An Apology

To the readers and staff at OSN,

This week I posted a piece (“The Rotten Roots of the Timbers Aesthetic”) that offended and outraged more than a few readers of this blog. For that I apologize.

I’d like to take a moment to explain my rationale for writing the piece, not as an excuse, but to clarify my intent in penning a post that caused so much outrage.

First off, in no way did I mean to imply that Timbers fans, and, more specifically, the Timbers Army are racist, intolerant or themselves “hooligans.” I tried to shape the prose to that end, but obviously I failed. For that I apologize.

Secondly, although the piece was clearly inflammatory, my intent wasn’t to agitate or attack, but rather to inquire. The nature of the Timbers aesthetic has been an ongoing topic of conversation between a friend and I, and I was hoping to bring the conversation to a wider audience.  Some conversations should obviously stay private and not be brought to a public platform.

Third, the article in question represented a few hours of cursory research on my part–enough to give me an idea of some of the context of the issue, but clearly not enough to fully cover the topic. OSN reader Basmah Rahman was kind enough to point me in the direction of a fully fleshed out research paper about the topic by a PSU grad student: http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/937. That master’s thesis examines the topic with a thoroughness and depth that my piece clearly lacked, and it is worth a read.

In closing, the post was meant as an inquiry, not an accusation. It represented my questions, not those of my fellow OSN writers or the editor. To those casual and die-hard Timbers fans who took exception to the piece, I can only say that I meant no malice and I will think twice before poking the hornet’s nest in the future.

Best regards,

Dave Mylet