Philadelphia Union in the Media

Discussion in 'Philadelphia Union' started by cpurdom, Aug 16, 2010.

  1. cpurdom

    cpurdom Member

    Mar 3, 2008
    127 F
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
  2. SmashtheVan

    SmashtheVan Member+

    Jan 13, 2009
    South Jersey
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: Broad Street Review of the Union and Soccer

    I like that he supports soccer in the US and Philly, and that he's trying to get his readers interested, but I don't care too much for the tone of the article.
     
  3. sully127

    sully127 Member

    Apr 3, 2010
    138, C
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: Broad Street Review of the Union and Soccer

    My response:

    Tom,

    I'd like to start by thanking you for writing this article. As a die-hard Union fan, any publication, article, blog, etc. which raises the awareness of the team and the MLS and attempts to draw more people to the outstanding experience of going to games is spectacular.

    With that said, I have to disagree with your assessment that soccer will necessarily have to be a niche-sport with a niche-market in the United States. Ten years ago, I would have absolutely agreed with you as you had small groups of fans packing bars and pubs early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch the English Premiership games. While that still goes on, the fact that we now have some 16,000+ people heading out to Chester, PA to take in a local team... OUR local team, playing the sport that we love is, to me, indicative of a shift in the sport's popularity and acceptance.

    If MLS can continue to expand into would-be successful markets like Seattle, Philadelphia, and (what looks to be very successful) Vancouver, I firmly believe that we're talking about contention with at least 2 of the 4 'major' sports in this country - hockey and basketball - both of which are seeing dwindling attendance and overall lack of profitability.

    Add to this the fact that the US Men's National Team got some of the sport's best ratings in this country in the 2010 World Cup plus the designated player rule allowing clubs to bring in big international name such as Henry, Marquez, Castillo, and Ljungberg (...and that was all just in ONE game last week), and I think the recipe is ripe for the explosion of soccer onto the American sports scene.

    The future looks potentially even brighter if Fox Soccer Channel decides not to renew their broadcasting contract with MLS and, as many suspect, the network Versus picks up the reigns, given what they've been able to do with their NHL contract over the course of only a few years. ESPN, arguably the most accurate barometer of American sports, also only continues to add to their coverage.

    Well, that amounted to significantly more than I intended to write, but thanks for taking the time to read it.

    Come on the U!
     
  4. cpurdom

    cpurdom Member

    Mar 3, 2008
    127 F
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Re: Broad Street Review of the Union and Soccer

    Thanks. I'll pass that on. Hopefully those responding will also respond to the publication :).
     
  5. Eddie26

    Eddie26 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 23, 2004
    Pittsadelphia
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    As we discussed before, this thread will be where we will merge other threads into after a few days so as to not clutter up the main page.

    I.E. interviews with players in the media, articles, etc.


    https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17762343&postcount=7


     
  6. cpurdom

    cpurdom Member

    Mar 3, 2008
    127 F
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Random Off-topic Union Bashing in today's Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/101541188.html

    I know, they're dinosaurs working for a bankrupt newspaper, Gonzalez thinks soccer and bicycles are communist plots, and we don't really need either of them. But it almost seems like they're afraid to go because they're worried they might enjoy it. I'm almost inclined to offer to buy them tickets.
     
  7. sully127

    sully127 Member

    Apr 3, 2010
    138, C
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Some people legitimately don't like the sport (the few), the rest are just willingly ignorant (the many). Since they're so vehemently opposing something that they really know nothing about, trying to be rational with them is just a waste of time. I can't think of what, short of kidnapping them and forcing them to go to a game, will change people's minds; even that doesn't work, though.

    I have a guy that I work with who was a big soccer basher who came to the Union - FC Dallas game at the Linc because we had an extra ticket. He went and had a good time; he left the game talking about how much he'd like to come back. I thought we'd had a moral victory, but once we were back at the office and he was around other people, it was right back to bashing... catch him alone and he asks how the season is going.

    I just don't get it.
     
  8. frobisherthepenguin1

    Jun 6, 2008
    South Jersey
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    I've had plenty of moral victories this year. So many of the people I've taken have had their eyes opened by the experience. One colleague is even looking to split a 2011 season ticket plan with his brother-in-law. Another colleague was the biggest soccer basher around but was open enough to go to a game with me. Toronto, with its last minute penalty winner was a good one for that, and he so thoroughly enjoyed the experience he wants to take his daughter to a game.
     
  9. buzzkiller23

    buzzkiller23 Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    Glenolden, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not sure I've ever seen a closet soccer fan. Weird.
     
  10. cpurdom

    cpurdom Member

    Mar 3, 2008
    127 F
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    They're afraid they'll lose their social position or their friends. Same reason people are closeted over anything. Some of the sports reporters position themselves as defenders of America. Gonzalez has actually ranted about bicycles being a Chinese Communist plot. If he started liking soccer he might lose that audience (whatever it is) and be out of a job. I can believe there's offices that if they don't actually work that way might be perceived as working that way by the socially conscious paranoids.
     
