The "Thoughts That Don't Require Their Own Thread" Thread XII

Corrected tweet - Jay Heaps quote from a few days ago about the Krafts (who are not brothers).#NERevs pic.twitter.com/zvgGxnLxjC

— Pardeep Cattry (@pcattry) May 31, 2017

 

Hey, I'd think my bosses were "awesome" too if they left me alone and never asked tough questions or made "push the envelope" demands of me, while giving me unlimited job security and a good salary. What's not to like?

Seriously, I've heard more than a few times about how the Krafts do a lot of stuff "behind the scenes," which all may be well and good, but let's get real. No one writes a "worst owners in the league" type article without some semblance of accuracy. When that came out, Jonathan poo-pooed it, questioning the guy's credibility as a journalist, etc. But at no time did he even attempt to refute any of the points he made in his article. It would have been a perfect time to trot out some specific examples of the "behind the scenes" stuff they allegedly do, rather than a blanket statement of "he doesn't know what he's talking about." And it wasn't just the Boston Mag article, other media folks have commented (some more publicly than others) about the Krafts' lacklustre approach to running this team.

So it comes down to one of two things: Either the Kraft empire is completely tone-deaf, have no clue whatsoever on the basic concept of public relations, or all of this "great owners" crap is just a ludicrous party-line, and they are more full of crap than Tony Meola's colon 3 hours after Thanksgiving dinner.

 

We are one of 4 remaining teams in the league without an away win. The other 3 are Houston (who has ridden their 7-0-1 home record to 1st in the west), Minnesota and Colorado.

 

This attack on Tony Meola's colon is uncalled for. That thing's been through a lot.

 

Each team gets to have 8 players on the All Star ballot.

List of 176 players nominated by media to the 2017 MLS All-Star Fan XI vote
May 30, 2017, 7:00AM EDT
MLSsoccer staff

The 8 Revs on the ballot are:

 

Far more interesting logos in the lower divisions. Boston City's is nice, with the skyline and the classic lion. That Hartford crest looks like an alligator emerging from either an EU or Alaska flag imagry, on the backdrop of an Eastern Orthodox church or a mosque minaret with a Ferrari horse on top. I woner what the symbolism of that is?

No matter what the reasoning is, it has to be better than some of the drivel recent designers of MLS logos have come up with. Vancouver put little light blue triangles on their jersey to symbolize rain. DC United made their eagle look like a bird version of Jessica Rabbit. Other designers have used the most drivel-ous terms to describe their alleged creations, like "minimalist concept" and "represents the dynamism and energy of..."

Still, the USL logos work much better than the toddler-drawn flag.

 

It's the top of the Colt building (as in the gun manufacturer) in Hartford. There's a dome that sits on top of the old factory



I'd guess the animal is also a horse, but it's pretty abstract.

 

Nice, a distinct landmark that resonates with locals. I guess it's better than trying to imply that large water-based mammals actually swum up the Connecticut River, like another team from that city. Or that Rastafarians were excellent skaters who could stickhandle better than some bomba-clot from Saskatchewan!

 

The pats had their Super Bowl ring ceremony recently and Kraft handed out Super Bowl rings with 283 diamonds - the most bling of any SB rings in history.

I was curious how much that would cost so I found an article that valued the Pats' SB 49 rings, did the math for the SB51 rings and my jaw hit the floor.

The pats SB49 rings were fitted with 205 diamonds and were valued at $36,500 each. Kraft paid for 150 of these rings, working out to spending $5.475 million out of his pocket on rings, according to ESPN.

This year the rings were even gaudier, outfit with 283 diamonds. Doing the math on a cost per diamond, these rings would be worth approx $50,388 each. Multiply by 150 like SB49 and you're looking at $7.558 million spent. On Super Bowl rings.

For context, this year's entire revs roster salary is approx $5.407 million base / $5.8 million comp, according to the Denver Post. One SB51 ring costs only $3k less than what Josh Smith makes this entire year.

Granted, I did read this year's Super Bowl rings were paid for by the NFL, not Kraft. But the SB49 rings came right out of our owner's pocket.

Basically, Kraft could fit the entire revs roster literally on his ring finger. We should remember this when people come on here defending the Krafts.

 

Why 283 diamonds? Because the Pats came back from being down 28-3.

 

So if the revs come back from being down 3-0, I will expect at least 30 diamonds.

 

Horse Guy, revealed:

Horse Guy: The New England Revolution man, myth and legend
June 15, 2017, 1:23PM EDT
Jonathan Sigal

 

I find this awesome in terms of the scope of what it says (and reinforces) about the Kraft's stewardship of Revs.

The Patriots are his "team". The Revs aren't a "team" to him - they are more akin to simply a series of debits and credits in a ledger, or a footnote to a line item on a balance sheet. The Kraft's emotional investment is deep in the former, and is nowhere to be found for the latter.

Ownership needs to have some emotional attachment to a "team" if they truly want it to thrive. But - ain't nearly enough here for Revs.

 

Y'know, a few people have come out and said, "nuh-uh, you're wrong, the Krafts are great owners and they care a LOT about the Revs."

OK, so give me one example, just one, of how they've done all this behind the scenes stuff than no one knows about. Either that, or someone else will write another "worst owners inteh league" article, and they certainly don't wan't that.

 

Goals tonight from Diamond, Swartz and Rennicks while Totte had 2 assists in the 3-1 @USLPDL win #path2pro

— Boston Bolts (@BostonBolts) June 22, 2017

Rennicks with a goal.

 

I'll remain skeptical until they actually hire someone, since they've left themselves an out...

 

It seems Jonathan K. Has been to every home game lately. Is he beginning to feel the joy and anguish the same as we do? Could it mean a more passionate ownership?

 

I dunno, he's gotten "fan-like" in the past. I remember after a physical game (loss) to the MetroStars, he referred to them as "a bunch of thugs," which is the kind of thing any emotional fan might say in that situation.

Given the name of our opponent, it shows you how long ago it was. Not like much has changed in the grand scheme of things.

 

Revolution's July 22 match to air on NBC Boston
June 21, 2017, 11:10AM EDT
revolutionsoccer.net

 

To piggy back on Tom's comment, I think he's been at most games for the past couple of years. I think the CSNNE crew has "spotlighted" him more recently -- maybe in response to the criticism of the ownership.