Portland Timber Fans Booing Injured Sounder Hurtado Ratches Up Soccer Rivalry

On a sun-splashed summer afternoon with raucous fans rumbling the rafters during a tied 2-2 Sounders vs. Timbers game in Portland, passion in the Pacific Northwest picked up where it left off the last time these two major league soccer fan bases put on the gloves several decades ago.

Actually junior level matches have been going on for years, but this one reminded fans of dozens of matches back in the '70s at tiny Memorial Stadium in Seattle during the old NASL days with the goofy balls featuring the American red white & blue stars.  

Fifteen thousand fans packed the stands back then, making the tight confines in the shadow of the Space Needle rock like any football venue in the Old County, which was rare for a sport that the rest of the nation did not understand.  

But as special as it was all those years ago, it was no match for the wild new atmosphere of Portland's urban stadium setting of a former ...

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