Love the team, hate the name.

You don't have to respond to me or like me, you just have to show up, ask your question, and leave. Seriously. come to me, tell me who you are, tell me F--k you, ask your question, and leave. I'll be wearing a norwich city cap. But no, you're just an internet tough guy.

And you know, give yourself some more credit, you haven't just been going to games. You've been doing more than that. Remember? You told us three and a half years ago how we're wasting our time because you knew as fact MLS was dead set against a NYC team. So we shouldn't even form, and we shouldn't meet.

So don't say you haven't done anything. You were quite active in trying to make sure that everyone would be just like you, a do-nothing whining internet complainer. Well, we didn't take your advice, and look how far we've come? Hooray for us, boo to you.

The invitation is still open.

Sorry, these are the real cosmos, the trophies, the old players and new, the history, the pride. That will be us. you will be as you are Los Bebidas energias.

Well, when you put it that way, let's face it, we as fans are on some level or another treated like stupid tools.

Fair enough. I won't say you have to choose if you don't call them fake cosmos. Deal?

As expected, more twisting and distorting ad hominem rubbish. I had what seemed like rather reliable info that looked like NY2 would happen in Long Island but not Queens, shared privately when you used to act more like a Gooner. That fell through and never amounted to anything. Just like you guys shot your mouths off about FCNY. I didn't mean to mislead anyone. I didn't make anything up to try and impress anyone. Did you?

When Garber says there's a number of potential investor groups, I do believe he's actually being honest. Some come and some go. Sixteen years of empty promises and false hopes that have done nothing more than encourage people to stay away from what's really here.

When it's arguable that a city like Rome can't accomodate two top-flight Serie A clubs in the current economic climate, I still haven't heard a good rationale for NY having two MLS franchises. But that logic won't stop the Commish, it seems. I likewise don't see how the Jets help the Giants, the Mets help the Yankees, the Nets help the Knicks or how the Isles and Devils help the Rangers. So how would NY2 help the current local MLS side? The Commish just says it will despite any evidence to the contrary.

Matt is absolutely spot-on when he says making NY2 the Cosmos would be the ultimate slap in the face to the fanbase.

But then again, Garber has already rejected the Cosmos brand for MLS. There's reason to think he'll continue to do so, especially given the characters involved now.

Why would any self-respecting Red Bulls fanatic allow himself to be counted among those attending a Borough Boys function? That ain't worth the cost of a babysitter and the train, sorry.

Last post on this thread for me.

If you cared about the Cosmos, and you were a man, you would ask a tough question and leave. This way, you don't get "counted" (whatever that means). But either you're not a fan, or not a man. Perhaps neither.

here you are, making reasonable points about how Roma can't support two teams, but you're afraid to ask them in person. Internet tough guy, nothing more, nothing less.

You didn't want a group like the BBs to form. You said we'd be wasting our time. Well, we stuck to it and have gotten closer to the goal than most imagined. We couldn't have done it if we hadn't gotten out from behind our computers. When you go home, you can talk to your kids about how a little faith and hard work goes a long way.

You've proven your worth. Internet spitball hurler. 0.

Oh my, someone I've never met has challenged my manhood! I guess then I should alter my family's plans for the evening so I can go to a bar filled with strangers I couldn't care less about, to ask a question from people I don't respect, in order to prove myself as a man and a fan!

Of course, if they really wanted to make a connection, they would've bought the Cosmos name upright, instead of faking it on the Red Bulls home opener. Don't act like the Red Bulls don't have the money. They used the Cosmos the way they used the Metros history, as a tool to sell drinks through this soccer team. Anyone who has been following the Metrostars before the takeover knows that if the Red Bulls would have had it their way, the club would've been founded in 2006 and Gio wouldn't have scored their first goal. When people call this group the fake Cosmos, I can't help but find it funny that people don't realize that the Red Bulls are the fake Metros.

No. There are people who feel strongly about Metro that still go to RBA and stand in 101.

So they needed to pay Pinton's ransom or else? Why throw away millions like that? We don't know to what degree RB negotiated with Pinton and to what degree it was MLS - only that his asking price was considered unreasonable. Since MLS is single entity, it wouldn't be that Red Bull owned the Cosmos name, anyway, but that the league would own the name and divide any profits generated from the brand equally among the partner investor-operator groups. The league owns the name MetroStars just as it owns the name New York Red Bulls. The league profits when a TH14 jersey is sold, not just RBNY.

So the whole league suffered when the Red Bulls purchased the Metros? Do you honestly think the Red Bulls went into serious discussions with the Cosmos when they go to teams all across the globe and rebrand another club? Their intentions were clear: Red Bull New York. They compromised with New York Red Bulls. The big difference between us and the rest of the world is that we stopped fighting. Metro fans bit their lip and said, "whatever." And I ask you truthfully, if the Red Bulls had it their way, when would the club have been founded? 1996 or 2006?

I have no idea what RB or MLS intentions were when they negotiated with Pinton. It's clearer what Pinton's intentions were when he offered the brand to Philly.

I think RB learned from their tabula rasa error in Salzburg. They aren't as nostalgic as I'd like, but they haven't neglected the first ten years of this franchise. And while there are many within the front office that would like to improve this at RBA, they are blocked from celebrating links with the Cosmos legacy legally now.

I said "love the team, hate the name" on Oct 17, 1995. I don't hate the name now. I had thought Empire SC a good alternative if we couldn't be called the Cosmos, and didn't care for the Metromedia allusion or the geographic slash compromise. I loved, when RB took over, that they embraced the NY regional identity (and infuriated Zoffinger in the process) and like Bulls better than Stars, but they're still the Metros to me and carry on the legacy of the Cosmos years with what is essentially the same fanbase.

I think MLS profits a lot more from RBNY sales than it did with MetroStars sales, so no, I don't think the whole league has suffered since RB took over here.

I'm just curious. What happens if Red Bull sells the team sometime in the future? Would they still be called the Red Bulls? Serious question, btw.

And instead of MetroStars, couldn't they have just been called the New York Metros? Too close to the Mets? Empire FC/SC would have sounded waaay better. I'm not a big fan of the Red Bulls name because it just sounds weird to me, and the logo on the front is so effing big. But it's not my team. And I don't think RB has been bad for the league. I just wish they would've chosen a better name that represents the city/state and fans of the team.

They could. MLS would retain the brand, assuming of course that single-entity would remain as is in that future you envision. Maybe a new operator-investor would want them to be called the NY Bulls or revive one of the older brand names associated with NY soccer. There really isn't much of a bring back the Generals or Skyliners movement at present but I think those brand names have fallen into the public domain.

Whether or not he had the full and clear consent of Warner at the time, after Chinaglia and Pinton refused to pay the NASL's annual Performance Bond, setting in motion the league's folding, Pinton rather cleverly registered the Cosmos and Soccer Camps of America brand names with NY State. Doubtful anyone working for RKO cared to do that back in '68 with the Generals brand name or anyone working for MSG with the Skyliners name in '67.

No one would need to do this with the MetroStars brand as it remains the property of MLS/SUM.