Brougham Beat for January, 2012

2011 – The Year We Raised The Bar for MLS Tifo

The schedule didn't exactly work in our favor. We had a very busy tifo schedule at the front of the season, then a bit of a lull, and then a very hectic season ending.

Before we begin we'd like to take some time to thank a few specific people.

Brent- Nearly every display we made this year (home opener, Portland home and away, Vancouver home and away, USOC final, and Kellers last game) was the product of your artful brilliance. We have no idea how the hell you do what you do but it is simply amazing.

Tom- You were the artist behind our final display of the season, the home playoff display against RSL. We can't believe how quickly you were able to put together this beautiful piece of art. We dropped this on you very last minute and you didn't disappoint.

Heather, Maeve, and Bob- You literally sewed together miles of tifo for us this season. The DoD banner alone had over 2 miles of seems. Maeve and Bob, you selflessly volunteered your time to sew together large sections of fabric for us at home on your own time. Heather, without your showing us how to properly reinforce the DoD drop-downs they would surely have failed.

And of course, Rob, Randall, and Jake – Our past was glorious, and our future will be bright in your hands!

All of you have been invaluable this season and here's to many more season of creative collaboration.

So without further adieu, here is what we did during the 2011 season. (We hope you're sitting down)

March, 15 2011: WATCH EM' FALL (Home opener)

This huge chess board tifo featuring a giant hand smashing the LA Galaxy and blowing all our opponents pieces off the board was the perfect way to begin the season. We loved the level of detail we went to with this as this was the first time we move to a more realistic tri-tone shading style, giving more depth and life to the image. One of the best parts of this display was that each of the other teams logos were "creatively altered". Portland became Portscum and the Vancouver Whitecaps became the Wankouver Whitefraps. The Redbulls were now the Deadbulls and Chicago was of course Shitcago. We also made a 100x9ft vertical text banner that also incorporated the chess board paint theme. The overhead was 3 sections wide X 1 section tall (100x75ft). Total sq footage 8400sqft. This display took about a week to complete.

April, 2 2011: SAN JOSE AWAY

This display was very simple by our standards but one of our favorites. As many of you know, the San Jose away trip is one of the most heavily traveled and may people actually prefer it to the Vancouver away trip. Why? Well the San Jose fans are bastards and have quickly gained the reputation as one of our biggest rivals. As Rob Scott was preparing to leave, he met up with 8 other people in Kirkland. At our rallying point he remembered that he had just purchased a bunch of blue and green table roll material and it was still in the back of his car. On a whim he decided to bring a bunch of it with him, not really sure what we would do with it when we got there. When we arrived at Buckshaw the following evening Rob grabbed 8 other people and we stood facing our section, shoulder to shoulder, just before kickoff. After the National Anthem everyone in the front row grabbed a roll and let it unwind up the section behind them, effectively creating a blue and green striped shell over the entire section. The reason we love this display so much is that there was zero planning. We proved that with absolutely no notice, all of you are willing to help with whatever we throw at you. That kind of group trust and coordination isn't easy to find.

May, 14 2011: "DECADES OF DOMINANCE" (Portland home)

This is to date the largest tifo display ever in North America, and that's something to be very proud of. Not only was it over half an acre but it was also very poignant. As the 9 part display unfurled we started by paying homage to current and former Sounders. The likes of Freddy Montero, Marcus Hahnemann, Preston Burpo, Jimmy Gabriel, and Brian Schmetzer each appeared on their own full section overheads. Then we let the scum know who's been kicking their ass for the last 35 years when we dropped from the 300 level a massive fist crushing the timbers logo and a wilted rose. Flanking that central fist was the 4 section wide text "DECADES OF – DOMINANCE". But we weren't done yet. On the field goal net, we hoisted the final piece. A priceless image of Roger Levesque, Portland nemesis, and the text "48 seconds", (in reference to the 2009 USOC game where the "King" scored against the scum 48 seconds into the match). A further testament to all of you who helped deploy this monster was the fact that right before we were set to go, a monsoon settled over the stadium and everything probably doubled in weight because the amount of water it soaked up. We've never heard RBP as loud as it was on that night and we had never been more proud.

June, 11 2011: "WHAT IS BEST IN LIFE" (Vancouver home)

Not as large as our previous DoD effort but still just as effective at letting our opponent know why we are here and what we want. This display featured our tallest single overhead, a 140ft tall image of Conan standing on a mountain of skulls. This is the only time we've made an overhead that stretched from the bottom of lower 122 to the top of upper 122. There was also in total almost 300 feet of vertical text banners staged all over upper and lower 121, 122, and 123. The infamous move quote read "What is best in life? To crush – your enemies, – see them driven – before you, and – to hear the lamentation of their supporters." We loved this display, not only for the beautiful imagery but the technique around the artwork was very unique. The overhead was sloped up the section and the text was vertical but we still managed to flow all the graphic elements together to make one fluid transition. No easy task.

