This is a personal video. It was shot on June 19th at Jeld-Wen where the Timbers played the New York Red Bulls to a 3-3 draw. For those who can't tell, I shot this from the front row of 106. And it shows the capo deck in front of 107. This is also a personal video for me in that it shows the love, respect, and general willingness to go out of their way for theory fellow TA. This is what is meant by "Spread the love". This is why the Timbers Army is so much more than just a supporters group. We are a family.
At this point, I will warn you that this will not be a short post. So if you don't feel like reading, just enjoy the video. But this is worth the read. It is a truly heart warming story.
At first glance, this video looks fairly ordinary. The capos leading the Timbers Army in their match day tradition of singing " You are my Sunshine." Which, might I add, the symbolism of this chant in itself is enough to bring a tear to the eye of every Timbers fan. But this night was more. Notice there is an extra person standing up on deck. His name is Joe. He is a old personal friend of mine, and the brother of my best friend in high school.
Joe hasn't exactly had a great run of luck in life. Joe has cancer. Hodgkins Lymphoma, to be exact. He also was hit by a car in January of 2011 riding his bike out to Sauvies Island to watch the sun rise. He was found, I repeat, found, on the side of the road at 5:30 in the morning. I don't recall all of what was done to him at that time, but I do know he had a collapsed lung and internal bleeding.
Joe and Sally(my high school friend) were given tickets to the Philly match in section 95. It was my first time seeing him since the accident. And while I had known about him previously having cancer, I was not aware that he was still battling it. We all met up after the match at the Bitter End for a few pints and some laughs. That's when Sally told me how severe Joes cancer was. It's inoperable. Between his pancreas and his spine. It was a gut check and a half. And I looked across the bar to see him smiling and laughing. He knew. He beat death twice, and knew death was right there beating on his door, and all he could do was smile. Live in the moment, enjoy today. He knew it could end any day for him. But he would not let that spoil his enjoyment of that very second. It was then that I decided I wanted to do something special for him. Give him an awesome night that he would always remember. So I asked Sally about how he liked it, and she said he loved it and wished he could sit with the army for a night. An easy task, so I set to work.
Having been around a few years, I've made friends with some of the well known faces of the TA. So I asked a friend currently sits on the 107ist about buying his two TA tickets for a night he could spare. Any night. He gave me two tickets to the Red Bulls. Pleased, but not yet content, I looked for what else I could do. I logged into my SCUSA account(or talktimbers.com if you prefer), and put out a request. I asked if anyone could help me out by saving Joe and Sally a seat in 107, maybe chat up Joe and buy him a beer or something. Make him feel welcome. I definitely did not expect what came next.
When I next went to check on my thread, I saw one person offering up to tickets to Chivas USA, the owner of El Jeffes's offering him the true TA matchday experience of a free meal, and to top it off, that he would have a seat in the front row of 107. I couldn't believe it. You think you know and understand the love and compatriotism of this club, and it still manages to touch your heart and bring a tear to your eye.
I traded my seats in the South Deck to be in the North End that night. I just wanted to see his face throughout the night. He knew I got him tickets in the North End for that night, but that was it. I snagged him, took him to El Jeffes Grill for his free dinner, led him down the Aisleway to the front, pointed to the front row and said "These are your seats for tonight". He grinned and took his seat. He stood for a while, but between his cancer and chemo treatments, he didn't have a whole lot of strength. Pong, the infamous capo of 107, who is responsible for securing their seats, and can be seen in red in the video, asked me if he would prefer to sit somewhere else that he could see the match and not have to capos in his way. I asked Joe, to which he just smiled, shook his head, and said he didn't care. He was fine where he was. So we left him where he was. They pulled him on deck to sing "You are my sunshine", and you can see the rest.
This is why I love my club. Because it goes beyond just sitting in a seat and watching a game. Anyway, I've rambled enough for now.
Edit: I've been trying to upload this for the last few hours, and the video doesn't want to upload. So I'm posting this, and will work on trying to get the video uploaded later.
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