Hey. So. Real talk. American Soccer ERA.
You know how I'm like, so super RCTID. I could go into my history here, but I'm kinda drunk still and excited from that win. So I'm choosing not to. Frankly, I'm surprised I'm not just dancing around my apartment with my cat. I know Atlanta is like, the new hotness but is rooting for them fun? Reaaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyy? The big team with all the money and the huge stadium and the big market and blah blah blah etc? That's not fun.
You know what's fun? Portland. We're fun. We have a quirky reputation, even though that's really annoying and actually very not true anymore because fucking tech companies are fucking driving up our rent those mothofaisfhasofd annnnnnnnnyway yeah sports.
No seriously! We're a small market team. Our stadium seats like, 21k. Atlanta seats a ton more. We have franchise players that are on their way out, like Valeri (our best player ever) and Chara (also our best player ever, don't talk to me about this I'll want to explode before deciding) and like, we're underdogs. We're kinda always underdogs. And that's the best kind of team to root for, isn't it? Sports to me are about evoking emotions, and my Timbers provide the most entertaining drama that I get to personally experience. Root for us underdogs. Go Timbers. Rose City Till I Die.
Real talk, Atlanta United is fun as hell to root for. Atlanta United is honestly the first thing I've ever seen the WHOLE CITY support. The problem with Atlanta sports is that Atlanta is a transient town. If you hit the street and ask people "What [insert pro sport] team do you root for?", you will get more non-Atlanta teams every time. But Atlanta United.... man... the whole damn city loves them, and it's mostly because almost no one is a transient soccer fan. People I know from New York? They couldn't care less about the Red Bull or NYCFC, but they're
all in on ATL UTD. It's crazy man, crazy. It gets doubly crazy when you factor in Atlanta sports history and how it just makes people not care (or trust) any Atlanta sports team. 5 Teams, 140 seasons, 60 winning seasons, 54 playoff appearances, 24 division championships, 6 Conference/league championships,
only 1 championship. Thanks to Cleveland finally winning something Atlanta has taken the mantle of "Worst Sports Town in America for a fan".
Let Atlanta have something that's not "28-3", or Kirby Puckett, or the Infield Fly Rule, or Bobby Petrino, or Michael Vick's dogs, or Eugene Robinson getting arrested the night before the Super Bowl, or the 1996 World Series Collapse, or...you get the point. You may think you're the underdogs because you're a lower seed playing away from home, but you're going to have to trust me here: Atlanta are
always the underdogs, and forever will be, until someone in this damn city fixes the sports culture. Atlanta United actually has a chance to do that and we're just freaking out about it. Or, we're just 90 minute away from whatever the soccer version of "28-3" is and we'll all feel like shit all over again. Doesn't help we're losing our coach and two best players after this season. Uuuuuugh.