I agree with the moral of your tale. Until the Quakes have the same prominence in San Jose as the Bills do in Buffalo, there's work to do. The problem I have is with selective facts. Things are much better than they were, and I see Quakes branding around town with reasonable frequency.
better than the cutesy little emoticon campaign, yes...but it comes down to the offseason...who have we signed? who are the new players that fire up the fans and the team and give us hope for 2020? where the hell are the reinforcements? we've done literally nothing. fans in San Jose are completely fed up with this. fans are knowledgable here, worldly...they can see right through this fisherball swindle bullshit...most have long since moved on... …its a damn shame.
Kind of ironic, but the last time I saw someone sporting Quakes gear in public (Navy blue windbreaker) was last month up at Ghirardelli Square SF.
Last week I saw a leaked picture of a new blue Quakes jacket. I hate the black jersey so I thought for sure I’ll buy this new jacket when it’s available. Now that I know this clubs strategy is to not take full advantage of the designated player rules I’m really wondering if I should spend money on Quakes gear. My point is that if people aren’t wearing Quakes gear around town it’s not because they don’t care but because they care too much and can’t abide by the quakes ‘strategy’. I haven’t made up my mind about the jacket because as much as I disagree with how this club is run I love soccer and I want to love the quakes but it’s just so hard to go along with this crap. If I buy the jacket it’s only because I’m optimistic that at some point in the distant future they’ll be run in a way I agree with and I need the quakes to survive until that time.
You could buy old-school Nike-branded Quakes gear off e-Bay, or wear supporter-branded apparel, so you're not giving your money to the FO.
My money will find its way to the FO as long as I support the team. I will always want to go to the games whenever possible. I’m a conflicted, unhappy, Quakes fan.
I listened to a podcast today that talked about Newcastle fans. After Benitez was not renewed by the club, Supporters called for a boycott, which dropped attendance by maybe 10-20,000 (I don’t remember numbers well, so someone should fact check that). So Newcastle announced they were giving away 10,000 half-season tickets to loyal STHs. This brought attendance back up so that up until the Leicester game, they were looking more enthusiastic on TV. A long-time supporter said he felt that the boycott had been a failure as far as influencing the owner to sell. At the same tIme, the ticket giveaway pissed off the boycotters even more. I thought it was pretty interesting
I would say the protest was successful as it got the club to lower the average ticket price. Which puts pressure on the club to improve performance so that they don’t have to permanently lower ticket prices. Likewise the Quakes are selling season tickets for $250 which I think is pretty low league wide. Not due to an organized protest but just the natural result of not building a competitive roster.
LOL this is where we are currently, based on my travels: -Cowboys/Yanks/Sox/Lakers/etc, big soccer superclubs (both Euro and MX) - pretty much everywhere -The average team from the big four American leagues -US Soccer / Seattle Sounders / Atlanta United level - a decent number of sightings throughout the country -Lots of other Euro / MX / South American soccer clubs - small presence all over -Your average MLS team - almost entirely in market, but the occasional sighting elsewhere -The amount of Sacramento Republic gear around the Sacramento area... this was the case after their first year (I know they don't have as many options, but it's also a lower division team from a league that has no national TV coverage). There are probably a handful of others at this level. I have never been to Louisville but it's probably similar there. -San Jose Earthquakes - you pretty much only see it near the stadium on game days, and I have maybe seen a couple items outside the bay area. There are a handful of other MLS teams at this level too, not just the Quakes, all are pretty much irrelevant. It doesn't help that the Quakes crest design is complete dogsh*t on five different levels... hopefully Tom Fox's replacement will change it.
To an extent, that's true. BUT, it is also your job to wear your Quakes gear early, often, and always with pride!!
I walk around with Quakes gear all the time. Had my hoodie & baseball cap on the other day while shopping at Lucky. A younger guy (I'm almost 58 - My first Quakes game was in '74) walks up to me and says, "I see you at Quakes games". We talked for awhile and found out his first game was when he was a kid during the Clash era. We we talked for a bit and agreed to look out for each other at the games. You may not see the gear all the time, but when the gear is seen, bonds are made.
BTW, Wife and I were walking around Tahoe during Thanksgiving holiday, both wearing Quakes gear, when a guy walked to up to us, wearing his Quakes hoodie, and yelled, "QUAKES!" and we gave each other high-5s. Folks around us had no clue what was going on, but we were laughing and felt great. Again, bonds are made...
Best sightings: Last two trips to L.A., sure enough, greetings to random people sporting Quakes gear. The common enemy(s) down there makes for an uplifting bonding chat.
This off-season has been especially hard to take but the Earthquakes story is obviously far bigger and greater than the impact of one miserly owner. its the whole history of the club, our city, our fans, love of the sport, losing our team, all the work that went into getting a team back (thanks Don, Colin, Ned & co!)...important (for me) to keep that in mind as the new season approaches. At some point I'm obviously preaching to the choir when I'm railing against Fisher in here, so I'll try to lighten up, no promises. #VamosSJ!
From the announcement, it sounded like Tom Fox would not be replaced, but that his duties would be fulfilled by Jared et al. Maybe I misinterpreted it...
i no longer buy quakes gear for myself, tho i did cop the wondo shirt last year after the record. I might buy something if "San Jose" was featured more prominently, but that's few and far between. I do keep the free beanies (from giveaways) in my cubicle, for morning coffee runs lol. I do buy for my nephews and nā hoa oʻu ma Hawaiʻi. My nephews still growing, so I send them gear yearly to wear in OC. My hoa in Hawaiʻi used to live in the Bay, played in the academy, and still support the Quakes, so Iʻll send to them as well. so itʻs not like Fisher isnʻt getting my money somehow. I also see quakes gear around SJSU often. I know a couple of staff/faculty that are STH as well, and my coworker is pretty diehard. But I see students here and there. So people are around. Just imagine if the team put more effort into winning.
Have you tried the real macoy Mark, the stuff made with wormwood? I have two bottles from France and the effects are quite staggering.
What’re you talking about, we got most of our players back from last year and we didn’t have to sell!
I wear Quakes gear frequently, and have either never, or only very rarely had anyone comment on it - and certainly never in the past three or four years. The only place I see Quakes gear is at games I'm refereeing. Otherwise, the team may as well be invisible.
Yes, all Absinthe has wormwood. But, Vermouth has even more wormwood. There’s nothing magical about, it just has a ton of alcohol. Go Quakes!! - Mark
I'm quite sure that I am, but just in case, I might drop-in on you one of these days for a proper demonstration. I love Redwood National Park, Arcata, Humboldt, Crescent City; that's my natural habitat. Go Quakes!! Fisher OUT!! - Mark