THERE'S NO BANTER LIKE MLS BANTER
Last week's MLS All-Star Game, which concluded in a 4-2 penalty kick defeat to guests of honour Real Madrid following a 1-1 draw, marked another milestone for the ever-growing league as over two million fans tuned in across the US and Canada.
But now that Glamour Friendly Season is over and the likes of Real, Barcelona, Manchester United, and Juventus have returned to Europe, US football can do what US football does best: devastatingly brilliant banter.
Following a March 13 loss to fellow west-coasters Portland Timbers, LA Galaxy's 44-second deconstruction of Timbers midfielder Diego Chara's controversial dive was snarky, clever, and effective.
The video, which as of this writing has nearly 44,000 retweets, earned the club a talking-to from the league according to Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl. But the video remained, and soon it became a question not of whether or not the Timbers would respond, but when.
Fans finally got an answer to that question on Monday, just two days after the Timbers recorded a 3-1 home win to the Galaxy.
In the clip, a 'scientist' from the Royal Cascadian Technological Institute of Discovery (a sly reference to famous Timbers Army chant "Rose City 'Til I Die") explains the "fading star" phenomenon, a response to the 'Shooting Stars' song used in the Galaxy's video.
The superb 70's educational video style compliments clever digs at the Galaxy's revolving door of big-name, past-their-prime stars, the anticipated emergence of expansion side LAFC, and even the club's suburban location.
Not-so-veiled shots at players such as Steven Gerrard and David Beckham may rankle some feathers at the league's New York head office, especially as the latter prepares to seal the deal on his much-delayed Miami franchise. But hopefully any wrist-slappings are sufficiently brief and playful, for as I've previously touched on, club PR is at its best when everyone is having fun and nobody takes themselves too seriously.
By Dan Orlowitz, IBWM Subculture Editor. We own no rights to the header image used. Full credit goes to its source, the Portland Timbers official Facebook account.