbers tickets is a testament to the perils of this dynamic. The Fire would do well to course correct here.
This smacks of an effort by a growing team and league to reach as wide an audience as possible regardless of where their actual fans are. This is familiar to MLS (and increasingly NWSL) fans. As a fan it always feels like there is some other, cooler fan that the league and team would rather have.
This whole thing has been bizarre. Reviving a misnomer nickname that has no lasting connection to the city and then unveiling it officially in predawn hours on a random Tuesday on a TV show that very few in this time zone watch. What am I—admittedly not a marketing professional—missing here?
Is USSF even remotely prepared for how politically hyper-charged next year’s World Cup is going to be?
I understand why Neville is dropping into the 3-back (arguably better described as a 5-back) given the absences on the wing. But man, they’ve been poor basically every time they’ve played in it. The good news is that 7-11 in the West is a steaming pile. But 6th may be the Timbers’ ceiling. #RCTID
Love seeing DDC taking that initiative. But my goodness that’s a scandalous defensive sequence from St. Louis. How Da Costa finds himself in that much space in that area of the field is beyond me. #RCTID
This isn’t a comment on whether Ridgewell deserves this honor—he clearly does—but I’m dying at including his status as a 2014 All-Star in his infographic. #RCTID
As a person who likes making fun of Seattle, the revitalization of the waterfront has been really annoying. It was much more fun when Seattle put up a giant, multi-story road and various other obstacles between itself and one of the most beautiful urban viewsheds in the world.
Ross Smith rightly letting Kelsy have it here. We’ve seen his form at his ceiling, but if he wants to play consistently enough to really reach his potential, the floor of his performances has to go up substantially. What we’ve seen from him in this first half isn’t playable. #RCTID
That’s a phenomenal goal. Santi found no less than three great spots in that sequence to orchestrate it. And great of Smith, who’s been good so far, to follow that play on the backside and finish the ball that came through. #RCTID
All sorts of nostalgia on order tonight with Caleb Porter on the sidelines for the Revs, and Jake Zivin and Ross Smith on the mic. Would be a shame if Diego Valeri doesn’t wander down to the English language booth at some point. #RCTID
Have people become bigger jerks about the size of fireworks they shoot off in neighborhoods over the years or have I just become crankier? I don’t remember tons of people shooting off huge fireworks on the 4th in my neighborhood as a kid, and now mine sounds like a war zone.
It’s not my moral of the story. It’s what Berhalter said. I don’t really care whether Berhalter was right or wrong. My only point is that people characterizing his comments as simply “throwing Gio under the bus” are mischaracterizing what he said.
I don’t think the criticism of Berhalter’s comments is that they were too generous to Gio.
It was dumb, as he said himself. Really naive. But also it seems lost on everybody on USMNT Twitter that the moral of Gregg’s story was about how Gio came back into the fold and became an important part of the team. He wasn’t just like “look at what a dumbass this kid is,” as many seem to suggest.
Between the Thorns finally getting (at least breaking ground on) a training facility and the Timbers getting full control over their site, it’s been quite a year for training infrastructure for the Portland soccer teams. #RCTID #BAONPDX
The Chicago Stars would like a word.
nm (Bill’s version)
It should be noted in every piece about Iran that even if the strike went perfectly, it will accomplish nothing more than Obama accomplished diplomatically. And Obama’s solution to the problem of Iranian nuclear capabilities did not come with any of the risks that we now face.
I feel like the ultimate example of this is that eastern Alaska is on the Pacific coast.
(I personally think we should swipe the “Wings” nickname from Dallas as a nod to the state motto, but I acknowledge the practical concerns there.)
I agree with Bill. This would be all sorts of cringe. The recent history is more than reason enough. But also, “Fire” was a misdirected play on the Blazers—which has nothing to do with fire—in the first place. Lots of good nickname material around here. This should be an easy pass.
If you start from the assumption that being trans is an innate characteristic their slate of trans regulations crumbles. Bans on certain medical care only for trans people? Blatantly unconstitutional. Blanket bans on participation in sports regardless of fairness and safety? Cruel and unlawful.
