Sacramento Republic FC is making a (well deserved) push to get into Major League Soccer. One of the requirements for expansion teams is a soccer-specific stadium capable of seating 20,000 or more people. MLS, has been cagey about offering SRFC a franchise, but that hasn’t stopped them from promoting Built for Sacramento, a web site showcasing the proposed design for the new stadium. The video promo is eerily reminiscent of the city of Portland, with hipster barber shops, breweries, rabid soccer fans, two rivers intersecting, and yes, skateboarding. You can pretty much overdub “Portland” every time they say Sacramento and you might not notice, even with the visuals. Except of the weather.

Cheap fingerboards are a dime a dozen or in this case, $36 a dozen. The packaging on these cheap toys is worth more that the actual product. Fingerboards from China… I know. Who cares? I always like a good sports crossover, and this serves as your reminder to watch the USA vs Columbia in today’s Women’s World Cup. That match starts at 5pm Pacific time.

Thrasher t-shirt spotted in the stands during yesterday’s broadcast of the Portland Timbers at the San Jose Earthquakes. Soccer! Rodney Wallace!

Last year’s promo must have been a hit, becasue they upped it from the first 2000 to the first 5000 fans in the park who got a free Portland Timbers skateboard. I have to tell you I thought our mayor was a bit looney pushing for a major league soccer team in our town. I hold soccer in about as much entertainment esteem as the Onion does, and I figured it would flop, but boy was I wrong. Games are regularly sold out and the fans are rabid. I heard last year’s board was not really the same size as an actual skateboard, more like a toy hand board. I’m still a little bit confused by this cross promotion. Makes about as much sense as a skateboarder printed on a frisbee, or Air Grip brand flying disk as it were. But damn it all if I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon and go see a game, cause I do. Update: Well this post is pretty funny in retrospect, as 5 years later I am now a huge Timbers nerd. So much so that I actually travelled to Columbus Ohio to watch them win the MLS Cup.

[Photo: Portland Timbers] – Thanks to Greg for the tip.

May 15th was free skateboard day at the PGE park. The first 2000 people to enter the Portland Timbers game vs. St Louis got a free Portland Timbers skateboard. I didn’t even find out about it until now. I’m bummed on a few levels. Bummed I didn’t know about it in advance, bummed I didn’t get a skateboard, and bummed I wasn’t the supplier. 2,000 skateboards is an expensive promotion, even if you were to buy them from China. It would take a company like, Oh , I don’t know, Cold War, a good six years to sell that many decks. I didn’t think it was legit, but it is up on the Portland Timbers Facebook page. The top graphic is the tip off that the designer probably didn’t skate. Anybody know what’s going on with the rumor that Portland might get a Major League Soccer team? Remember the episode of the Simpsons where they joked that it made actually made a town less desirable? Interesting cross sport marketing. I was going to link to a picture of a frisbee with a skateboarder on it, but either I never posted it or I can’t find it.

– Thanks to Greg for the tip.