(This letter was sent to the MLS, Portland Timbers, Portland Tribune & San Jose Earthquake following the April 14 game in which the sports media is still obsessed with.)
This letter is regarding last Sunday’s Timbers game and the decision to suspend Alan Gordon for his “homophobic slur”. I was in the Timber’s Army section at the game and witnessed much more profane behavior endorsed by the Timbers organization than from Gordon and, thus, find his suspension to be completely out of line. As it stands, we have a system that will completely allow free speech in respect to the Timbers Army chanting “Fuck you!” and other riot inducing phrases toward the other team’s fans, but Alan Gordon can’t call someone gay. The hypocrisy is killing me.
The fan’s tenacity is great. The spirit is refreshing. The nature of the chants aren’t even necessarily reproachable. But, the difference between a right to free speech and abuse appears to be a blurry line, with the more wrong side going unchecked in this case. The Timbers host the kind of environment where an obnoxious fan of the opposing team stands a very real chance of being beaten to death. Chants led by cheerleaders on platforms that spark obscenities shouted at the opposing teams fans, flipping the middle finger and all else is the routine. The fans pay money to be able to do this. I get it. The San Jose players for their part thrived on that abuse, they wanted it. From pre-game stories I heard, the San Jose fans also seemed to thrive on it. But for such behavior to be sanctioned by the club is obscene! Please tell me why the Portland Timbers will encourage antagonistic chants to be started by a crew of madmen repeatedly throughout the game? I do not condone drunk sports fan’s actions, which means I certainly do not condone the Timbers for encouraging their behavior.
Every time I have seen drunk fans insulting each other it has resulted in a fight. I have been in a stadium of 80,000 people shouting obscenities at each other. It is a scary environment. I am pretty sure the Portland Timbers do not want to see a fight involving hundreds or thousands of people. When an opposing fan or player gets killed at a Timbers game, it will only go to show that the Timbers, the city of Portland, and even the MLS do not care about fans or consider potential violence to be a problem.
The results of the game became ironic after I spent lunchtime with a friend in Nob Hill, a few blocks from the stadium, listening to her complain about how she’ll never find a boyfriend in that neighborhood because all the men are gay. Later in the game, a San Jose player gets ejected and calls a Timbers player “gay”. It makes for a perfect news story in this modern age. It makes the next meeting of the two teams all the more attended. On one hand, I feel the “strong stand” of the Earthquake organization is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Does the MLS want the controversy? A lot of people suggest that sells tickets and, thus, gets sponsors. Being that violence is quite profitable in America, the more offensive the insult should be better for business. I feel this way because this whole “beacon of diversity, community and equality” in the Earthquakes press statement is a laugh! The Earthquakes don’t seem very sincere when the punishment is a mere three game suspension. If what this player did was such a bad thing, then he should have a real penalty like the rest of the season, not a slap on the wrist.
Priority number one: Force the Earthquakes to either take a real stand in enforcing a penalty or else don’t suspend him at all. Priority number two: Force the Portland Timbers to take a stand against their fans behavior before someone gets killed.
Might I also add that a bar in that neighborhood had a sandwich board out front that read “I like my beer like I like my violence. Domestic.” And this was a day after a drunk Beavers fan in Corvallis told me he only cheers for the Ducks when the plane is going down. Hearing someone be called gay was far from the worst thing that I heard last weekend. I understand sports fans have a problem with ego, violence, alcohol and such. This will always be the case. And the Portland Timbers fans do get their fair share of jabs thrown back at them. But for the organization themselves to support and encourage unruly behavior is completely irresponsible. The Timbers, the Earthquakes and the MLS are more guilty of inciting violence than Alan Gordon is of being homophobic. Until someone receives an equivalent punishment or some serious action is undertaken, then I most certainly will not watch another MLS game.
daniel ‘kid’ yoshida
La Grande, OR
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