Basic HTML Version
86
SEPTEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
loan, to the lower-division Sounders—and
Sea le is where he stayed. That longevity,
coupled with his being one of the only
USL Sounders to transition to the MLS
squad, made Levesque a fan favorite,
and the “timmmberrr” goal celebration
only helped cement that status. Liking
Levesque became a statement in Sea le—
signaling you’ve followed the Sounders for
years—and the faithful paid homagewith
shirts reading “Real fans root for Levesque”
or featuringhismustachioed likeness anda
crown. Levesque’s profile rose sufficiently
high that celebrity website TMZ even
noted when Sea le native Amanda Knox
(she of falsely-charged-with-murder-in-
Italy fame) dressed up as him for her first
Halloween back in the States.
In Portland, obviously, the story goes a
li le differently. “The one thing I had going
for me when I was traded [from Sea le],”
says Timbers forward Mike Fucito, “was
that I wasn’t named Roger
Levesque. To say the fans here
dislike him would be a huge
understatement.” In 2007, for
instance, while Levesque was
playing as a guestwithPortland
inanexhibitionagainstToronto,
members of the Timbers Army
supporters group held up a
sign that read “True fans hate
Levesque.” Joe Wilson, a “capo,”
or leader, in the Army, confirms
the sentiment. “Yeah, Levesque,”
he says. “We hate him.”
Butwhatmakes suchconten-
tiousness all the more bizarre
is that, right up to announcing
his retirement this past July,
Roger Levesque could reason-
ably be described as the nicest
guy inMajor League Soccer.
I first meet up with him in May, a er
Seattle’s U.S. Open Cup game against
Atlanta, a 5-1 victory. The plan is to meet
by the locker room, but to get there I have
to pass through a line of more than 400
fans. Many of the Sounders are signing
autographs and posing for pictures for a
fewminutes before moving on. Levesque,
on the other hand, talks to Every. Single.
Person. This is not hyperbole. He spends
over anhour in the rain cha ingwith each
fan in a casual, almost Clintonian man-
ner. Dinner plans are
made, email addresses
exchanged , mus i c
preferences discussed.
“Normally,” says Mike
Ferris of the Sound-
ers communications
office, “you see Roger
about an hour after
talking to fans andhe’ll
haveno shirt, no shoes,
nothing, because he’s given it all away.”
Later, over beers at Peso’s in Seattle’s
Queen Anne neighborhood, Levesque
explains his philosophy toward fans.
“Obviously I want to contribute as much
as possible on the field, but I also recognize
that I’m now one of the older guys ... so I
try and help out however I can, whether
it’s talking to fans a er games or going to
meet-and-greet events, or whatever. Hon-
estly, this community has been so good to
me, it’s kind of the least I can do.”
When I ask him how he feels knowing
that Timbers fans have christened him
Public Enemy No. 1, he takes a sip of his
beer, and smiles. “Actually, I kind of love
it.” When my face shows that I’m not
buying it, he goes on. “No, seriously, it’s
fun. It gets you fired
up for the game. If they
didn’t care at all, it’d be
worse. It shows how
passionate they are.”
He stops to consider his
statement, and laughs.
“Even if they are kind of
funneling that passion
into hatred for me.”
BOARDING PASS
Grab a front-row seat to the Pacific Northwest’s great soccer rivalry with direct flights to Seattle and Portland from our U.S.
hubs at New York/Newark, Chicago, San Francisco, L.A., Houston, Denver and D.C. You can also reach Seattle year-round from Tokyo and season-
ally fromCleveland, and get to Portland on United Express from four other Northwest cities.
Go to united.com to see details and book your flight.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 138
»
GREEN SCENES
Clockwise from above, Roger
Levesque, longtime Seattle Sounders hero (and
Portland Timbers nemesis); Portland fans get
into it at a game against Seattle; one of the
Timbers Army banners; the Timbers’ in-house
lumberjack, Timber Joey (at left)