New Supporters group anyone?

^best suggestion yet.

will be even better when it's a bunch of white people sitting in the sun all day.

Bunch of sunburnt grumpy white people stuffing their faces full of BBQ, it's so fitting.

Just announced 6/23 the formation of "The Wedge" aka Section 115.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wedge-Sporting-KC/224286390927503

They are considering themselves part of The Cauldron, not a new supporters group, but thought I would post it here.

Such a stupid stupid name, I love it so much. Such a cheesy effort to acknowledge their wacky section. Kudos to them, hope they can get it loud down there.

Here is another one possibly forming:

http://twitter.com/#!/Eric_Howell/status/84436294213713921

Section 129. No name yet.

This I think is a good sign, but before this gets out of hand I think we need organization so that all groups thrive and have basic structure to grow together. I think it would be great if there was a process for formal recognition of a ISG via KCISA.

Thinking a leaderhsip meeting with FO staff wouldnt be a bad idea.

As I posted earlier on facebook:

Things are looking great!! We have the Cauldron in the member Section, The Wedge in the South GA section, Ad Astra in the West stands and the Cauldron Emeritus in the East stands (along with this new group in 129)......it's spreading like a virus!!!

I have written this a million different flowery ways and I come off like an asshole each time so I'm just going to go full asshole and save time. If your offended get over it.

- Make Ad Astra work before you start trying to 'lead' everybody else into trifling concerns like formality and recognition. We have been down the road of mass organization before ... it lead to stagnation.

- We want this to get out of hand. ISG's popping up all over the place organically is dream like. Don't you worry about section 129 or the Wedge, worry about the bit you committed too grow. There are relatively few people within it, reaching them all can't be done any better than via people in the section.

- There is nothing formal about KCISA, and KCISA has no ability to formally endorse or recognize anything. The Wedge has arrived simply because it exists and is an excellent, creative and practicable idea run by a guy who appears to be as sharp as a tack.

Not offended, but man some of you guys make it hard to feel welcome here.

I am working to make Ad Astra SKC work, but that doesn't mean I can't have an interest in other SG's and their efforts. I learn from them.

Not trying to lead, just looking for leadership. If you look at anything I have written for AdAstraSKC, I encouraged from the start other sections specific SG, so I think the wedge and 129 are great. been talking to them by email and twitter all day.

But if we don't help each other out I could see groups popping up and fading, which I believe from my historical readings of BS, some on these forums will complain that every average joe says he is going to start a SG up and never does anything with it. So lets start helping each other out, that's all I'm saying.

It is kind of hard to tell what the KCISA even is, since there is no substantive information on the website. Looking around at other clubs SG's frankly I feel we are behind. Improving but behind. Just trying to stand up as someone who cares and contributes.

Clearly I want this to be successful, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my time posting here.

Alright now I feel like the asshole I apparently am. There is a lot of talk but up until recently very little product, and the product has come out of simple initiative more than anything else. I thought you were looking to structure things more than they have been with comments about thing 'getting out of hand' and I generally am negative towards that because I believe it leads to sterility.

Helping each other out and talking and sharing ideas is a whole different ball game. You should be able to learn from what other groups are doing. I have gotten on the web site rant before, but at the end of the day online offerings are inconsequential when it comes to spreading a message within a small area compared to hand shake and a 'I'm James - nice to meet you'. The Cauldron has achieved massive growth and the infighting is minimal, and the Tifos got done and all without the KCISA site being finished. Its the icing on the cake and frankly just another thing for somebody who has no spare time to work on.

As for the KCISA itself, it has never been announced as an entity, it was just a domain name that got purchased and used largely because kccauldron.com was being used by an ISG (Hillcrest Syndicate) that basically had the mantle of leadership and it was hard to divorce the website from their offerings. It hasn't been formalized in anyway as 'The Kansas City Independent Supporters Association' at least not yet.

Sorry man, that's my fault. I've gotten behind. I've been working on the new Cauldron website sparingly. It's not very far along because real life has gotten in the way. My work can be really seasonal, and this is the season.

It's a fairly large project to do it right, and I'm nowhere near finishing it other than a general structure taking place. I can use the help but I haven't even had much time to reach out to anyone over the past few weeks.

kcisa.com was just a placeholder site to give people a link to go to for tickets, etc until a new kccauldron.com could be made. It takes a night or two to make something like aokcdoesnotstop.com or wizonthefire.com that is temporary, but the idea was always that we'd try to do something a little bigger but that has probably been a mistake as it's gotten in the way of doing something simple and effective, even if it's bare bones for the time being. We reached out to people earlier in the year for some input and there are some good ideas, but I'm the holdup at this point.

I've seen what you've done with Ad Astra's site and like the regular updates. We are behind on this, and I know the help is out there to keep the content coming once it's up, and there's development help out there once some basics are in place, but it will get done, hopefully sooner rather than later. I appreciate you pushing on this topic.

Christian, you're welcome here. Very welcome. James (Northbank) is a big softy, despite his wooden and proper English persona.

