If you’re a 34-year-old Seattle sports fan like me, you’ve never been part of a pro sports rivalry. Seattle hasn’t experienced anything like Yankees/Red Sox, Packers/Bears, or Celtics/Lakers. Until–just maybe–now. Saturday is game one of a renewed soccer rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers.
Our town’s rivalry shortfall is mainly Portland’s fault. While we Seattleites have supported three major league teams since the 1980s, the Patchouli City has lagged behind, hosting only the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. And while the Sonics and Blazers had some good battles in the late 1970s and early ’80s, the rivalry flagged by the time I was out of diapers. During most of the next three decades, the two franchises danced an unfortunate tango–when the Sonics were good, the Blazers were bad, and vice versa.
And the teams had an odd knack of missing each other in the playoffs. The Sonics played the Blazers in only one playoff series after 1983, a span in which they played the Lakers and Rockets four times, the Jazz three times, even Sacramento twice. NBA regular season games, probably the least thrilling of any of the five major sports, aren’t a place for rivalry to crop up. And, of course, with the Sonics now in Oklahoma City, any potential rivalry is kaput.
The Mariners have never had a natural rival. When Major League Baseball interleague play rolls around, and teams are attached to their “geographic rivals,” the Chicago Cubs play the Chicago White Sox, the Houston Astros play the Texas Rangers, the Kansas City Royals play the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Mariners play…the San Diego Padres. Is it even possible to hate San Diego? Seahawks had some good battles over the years with the Oakland/L.A./Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos of the AFC West, and more recently with the St. Louis Rams, but none of these blossomed into serious rivalries.
It all changes Saturday. Unlike regular-season basketball, which is played with the urgency of your average cricket match, soccer’s one-game-per-week format permits players to go all out in every game, and fans to build up anticipation for each match. And other than the Sounders’ first-ever game, Saturday’s match against Portland is the most anticipated in this franchise’s history.
This rivalry isn’t exactly new (it even has its own Wikipedia page), but was ignored by the average fan when the Timbers and Sounders were playing in U.S. Soccer’s second division. Now, with both teams in MLS, and both drawing sellout crowds, the excitement is back.
To edify yourself before Saturday’s 8 p.m. match at Qwest Field (which will also be televised on ESPN2) consider reading this slightly outdated but still relatively pertinent article: A Guide to Hating the Portland Timbers, which I wrote for Seattlest in 2007. The comments section, full of vitriolic and profane fan sniping, is really the best part.
For the record, few people in St. Louis take the KC Royals seriously. The Cardinals and Cubs are the real rivals, since they are in the same league.