This summer I had a handful of equally unique soccer watching experiences. From Colorado to Bremerton, PDL, U.S. Open Cup and MLS, they made me think about soccer clubs. Like how they succeed, how they promote the sport and how they work as sporting organizations.
The first delibertaly written report (the first is actually here and here) is from our family trip to Colorado which included a nice trip up to Dicks Sporting Goods Stadium.
All of these posts will be organized under this category.
I’m not sure about formatting these posts, so I’ll just start with random, numbered observations.
1. Wow, Sounders fans travel. There were at least 20 organized Sounders fans who came to the game. In addition, I ran into at least a half dozen other folks from Washington coming to the game.
2. About sixty percent of the people I saw at the game were wearing some sort of soccer related gear, which seems low. About just less than half were wearing something Rapids related, and a good portion of those were wearing old style Rapids stuff. The rest were split between youth team jersies and jersies of worldwide clubs (Chivas of G, Barca, Manchester United, etc.).
I think it might have been a youth soccer night, so those jersey observations might be thrown of by that. But, it makes me think that Colorado suffers from the typical MLS problem in attracting fans. There are plenty of people that are involved in soccer (youth organizations or by following soccer worldwide), but have a hard time attracting them into following the local pro club.
3. Colorado had a very nice stadium, but it was in the middle of nowhere. There’s something to be said for having a soccer stadium near other stuff. Makes walking into the stadium a bit more meaningful. I don’t know, its just a feeling I have.
4. I understand there is an actual local connection to the term “Arsenal” for the Rapids, but the use of the UK’s Arsenal brand in the stadium, the firing of the cannon and the youth program is just ripping off the authentic British soccer experience, not trying to create your own. Just saying.
I was a bit too harsh in the comment threads of the TNT just now, but generally, I think I’m spot on. Something needs to improve in soccer coverage around here. The problem generally lies with reporters that are coming to the game now that MLS has entered the fray locally.
There are some exceptions. Don Ruiz at the TNT (I wasn’t picking on him) and Jose Romero at the Seattle Times have been at this longer than a few months, and now their stuff shows that. Other than that, I depend on bloggers and twitter updates for my Sounders commentary.
But, here are a few things that could help things out. 1. Post game talk. I felt lost a few weeks ago driving home from my first Sounders game with no review on the radio. Even just one hour would be something.
2. Round table discussion on Sounders FC Weekly. There are enough reporters and bloggers that get it (see above) where you could replace the puffery that dominates the central news broadcast that covers the Sounders with actual discussion of the game.
Couple more subpoints about the Sounders FC Weekly. Why do they refer to Toronto FC as the “Reds?” Do they just need to have a nickname for every team? TFC is just as official a nickname for Toronto FC as they Reds is. And to that end, FC Dallas is nicknamed the Hoops, but I guess the producers haven’t caught up with that one yet.
Also, the quality of the rest of the league game highlights is horrible.
3. I don’t know how the rest of the reporters could carry this off, but please stop treating this like the first time you’ve ever covered soccer. It shows and its bad. John McGrath’s reference to “soccer purists” rather than people who just understand the game implies that if you actually know something soccer, then you’re outside the mainstream.
Would McGrath ever refer to someone who understands and accepts the infield fly rule as a baseball “purist?” Do only gridiron football purists understand rules regarding the forward pass, or are they just better informed?
And, if McGrath puts himself with “the rest of us” (you know, the normal folk) who don’t understand why a rule exists, then should he be covering soccer?
Adendum: My explanation about why ties work:
1. The game is two 45 minute halvess, so the result is whatever happens at the end of that.
2. The season is a collection of points, not a winning percentage. The Sounders have 14 points, behind Chivas USA with 22. How they accumulated those points doesn’t matter to the standings.
3. Also, the”season” is not a single competition like every other North American sport. In addition to the MLS leauge play, the Sounders may also qualify for the US Open Cup this year. Next year they could be in both Superliga or the Champions League. With so many competitions to possible consider, not playing overtime beyond 90 minutes is a good thing.
