The Black Looks that I'd get from people due to my whistling was incredible. I expected the TeamOps to come down and ask me to keep it down. In my own general opinion of myself I'm very courteous to people around me..I even warn people that I have the loudest whistle they've ever heard..The usually say, it's ok..but after about 10sec of it..I can see their skulls resonating!! But, I'd get those looks even when I said.."Cmon..Move it..or Ref!!!" ..I never ever swore. I always feel like my mother or Nonna are sitting behind me ready to bitch slap the back of my head!! LOL Why can't they sell Pink Hat seats under the broadcast booth and people who are vocal on the side of the TV! I know..I know. Let's not start the whole, why can't the Fort be in Midfield, like DCU!! =)
Work with the FO for a better location and address the issue on how to reach out to people and not wait until they come to you.
To quote the great Inigo Montoya, "You keep on using those words." You can't work with a FO that doesn't want to work with you! The FO only wants to dictate to the SGs, not work with them.
Unless Marcus is just full of shit, he's certainly said that the FO "wants stuff to come from us" because its more meaningful when it comes from supporters (I'm paraphrasing). That doesn't sound like dictating. Admittedly, I don't know who's right/wrong. I'm somewhat physically detached from the situation living thousands of miles away.
Maybe Marcus can be the straw that stirs the drink, the liaiason between the FO and supporters, the guy who has a vested interest to finding a reasonable compromise. That would be great, but it isn't fair to expect that. His job is to sell tickets, and I'm sure that's where his focus is going to be. JD seems to think no one has ever thought of approaching the FO and asking about doing this or that. We're all a bunch of idiots who, if it weren't for his brilliant ideas, never would have thought of doing anything. All we need to do is "work with" them. Doh! Why didn't anyone think of that before? Some people don't understand that there is a lengthy history of being beaten down over the years. Back in 1995, we were all full of hope for what this might turn into. "The Start of Something Big" was the headline of the first ever PoCM fanzine issue that debuted at the first home game. Personally, I imagined our future to be like what Seattle has turned into, and it is painful to see that for several reasons. It's great that they have done everything that they have, and created an amazing supporter-driven fan culture with the support of an ownership that gets it and wants the same thing that they do. On the other hand, the smug, self-righteousness of some of them is too much to take, combined with the painful realization that we, yes, us, your own New England Revolution, could have been what they are now. And it wasn't because there weren't eager, willing fans who would have (and did) go the extra mile for the club. It didn't have to be this way. But JD says we don't do enough, and all we really need to do is try harder and "work with" the club. Whatever you say....
No disrespect to Marcus, but the words of one new-to-the-org ticket rep cannot undo 17 years of action by the FO. Fortgate is a prime example. They "said" they wanted to work with the SGs, but their "actions" told a completely different story. Actions speak louder than words. Fortgate spoke volumes. Maybe Marcus can change things, I hope he can. But as they say in Missouri, "Show me."
You just moved the goal posts with this one. You said this earlier in this thread: Which states that the Riders don't do anything to grow their ranks. I shared several very tangible ways that the Riders are currently working to grow their ranks. You reply that we should: So is it that we're not reaching out to people at all or that we're not doing it the way you think we should be doing it? You need to be a licensed vendor to hand out material outside of Gillette. We tried to have a food truck night last season and were told it would violate all of the Patriots Place restaurant agreements. Also, I'd prefer the Riders to not be known as the group who take their marketing inspiration from the crazy guy near Fenway who hands out "You Will Burn in Hell" pamphlets. Like has already been stated, it's not up to us where we get to put our tent. The Revs and CSNNE already have tents right up front anyways. Since we now know that you know where our tent is, I'd love to meet you before a game so that we can chat about ways that we can improve the atmosphere at the stadium. Someone who has so many opinions about ways to improve things certainly has to be passionate enough to get involved himself. Unless of course you're just lurking around here trying to rile up those who actually give their effort and time to the cause. They hired Marcus to try and improve supporters culture. He did a great job connecting SGs to the FO at his old job out in Colorado. However, I don't think it is something that is going to happen overnight. He did come on this very forum and ask if we'd be interested in having a sit down with the Krafts. He just doesn't/can't know the ins and out of the culture here straight away. It is positive that he is at least asking questions.
I think JDEsq set up some hotkey's for his clipboard. "The Revs Girls were in the parade" "Set up a booth" "The Revs Girls were in the parade" "Set up a booth" "The Revs Girls were in the parade" "Set up a booth" "The Revs Girls were in the parade" "Set up a booth" "The Revs Girls were in the parade" "Set up a booth"
Sorry coming back here late, thought this thread would die. The SG's are the reason we are not a major player?!?!?!?!?! WOW!!!!!! Absolutely, WOW!!!!!! This may be the craziest idea to ever appear on Bigsoccer and that is saying alot. Thanks, -Beau
I don't think people are saying that. I think people are saying that there are roughly 564 reasons why the Revs are not a major player, and the SGs are #562. Not at all high on the list, but on the list nonetheless.
As I said I thought this thread would die. Here's how I thought it would go. Original Poster: "Revs not major player" Next Poster: "True" Thread closed. Thanks, -Beau
You'd rather see another thread about stadiums, Patriots hats on Team Ops, "Fortgate", the Domi-Dabo signings, that terrible person who used to run marketing, the morgue, rivets, logo v. crest, under-use of the flag of New England, or why we aren't participating in "Jersey Week"? Perhaps another about how much Robert Kraft sucks, we certainly haven't seen enough of those. There's people on this board that can do something to address these concerns (regardless of how high or low you would rank them, they are concerns) and a Revs employee who is assigned to help them address these concerns. Why wouldn't we be talking about this here?
