This is all because of Seattle.
The Seattle Sounders, a Major League Soccer team, decided to troll their longtime rivals, the Portland Timbers, and now Maine businesses are choosing sides.
In early June, the Seattle Sounders took out a billboard in downtown Portland, Oregon, proclaiming their love for Portland, Maine.
@sounders throwing some shade towards @TimbersFC in downtown Portland OR. Maybe they like Portland Maine so much because they have a better chance of beating @GPSMaine than they do at beating us. #RCTID pic.twitter.com/9hvE2KUURg
— Bo Baker (@boltonbaker) June 5, 2018
It gets more complicated.
Former Sounders player Roger Levesque, who grew up in Falmouth, came to Maine and filmed a promotional video with Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling. The video has been pinned to the top of the Sounders’ Facebook wall for weeks.
This caught the attention of at least one Portland business.
We see you over there, @SoundersFC. But we’re more into @TimbersFC. Diego Valeri is a stud. https://t.co/ET0BTEHja1
— Portland Press Herald (@PressHerald) June 5, 2018
The Timbers noticed the tweet of support and retweeted it to their 344,000 followers. The Press Herald offered up a simple explanation for the support: “Portland likes Portland.” Twitter users chimed in: “A Portland is a Portland.” “Portland solidarity.” “Brothers in name.”
Following the round of support, the team sent the Press Herald a jersey autographed by everybody on the team.
Regular Mainers are getting caught up in the Timbers love as well.
I’m a Foxborough native and I’ve never gotten nearly as much social love from the Revs than I have from the Timbers in my 5 seconds as a fan… #AdvantagePortland https://t.co/Uf4GuIDKug
— Bryan Roche (@BryanDRoche) June 18, 2018
But not everybody is on team Portland. A Maine radio group has tweeted its support for the Sounders.
ICYMI: This is pretty great! Thanks Seattle. We love you back! Go Sounders! https://t.co/tQYGdJS3MY
— 102.9 WBLM (@WBLM1029) June 19, 2018
Shipyard Brewing Co. posted a link to a story about the rivalry on its Facebook page.
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