Timbers and Spencer

Through a serendipitous twist of fate I found myself attending the press conference to unveil John Spencer as the new Timbers manger at the Adidas HQ today.  I went more to witness the spectacle than anything else and it was fun to witness a little part of the birth of the team.  It was also fun to check out the Adidas HQ a little bit.  Pretty snazzy as you might imagine.  My favorite bit was the elevator that had 1 and G.  At the end a few people got off on 1 and immediately realized their error.  "Ah, of course, a European style elevator!" one person then said.  Funny.

The little conference room and hospitality area has the entire collection of Adidas world cup balls, starting with one of the most iconic sports designs ever: the hexagonal, black-and-white, Telstar.  It remains the look of soccer balls in any graphic you'll find, including the MLS logo.

Anyway, here is the press conference if you are interested.  No news content at all, just nice platitudes and vague language about playing hard and attractive soccer.  The best bit is when Spencer was asked about flipping off fans who insulted Brian Ching when he was cut from the US World Cup squad.  And you got to love Spencer's Glaswegian brogue.

I think he'll be a great manager.

Portland Timbers introduce John Spencer