Going back through this thread, and I missed this originally. I disagree with this. I keep going back to the SuperLiga Final against Houston. We had 10,000 fans at the game, but we had 10,000 engaged, vocal, excited fans at the game, and it was electric. Unfortunately, I have no idea where those 10,000 people went off to, because they haven't been back since. But if we can figure out what went on that night and how to replicate it on a more consistent basis, we might be on to something.
Just to go over some of the few points here . . . This tangent started when I asked "Why are the Revs SGs ineffectiveness never part of the equation?" I'm not blaming the SGs for everything. Just part. Some people agreed that the SGs could do better. Others think the SGs are infallible. It's not my fault that "1/2 the conversation is about what the SG's should be doing." If less people took the SGs are infallible approach and worked on how the SGs could improve, there would be less posts? Instead its about Revs not a major player in MLS, Boycott the Revs, Heaps is a Bust. All the threads start with negativity? Where is the How Can the SGs Improve Thread? Frankly, I'm tired of all the bellyaching about what happened in 1995 or 1996. If it happened during the Clinton or Bush presidencies, I don't want to hear about it. It's old news. It's 2013 now. It's not that I am introducing a new idea to work with the FO, it's that there is so much built up animosity that I don't think the SGs are willing or even capable of working with the FO. Maybe the FO is partly to blame for that too (shocking concession right there), but its 2013 right now. NFLPatriot wrote that actions speak louder than words, etc. But, realistically, what would the FO have to do to gain the SGs trust? For some people it would be reasonable requests to spend to the salary cap. Some people will only come back when there's a new stadium. Some people want ownership removed completely . . . not really a good way to build a working relationship when you want the owner to sell the team. RedRevs, I disagree that I moved the goal posts. No visible effort to grow the SG ranks is directly related to ineffective promotion of these SG events. Perhaps you disagree with the proposed ideas. That's fine. I'm just saying that obviously I'm not as in-tuned as a SG member, but it's not like I'm as oblivious as the stereotypical Revs fan. I follow the players, I follow the team. I'm just making the observation that promoting say for example, a bus trip, on Facebook, is just going to reach "the usual suspects." That is an example of not building the SG ranks. There seems to be an opening for some additional street-level, guerilla marketing. (Some will say this is not the SGs role). Haven't you guys ever been on Newbury Street? Don't businesses there have people on the sidewalks passing out promotional stuff to people as they walk by? You might not like that guy with the sign reading "The End is Near" near Fenway Park, but at least he gets noticed! That's a win! So, I guess my theme is about the SGs getting noticed. I remember posting a video during the countdown to the WhiteCaps inaugural MLS season where fans or whoever were scarfing random people. Hey, guess what, it's cold in New England. Work with the FO (I know, I know) . . . have some scarfs . . . and go pass out some scarfs in downtown Boston . . . on a cold day . . . sing some songs . . . maybe the scarfed person pleasantly joins in on a Re-vo-lu-tion chant. Some good word of mouth advertising right there. That person wears scarf on another cold day . . . more advertising. Also, just think as something as simple as the SG tailgate location. Any fan who goes to Gillette Stadium from 495 to Route 1 North may never see the tailgate because they enter the property on the other side. I like that every once in awhile someone challenges me to join a SG. Don't you guys have friends that complain about politics but aren't registered to vote, don't vote, don't volunteer in campaigns, or don't donate to campaigns? Just because someone isn't involved doesn't mean they don't have valid opinions. Just because I'm not on the inside doesn't mean I can't make some observations. Similarly, just because some people have been fans since 1996, doesn't mean they are doing a good job. I'm sure we all know people who have a job for a long time and still suck at it. Seniority doesn't mean greatness. I wish I were Mr. Kraft. If you ever see Bob Kraft approaching the SG booth at the top of the Fort, don't forget this post. Sorry for the long, disjointed post, I hate those.
Agoo, you can talk about whatever you want. It just seemed the tone was laying much of this at the feet of the SG's. You can put the Midnight Riders tent wherever you like, it's still not going to get our matches on ESPN. Looking back I guess most of that was coming from one person though. Thanks, -Beau
I think if we ever become a serious contender again, those 10k would be there, albeit interspersed with the Pink Hat, Trader Joe's, Northface, SUV crowd.
I would say that most of the SG improvement discussion (or Revs discussion in general) no longer occurs on BigSoccer. This really isn't the pulse of the average fan anymore. Things are definitely better than they used to be. The cross-section of posters who are on BS have experienced those "bad old days" but the average Revs fan does not worry about that history as much. If you read my whole post you would have noticed that I mentioned that we are putting up fliers in cambridge bars. We're also doing this on the Northeastern and BU campus. We're also engaging in email campaigns for several of our upcoming events. Emails sent to people beyond just our members and those following our facebook page. Also, considering our budget and the fact that we all have full-time jobs (and in my case I coach on top of all of that), we try to target our marketing a bit more towards people actually interested in soccer as opposed to a sidewalk full of random people. The example you give is a good one but it is advertising/promotion put together by a professional organization. That is someone's full-time job. Anyways, you write like we don't work with the Front Office which we do every single day. There is at least one email exchange daily when the season is in full-swing. We have tried to get our tailgate location moved to a better spot each of the last 3 seasons but have been rebuffed by the FO. Most of the Riders Executive board is under the age of 30 and has only been involved with the organization for about 5 years. We're really not too caught up with how things used to be though we do understand that history is important to some of our members. If you got all of your information from BigSoccer you might not realize that. I don't care if you join the Riders or Rebellion or whatever but I do encourage you to try and meet some of the groups. Come to the tent before the next game you attend. Would love to discuss some of these ideas and others in person.