About PortlandSupporter.com

My name is Matt Bagley. I am thirty-four years old, and I have had the privilege of working in sports media across Oregon for most of my adult life.

I am also developmentally & physically disabled - born severely premature with four strokes at birth - and openly queer.

I became a women’s sports fan because of my friends growing up, as Karissa, McKenna, Nita, and others taught me about the toughness and dedication demanded of female athletes. That fandom surged after I began attending Portland Thorns matches in the Spring of 2023 - finding a progressive, queer community full of love for the incredible women who represent our city - and now I am a diehard.

This site is an outlet for my fandom, and an opportunity to hone my skills as a professional sportswriter. In the Summer of 2022 I ended my nine-year career in radio broadcasting and podcasting. Two years later, I was asked to start up a new podcast for Oregon State Beavers onSI, which was run by an old friend. On the day of the Civil War football game that Fall, all of our writers were unavailable, and I filled in with our official game recap. It was the first time I’d ever written about a game, instead of performing live play-by-play or spewing takes on a talk show, and I was instantly hooked. Someday I would like to write professionally, for a living. In the meantime, I’ll hone my craft here.