Goodbye, Ray Burse? Hello, Leonard Griffin and world-class striker?

By: Bob Kellett | April 1st, 2008

A Lambo gets slaughtered in Dallas and the impact is felt all the way in Portland. FC Dallas’ 17-year-old backup keeper Josh Lambo had his head kicked in during his reserve team game on Sunday and now will be out 6-8 weeks. The timing couldn’t be worse for the Timbers who just received keeper Ray Burse on loan from FC Dallas late last week. There hasn’t been an official announcement about Burse being recalled and it is possible that FC Dallas will sign another keeper to fill in as backup in the interim, but my money is on Burse heading back to Texas. That would leave the Timbers with Jordan James and Steve Reese. Suddenly my stomach is queasy.

The Trib delivers the punch today with the usual assortment of tidbits, including this quote from Leonard Griffin about a possible return to Portland. Leonard did not play in Columbus’ season opening victory against Toronto.

“Right now, I’m not sure,” Griffin says. “It depends on how the coaches feel, if they feel like they have enough guys at my position.

“The possibility of the whole defense returning (in Portland) could be pretty exciting,” says Griffin, noting that the Timbers have welcomed back starters Cameron Knowles, Scot Thompson and Justin Thompson. “But I’d like to get a chance to prove myself here in this league. I’m waiting to see if that happens.”

As if that weren’t enough to get the blood pumping and the stomach feeling better, Timbers boss Merritt Paulson adds this appetizing bit of news about a new forward headed our way in a few weeks.

“We have a young guy, 19 years old, who is going to be announced much later and who is going to have a real impact,” Paulson says.

The new guy is said to be faster than Bryan Jordan, which means the rumor about Ronaldinho is probably not true. Let’s see if we can beat the team to the punch again and get a name for this already legendary player (possibly a Kiwi, possibly played in a World Cup, possibly is playing in Europe) who is going to cure AIDS and deliver us a championship. If you know anything, drop me a line – timbers@theoffside.com