Thorns FC: Good but not good enough

On paper or pixels it looks like it should have been a quick, one-sided, brutal beatdown. The Portland Thorns went to Salt Lake City and outshot the Utah Royals 21-7, and put 6 on frame to Utah’s 3. They won 11 corners to Utah’s 5. Dagny Brynjarsdottir rattled a bullet of a header off the […]

Episode 28: Good But Not Crucial

A lot has happened since the last episode, so we’ve got a bonus sized edition for ya! Five matches to briefly talk about (especially that cray cray one against the Courage), Rose Lavelle and concussion protocols,Richard on league attendance and we weigh in on the whole Iron Front stuff, plus Merritt complaining that nobody appreciates […]

Thorns FC: Merciless

There’s a saying that I think is probably as old as Sumer. It goes like this: “When your enemy is drowning, throw them an anvil.” Or whatever they used for anvils in Sumer. C’mon. You get the idea. Last Sunday the Chicago Red Stars came to Portland trailing smoke after two ugly losses to the […]

Thorns FC: Takin’ Care of Business

Maybe it was the beer. I’d had a few, and that 10-and-a-half-buck-induced hazy vagueness always makes things look a little better. Maybe it was seeing the Thorns score their first goals from the run of play since late July. Maybe it was the 3-1 scoreline. Maybe it was just my naturally insanely cheery optimism that […]

Thorns FC: O Felix Culpa

All other doubts, by time let them be cleared.Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered. ~ William Shakespeare; Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene III That was weird. So much for the soccer chestnut “If you don’t score you can’t win.” Sunday afternoon the Damned Courage scored all three goals and still lost 2-1; the […]

Thorns FC: Reigned On

It’s a short week with the Damned Courage tomorrow midday and this was – certainly for a neutral and even for me as a Thorns fan – an ugly, dreary match, so I’ll be brief. The Thorns have got trouble. Seattle was not a particularly good team Wednesday night. Here’s the Opta stats line: SEA […]

Thorns FC: Didn’t

Thorns should’ve won. Didn’t. ~ Chris Henderson Dunno about you, but I’m pretty chapped that Sky Blue FC ran out of Providence Park last Saturday with a point. The only question left seems to be why the rascals managed to take on one of the top two teams in the league and hold them to […]

Episode 27: Breaking Your Duck

Getting ready for today’s game? Why not listen to a brand spankin’ new episode of Riveting to get you pumped up? We learn the meanings of some archaic terms (“breaking the duck”?!), Sky Blue anxiety, how InStat works (sorta) and what having a child means for both the player and the club.

It’s Crunch Time!

By which I mean it’s time to crunch the numbers on NWSL attendance We’re a little past halfway into the 2019 NWSL season and the victorious USWNT players have returned from the World Cup. It’s time to take a look at how the league is faring at the turnstiles. Well folks, there’s good news and […]

Thorns FC: Ridet Caesar

Victor Hugo probably invented the phrase because he wanted to make a point about the Battle of Waterloo in Les Miserables, but it still makes a great Latin tag: Ridet Caesar, Pompeius flebit. “Caesar laughs, Pompey weeps.” Last Wednesday night Caesar laughed, Pompey wept, and I laughed, too; laughed both from the pure joy of […]