Major League Soccer

interesting that the idea of an area or end for the hardcore is the reverse in the UK. in my lifetime, a lot of teams, including my own, have added "family enclosures", where norms of behaviour are of course a little different to the back of the home end. everywhere else in the ground you expect pretty appalling behaviour, even if it is done while sitting down.

one of my happiest memories of attending football matches is watching two of my friends get thrown out of the family enclosure at sheffield united for singing during the three minutes silence for princess diana in 1997. happy days.

it wasn't even a rude song!

The league here is terrified of "soccer violence" and any kind of bad publicity, never mind that fan behavior at any major sporting event like, god forbid, AMERICAN football or basketball is some of the most horrendous anywhere. If the MLS is now starting to come around to the realization that season ticket holders are unlikely to be 12 year olds, it's only taken them 16 years to stop vilifying their strongest market.

I think he didn't mention New York, Laurel, because it really isn't an example of where a group has really helped drive or shape the team's approach to growth. If anything fans of Metro are probably the most shat-upon in the league.

The author of that article is English btw.

*the most shat-upon in the league by their own club

fans being at least pissed-upon was apparently a not uncommon experience here in ye golden age

There have been a couple of big ('big' lol MLS) stories this year about families/normals getting upset about cursing in the stands of a handful of different teams. I guess I can kind of understand not wanting to hear two thousand people shout "YOU SUCK, ASSHOLE" simultaneously at a goal kick, if only because it displays a real lack of creativity.

On the "soccer violence" end of things, people still go for that shit. After the national team beat Spain in the Confed Cup, Jim Rome had a piece where they showed all kinds of Greek and Italian ultras clashing with police, video from at least 5 years ago, and treated it as if it were all part of the same spectacle. That mentality is going to take a while to get over for a lot of the clueless masses out there.

Actually he probably didn't mention NY because that writer historically doesn't like NYC anyway and treats the supporters as if they're responsible for the team being named after a commercially available product.

Tis true, most people here don't like NY. Then again, most people here don't like anybody.

The match v. Columbus was a wash, 0-0 and both teams looked like crap. Really tough to watch. Scoreline aside, the Poles were at it again:

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8943/firehpr.jpg

(you can see me on the right margin, white shirt with my hand over my face. f'n smoke...)

I love flares. Any time someone manages to smuggle one in here it gets stamped out immediately.

I <3 that 2-Tone banner too btw.

Oh yeah, that's great. What's the significance?

The guys that made it are total ska-mod-soul-heads. It says "2nd City -- The Fire" or something like that, and has a bunch of other Chicago references in place of the various 2-Tone label markings.

found a better pic

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/nowak10/IMG_6475.jpg

So, The Beckham Experiment drops today. I'm very tempted to go get a copy.

"I can't believe I enjoyed a book about soccer."
—Rick Reilly, ESPN Columnist

good luck usa

Ex-Sinister Julie now living in Pineapple Upside-Down Land sent me an old ESC scarf from the Metro days!! I post it here for your adulation:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Metro.jpg

I may wear it to my 2.30 status meeting.....

IT WAS THE HUDSON STREET HOOLIGANZ IN DISGUISE -- THE MILLWALL OF MLS

http://www.kumb.com/gallery/news/hsh.jpg

scarfers........

do like 2-tone banner and flares though.

lol Pavel Nedved to MLS?

this fucking league

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-c720nNtgI

who is the genius who came up with the idea of Beckham's first home game back with LA being vs. the team that he wants to leave them for?

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-07/48163082.gif

love these guys:

“I’m flabbergasted,” Martinous said later at a bar. “I’ve spent three years trying to get under the skin of players who are nobodies, and I got under David Beckham’s skin? Never in my wildest dreams did I think he’d lose his head like that.”

Paige, an independent film producer, was issued a $55 ticket for trespassing and released by the police.

“It was surreal,” he said. “When David Beckham calls you out, you get on the field. In hindsight, I wish I didn’t stoop to his level. I wish I was the bigger man.”

their official response to everything

•What/why were we booing?
We want to support our teams and our players, and we do that week after week. We were really torn between our desire to support the team and the need to register our disappointment with the entire Beckham circus. We don’t fault David for his desire to play for his country and for playing abroad during the off season, but we do find fault with his stated desire to play in Europe rather than the Galaxy. After going out on loan last winter to Milan, Beckham shortly made it clear that he no longer wanted to play for the Galaxy. He returned this month only because he and Milan were unwilling to meet AEG/MLS’ price for a transfer, yet his public comments don’t reflect this reality. Rather, he has rather unbelievably said he is “fully committed” to the Galaxy, as if repetition can make it so. He has been unable or unwilling to show any understanding of why the fans are disappointed with his actions and choices. We chose a friendly match, one arranged as part of the payment by Beckham and Milan to extend his loan, to let him know that if he was unhappy to be here, we were unhappy too.

•Did LARS ban anyone?
No. We do, however, have an actual meeting scheduled later this week with Galaxy officials to discuss the matter.

•Will we appeal the ban?
We have a meeting scheduled later this week with the Galaxy to discuss the events.

•Did we cross the line?
No. We questioned David’s loyalty to the club and we sang, made signs and chanted things that were bluntly dismissive. As far as we can determine, no one from LARS crossed over to referencing his family, as Beckham has claimed. In our discussions on our internet forums prior to the match, we agreed that David’s family expressly off limits. We know that Beckham has received very rough and deplorable treatment during his career, and that’s why we were genuinely shocked by his response to us on Sunday. We don’t believe questioning Beckham’s commitment to our team is over the line, but it’s clear that David feels otherwise.

