Tony had canceled our usual Wednesday meeting, so we had no choice but to go cheer him on. It is what true friends do. Thinking about it, he probably does the same thing for us. Maybe not for the same reasons though...
Watching the Timbers warm up, we had a chance to scope out some potential. Has anybody noticed how attractive number 4 is? I noticed him, and as one of my friends said "i could just spread him on a cracker." That was a true copy and paste, folks.
We spotted Tony by his shoes. He wears a classic pair of black and red predators, which is something we shall blog about in the future (why he wears them, the history of the shoe, etc.). He was sporting a yellow penny, the jersey of a sub, but was running around with as much enthusiasm, if not more than his team mates. We felt his intensity from the crowd.
From the seats, we prepared to take notes about the game. (Unfortunately I do not have them with me).
The rest of the crowd was wild. Nothing like a rivalry to liven up the City of Thorns. The best part was the huge wooden lumberjack cutting down the Space Needle before the start of the game. But our spirits were dampened within the first minute of the game. Damn those Sounders! 1-0 is not the best start to a match, but it will have to do. Without my notes, I do not remember many important things from the first half. Maybe it was the fact that our favorite tiger was not on the field?
To curb our appetite for Tony, we wrote his name and notes to him on napkins to reach him on the field. A few of the notes made their way onto the field, but none of the players took notice.
At half time, we were told it was "uncool" to dump popcorn onto the Sounder's fans.
Looking at the field before the second half kick-off we saw our favorite Timber on his toes on the center circle. We took notes on his ever mistake (diving, kicking it out, etc.) in the sweetest way possible. At points he would be open in the middle of the field, being what we call a "lone tiger". He had a few opportunities he could have capitalized on, but overall his play was fabulous. His touches were perfection most of the time, and his runs made our hearts flutter. He committed a number of fouls, one that sent a Sounders player in the fetal position for at least four minutes, and he had to be escorted off of the field. Tony got a yellow card for that one. We also got in trouble for sending notes to Tony. They obviously do not understand our bond.
The game ended at a disappointing 2-1.
We felt the need to sprint down to the field so we could have his autograph and talk to him a little bit. We arrived out of breath five minutes later shouting "TONY THE TIGER! TONY THE TIGER!" He laughed, smiled and shook his head. We went through the basic "Hello, we miss you, good game" etc. At this point, we needed a picture, and people were looking at us strangely. We spend so much time working out with him, but we never have gotten a picture with our Tiger. We bent under the ropes, and security was on us like flies. "BACK UNDER THE ROPE!" Tony looked at them, and argued that he knew us, and that we just wanted a picture. Nobody in blue can fight with Tony's smile. Let me tell you.
He put his arm around me, and I turned to him and stated "Tony, you are sweaty." He has this way to smile at you and say, "Yes I am," while being sarcastic, completely straight with you, nice and pointing out that you are being Captain Obvious.
After going back under the ropes, a girl in our party (a fellow blogger) handed Tony his list of mistakes. He read over them, shaking his head and smiling (There was no diving! I did no such thing!). He attempted to hand the list back to us, but we smiled and shook our heads, and somebody suggested he keep them and look them over. I told him he should post them to his bedroom wall. He grinned, shook his head, and said he would. Almost jokingly, we asked him to sign our foreheads, and said "I could sign your forehead every practice." We said this was special. As he brought his blessings across our foreheads, he informed us this would give us zits. Once again, this was special.
Lastly, he told us, upon our request who number four was.
We stopped in to say "hola" to Scot Thompson, who found it great that we had shown up for autographs. He signed our right cheeks. Scot Thompson is something special. Everybody around us thought we were absolutely insane. We loved it.
We introduced ourselves to number 4 (Brian) as Tony's friends and he said "Oh...I'm sorry." Needless to say, we found this hilarious. Some snapshots were taken etc.
We stopped in to say "hola" to Scot Thompson, who found it great that we had shown up for autographs. He signed our right cheeks. Scot Thompson is something special. Everybody around us thought we were absolutely insane. We loved it. I had to explain that we were friends with Scot and Tony. Fans were impressed.
With old Trimet passes we made our last rounds to get Tony, Scot, and Brian's autographs in a fashion that we could pin to our walls.
The outcome of the game wasn't great, I admit. But talking to Tony was brilliant. Tony is brilliant:)
Tony Quote of the Day: "Yes I am."