The fundamental assumption underlying conservative ideology on trans rights is that being trans isn’t real—they believe it’s an expression of rebellion, protest, or wokeism. That assumption, if you take even a few seconds to think about it, is facially preposterous.
@brett-taylor.bsky.social Look I don’t love calling people out for being wrong on the internet, but there has to be a line somewhere and Law must have crossed it here, right? www.nytimes.com/athletic/643...
*reads article* *looks at calendar* *reads article again* So what you’re telling me is that FIFA’s anti-racism materials are going to re-disappear at a tournament held in the United States on Juneteenth? Cool. Cool cool cool.
But have you considered the isolating effects of not having random weed commercials, crypto scams, and CPAC tweets involuntarily pumped in your timeline?
There’s been one party that has received enormous flak for earnestly struggling to address complicated problems in urban America. And another party that has evaded any meaningful scrutiny by just simply spraying memes and fantasies.
It’s very clear that USSF would rather its senior national teams play on a pasture in front of a herd of cows than play on Portland’s turf in front of a full stadium. That position is indefensible. But it’s clearly USSF’s position nonetheless.
Meanwhile neither senior national team has played in Portland since 2013.
It won’t be written this way in many corners, but the obvious story is the exposure of Trump’s bellicose foreign policy as pathetically weak. They tore up the old deal, but couldn’t get a better one. And then when they were trying to resurrect the old deal, they couldn’t even stay Israel’s hand.
The threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons program was eliminated diplomatically in 2015. The only reason that threat exists today is because Trump tore up that deal under vague promises of a “better” deal. He failed. And now we’re on the brink of the biggest war in the Middle East of our lifetimes.
The Timbers have done well in the first half! Regardless of who their opponent is, they have to win. And they’ve done a decent bit of it so far. But we’re not going to really find out who they are until the going gets (really) rough come mid-July. #RCTID
The Timbers’ opponents PPG in the first half was 1.22 PPG. They played 7 games against teams <1.2 PPG, 6 games against teams between 1.2 and 1.5 PPG, and 4 games against teams >1.5 PPG. In the second half, their opp PPG is 1.43 with 6 games <1.2, 2 games 1.2-1.5, and 9 (!) games >1.5 PPG. #RCTID
Jona wasn’t even remotely close to 100% in the relative handful of minutes he played, so this seems sensible—albeit disappointing. Will be interesting to see how/if signing a new attacking DP affects their long-term plans after this season. #RCTID
🚨🚨🚨 #BAONPDX
It’s pointless to argue the relative morality of Hamas and the Israeli government. But one thing they have in common is that they both seek to wage this conflict though violence and that they use each other’s violence against the peaceful as justification for yet more violence against the peaceful.
There’s a reason Hamas didn’t primarily attack the IDF or settlers on October 7th. It attacked residents of kibbutzim and concertgoers—overwhelmingly peaceful people. And there’s a reason the Israeli government has made little or no effort to avoid or minimize civilian casualties.
It’s increasingly untenable to think of this war just as a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s an assault waged by people who desire to resolve the political conflict through violence against those who only desire to live in peace.
On a long morning flight and, just after our 7:15 takeoff, a person near me in an empty row is sitting cross-legged in the middle seat eating a bowl of clam chowder.
“Why aren’t there more tenured climate scientists who identify with the Republican Party?!?!” Um, well, I’m guessing three decades of Republican climate denialism might have something to do with that.
I lean fairly heavily in favor of academic freedom and free speech on campus, so I’m conceptually receptive to calls for ideological diversity among faculty. But the elephant in the room on this issue is that modern conservatism has rejected all sorts of positions supported by sound academic study.
The American media has to kick its habit of depriving President Trump of agency for his own actions. This piece frames Trump going on a rant full of racist falsehoods as President Ramaphosa’s plan for the meeting “backfiring spectacularly.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/w...
To justify all the effort they put into writing their book? It’s also just a nice distraction from writing about the daily incompetence and malevolence of the current administration, I suppose, that allows folks to beef up their both-sides bona fides.
So now as pundits they have to earnestly ask a series of questions the answers to which have been universally agreed upon for months. Was Biden too old to run? Yes. Did his inner circle shelter him? Obviously. Should somebody credible have challenged him in the primary? Clearly.