July, 10 2011: IT TAKES A SOUNDER TO RAISE A TROPHY (Portland away)

Anyone who went on this trip doesn't need us to remind them how beautiful it was. We took 9 buses, 500+ supporters from 3 different stops, beautiful weather, and one HELL of a match. The first half ended nil-nil but twice in the second half the Sounders found themselves down a goal to the scum and twice they managed to draw even on the foot of Montero. Then finally, Ozzie Alonso, the Cubano Bulldog, buried what was probably a perfectly placed PK low and to his right in the dying minutes of the second half. Our tifo for this epic day was a play on the scums home opener and arrogance, "It takes an army to raise a club." As you probably already know, the scum haven't won a trophy… EVER. So we took a jab at them with our tifo "It takes a Sounder to raise a trophy". But that was only the first half. A few weeks prior we made 100 2-poles with a Smokey the Bear face and various sayings on each one. Sayings like "Smokey says, Burn these timbers" and "spike a timber". This display was small time by our usual standards but many clubs don't even go this big. 100 standard size 2poles and about 400 cards. This took only a few hours.

August, 3 2011: Put yourself in our hands (CCL)

This display came amongst a whirlwind of other tifo displays. We had big plans for the potential USOC final so we decided to scale this one down a bit. The message read, "Put yourself in our hands so our voices can be heard, and together we will take on all the world". This spread across 4, 60ft text banners and was fairly simple so we decided to up the difficulty level and deploy them in stages.

September, 24 2011: WE PREDICT A RIOT (Vancouver away)

This was easily one of our favorite tifos of the year. This imagery was clever, the message was edgy, and we can't believe how quickly we put it together. Not unlike in Portland, the Sounders had to dig themselves out of an early hole when they traveled up the I-5 to Vancouver. The Whitecaps scored first but it was all downhill for them after that. Our boys outplayed them and we out-chanted them in their own stadium. It sounded like a match at RBP because of how loud you all were. The Sounders eventually made easy work of the 'Caps beating them 3-1. After the match, the Southsiders forums were all a-buzz with comments about how we dominated them from start to finish. Our favorite comment was about the tifo, "how did they get approval for that from the FO?" Um… we didn't, and the fact that they think we did just proves that the Southsiders don't get it. We displayed ruthless efficiency when we made this display. We sewed the entire 50×30 overhead, drew the graphic, and painted it and the 50ft text banner in under 8 hours.

October, 4 2011: GRIM REAPER (USOC Final)

This display evenly shares our favor with the DoD and Riot displays. DoD was awesome, and the Riot banner couldn't have been more perfect, but the Grim Reaper display was a perfect example of what tifo should be. For starters, the detail was top notch. If you look closely you'll see that the grass was more overgrown and the tombstone was more worn away on the 2009 overhead that it was on the 2010. This attention to detail is one thing that sets us apart from other supporters groups. The open grave with the body wrapped in the Chicago flag was the true icing on the cake. It was cocky, arrogant, edgy, and a little rude, and we absolutely loved it. The grim reaper looming over all three overheads sent a message. The fact that this overhead required absolutely zero text but was still capable of delivering the perfect message means that we're moving in the right direction.

October, 15 2011: IN YOUR HANDS OUR PAST WAS GLORIOUS AND OUR FUTURE WILL BE BRIGHT

This was the final regular season home match for the Captain, Kasey Keller. He had one hell of a career and, in our opinion, it was an honor for us to watch him play this last year, saving our asses on more than one occasion. We decided to make a display in tribute to him and his captaining our beloved Sounders to 3 consecutive Open Cup championships. In 2010 we made an overhead with Keller hoisting the Open Cup the Sounders won in 2009. So in 2011 we made a second overhead with Keller holding the 2nd and 3rd open cups. Each of these overheads was used in this display. First the 2010 overhead (first time we've reused a display) rose up from the bottom of 122 with the text "In your hands our past was glorious" then after it was lowered back down the second overhead followed it from the top of 122 with the text "and our future will be bright". In addition to the overheads a card display filled all of 121 and 123.

November, 2 2011: FOR OUR CLUB, FOR OUR CITY (Playoff)

This match, as we can all attest, was bitter sweet. Unfortunately the Sounders played rather poorly during the first half of this home and home playoff leg against RSL in Salt Lake City. The second leg at home saw the Sounders even after 45 minutes and desperately in need of 3 second half goals. Well… they got 2 but they fought like lions and we gave them all the support we could possibly muster. This tifo was one of my favorites of the season. We really changed it up for this one by making a 90ft long, semi circular overhead and a 10 section card display. But this was no simple card display. Previously when using card displays in our tifo we've used simple block of colors. This time we contoured the card display to arc and follow the semi circular shape of the overhead creating concentric alternating bands of color. I loved this display because it proved that not only do we have the largest and most detailed overheads, and the most creative deployment techniques is all of MLS, but we also are capable of the most complex card displays.

Whew!
How the hell did we do all that? Because everyone one of you that helped sew, draw, paint, cut, fold, tape, set up, and deploy are pretty much the best people we've ever known. We ask a lot from all of you and you're ALWAYS come through. We can't thank each of you enough for all the long nights you put in over the course of the season. Your commitment and passion is unmatched.

Thank you!

[Article written by Rob Scott and edited for newsletter format. Any errors in content are the editors. Any errors in spelling? They're probably Rob's.]