I did not write this, I am simply passing this along for feedback from the intelligentsia located on our boards: Here it is: 1. Curt Onalfo got fined last week by MLS - $500 2. It was a very hard day for Curt and his family...on a gameday harrowing experience of a serious car wreck caused by a jack-knifing semi... Since, there has to be care taken on anything we fans do...so as not to make it look as though the Wizards are doing it; and Since, this is a very "human interest" story that all of KC would admire; and Since, the clock is ticking for any story like what I am going to propose, to be still timely; and Since, the fan groups, and others are rallying around the Watch Party to some extent again this year; How about if: a) we start a "Pay the Fine for Coach" fund b) kick this off at upcoming Watch Party c) let Luder, et al, know about this fan-effort d) promote it to the extent it needs for KC Star to pick up the "story" of fan-love-of-Wizards-Onalfo Benefits I see: a) The story has potential to be aired through many medias in KC b) The story has potential to be picked up by several media outlets throughout the soccer world c) Wizards exposure; Soccer exposure...in a time when this type of exposure will begin to grow over the future months anyway...until the crescendo of the Bannister (Trails) Stadium opening d) put KC on the Map for ravid soccer support amongst its passionate fans Any down sides? Any improvements? Should act quickly, methinks....and name the campaign, set it up for Saturday's Columbus Game Day start-up, put it in my invites, put it in all the blogs, ....be sure I have support to pull it off with class. Considering we garnered over $100 for Wizards Charity, on just one item, and with only mild effort on my part. This Pay-The-Fine-for-Curt....goal could be reached in just a couple Watch Parties. We could milk the various medias gaining notariety for Soccer and Wizards and Fans and Coach's, until then. And the "then" could be a fun presentation of a check to he and his family! From Wizards fans.
Just a point of clarification, the fine did not come from the New York game, which was the day of the accident, but after the Toronto game.
And he also had to fly to Denver to get his passport replaced so he could go to Toronto in the first place... because his old passport had been stolen... Talk about a crappy few days...
Just post who's collecting the money and I'll send a check to throw a little bit in. Or paypal, whatever.
I'd probably be willing to chip in ~$10-20 if some one got a paypal account going. While I actually think the fine was right, as USSF sort of has to be pretty black and white about it, sucks that CO pretty much almost died just to find out he needed a new passport in 72 hours...
If you wish to use PayPal, send your donation to Treasurer(at)Kccauldron(dot)com (make a comment in the notes section that it is for the Coach Fine fund).
I have to say this despite the fact it might offend some people. Doesn't it seem odd and distressing to anyone that we have never passed a hat once for a flag fund or a road trip fund, yet we jump at the chance to pool our money for a $500 fine that was most likely justified? There is a small group of people who always seem to be left paying for everything and they're usually never even half reimbursed (I am not one of these people but I know who they are for the most part). How do you suppose something like this makes them feel? When it comes time for new flags or a playoff road trip, are folks going to say they can't afford it because they already contributed to the CO fine fund? It just seems to me that we have a priorities issue, and this illustrates it nicely. Don't get me wrong, if we were able to put together two or three large roadies every season, I would say this is a fantastic gesture of support and I would be behind it, but we all know that is not the case. While I'm on the topic, why don't we set up a table behind the section at every game and a shopping cart on the website, for the purpose of collecting road trip and flag funds? We can have updates on the Syndicate website ("Coach 2 is full and we are now collecting for coach 3"), as well as BigSoccer and facebook page. Third, a request for the mods: can we sticky a Cauldron events/updates thread so it can be easily found by lurkers? There are some people who don't even like BigSoccer and if they must come here for news, they want to be able to find the information they need without sifting through 10 threads. It would be awfully nice of you. Sorry for the no nonsense tone of the post, but its late; I'm too tired to pretty it up. Peace.
As a short response, the "hat" has been passed for previous collections, including: flags (as early as the beginning of this season), framed photo "thank you" presentations, covering player fines and other things. Unfortunately, they were not publicized as well as this one, and the results have been rather weak. But I get the point of your post, and I don't necessarily disagree.
I asked Coach if he knew that fans were raising money to pay his fine. He was very touched by the effort and thanks the fans. I have the audio in a post on the blog. Not trying to spam or pimp, but wanted to let everyone know.
Thanks for the feedback, that's good to hear. btw, Coach's is getting into the act...I will have details in the Watch Party thread sometime this morning.