Portland’s shot at the MLS

In the editorial board meeting yesterday, the subject of Merritt Paulson’s effort to win a Major League Soccer franchise for Portland came up. It was mostly a conversation about taxpayer protection, the pros and cons of a baseball park in the Rose Quarter and the proposed upgrades to PGE Park. But along the way, one among us — collegial decorum forbids me to say whom — voiced the opinion that “soccer is stupid.”

I’ve learned to smile at this and not adopt that whiny, picked-on tone that soccer fans sometimes slip into. I do think there’s some inherent grumpiness in the air for American pro sports fans contemplating basketball’s All-Star break and the void between football and baseball seasons. Without the usual seasonal distractions, sports fans have little choice but to contemplate their dwindling retirement portfolios and gloomy economic prospects.

– Excerpt from OregonLive.com Commentary by Mike Francis, February 12, 2009