  11. SmashtheVan

    SmashtheVan Member+

    Jan 13, 2009
    South Jersey
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Driving to the train right before the home opener at the Linc, one of the WIP hosts mentioned that it was happening, and proposed that himself and his co-host(Hugh Douglas) attend, and that he would even buy the tickets.

    Hugh's response was "I'll drive by...hahaha" and whenever the other host pushed him, would just say "I'll drive by." the only other response Hugh had was "I don't want to get tricked into enjoying it"

    it's just ridiculous.
     
  12. HazmatCorntail

    May 28, 2010
    South 139
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Gonzalez was, is, and always will be, a hack. They devoted another one of those You Talkin To Me "articles" during the WC to complaining about how few people read their articles about "kickball".

    The only ticket I'd ever buy for him would be in the Visitors supporters' section, because then I'd get to make fun of him, too.
     
  13. tehgraarg

    tehgraarg Member

    Feb 9, 2006
    West Berlin, NJ
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I do. That guy is a Doucher.

    He is too worried about what others think about him to form his own opinions. Baa baa Mr. Sheep. Baa Baa.
     
  14. Eddie26

    Eddie26 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 23, 2004
    Pittsadelphia
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    I must be the only one who subscribes to FourFourTwo as I haven't seen this mentioned yet. There's a piece about five future US stars, one of the five players they cover is our own Jack Mac. It's just a small paragraph but press none the less (and he's in his Union jersey, the rest of the players are in USA jerseys).
     
  15. HazmatCorntail

    May 28, 2010
    South 139
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The last catalog I got from Eurosport had a mini-edition of 4-4-2 and it had a top ten list of same, with both Jack Mac and Mwanga listed.
     
  16. NJToon

    NJToon New Member

    May 11, 2009
    Bordentown, NJ
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There was also a small little blurb in FourFourTwo earlier this year about how we got the Zolos nickname. I would have bought it but the bookstore charges $9 an issue...which is why I only read it inside the walls of said bookstore.
     
  17. Eddie26

    Eddie26 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 23, 2004
    Pittsadelphia
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Subscribe only and it's about 6-7 per month, just a dollar or so more than most mags.
     
  18. Roger Allaway

    Roger Allaway Member+

    Apr 22, 2009
    Warminster, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The morning after the Linc opened in 2003 with a game between Manchester United and Barcelona, there were four pictures of the game in the Inquirer. With each of the four, there was an error in the caption. It would have been easy for a reader who was a soccer fan to assume that nobody at the Inquirer gives a sh*t about soccer.

    Actually, there were six people on that sports copy desk who each could have caught those errors in a minute (I was one of the six). Why didn't we? Because all six of us had taken the night off so that we could go to the game together.

    Just because a few high-profile sportswriters at the Inquirer dislike soccer, you shouldn't go assuming that everybody there does (although, of the six copy editors I referred to above, four of us have since retired and the other two have left). I can think of at least four soccer fans among the Inquirer sportswriters: Bob Ford, Mike Jensen, Joe Juliano and Marc Narducci. Maybe some others.
     
  19. cpurdom

    cpurdom Member

    Mar 3, 2008
    127 F
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    The small but decent article about Saturday's 3-0 win over Chivas USA was on page 17 of the Sunday sports section.
     
  20. HazmatCorntail

    May 28, 2010
    South 139
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ...and referred to our now-backup 'keeper as "Chris Seinz".
     
  21. Lobezno1

    Lobezno1 Member

    Apr 19, 2005
    Philadelphia
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ouch, talk about pouring salt on the wound.
     
  22. Rickster

    Rickster Member

    Dec 1, 1998
    Great point. The issue with the Inquirer (and all print media) is the zero sum game of fixed space in the sports section. It's easy to get some ink in June or July but now, with the Phillies in the playoffs, the Eagles going crazy, college football (including Temple!) in high gear, high school sports buzzing and the Flyers and Sixers about to start, getting any kind of story in the print edition is good news.

    A better focus if we want to be helpful would be on Union section Jonanthan Tannenwald maintains on Philly.com. If there are a lot of "clicks" and comments, it is a very easy way to show the powers that be that there is interest in the Union.
     
  23. DickyDunn

    DickyDunn Member

    Jan 22, 2010
    Philadelphia, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    As much as I hate to say it, my industry weighs decisions heavily on page hits. Keep clicking on the Goalkeeper and that might be enough to get a few column inches in a print edition.

    Then again, I was at a dinner with the new CEO of the Inky and was basically rebuffed when I suggested that news stories on Philly.com were more beneficial to the reader/viewer than the tits of the "down the shore" lasses.

    Oh to be in a dying business.
     
  24. bkpsu

    bkpsu Member

    Apr 3, 2000
    139P
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And I bet you read Playboy for the articles ;)
     
  25. KnightofNi

    KnightofNi Member

    Jan 24, 2008
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    do i have to actually read the articles?
    i would love to see more coverage that isn't someone bashing the SoBs or the game itself, or someone writing about a game who's only knowlege of the game is the british hooligans and gets freaked out if they see an italian game with flares. the probelm i have is i don't particularly like tannenwald's articles. i don't want to support what i don't like even though he is writing about something i do like. (does that make sense?)
     

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