Portland Timbers Tuesday: Scouting, Sub-Letting and Rival Armies

November 9, 2010 — PDXPIPELINE

By Ben Golliver

Photo by Michael Mitarnowski

Portland Timbers Tuesday: Scouting, Sub-Letting and Rival Armies

The MLS expansion draft is now just two weeks away, but while anticipation builds the Portland Timbers brass headed south to scout additional talent. Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian reports that the Timbers brain trust — technical director Gavin Wilkinson and coach John Spencer — traveled to parts unknown in South America last week to find their next impact player. Arnold notes that Wilkinson wanted to leave the exact destination undisclosed, surely for competitive reason, as scouts in any sport are like vultures. Once word gets out about a particular player or a specific hot bed, they swarm en masse to pick the area dry. Time will tell whether Portland turns up any quality on this trip.

Back on the home front, Brad Schmidt of The Oregonian writes with news of a smart arrangement that is helping ease the financial burden on Timbers owner Merritt Paulson. Turns out, Paulson has contracted a "sublicense agreement" for space in the renovated PGE Park with Providence Health for their "new sports rehabilitation and physical therapy clinic." Providence's payments to Paulson will cover more than half of the monthly rent Paulson owes the city of Portland for operating the stadium. To put this in real world terms, Paulson simply found a rich roommate to sublet a room in his apartment. That's a smart hustle.

Finally, this week, a great primer for Timbers Army members and recruits: Rob Morse of PortlandMLS2010.com has pulled together a full list of MLS supporters groups. Some of the names are pretty fantastic. The Kansas City Wizards, for example, are rooted on by "The Cauldron" while the Los Angeles Galaxy is backed by the "L.A. Riot Squad." Then there's the Revolutionary War-themed "Midnight Riders" for New England and "Sons of Ben" for the Philadelphia Union. Know thy enemies, Timbers fans.

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———-Ben Golliver

Ben Golliver is a freelance writer, native Oregonian and avid follower of the Timbers.Ãƒâ€š He edits Blazersedge, co-hostsÃƒâ€š The Dontonio Wingcast and regularly contributes toÃƒâ€š SB Nation. Follow him onTwitter.