Who are you? Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Mojo and I went to the Portland Timbers game last Saturday with my friend Brent, who has an incredible gift for photography. He snapped off some wonderful shots of the Timbers Army at the game and posted them at Teh Facebook, from which I unabashedly stole several to paste here. Brent's eye is terrific, and he managed to capture some of what makes soccer, and especially Timbers soccer, so fantastic.

This guy was cheer leading down in front of the Army; he loved his role, loved the game and loved being part of the Army, and I think Brent shows all of that in a single image.There's no pity in the Rose City.I liked this for the composition of the shot - see what I mean about how Brent has a terrific eye for it - as well as the image from the Culturepulp comic about the Army that came out several years back. The World's Worst Newspaper is less (not that it is ever more, really) for the loss of Culturepulp in the Friday weekend section...This is a real oddity. At some point in the recent (as in a couple of years) past the Army started doing this during the national anthem. At the end of every line you toss your scarf in the air and utter a whooshing sound. So the whole stadium hisses; "Oh, say, can you see (psssh!)/By the dawn's early light (psssh!)" Weird. Kinda cool, but weird.I love this one. The Army has a couple of "gestures", and the jingling keys is one that accompanies the chant "Go home, you bums" (or scum, or punks, depending on the mood). I've also see it accompany the "You're going home in a Portland ambulance" chant, and always, always, when an enemy player is sent off.What a great game, and what great supporters. And Brent - the Portland answer to Bob Capa! You kick ass, buddy!

So if you're in Portland and you hear the Shed rocking - c'mon down and make some noise!