The "Thoughts That Don't Require Their Own Thread" Thread IV

Ask him:
What are your thoughts on the current state of Revolution on and off the field + What can you do to improve it?

 

He only mentioned soccer once, never the revolution. The focus was on his career building up the pats and he only took 2 questions (I wasn't 1). If I had gotten the opportunity I would have asked what he is doing to keep the revs competitive in the ever changing MLS environment. What I found interesting is he said he maintains daily contact with the heads of each of the 5 businesses, meaning he is in touch all the time with Bilello. So Kraft has his finger on the pulse of the revs, among his other businesses.

He also said he is very accessible and responds quickly to line managers and recommended getting rid of middle management because that slows everything down. In general I learned a lot about his background and how the Krafts do business.

 

Interesting and in line with how I have pictured the Krafts doing business and completely counter to the PROJECTIONS about the Krafts posted on this Board

 

It's true Doc, a lot of stuff here is guesswork and if we believe the words out of the horse's mouth, most is wrong (including my own preconceived notions). I listened with an open mind and walked away respecting the Kraft family a lot more.

For example, I didn't realize the extent of the Krafts' philanthropy in the greater Boston area. They mandate every pats player makes 10 public charity appearances per season in the Boston area as part of their contract. There was a young entrepreneur competition and the winning group of high school kids went on stage to accept their check. When Kraft took the stage he said he was going to double their winnings as a way of encouraging young entrepreneurship.

So while I fully acknowledge their missteps as owners of the revs and wish things would improve ASAP, now that I know more about the way things work at 1 Patriot Place I respect them a lot more.

 

Well then..
I'm just the Angel from Hell that looks to always see the bad in anything Kraft.

Problem is..
I could care less about ANYTHING Kraft, as it has to do with his "other" businesses. He's a typical Corp hack who will do anything for profit..AS HE SHOULD!

but..in the end.
They have no LOVE for this game..they put as much effort in the Revs as Bill Gates probably does for his garage door openers.

If you want to be blinded by his "philanthropy" that is all TAX DEDUCTIBLE..by all means, go to town and good luck to you.

My seething loathing of all that is Kraft stems from the Apathy shown towards this team and the irrelevancy of MLS in all the time they've owned it. It's easy for a billionaire to invest a pittance of his net worth to then control a sport in his region.

Oh well...maybe someday you'll understand...maybe.

 

The Krafts have been well known for their philanthropy, and Myra was really the one driving that. I'm sure these charities are still benefitting, and that is all well and good. For that being "tax deductable," yes, it may be, but for every dollar you donate to a charity, the deduction is only maybe 30 cents. Not the main reason why people donate to he worthy causes of their choice.

Jon Kraft in particular has always been active working with startups and new, particularly tech ventures. He was close with David Weatherell at CMGi, and even got them to pony up for the naming rights for the stadium, which lasted halfway through the Revs season. In 2000, I was working for an Israeli dot-com startup (just think, if the stock even went to $5, I would be rich enough to buy the Revs!), and given Krafts connection to Israeli busineses and those types of ventures, we thought he'd be worth persuing. He did have a couple of meetings with our CEO (who was 27!), but in the end, he didn't invest. A few months later, I sensed we weren't going anywhere and left to work for a $2 billion life sciences compay at the other end of the spectrum.

So I don't doubt that the Krafts are smart, but some of their decisions surrounding their soccer investment seem er, rather puzzling at best.

 

Mr. Bob Kraft - the Philanthropist and his good ole boy network wants the State of California and US Citizens to ultimately foot the bill for Worker's Comp and injured players...yea, he's a Great Guy, just a good business man..!

Billionaires getting richer on fan loyalty...BullSHIT...!

For you LOVERS of Kraft and his philanthropy.

ps. Billionaires benefit by giving to charities because of Tax loopholes. Show me a person who gives money to charity because they actually feel bad for the entity, be it a homeless person or a health foundation and not take the deduction on his taxes. And I'll show you someone who ISN'T a billionaire or even a lowly millionaire. =)

 

Just was pointing out an objective perspective, should've expected the diatribe.

