Hey, Portland Timbers, we salute you! As a long-time soccer fan, it has been a joy to celebrate the Timbers’ first Major League Soccer championship over the last week. Portland defeated the Columbus Crew 2-1 on December 6 to win the MLS Cup.

Since then, the team has celebrated with fans at the Portland Airport, in downtown during a victory parade on Broadway, and at a special championship rally at Providence Park that drew 9,000 supporters on a wet Tuesday night:

Soccer City, U.S.A. does celebrations right! I loved being at the rally with a couple of soccer buddies and shooting the event for my personal 2015 season scrapbook. It was a magical run, and while the season is long…the off-season is short. Training camp starts in late January for the 2016 campaign. Let’s do this again next year!