Mike Merrill – Portland Sportsman

RIP

Mike Merrill — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:20:08 +0000

This is a partial archive of the writings from The Portland Sportsman, a sports enthusiast website. Members included Mike Merrill, Dan Woytek, Devin Chapman, Josh B., Erin Gates, Starr Ahrens, Scott W., Stephanie Chase, Thomas King, and others.

Gridiron Dreams

Mike Merrill — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:47:27 +0000

via Portland Monthly.

Before Rodman

Mike Merrill — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:35:53 +0000

A truly wonderful statistical analysis making a case for Dennis Rodman. One of my favorite lines:

Before Rodman, we should have expected a rebounder of that quality to appear about once every 400 years.

And of course there are a lot of charts and graphs.

Perfect

Mike Merrill — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:40:22 +0000

History

Mike Merrill — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:48:23 +0000

@ZachDundus and @marty_PDX wrote an expanded history of Portland soccer for Portland Monthly.

Jan 1975: The burgeoning North American Soccer League (NASL) offers Portland the 20th franchise for the 1975 season, bringing pro soccer to Portland for the first time.

Watched From Atlanta

Mike Merrill — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:41:18 +0000

Watched the first Timber’s game in Atlanta on a bad satellite feed. Texted a bit with Devin who was at the game. He’ll post something after he gets back to Portland.

Where Do NFL Fans Go?

Mike Merrill — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:38:28 +0000

The NFL and the NFL Players’ Association are currently in negotiations to install a new collective bargaining agreement before the 2011 season — negotiations that have resulted in the decertification of the union and the start of a lockout.
(Overview of lockout on ESPN.)

So what happens if there is no NFL? What sport will the NFL fans move on to watch?

“A bizarre and culturally discombobulated combination of college football and English Premier League soccer.”

“College football of course. In many people’s opinion it’s already more fun to watch. I think hockey could benefit and take the place of college
football after the bowls.”

“Baseball! Because there won’t be anything distracting viewers from the playoffs and World Series!

“The NFL is so far off my radar that the lockout isn’t something I had even heard of.”