Crew to Austin in 2019..(Maybe)

Frankie has done and said about as much as he can to support the SaveTheCrew movement while still being able to keep his job. I can guarantee you he has done nothing to further the MLS2ATX cause. His only use to the team is as a hype man in Columbus. It would be a waste of their time to try to use him in Austin during all of this. I don't fault him for not abandoning ship because I have no idea what he knows and what he is thinking. The guy is in a complete different situation than any of us can imagine so I don't think it's fair to say he is dead to you.

 

Well if the broom fits or if she weighs the same as a duck. She's a witch!

 

You just gave plenty of good arguments as to why he is dead to me. He doesn’t have a job if they do move so better to start looking now.
He used to always talk about how great central Ohio is, raisining a family, blah blah blah. Well where are you now?
The biggest thing he’s done is liked Jason Duffner’s hat last week.

 

This.

I know I get overly dramatic sometimes. Guilty as charged.

But as far as I'm concerned, the time for neutrality and fence sitting and "I was only doing my job" is over. It's not academic, it's now entirely personal, and you've gotta pick a side.

You're either with us or against us. Period.

I love Frankie. I love Dwight and Neil. And while I don't love much of anyone at One Black & Gold, I respect working hard and having a career to look out for.

And then I look at Ale Moreno. He's taking a hell of a risk. Normally sports leagues have a lot of input as to who the network uses for it's broadcasts. It's baked into most TV deals.

Here's a guy with little kids he's responsible for and no other discernible job skills, but from Day One he has stood up, looked the league in the eye and said "This is wrong."

Alejandro Moreno is a man. A mensch. He's taking a risk because he believes in right and wrong.

If, when the dust settles, we have managed to keep the Crew in Columbus, there are a bunch of guys who are going to come slinking around and pretend they were on our side all along. But we'll always remember who was with us and who was waiting to see which way the wind blew.

I'm tempted to go all Henry V at Agincourt and those who fought with us upon St Crispens Day, but that's maybe a bit over the top.

But it's nut cutting time. Like I said, it's personal. We're taking notes and we won't forget.

Which side are you on?

 

Nothing's wrong with quoting Henry V. One of the best speeches ever.

 

Sirk is the gold standard.

Remember his first writing (Nov 4) about Crew on Patreon? (https://www.patreon.com/posts/we-all-have-15214252)

[On Monday, October 16, my world got knocked off its axis when the news broke that Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt intended to explore the possible relocation of our club to Austin, Texas. The next night, while still trying to comprehend the devastation of this potential loss, my mind was drawn to some book excerpts about Crew founder Lamar Hunt from my upcoming book “Massive Features.” Reading those excerpts left me in tears. I became wistful for an American sports legend who believed in Columbus and was committed to the fans of the Crew, no matter the obstacle.

Faced with the gloomy prospect of losing the team, I felt like I had given two decades of my life to this club and it could all be wiped off the face of the earth due to something entirely out of my control. All that time, effort, and dedication for nothing, as if it never happened. A total waste of 20+ years.

But that’s a bunch of crap.]


Sirk is as black and gold as they come. I prefer not to speak in absolutes, but I agree with a lot of what Archer wrote.

 

Frankie is trying to see what he can get away with. I see him all the time, aba I'm confident that he has never been remotely ok with this.

 

After I saw this I realized I said Henry II, but I get all Peter O'Toole sometimes. "The royal boys are aging with the royal port" is one of the great movie lines of all time.

But when Brannaugh vows that Gentlemen abed in England will "hold their manhoods cheap" you want to grab a sword and start hacking away at Frenchmen.

 

This is such an excellent point because, as we all know, MLS is no ordinary sports league. Here we are, well over 20 years in, and they believe they still need their commentators and pundits to be cheerleaders.

Some may recall the Rapids beat writer being fired a couple of years back for being openly critical of Mastroeni and the organization.

You'd think, at this point, the league would be able to take the training wheels off. Not so.

They are so desperate to control every narrative that we still call the draft super, even though Bruce Arena and a few others have been openly trolling it for awhile now.

 

I'd also like to point out that, per @CrewChuck35 showing Andrew King some dap over the weekend, King may soon find himself skating on thin ice a la the Rapids reporter (whose name escapes me atm, we hardly knew ye, brave scribe).

First, King couldn't hide his alarm at the Saprissa announcement, and later in the week followed that up with a sick burn to Bils's tweet re: PSV's Austin outlay.

Again, as with Ale, credit where it is due.

 

As more time passes, I am finding that whole tell everyone you know line to be less abrasive and cringe-worthy. Early on in this saga, when a few random people said it to me to close out a conversation, I will admit I find it very off-putting. I think I replied with, "Oh okay. I will?"

However, I find myself more sympathetic. For one, the message is correct. Informing others on a mass scale seems to be a decent idea. And while I do not need anyone to direct me, I find most people need someone else to tell them what to do. They need leaders. I am told it is comforting. No thinking necessary. Just do.

 

Chris Bianchi, who Tweeted, in response to a question about the Raps disastrous season: "Say it once, say it again: Front office deserves much more blame than coaching staff."

His gig with mls.com was then terminated.

So yes, Andrew King is taking a risk and bravo to him. MLS does not suffer criticism. They don't find it "helpful" to borrow a phrase.

 

Check out what Frankie is signing in that last photo...

— Morgan Hughes (@Morgan_Hughes) June 4, 2018

 

Just because they don't still say "The Wogs begin at Calais" doesn't mean they don't think it.

 

I don't see Frankie in any of those photos

 

I have had the weekend to read and digest the report, proposal, and the posts to this thread which has only left my head swimming. My questions are primarily to Bill Archer, since you mentioned on Friday about other big developers being interested in McKalla. Are other developers now coming out because of connections to Epstein and his USL club? Is he trying to sabotage the move through his connections with Austin business? Does Austin have ordinances about how city property is sold? I know in our neck of the woods, the city or county cannot sell property unless there is literally a bid process. I can't imagine Austin being allowed to sell property to whoever happens to ask for it first.

 

He's in the camo hat background right side of the last Zardes photo.

 

On our drive home on Saturday night, I was telling Tim about one of my favorite DnD stories. Do you remember that game where you were listening to the Crew game on the radio, and then you realized it was a home game?

We will turn on each other with witch/mole talk soon enough.

Just to get in front of any attacks on my personal character: I never had beer with Fratass.

I wonder what are the marching orders for PSV employees. How many negative marks can you have on your record until you are unceremoniously let go?

I bet Frankie's buddies throughout US Soccer would pick up on that story.

 

off to the right..

 

It’s come out that McKalla Place has outstanding debt to Austin Water in excess of $20M. So we believe the city can only lease McKalla place and can’t sell it unless they receive enough money to pay off the debt.
I’m curious about who is eligible for the lease too. Seems like Epstein and other locals have an interest in either keeping PSV out or at least making them pay a market price. If I’m a local concert venue, I don’t want a new stadium with subsidized lease eating up all my shows.

 

Nothing like being called out on Twitter by the Assistant Sports editor for the New York Times...

The ongoing self-inflicted wound here is just amazing. When do you pull the plug as an owner? As a league? https://t.co/jKJXdNZInZ

— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) June 4, 2018