•Explain the confrontation at halftime?
We have a meeting scheduled later this week with the Galaxy to discuss the events.

Addtional Question: Will we support Beckham in the future?
We want to support David - we want to support anyone that wears our team’s shirt. Had David responded differently on Sunday, the booing and chanting probably would have ended by halftime. We will almost certainly end the booing and chanting when Beckham plays in his first MLS match at our stadium, but it is ultimately up to David. If shows the evident disinterest he did at the end of last season, or if he provokes us further, we might have something more to say to him, but our ultimate desire is to support him.

Requests for further info should be directed to
i✧✧✧@lariotsq✧✧✧.o✧✧

This is all really entertaining btw. Finally some actual passion in US soccer.

OK that last bit is sarcastic but still, who the fuck is David Beckham?

The league fined Becks $1000.

related: http://theoffsiderules.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-of-greatest-personalized-kits-ever.html

ooooh, a grand. ouch for him.

i've enjoyed the back and forth between Sounders head Adrian Hanauer and whoever that guy is that runs DC United. dudes getting bitchy about siting the US Open Cup! loooove a pissy back and forth

found a quote. kevin payne. dcu head guy:

“I was surprised and disappointed and offended. Adrian uses the word ’skepticism’ to describe the process, which seems to be implying that it wasn’t on the up-and-up. Which is really an outrageous implication. He is implying that we somehow are receiving favorable treatment. We bid aggressively at every level this year and last year. We did so because we didn’t want to travel if we could possibly avoid it, given the demands of our schedule [Champions League]. Seattle doesn’t have those same demands because this is their first year. Adrian has no knowledge of what we bid or didn’t bid; my guess is that we bid more aggressively than they did.”

“I appreciate that Seattle’s fans are great. Our fans have been great for 14 seasons. It’s really unseemly for Seattle to suddenly show up in MLS and everything should be handed to them. Their crowds are wonderful, we had a great time out there in Seattle last month, but our crowds are pretty good too and we expect this year we will get far more people in the building than we did last year (8,200). Last year we played a USL team in the final and, the way our team was going in general at that point, our fans were disappointed and disillusioned. That’s not the case this year. We are going to promote the game very aggressively.”

actual full-on fire away supporters section. impressive!

how easy is it to hate Blanco? very

when he gets mad and curls his fat fists up to his head in fake shock at a call i want to jump on the field and slap him like the petulant chub-faced child he is

you mean Cauhetemoc?(have probably badly spelled the crap out of that) What's he doing now?

yeah him. he's whining and diving for the chicago fire.

(got to give him a little credit for inspiring some kid at the game to dress up in his jersey and a wrestling mask in 90 degree heat though)

he must be like, 40 by now?

He'll get a lot of leeway with me for the famous jump with the ball between his legs thing in the world cup, even if it is maximum fannydangle.

sigi scmidt is in this plane terminal!!! i might have to talk to him

wait what
http://www.mls-rumors.net/2009/07/report-chicago-fire-supporters-recruit.html

A bunch of PDX folks and S8 folks are friends. When the trip was in the planning stages last year, the PDX people were invited and ended getting really into it. Fire supporters are some of the best travelers in the league so it's not unusual for a group to be at away games, but this whole thing took on a life of its own. The beer festival happening in Portland over the weekend played a large role in it all, too. :) I'm pissed at being broke, otherwise I would have been there.

Oh and everyone loves to hate Cuauhtemoc, even fans of his own team. You guys got lucky with that no-call handball in the box in the first half. Also, Ljungberg flipping the fuck out and getting a red was one of the funniest things I have seen on the field yet this season.

Ooh, look what I missed!

The LARS guy who jumped down onto the field is the only person NOT in the ESC ever to win our Drunk of the Week award (and the specially designed scarf that is the silverware for this particular competition).

The guy who owns the "23 WHO" jersey is also ESC. :) We do get around, don't we.

I once asked dan m how to spell Cuauhtemoc, and he said, "B-L-A-N-C-O."

I've typed it enough times to know how to spell it w/o checking now, I'm pretty proud of that.

also LOL

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/7/26/128931206562034066.jpg

you know it was intentional and a protest, right?

riiiight ;)

"brash trash talker"

Hey, I read that it was supposed to be a protest (against security? funny it doesn't say anything about security even when you read it upside down) on the internet. But I read it on MLS-Rumors so it's most likely bullshit, just like their characterization of the S8/TA invasion.

It's OK, the flares from a few weeks ago nearly set our section on fire, this kind of shit happens.

We've had members repeatedly suggest that we turn things upside-down in protest, but the consensus seems to be that NO ONE IN AMERICA will understand that it is, in fact, a protest. So far the suggestion hasn't caught hold. Apparently that's more of a "thing" in other parts of el mundo.

Not that we can agree on anything anyway.

that handball was yeah...we got away with one. Ljunberg's dive. yeesh. i would hate him if he didn't play for us. (just read he's suspended for the next two games)

upside down, a ship in distress. c'mon you seafarers. it's...subtle!

remember when people used to put flag stamps upside-down on bill envelopes as protest? i think my mom used to do that. still ended up paying the bills tho

I was going to say, "Do I look like a seafarer to you?" but in fact I'm wearing a navy & white dress with a little life preserver-shaped Women's VFW Auxiliary pin on the lapel.

Emerald City Supporters forum posts confirm the banners were a mistake btw.

"As far as people bitching about the banner... we're in our first season. They've got to learn, the hard way, that shit's going to happen in the supporter section, PERIOD."