I am officially announcing that this site will go idle.
While I have very much enjoyed maintaining this site and the accompanying message board for the past 10+ years, the majority of Timbers fans have moved on to other formats for communication, and it’s time to turn this site into a historical record and move on.
This site and all it’s stories and photos will remain though, and a link on the right side (The Timber Mill – USL Archive) contains all the archives for the USL era of the Timbers.
When I started the SoccerCityUSA.com site in 1999 (at the time called Timber Rattlers, later The Timber Mill), it was to try to fill a gap where I didn’t think the team (or the sport) was getting the coverage it deserved, and I felt with access to a simple HTML editor and an old SLR film camera I could do something to help change that, though my career has always been in IT, not journalism. I can feel good that I did my part during the early years and especially through the mid 2000’s when the team wasn’t even getting a single article in the local paper for Cascadia Cup home matches, and hope that I did my part to keep the interest in the team alive during those lean times until everything came together to finally bring MLS to the Rose City. I also very much enjoyed having the chance to cover various other leagues and US National Team matches during that time, including the Women’s World Cup in 2003 and a Sunderland/Newcastle match in 2006.
It’s great to see the official Timbers site doing such a great job covering the team and the local and national media finally starting to take notice, especially since we went to MLS, and I enjoy reading the many other Portland soccer sites that have emerged in the past few years who are providing excellent coverage.
Though the main SoccerCityUSA.com site is going to be idled as well as the message board, I do plan to do match reports for a few games this year including the Timbers and Thorns home openers, just to have a chance to give it one last go and thank many of the people who have been so kind and helpful to me as I have had the honor of doing my part for the Timbers and the most amazing fans anywhere for the past 14 years. And I may pop up from time to time to lend a hand and post something if there is ever a need, but I feel I just can’t commit the time to this endeavor to do it justice.
Though my media pass gave me field level access, I have always put my money where my mouth was as far as supporting the Timbers and I have maintained a season ticket since 2002, so I will still get the chance to see many of you in the north end. But things are happening in my life that I want to devote more time to, including finally having someone very special in my life, so as I don’t want to continue this endeavor half-hearted, I am going to make sure to say my final thank you’s to those of you who made this such a wonderful time.
So 378 match reports and 8,498 photos later, it’s time to move on.
I do have other projects I plan to start working on, including a Portland vegetarian site (I have been vegetarian since November 15 of last year) and possibly a general Portland blog as well, which might give me the opportunity to occasionally post some Timbers content there.
But I wanted to really say I have very much appreciated those of who you have stuck with this site for the over 10 years it’s been here, as well as those of you who have joined in along the way. I have been truly honored to have been able to do my part for this wonderful Portland Timbers family but it’s time for me to move on and find my place in the north end and watch from the other side.
If you’d like to keep in touch my email address is at the bottom of this page, but I hope to see you all at JELD-WEN Field as I am still and will always be a green-blooded Timbers fan!
Thank you all for your support over the years. It means more to me than I can ever say.
Allison Andrews
February 13, 2013
