The Oregonian sports coverage

I have always struggled as an adult with the sports coverage in our local paper.   As a fan of soccer,  I've lamented over the years how little ink our local professional team,  Portland Timbers, get.   This year,  as a discussion about the imminent demise of newspapers goes on about the nation,  I am even more bemused.   The Seattle Sounders moved from the USL division to Major League Soccer this year,  the top national league.   The Sounders have been rivals of the Timbers since the very first game between the two back in June of 1975.  The fact the the Sounders have gone to "the Show"  made me expect that the Big O would provide some coverage to the Sounders performance,  much as they do with the Seattle Mariners who get loads of ink while our local Triple A Beavers play in the next tier down.   So far,   several weeks into the season,  it appears that no one in the Oregonian sports room has thought there was any reason to do this.  Other than an intro article at the beginning of the season,  they have covered nothing.   In a parallel track,  the Mariners have slid into a miserable slump again, but garner plenty of coverage and commentary.   Interesting even more because the Sounders outsold the Mariners in season tickets- an indication one would think that coverage might be deserved.   The one thing the Oregonian does invariably carry is the standings table for the MLS.  One can almost always look and see where they are.

By strange contrast,   the Oregonian only infrequently shows the table for the USL so it is difficult to know how the Timbers are doing just by looking at the paper.    I gotta say I don't get it.