This is truly pathetic stuff from MLS HQ. Does nobody at MLS watch weather reports? Why did they wait to consider contingency plans 2 days after Sandy hit? Everyone in the US with basic cable knew there was potential for some disruptions in Jersey when Sandy hit. Maybe we didn't know the scale, but we knew something was going to happen. MLS just sticks their heads in the sand and hopes for the best. Same thing with this Nor'Easter. The weather channel has been forecasting rain/snow with 30 mph for days. Everyone knew transportation was going to be unreliable even if the storm hit at its minimum potential. Pathetic MLS
My favorite part was how pleased he was with himself after he came out and announced how quickly they had come to the decision to just switch the games while simultaneously lauding his reserve to not postpone a game or switch the location. So you wait until 700 people ride ~5 hours and get snowed on for an hour and a half to make that decision? Genius.
It was the height of irresponsibility to make those fans and staff drive out there under these conditions in a state that's still suffering from road closures, gas shortages and emergency help shortages. And once you get everyone out there, you have no plows prepared, no idea how to proceed. I honestly think Garber was pleased with himself because now he can get another game on national TV. The fans be damned and competition rules flushed down the toilet.
Yeah this is pretty ********ing stupid all around. If MLS wants to be taken seriously it has to stop doing bush league things like this. Red Bull Arena cost what? 250m? And their strategy to combat a blizzard was a dozen guys with $10 shovels. What a joke... embarrassing Garber might be good with numbers (i.e. business), but he clearly has no ********ing common sense, nor does any of his cronies.
Like I said Don is going to bed tonight happy. He's getting another game on TV. He also didn't have to make any of the tough decisions that people in real leagues have to make like sacrificing profits by changing venue in case of emergency. MLS single entity is a joke. Kevin Payne is just a Garber underling who just happens to be affiliated with DC United. He does not represent the club's competitive interests.
I knew the game wasnt going to happen the second Hans says he didnt want to play. An American sports league will always help out NY and LA because it is good business. I am not shocked that MLS have tried to help out NY, but this is approaching David Stern/NBA level meddling right now. "help out" does not necessarily mean give them the game.
For one game and one game only, I become a DC Fan.... We are all out there in a nor'easter that everyone on the planet knew about for a week AND you don't want to play? Really Hans? REALLY? Red Bull organization (and MLS) are the most pathetic gaggle of baffoons I have really ever seen in sports. Praying to the lord that DC beats us into ground tonight <Trades in Henry jersey for a Pontius> Jesus, this is RedBullFootball, please hear my prayers
A true Metro fan would never utter such words. Hans and RB went to the league the day before to cancel the game, the league declined. RB actually tried to do the right thing. DC was not the only club who had supporters at the game last night. RB had about a 1000 as well. They too all had to to treck home after risking their lives getting to the ground. Not to mention the people who tried to get to the game but couldn't.
Yeah, while I agree that Hans's interview made him look like a scared bitch compared to Olsen ... I have to agree that the buck stops with MLS. Red Bull players have stayed classy throughout this whole mess and if they win the series I won't hold it against them Garber on the other hand has shown himself to be a cynical decision maker when faced with this kind of challenge The cynical side of me tells me that every decision Garber made last night revolved around TV ... not around fan safety, competitive fairness or anything else He must of known at the start of the day there's a good chance he'd call the game. The way NBCSports switched to the KC game on a dime conveniently 2 minutes after they called the DC game tells me that NBC knew this would happen. So instead of Garber only having the DC-NY game on the air, now he worked it out to where he still shows that game the next day, he gets the Houston-KC game on the air and a bonus hour of people shoveling snow
Anyone with any sort of brain would have watched the news and the weather forecast in the days leading up to last night and knew this was going to happen. And while I do have sympathy for those fans who did show up last night, both NY and DC fans, they too should have realized that postponement of the game was a real possibility.
What pisses me off most about this isn't that NY gets some competitive advantage from this nor that it screws DC United as a club. What is truly pitiful about this is that it screws over DC fans (yes I know some redbull fans were also screwed over but not nearly as much) - they should have called off the game before all those fans took off work and took the time to travel up, or not called it off at all.
Hans and RB went to the league the day before to cancel the game, the league declined. Correct, the league F'ed up. MLS pathetic here, no question. Fast forward to 8:21. Now we all there. We shouldn't be, BUT we are. Hard core fans traveling in Nor'easter. DC fans from 5+ hours away. You don't say FU to everyone they went WAY out of their way, you grab your sack and play the match like Olsen wanted to. If you have any self respect, you cant defend it. Did you go? If not, your point is pretty easily made sitting from your couch.
I am. PRAYING in fact. If they lose, Hans will be 100% be gone. A team that acted like a pack of p!@@ies last night really doesnt deserve to move on, in my opinion. Hans flipping EVERYONE that made it out in a nor'easter the bird doesnt deserve MY respect.
Been a season ticket holder for over 11 seasons.. Since the Big Mama days. And oh yeah Roony, try working on your self respect a little. You seem to be lacking aa bit of personal dignity.
They did. This possibility was discussed on the DC board days ago. Some were convinced this would happen. On the other hand this was the first chance for club supporters to see their team on the road in 5+ years. They took the chance hoping that MLS would show more class and responsibility than last week
I have a problem with this. Hans and RB didn't want the game, but the league could see no reason the game shouldn't be played at RBA or an alternate venue (and they were right). Again, RBNY had plenty of time to come up with contingencies. Instead, RB removed the tarps from the field before the snow began. Then they made a half-assed attempt to clear the field and even limited who could assist in clearing the field. Why not use one of the tractors? Where was the field crew that removed the tarps? RB (Hans not the players) simply didn't want to play. Once again, they used circumstances to mask their own ineptitude.
I didn't think people would be douche bags enough to send out emails a few hours to kick off in a nor'easter to say 'drive safely game on', only not to play. Not to even really TRY to play (15 fools with shovels?). Bussing 700 people 100's of miles, making them take off from work and killing an entire day just to say ehhhhh, I know your team wants to play, but forget it, now drive 6 hours home. F U No, I genuinely didn't think these guys were this sad.
Not true, but I could see RB wanting to spite the league for not canceling the game the day before by only using 10 or so shovels and not making an effort to clear the field.
I wish there was a way to dispute this. AND you take the players off the hook. I am not sure these guys were clamoring to play either. Some how, I dont see all the players lobbying Hans to play last night and he was the sole dissenting voice. I have no idea, but that seems unlikely, no?
I won't guess what some of the players said, but there was this... Thank you to all the #RBNY fans that braved the weather. Your loyalty is truly amazing. The players wanted to play, I will leave it at that.— Dax McCarty (@DaxMcCarty11) November 8, 2012 I admit in the stadium, it initially rubbed me the wrong way to see a few RB players going out in front of their supporters after Payne, Chang and players were in the upper deck talking about what happened, but I saw that tweet a little later.
And now Eric learns why a Fall-Spring schedule ain't ever happening for a North American soccer league.