He and Sean were the first persons who welcomed me into the fold last year (watch party vs. Galaxy at Johnny's). It was my first year as a STH and I wanted to start getting involved with Cauldron. However, it took me about half the season to really feel like I was making any headway. I'd walk up to tailgates, stay for awhile, and walk away feeling like I had not made any connections. From an outsider, it seemed a bit exclusive, and I think this is what James was getting at. There was a formal structure there, but the real outreach (a sincere handshake, and "PLEASE, drink with us! Eat with US!") wasn't there. (of course this is just my perception and truth, definitely not THE truth) But when I want to do something, I tend to not ever give up on it. So I kept coming back and eventually I started to feel a part of the whole thing. The negative effect of this is that people who do not have the type of personality that can force themselves through awkward social situations may just give up on the Cauldron altogether.

(My girlfriend and I met you earlier this year at a watch party Christian, and we walked away very impressed with you and what you wanted to accomplish. You are an asset, and a good dude.)

We're all coming from a baseball pitch and trying to grow into a 2000 person section, plus other sections in LSP wanting to get organized, and there are going to be a massive growing pains to experience over this season. There may need to be a little bit of structure and recognition of it eventually, but for the time being, I think what James was saying is we need to let it grow beautiful and wild (sincere handshakes and eye contact ) for some time and then maybe go in and start to shape it.

And me writing this, reminds me that I need to go and introduce myself to people I don't know and ask them why they came and what video games they like to play, what type of whiskey they prefer, and how many kids they have etc.

Of course this is all just my opinion, I'm probably wrong.

BIG, BIG, thanks to all of my now friends and compatriots that welcomed me - Cauldron, D17 and beyond.

I really do need to get the stick out of my ass. Joe said what I wanted to say a lot more expansively and more warmly than I did ...

I also think the challenge of starting in ISG is huge in a section with assigned seating creates some unique and hard to overcome challenges. I am not outgoing enough to do it on my own, it really did take people like Jeff to suck me into the group literally by being open and friendly and making me feel welcome.

Sorry for the late reply all. I was driving from KC to Chicago today.

NBH - Thanks for the concessions and understanding in your later posts. My 'things getting out of hand' was a bit hyperbole. The Wedge and 129 both are being started by guys with pedigrees to KCW/Cauldron. Me...I have no pedigree with KCW/Cauldron. My concern was the other people who see the three of doing our ISG and start to try and do it on their own and fizzle. How do we help them succeed is more of my concerns rather than 'things getting out hand.'

As far as the website, NBH notes it is 'icing on the cake', but I think it is a crucial communication tool, where Facebook FanPage/GroupPage, Twitter and Big Soccer do not always succeed. So I am glad to hear from Szazzy about the efforts (and I understand about other projects, believe me I love extracurricular projects!).

I bring up the website not to nag, but because I care and only because for me it was the most logical (online) place for me to figure out what KCISA is, who is the 'Cauldron', who is the leadership, standard chants, etc. All I know so far about all these things has taken major socializing and sleuthing, which would likely turn more casual fans off. I have pointed people to the outdated chant pdf at least 6 times on various online platforms, because people are hungry for the info. I don't see that as a luxury but nourishment for the growth.

@Szazzy, I would be happy to collaborate with you to get something bare bones going and aim higher for the end of the year. There are already people I have seen who are willing to offer content. I am quite familiar with blogger, and wordpress and have built a few sites in my time. I also have been looking at the ISG sites of all our upcoming opponents to see what I like/dislike about them.

@jtreg - Thanks for the reassurance and for revealing the man behind the curtain NBH. Did we talk outside after the LAG party?

As far as the analogy of growing beautifully and wild, I see my input about structure like fertilizer and a stake to help a plant grow tall and strong, not pruning shears to keep it in place. But I guess we could get into a philosophy about rules! ;-)

And hey boys, we got 3 points!

@Northbank - Yes starting an ISG in a assigned seating section is a lot tougher than it looks. But I am hoping we can draw more people into our section and for next year we can work together to get all out members in the same general area. This year may be more of a virtual ISG with occasional in person efforts, eventually increasing to be more about game time.

I think with chants for our section we may just do 4 planned chants a game at preset times, that way our disparate memebrs across the section can enlist/warn a few other people around them, and we all get up at the same time to do a chant.

The guy starting The Wedge has more or less zero Cauldron pedigree, and minimal KCW experience. I don't say that in any pejorative way; I think he'd agree. He is, however, well-trained in the arts of organization and mass communication, and after seeing (hearing, really) some (very) early results in the South Stand tonight, I think they'll be quite successful.

I know we met at Johnny's at some point - I don't think we spoke much.

Thanks for the clarification Sam. Some of the stuff he had said made me think that. Wish I was there Saturday to have heard it!

Yes, I believe.....that was the game. Can't be certain though.

I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE GAME.
I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE GAME.
I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE GAME.
I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE GAME.
I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE GAME.
I BELIEVE THAT WAS THE GAME.



...sorry, had to.

No apologies necessary, broheim.