USOC aside we took 4/6 points from them to lock in playoffs and then beat the straight up in the playoffs again. I think only someone already selling us out for Everton would in the aftermath of three good games in a row bring up relative playpens. They can go sob in their nice stadium where they lose every first round these days. We're back in business. I mean, you check back in with us and this is what you feel compelled to discuss, only. I can forgive WC that he does talk the soccer before compulsively circling back to empty seats, and does so with probably some well meaning concern about profitability and sustainability and whether it's run right. You used to rip on the critics -- even urge people to ban them -- but now all you do is criticize, even as it ticks back upward.
Look - fans will be back as we win consistently. If they want more tickets sold the organization needs to reduce ticket prices, lower the cost of food, and lower the cost of parking. This will drive up cost of operations but will earn more $loyalty that can carry them over in losing season years. If you look at the demographics of the largest group of passionate fans will be immigrants and native born citizens who are 2nd 3rd genertion children of immigrants. Alot of these fans are blue collar and can’t afford ti bring families to many games The cost of bringing your family was much less at Robertson.
Look KC is pretty physical and dirty. They are committed to team defense and for 90 minutes they did a good job. They have more quality on defense and overall team speed but not much quality up top. We have just enough defense and more quality at the tip of the spear (aside from Cubo). That’s why we won. KC is not only dirty they are the biggest divers I have ever seen and it starts w Feilhaber as soon as they see they are about to lose the ball when fairly challenged - they drop like they’ve been shot by a sniper. Geiger is such an idiot. The yellow card on senderos was due to being hauled from behind with a full shirt pull from Rubio from behind. Senderos swing his arm behind his back and accidentally on purpose hi Rubio in the nose who of course made a huge deal about it - Geiger dismissed it. He later kept egging on Senderos and once Senderos jostled him Rubio dropped like a rock and Geiger pulls out the card. The Dynamo started matching this behavior because that’s what you do in Concacaf leagues you match it mano a mano.
Cubo wasn’t any danger but he is busting his ass and putting in the effort. He is just limited in his capabilities. all this team is playing with heart Vermes held on to his subs too long but it may be because his bench quality was so poor. Youthful team thats tough to play against but will get exposed late in games once they get tired. Vicente did just that. I did not think Alexander was a giod candidate on the bench but he is very calm with the ball and helps us in possession. Kudos to him.
The Dynamo team is fun to watch. But the stadium has lost a lot in the last few years. Other than the beautiful sounds from the reduced number of singing SGs, the stadium is dead. The empty seats are very uninviting. Food lines are horrible. Food has never been good. Tickets are waaay overpriced. A VIP season seat is over $100 if purchased in a season ticket package, but half if purchased online for a single game. Stadium security found a way to kill enthusiasm, tasing fans, kicking fans out of the stadium for being too loud. Parking, food, all too expensive. Most of my friends have stopped buying tickets, the atmosphere from Robertson was lost completely. Several years of a neglected team, neglected franchise. The aging Ching years, the pissed off Dom years, the losing years... But to me, I wont go back to the games until the current front office is gone. The thought of my hard-earned money going to support the current front office, makes me want to stay at home and watch it on TV. I was spending ~$8000 a year on season tickets and merchandise, or much more, and the Dynamo front office never made an attempt to thank me for the years of support, or offer me a deal... instead, their only call was to tell me that there we hundreds of people waiting for me to cancel my season tickets so they could take my seat. Please! Let me know when we make changes to the front office, big changes, and I may come back.
i personally don't care what the other team is doing or how "dirty" they are. My standards for the players that I pay to see are to be professional and have class. I will call out players, including my own, when I see them act like emotional midgets. There is no excuse for how Ellis was acting so stop making them. This "yeah but..." attitude is baffling. If you excuse your side for acting like an a$$hole but pull your hair out about the other guys you are text book hypocrite. Ellis clearly acted poorly. He had a bad night emotionally. We all do. He should have addressed it (maybe he did within the private team environment) and endeavor to never act like that again. If he grows up, then he will be a man. If he doesn't and continues to play dirty, then he stays a boy. I prefer men on my team. PS "I prefer men on my team". There is about 1000 responses to that.....
To me over the line is (a) stupid fouls that literally cost goals, (b) players who can't control their card-happiness, or (c) players who in some way pose a legal/ chemistry/ locker room issue. Big picture issues that impact the chance of winning particular games, team cohesion, or availability. What I see Elis had the GWG but also picked up a yellow. I think the rap on him when the season started was he wasn't playing hard enough defense. So this is actually the direction I want him to go. He did have 8 cards this regular season, which bears monitoring, but all were yellow and I haven't seen him literally unable to control his actions and his ability to stay on the field. Teams often tend to need a$$holes, sorry. To me soft soccer teams that always play clean tend to be midtable or worse, like recent years' Dynamo teams. Once Garrido was gone they cleaned up nice. They also sucked and teams could pass all day. The fairer critique on Elis is whether he is Too Oduro, ie, screws up too many chances relative to what he creates where the actual added value in the net isn't enough, in light of the likely fee he will ask and/or salary he will command. But if the idea is to retain the nice guy Torres and cut Elis you're going backwards.
my term off a$$hole was a direct correlation to being dirty. spiking the backs of legs, punching off the ball, elbowing people in the ribs and forearming folks in the face is not what i want out of my players. his actions don't require an inquisition nor am i calling for his head. I just don't want to see him, or any one else, act like that and i'm not willing to look the other way when it happens. again, not the biggest deal in the world but also needs not to be ignored. PS I really hope the geiger show tonight doesn't try to "make up" for any wrong doings he may have missed last game
The "empty seats" complaint verges on circular. I get we think it could be done better, but I would assume the complaints between showers and skippers are probably similar. If you fix the issues the attendance gets taken care of in the process. So to me it's focus on the issues. If you build it , they will [hopefully] come. [I say that but I am somewhat concerned the window of easy access is over with every team in town playing well and our direct competitor spending payroll and in the WS.] I don't think empty seats are horrifying if you're a soccer fan. One of my nicer trips to BBVA was to watch CCL and it was pretty empty, enough where I could see the new signing Boniek down the aisle. Ideally I want raucous but honestly I'd be content with a very competitive team the snobs and casual fans ignored. It wouldn't be economic very long but I want product more than entertainment. Mind you, your list is valid, just not my highest priority.
Stadium is dead -- we've resisted my suggestion to expand atmosphere beyond the SGs. The SGs are proprietary over their chunk of noise. That model is passé -- watch Atlanta, Orlando, etc. -- but they persist. I do think MLS tickets are set above competitive prices. I can sit in the field level right field bleachers for what it costs to get in the stadium GA. I think they could charge what they did because you were trading on years of success and competing with lousy Astros and were thus perhaps a better corporate ticket too. Now that the Astros don't suck...... I've traditionally eaten before I show up but I'd throw that under the heading of you need to do something well. Spend payroll and give product. Decent food and drink quality and prices. Atmosphere. What off that list do they excel at? It's a little too conservative, I have a product you can't get elsewhere, I won't even pay much payroll, how bad do you want it. I think with decent personnel scouting we should be a playoff team, and I will be happy, but to keep the doors open you have to act like you give a crap. Where is it that it feels like we really "try?"
Build a winning team and people will come watch. Continue to field a budget team, you're going to need to hire more Twitter cheerleaders to try to create excitement. People aren't stupid, they can see this organization is cheap no matter what is posted on social media.