"Is the Man of the Match going to be the crossbar?" - me during
the Portland Timbers-Seattle Sounders game

The words that usually go through my mind when the Timbers win are "Whoa," "yay," and "phew." Winning 1-0 against a Seattle team that reeeeeeeeeeeeally wanted to avenge its loss against Vancouver last week inspired all three, especially since that could easily have been 2-1 Seattle had those two balls not ricocheted off the crossbar.

I wound up watching the game at Tennessee Red's, a Southern-ish bar next to Ladd's Addition. I'd tried another bar at first at my friend Gerald's suggestion, but when I got to that first place I asn't feeling it: very few people there, the main TVs set to the ALCS, and basically no sign that anyone there was going to be watching, or want to watch, the Timbers. And I wasn't in the mood to assert myself by asking "Hey, you going to show Timbers? Otherwise I'm not eating or drinking here." I'm just some guy showing up with a backpack who they've never seen before, and I doubted that anyone I knew would show up, so I decided try something else. And I made it -- via walking and a little bit of jogging -- in time to see the game start.

There were multiple TVs, and I did watch a bit of the ALCS as the Boston Red Sox hosted the Detroit Tigers. I managed to ignore the Sunday Night Football game that also was on, seeing if I can hold to my vow to avoid the NFL this season. And considering the game was Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys -- the first NFL team I rooted for (the last season that they won the Super Bowl!) versus my first "Root for anyone who plays them!" team -- I was happy I could hold myself to not watching, because my high school-age self would NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LOOK AWAY. Besides, it's too easy to miss a key moment in soccer, because it stops for almost nothing.

So. Some beer (a cider), a sandwich with au jus and brisket, fries, and cringing at the close calls that come so often in soccer. Preceded and followed by walking. That was my exercise tonight!