USA-Poland Chgo July 11, 2004

nicodemus · Jul 12, 2004

pvan4 said:

I just got off the phone with Nicodemus. He said the tifo didn't work. It would be better to do them at halftime maybe when more fans are in the stadium.
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HalaMadrid said:

It worked ok. Just not the mosaic ---or as well as we'd hoped.

Example:

Plus the entire Polish end was throwing too. that you don't see.

You never know if you don't try.
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I didn't say it didn't work, I just said you couldn't read what was spelled out in the endzones. After seeing a few photos, I also realize that I couldn't really judge how that looked as I was on about the 4th or 5th row from the field. Probably not a great vantage point on the mosaic.

I totally agree with Liam though, some of the other stuff looked great. The streamers were great, they looked really good on both ends and the table rolls (especially on the polish end) came off looking really nice. Also, there was a bunch of balloons on one endzone that looked really cool when all the fans were waving them.

Also, let me give massive credit to Liam, Marcin, jjayg and all of the other people that put in the effort to organize and execute the tifo. It was a HUGE undertaking and I can verify that because I was lucky enough to help them set up for the mosaic and other stuff with a large group of US & Polish supporters. Even with the mosaic, it wasn't the organizers fault it didn't come off as well, there was a lot of late entry into the stands, etc.

It was a big job and the only way to get better at it is to practice. I've been to a dozen US games in half a dozen stadiums and Chicago is the only town I've seen even attempt anything of this scale. Heck, most cities don't do anything like this so their willingness to venture into unchartered waters was impressive and should definately be commended. I salute them for their efforts.

HalaMadrid · Jul 13, 2004

Many thnaks to Joela nd the crew for their help. The timing and traffic worked against us but it was a great time and will only help us improve next time.

kal-el · Jul 13, 2004

HalaMadrid said:

Please go out of your way to buy a US supporter's scarf for the Poland game. And plese do so well in advance of the match, as it will be difficult enough to sell scarves the night of the game to the general public much less core support. Proceeds are being used for tifo for that match, and since there are already 4500+ Poland supporters' tickets sold, and I know they are buying several thousand dollars worth of materials, it's important we do our best ourselves.

http://section8chicago.com/store.html
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Having only attended one US match previously, I wasn't really on top of this, but would love to get one of the US supporters' scarves as a souvenir. Doesn't look like they're still for sale at the Section 8 Store. Any chance there's still one (or two) out there I could purchase from someone?

ggayle · Jul 13, 2004

Still hoarse and groggy at work back home in Cali. Thanks everyone (Fonsos et al.)! I had a great time!

Special thanks to NotAbbott for hooking me up with another ticket.

Guy
(Youuuuu,es,ehhhhhhh, USA)

HalaMadrid · Jul 13, 2004

Many thanks to everyone who bought scarves and gve donations, we appear to have been able to cover our costs!

Thank you!

FKASCSN · Jul 13, 2004

nicodemus said:

It was a big job and the only way to get better at it is to practice. I've been to a dozen US games in half a dozen stadiums and Chicago is the only town I've seen even attempt anything of this scale. Heck, most cities don't do anything like this so their willingness to venture into unchartered waters was impressive and should definately be commended. I salute them for their efforts.
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Big kudos to everyone in Chicago who was responsible for these efforts. Looked great on tv regardless of whether or not it "worked" to full effect. Nice job!