Thank God for ignore buttons.

 

In more good philanthropy news, the Revs raised $4,489 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society/The One Fund (I'm guessing a 50/50 split there) through their MLSWORKS game-used and autographed memorabilia auction. Here's a breakdown of winning bids if interested - Farrell's jersey got the highest sale at $520.

Farrell: $520
Dorman: $175
Shuttleworth: $266
Tierney: $220
Tierney BAA Jacket: $220
Fagundez: $300
Heaps BAA Jacket: $315
Bengtson: $190
Goncalves: $201
Cisse: $146
Rowe: $260
Nguyen: $200
Reis: $361
Guy: $210
Sene: $310
Nyassi: $135
McCarthy: $210
Team-Signed Medical BAA Jacket: $250

 

Future updates will include:

Measure 9x Cut Once app
TeamOps Zombie Apocalypse
And more great KSG innovation!

 

I've used this a little during the first three home games and it is kind of cool. The real benefit of the live broadcast feature is that you can see the replays of controversial plays that they are forbidden from showing on the big screen. Also, you get to choose between like 5 video feeds so you can watch what the field level camera is seeing as well as a full field overview camera, etc... I haven't spent much time looking at it during the game, but it can be useful and I think is a good thing to enhance the in-game experience a little for the more technically inclined.

For those really tempted to put the earphones on and enjoy Brad and Jeff, you'll find it a little annoying since there is a delay short delay from the live action you would be looking at.

 

OK, this really pisses me off. Remember how the Revs had to wear their secondary uniforms for the home opener because both of KC's uniforms clashed wish our primary? First off, SKC wore their primaries against DC and nobody had trouble telling them apart:




I tuned in to watch a little of the Vancouver-Portland game last night. Portland chose to wear their red alternate uniform. The problem is their shirts are mostly white:



So MLS officials had an issue with about 20% of KC's top clashing with our uniforms, but Portand gets away with a 60-70% clash with their top?

Idiotic.

 

Teams weren't as familiar with their teammates back then, lol.

 

Bengtson was called up by Honduras, so he'll likely miss 3 matches.
LAG - 6/2
DCU - 6/8
@VAN - 6/15

 

I just looked up and read the actual bill, not the opinion piece you linked. If someone can enlighten me on how it will shift the payout to the taxpayer, please do so. Most of it prevents former athletes from claiming worker's comp because they play away games in the state. More importantly for California's budget woes, it makes the former athletes file in the state they ended their careers in.

If this bill is passed, Bob Kraft may be on the Seau lawsuit against the NFL as opposed to the Chargers. The big picture for him is the NFL won't be on the hook for Californians who played for teams out of state and want the bonanza that CA worker's comp is.

So how does this make Bob Kraft a monster?

 

The league needs to mandate that every team have at least one 100% light jersey and one 100% dark jersey. Every team should be able to wear their home kit at home.

 

This dude on reddit devised his own formula for power rankings, accounting for strength of schedule, etc.
http://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/1ey0hh/crollaas_mathematical_power_rankings/

He devised strength of schedule in terms of opponents points as a percentage of total possible points. The revs have had the hardest schedule in the league so far in terms of that metric, while some of the top teams (LA, New York, KC, etc.). Interesting findings, gives me some hope for later in the year, thought some of you might find it a good read.

 

There should be no home and away kits, just primary and secondary.

 

At least based on where teams are now, it does look like we've had a very tough list of opponents: NJ (2x), Houston, Portland, Seattle, RSL, Phil (2x), Dallas.

With games against Toronto (2), DC(2), Vancouver and Chivas coming up, that's due to balance out.

 

I'm not gloating because we know how it feels---but---DCU has gone to the dogs big time. For a team with a history of being top tier they are playing just horrid soccer--sitting on 5 points. Hard to see how Ben Olson is keeping his job. From what I read on their Board sounds like they are even less happen with their ownership and management structure than many posters are about the Krafts. Couldn't be happening to a nicer bunch of ______