The last time the Portland Timbers started with three wins….

By: Bob Kellett | April 28th, 2008

….they won the league (let’s ignore how they did in the playoffs that year).

In the cliché-filled sports world you often hear coaches and players say that it is more important how a team is playing at the end of the season rather than how it is playing at the beginning of a season. There is some validity to this in American sports where playoffs are valued over regular season games. But from my view, a win in the second game of the season earns the same three points as a win in the last game of the season and I’d much rather have the Timbers with three wins after three games than three losses after three games. History bears this out. Since we have a couple of weeks before the next game, let’s take a moment to look at how the Timbers have started their season over the years and where they ended up.

W-D-L
2001: 1-0-2, finished 4th in the Western Conference, lost in quarterfinals of playoffs
2002: 1-0-2, finished 5th in the West, lost in first round of playoffs
2003: 0-0-3, finished 3rd in the West, didn’t qualify for playoffs
2004: 3-0-0, finished 1st in the league, lost in quarterfinals of playoffs
2005: 2-1-0, finished 5th in the league, lost in quarterfinals
2006: 1-1-1, finished 11th in the league, didn’t qualify for playoffs
2007: 1-1-1, finished 2nd in the league, lost in semifinals of playoffs
2008: 3-0-0

So there isn’t necessarily a correlation between a quick start and how the team has done in the playoffs, but in general when the Timbers have started strong they have finished higher in the table in the regular season.

Average attendance comparison through three home games
2008 - 8,597
2001 - 6,907
2002 - 6,597
2007 - 5,522
2004 - 4,826
2005 - 4,727
2006 - 4,590
2003 - 3,955

Traditionally the opening 3-5 games have drawn the smallest crowds to PGE Park. The fact that attendance is so strong this early this year is a sign of huge summer crowds to come. A winning team that plays entertaining soccer isn’t going to hurt the matter.

Cubans off to Seattle
A few weeks back there was mention of the Cuban goalkeeper Jose Manuel Miranda ending up in Portland. After trials with the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA, he and a couple of his fellow defectors are getting a look from the Seattle Sounders. With current Sounders keeper Craig Eylander playing like he is one of the better keepers in the USL First Division, I don’t see this as necessarily being a move to strengthen the current Sounders squad but rather as a trial for the future MLS team in Seattle.

A Message from Blog Central
There are 10 days until the next Timbers game and I don’t expect too much news to filter out of PGE Park (although I do wonder when they are going to get around to announcing the friendlies - Juventus Primavera and who else?). I could probably make shit up in the meantime, but I have a couple big grant proposals coming due at work, and I have to help plan my wedding in late May. So chances are you will see decreased activity from me during this lull in the action. My goal is a post a day, but even Chugger in his prime didn’t score every game (or every other game or every other month for that matter). A huge thanks to everyone for stopping by, leaving comments, and sending me tips - timbers [at] theoffside.com. For a blog in its second month of existence, we’re getting lots of visitors. And I am having fun with it. Thanks.

Lead Photo: Allison Andrews/Soccer City USA
Crowd Photo: Dublinix