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Posted inSports

The Long Road Back: A 2025 Portland Timbers Preview

After a humiliating end-of-season defeat, can the Timbers return to their winning ways?
Avatar photo Abe Asher

The last time the Portland Timbers took the field for a competitive match, they suffered what was easily among the most humiliating defeats in club history: a 5-0 drubbing, at home, in a playoff game, against a Vancouver Whitecaps team that was about to fire its coach.  On Sunday afternoon, February 23, the Timbers will […]

Posted inNews

An East Portland School Grapples With Racism and Ineffective State Response

Athletes at David Douglas High report racial slurs hurled at them by opponents during games. Families and coaches say Oregon has no meaningful solutions for accountability.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

Two years ago, Rich Linwood was watching his son play an eighth grade football game at Sandy High School. When the game ended, he realized something was wrong.  “Players were coming off the field crying, and we were like, ‘Okay, we’ll get ‘em next time,’” Linwood said. “And they were like, ‘You don’t understand. The […]

Posted inHoliday Guide 2024 🎅

A Major (League) Undertaking

The Portland Diamond Project wants to bring pro baseball to Portland—but will it get the love and money needed to survive?
Avatar photo Abe Asher

[Editor’s note: Read all our holly jolly HOLIDAY GUIDE articles here. Looking for a print copy? Good! You can find it in more than 500 spots across Portland with this handy map!] The Portland Diamond Project has been working to bring a Major League Baseball team to the Rose City for the better part of […]

Posted inSports

How Portland’s Rose City Rollers Became Roller Derby Champions Again

With standout jammers and unmatched teamwork, Wheels of Justice dominates the track to claim Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s highest honor.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

On Sunday in beautiful Portland, Oregon, Rose City Rollers’ Wheels Of Justice—an all-star squad of the best of the best skaters in Portland’s longtime roller derby league—clinched a 141-104 victory over St. Louis, Missouri’s Arch Rival All-Stars and won the sport’s highest honor: the Hydra Trophy. The teams played neck and neck in a tight […]

Posted inNews

How Portland Became a Roller Derby Mecca

Rose City Rollers commemorates 20 years by hosting the sport’s global championships on their home turf.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Twenty years ago, Kim “Rocket Mean” Stegeman put an ad on the back page of the Portland Mercury. She didn’t have a business to advertise. She had nothing to sell.  “My phone number was on the back of it for three months, and it said ‘Want to play roller derby?’” Stegeman recalls. “I would personally […]

Posted inSports

Enter to WIN A FREE VIP PACKAGE to the Women’s Roller Derby Global Championships!

Hosted by Portland’s own Rose City Rollers!
Avatar photo Mercury Promotions

It’s the most exciting women’s roller derby championship in the world, and it’s happening right here in Portland, Oregon! That’s right, the 2024 WFTDA Global Championships are being held at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on November 1-3, and is being hosted by Portland’s own Rose City Rollers! Watch as thirteen of the best roller derby teams […]

Posted inSports

Dyke Hoops Courts Community in Portland’s Queer Sports Scene

A growing pickup basketball group ensures all players can shoot their shot.
Avatar photo Cameron Crowell

On any given summer afternoon, in parks across the city, you can find groups of guys—men mostly—clamoring to stay active in pickup basketball games. Semi-frequently the games fall into fighting, often enough that we don’t think about how weird it is. A grown man taunts another grown man as “not a real hooper,” while the rest […]

Posted inSports

Portland Pickles’ Ten Cent Beer Night: Bad Idea Gone Good?

Big professional sporting events kind of suck now; it’s an open secret that neighborhood games with good snacks are what’s actually fun.
Avatar photo Corbin Smith

In which local critic Corbin Smith ruminates on the Portland Pickles’ Ten Cent Beer Night and concludes that neighborhood games—especially those at Lents’ Walker Stadium—are superior to big professional sporting events where you have to carry your stuff in a clear plastic bag.

Posted inTimbers

Keeping the Faith: Dairon Asprilla Leaves Portland as a Legend

The Timbers’ second-longest tenured player is returning to Colombia after nearly a decade in the Rose City.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

Dairon Asprilla is gone now, heading back to Atlético Nacional, the famous Medellín club he left to join Portland a decade ago.  Asprilla, 32 years old now, is going home to Colombia for the next, and possibly final chapter of his career. He’ll likely spend his first days savoring what happened on Saturday night, in […]

Posted inSports

The People’s Courts Serves up Pickleball With a Side of Apizza Scholls

The Portland rec center opened to much fanfare last August. Here’s how it’s doing.
Avatar photo Melissa Locker

The People’s Courts, an Actual Review
The People’s Courts Serves up Pickleball Courts With a Side of Apizza Scholls
The Portland rec center opened to much fanfare in August 2023. Here’s how it’s doing.
Rec center and pickleball stronghold, the People’s Courts opened to much fanfare last August. Here’s how it’s doing.

Posted inSports

Mike Norris Out as Portland Thorns Coach in Staff Shakeup

Norris will become the club’s technical director; General Manager Karina LeBlanc promises “global search” for new head coach.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

Mike Norris is out as Portland Thorns head coach just four games into the 2024 NWSL season, the club announced on Tuesday.  Norris, who served just over a year as head coach, is being moved into a new role as the club’s technical director. Rob Gale, one of Norris’ assistants, will take over as interim […]

Posted inTimbers

Will the Timbers Show Up? A 2024 Season Preview

Will the mistakes of last season continue to haunt the Timbers? And is it a new day for the Thorns?
Avatar photo Abe Asher

The Portland Timbers’ 2023 season ended early in embarrassing fashion last November with a lopsided loss at Providence Park that ended the team’s playoff hopes. When the dust settled, 2023 was the second-worst season in the club’s MLS history. On Saturday night, the Timbers will return to Providence Park for their 2024 season opener—complete with […]

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