Are you excited for the MLS All-Star game next week in Portland, where Bayern Munich will be in full feature as the opponent?
Yeah, me too.
While unfortunately it's too late to heavily organize for the New York game, there's still time to organize a meet up during the Portland trip. To that end let's highlight a few items of interest on the schedule for the Portland away trip. The full official schedule for the week can be found here, but we're just going to hit on the highlights as well as some Bayern Munich fan events you maybe think about attending.
Sunday, August 3rd
There's not a whole lot going on on Sunday from a soccer perspective. MLS will be hosting a party all day at Waterfront Park complete with something called a Grilled Cheese Throwdown. Which, if that isn't enough to get your heart racing, you may want to check if you're clinically dead. In reality it's a great excuse to spend some time on the side of the Willamette river. There's a concert in the evening headlined by the Flaming Lips which in case you wanted to really spice up your life after the the Grilled Cheese throwdown, what better way then giant pink robots and psychedelic indie rock?
In reality, if you're there Sunday or before (which none of the BFW writers will be) use the day as an excuse to tool around, explore Portland, or try to hit up the tasting racks of every microbrewery in the downtown core.
Monday, August 4th
This is the big one. The big kahuna of a day. Okay, no it's actually the complete opposite.
The day starts at 9am with a Bayern Munich U16 practice in Beaverton which is about 15 minutes from the Portland core. If that's not your cup of tea, I'd advise using the time to recover from whatever debauchery you got into on Sunday evening, or heading down to Pioneer Courthouse Square and checking out the MLS festivities. Those last all week and I'm sure Bayern Munich will have a presence.
Other then that, think of it as another excuse to peruse more of Portland and more of their beer. Also, while you're downtown, hit the Foodtrucks. They're just a hop skip NW of Pioneer Courthouse Square and a cheap lunch spot with a ridiculous number of options. If you're looking for a little more specific directions, then hit this site for all the details.
The Chipotle Homegrown game will be at Providence Park in the evening. Tickets are required for that event, but it promises to be a good show of up and coming MLS talent if that's something you care about. If not, there's always more beer.
Bayern Munich USA encourages you to attend the live Men in Blazers podcast in Pioneer Courthouse Square that evening. Tickets were free, but it's sold out, and it's standing room, view obstructed only now unless you can somehow snag a roof seat on top of the Nordstrom (Please don't actually try to do this. You can't give us reliable page views from jail) it might be an experience that's a little rough.
Tuesday, August 5th
This is the day before the big one. 10am at Providence Park is an open-to-the-public Bayern Munich training session. I will be there. Davis will be there. Scott might be there but who knows with that kid. This event goes from 10am to 11:30am at which time you can either stick around for the MLS Open practice in early afternoon or head out for other activities.
Tuesday evening we encourage all of you to join us for a Rekordmeister podcast co-hosted event at Prost bar. The event will run from 5pm to 7pm and some of your favorite Bavarian Football Works celebrities (re: Scott and I, for sure) will be there. It is an all ages event, in case you find some random children you want to indoctrinate (or are not yet 21...you have my sympathies). There will a raffle of some type. I'm hoping Claudio Pizarro hair plugs is the prize but will settle for a free jersey. There will also be Paulaner drink specials (If they're not on tap, you might find me in the corner sulking though). You should all come out as it should be a fun experience.
Otherwise, on Tuesday evening the Bayern Munich U16 will play the USA East Youth All-Star team out in Beaverton from 8pm to 10pm. At 9pm back in PDX proper the Cold War Kids get ready to rock the block to the soul-pounding sounds of indie rock.
Wednesday, August 6th
This is the big one. The day we've all been waiting for.
There's plenty of MLS-centric content to occupy your day with in the Pioneer Square area. However, the main event is going to be down south of Burnside street on 2nd Ave. Bayern Munich USA will be at Kells Irish pub hosting the pre-game festivities starting at 1pm. Hint: it will include lots of beer. Hit that up, or if you're partial, there are about a thousand other locations to choose from.
Somewhere around 5pm the mass exodus to Providence Park begins while the MLS All-star game kicks off at 7:30pm. There will be an after party of some type following the game thrown by the supporters, led by Bayern Munich USA. As yet, details are not available but it should be high on your list to things to attend if possible. Who doesn't love an after-party?
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I'll be flitting around the entire week from event to event with plenty of down time. If you want to grab a pint, meet up and talk Bayern Munich I'm more then happy. Both Email and Twitter are good ways to get a hold of me and both are available from my SBNation page. I'm sure Davis and Scott can give you more details on where/how you can meet up with them if you want.