Your Magic is Real.
There is a magic here: in this town, among these people. There is a magic I do not fully comprehend, a magic that brings us together and keeps us from killing each other and drives us to greater heights as a whole than we could ever reach individually.
Magic.
I felt it tonight as I haven’t felt it for longer than I care to admit. I love you people. That’s what this shared magic will do.
What we saw tonight is the beginning of something that none of us has yet seen. And when I say “none”, I mean quite literally that: from the weathered OGs to the newest of the MLS-era fans. None.
Grit, drive, determination. Forcefulness.
Yes, there were lapses in defense that need to be corrected right quick, but there was so much more. The two Diegos, the two Johnsons, AJB. Stunning play. Did I see a stat that put us at nearly 500 completed passes tonight? To NYRB’s 249? I’ll take that as a starting point.
And I’ll take Will Johnson not putting up with any sort of crap from anyone and, quite literally, throwing people (and their assorted Gatorade bottles) off the pitch.
I didn’t expect this, our first regular season match, to be The Point at Which I Declare Victory, but here we are.
Magic, I tell you.
Two weeks ago, one of our TA elders told me he was in line to have Diego Valeri’s babies. I caught him after the match tonight. He’s still in line, but now he’s in line for Ryan Johnson’s babies, too. So great is our love.
So, this week will be spent reliving and replaying and overanalyzing as we do. And Saturday will come with agonizing slowness.
Magic. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
octoberthoughtspdx 
jdlawes
March 4, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Yep. That was pretty damn magic. I’ll remember that Valeri goal when they’re spoon-feeding me the Geritol; it was a thing of trembling and momentous beauty.
But more. The rage and fire of Captain Will sending those bottles flying and Red Bulls scuttling before him. The fury of The Little Train’s rushes, and his clinical cross caroming off Olave’s legs into the goal. Chara buzzing everywhere like an angry Columbian wasp. Nagbe refusing to fade away as he did last season, pushing up, pushing up, putting away that second goal.
The Boys played like heroes in a story last night, both in how they struggled early but refused to lay down and die, fighting and fighting until the final whistle.
The Timbers are alive and magic is afoot!
Portland Padre
March 4, 2013 at 2:41 pm
The team has never made me feel like a comeback wasn’t enough. That 4th goal was there. The red bulls were on the ropes. Caleb has defined great roles by really undefining Chara and Nagbe’s. So much awesome