Yesterday, why did the ECS leave the march to the match before everyone else (i.e. the rest of the fans and the band)? Aren’t we all in this together? I’ve been hearing that the ECS has an elitist attitude but didn’t really buy it until I saw them ditch the rest of the march to the match yesterday. Why don’t you guys want to march with everyone else?
And a response:
I’ve talked with some of the leaders of the ECS, and apparently the guy who is in charge of the band is very resistant to working with ECS, and very into trying to bend them to his will. It’s a source of contention between the FO and ECS, and a source of contention within ECS (as in how do they respond to it?).
There seem to be a lot of stories of stress between ECS and the band, so read the entire thread.
If it is true that the band is deliberately leaving late, well that’s the bands fault. I did notice that the band didn’t leave at 6p, so if ECS members are worried about their general admission seats, the band should oblige.
From my point of view, the march needs to be one thing and both sides need to accommodate the other. If the organization wants to encourage fan support, they have to support the fan groups.
I took in my first game of the (MLS) Soudners (FC) this weekend, and thought before hand I should shoot some video from the phone to illustrate my thoughts on the whole gameday experience.
I left Olympia at just around 2p for the 730p game, so that gave me absolutely plenty of time. I found an insanely close free spot on Occidental just south of Safeco.
My buddy (Dan), who is a Tyee member and a Seahawk season ticket holder (game day experience expert), caught up with me a few minutes later. The first item on the agenda was getting him some Sounders gear. He had a bit of heartburn about wearing something with essentially an ad on it, but realized that in the long run, it is something he’d have to get over. He settled on a scarf, but every store around Qwest was sold out.
At the Seattle Team Store they said they were sold out until the middle of May. Dan reflected that someone at Adidas should be fired for not being able to keep up with demand.
Our first stop was McCoys, one of two Emerald City Supporter Bars (Fuel, the other). We got there pretty early (about 430p) and place wasn’t yet crowded. Some singing would break out every once in awhile.
After a couple of beers and burgers, we walked to get one of Dan’s pre-game ritual foods, a cookie from that cookie place (forget the name) in Pioneer Square. On the way we caught a glimpse of the Soundwave Band.
Coming back to hear the band before the March to the Match, we saw a guy in a Luche Libre mask, Drew Carey (who seemed like an honestly nice guy from ten feet away) and the ECS apparently organizing separately from the people who would eventually march with the band.
I tried to film ECS leaving early. You can also hear Dan comparing this to the experience before Husky Games (I close my eyes, it could almost be October).
I still can’t figure out why the ECS left the area towards the stadium before everyone else and the band did. Seems like a dick thing to do. If I was being really critical, I could imply they were doing it because we (with the band) were the newer folks and they as the real soccer fans wanted to show us up. I doubt that, but still would have been way better if we all marched together.
Speaking of the march:
Dan again: “Its like the Rose Parade!” His comparisons to college football were really on point.
For me, walking down the ramp into the stadium for the first time is an important moment.
Before the game:
After the game:
Yeah, it got a lot louder. To the point, that if I had the same seats (section 118, a few over from the ECS) I wouldn’t bring my three and one year old. Just too loud. Which, on my own was awesome, but someplace a little less loud for the kids, you know?
Just some random thoughts:
1. $20 for Section 118 is a freaking steal. Best value in sports in my experience. Better than minor league baseball or anything.
2. College football is the only comparison. The fever in the stands, the before game events, the feeling between fans (there were some Earthquake fans who were joshed with along the way), the only thing to compare it too is college football. Especially the interaction between Sounder and Earthquake fans. I have never spoken to a fan of an opposing team at a Mariners game, but you had to almost say something to the people in Quakes gear walking around. Nothing mean, just to let them know where they are.
3. Media fog. Driving home, I automatically turned to AM radio, on instict listening for a post game show. I listened to the Mariners post game, and waited on other stations for the Sounders post game, which never came. That is the weirdest part of the day, having gone to a major league event, and not being able to digest it on the way home with a real deal post game discussion on AM radio.
