THe fact that people go to see chargers games is still weird to me. The way I see it , they play 16 away games. That is really bush league. Also they are interested on hearing options to be a full time London team. what a shitshow.
The Chargers owner went long yesterday on a statement that he has zero intentions of becoming the London Spitfires or the like somewhere down the road. Read it on the crawl on ESPN during the Kansas vs. Duke game last night Rafa.
London Spitfires? Where did they get that name? Just like American soccer teams need to have names that are more like the "typical" American sports team (Utah Biltzzz, anyone? Or how about any team named "something-Dawgz") they need a proper English name, like Wankingham AFC. The "AFC" stands for American Football Club," although I suppose they'd have to move into the AFC East so they can get gubbed by the Pats twice a year.
Nobody but soccer fans in the U.S. calls American football "gridiron". Gridiron is a term for the field. If they wanted to go that route, it'd be something like "AFC" for American Football Club, or if you want to please the pro/rel nuts "AFF" for American Football Franchise" or "TT" for Throwball Team.
Kids today... I can see eSports growing in popularity. My son is a 100 Thieves fan, and wanted a jacket and t-shirt for Christmas last year. They were limited release, sold online, and sold out in like 15 minutes. I got on at the start of the time, and scored the items he wanted. I'll add that he started playing League of Legends probably 6 or 7 years ago (it came out in 2009), and that game is going strong. I'll add that sports like MLS and the NFL will never have the global reach that a eSports like League of Legends will ultimately acquire.
Rep given for the Blitzz reference. I went to many a Blitzz games, even stormed the field once after a victory. Although that game was being played on a high school field so it wasn't too hard to get down to the pitch.
----------------------------- With the Chargers in the new stadium, that will be the only way a lot of people may ever get a chance to get inside, would have to assume Ram ticket prices would be more. Chargers lower in an attempt to draw fans, which of course, will just draw more fans of the opposing team. Heck, even the Rams have problems with that sometimes. If the Charges attendance becomes embarassing , would that worry the NFL?
I do blame Kraft for not doing something about a stadium 10 or 15 years ago when it was obvious that was what the team needed. Back then there were some options, like the Seaport area, which would have been beyond perfect but which is now getting crowded and the land is worth a million bucks per square foot. Now he claims he wants a place but theres no good location so what can he do? Oh well, guess he'll just have to keep it where it is, watching the value go through the non-existent roof.
On the Revs' board people (sarcastically) often use the acronym "KIASBM" for "Kraft Is A Savvy Businessman." Years ago many of us were saying this, not to mention several other sites in the "urban core" (accessible by mass transit) that could have worked. Of course, any plot of land big enough for a stadium (and all the other stuff to go with it) is going to be expensive because other developers will want it for retail, housing, or whatever else. He would actually have to buy the land, as in "give someone lots of money" for it. For years, he was trying to get a sweetheart deal on prime real estate, and of course, no city is going to do that when there are hotel developers who will pay a higher price. And that's pretty much what happened with the Seaport area. Yep, KIASBM indeed! Actually, there are locations that would/could work, but just like anything that is worth it in the long run, it's not easy or simple or cheap/free. There have been proposals floated (anyone remember the 'Lympics that were supposed to come to Boston?) That would have been a modular stadium that would have been retro-fitted afterwards to accommodate the Revs. Even after that fell through (which was just as well) Kraft was asleep at the wheel and wouldn't/couldn't/didn't buy the parcel. There was another place on Columbia Point, land that was an old convention center (obsolete and to be torn down) that would have been big enough. He wanted it for nothing, but since UMass Boston is right there (always has been a commuter school) and they got the land to build dorms to attract students from outside the immediate area. Good move for them, not so good for the Krafts. The day the Revs open their own stadium, they can have halftime entertainment of the Pairs competition with Nancy Kerrigan skating with Lucifer himself! I bet he can do a mean double-yutz/triple sow-cow combo!
I thunk it up! There is an entire section at NRG Stadium where the Houston Texans FO has designated "The Gridiron Zone". Also, in such a diverse city like ours here in Houston, it is now common for men to use in daily talk down at one's local pub, use with ease "association football" for the beautiful game and use Gridiron when wanting to speak of American football as your group you, as an American sports fan that know his stuff, you are talking with men from the ME, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Keeps the conversation going as the foreign dudes give the respect back to an American that keeps perspective on the dominate sport on our planet. Certainly for many of us that work in the Oil industry.
Unless you're trying to sum up the variations of the game, like NFL, NCAA football, indoor football, flag football and CFL.
I will go to my grave contending that had the Revs won MLS Cup 2005, they'd have gotten their own stadium. I was ten feet from Kraft on the field a couple of days before MLS Cup, and you almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he looked around at what Hunt had built in Frisco. That was the moment. It's easy to blame Pando Ramirez, but I think Steve Nicol's record in finals speaks for itself. Especially in 2005 and 2007 he had the better team, one that was more than capable of winning 5-3, but he squeezed the reigns too tight.
Actually, you could say the same thing if Winston Griffiths' shot was 1/4 inch lower in 2002. There were 63,000+ in the brand-new stadium, the largest ever soccer crowd. The Pats had just won their first Super Bowl and each of the other local teams would win a title in the next few years. No city has had 5 teams (or even 4) win titles in the same decade. The Revs would have been legit, on an equal footing with the other pro teams in town. But the thing is, the Revs came this close to folding completely that year, and if it wasn't' for an 8-1-1 stretch that won them the division and brought them through the playoffs, they might have. Kraft, the savvy businessman that he is, didn't consider that his "If you build it they will come" strategy wouldn't work for soccer. Parking was more expensive than the cheapest Revs ticket (now it's free). They only opened up one side of the stadium, which led to a terrible atmosphere. The gave comp Revs tickets to Pats season ticket holders, just to get them in the stadium, so there were a lot of meatheads who didn't like/understand soccer as part of the early season crowds. They had all the Pats staff double up and do the same thing for the Revs (yeah, that was gonna work well...) and laid off almost all the Revs only people by August. They had to bring in ticket sellers from the MetroStars to sell playoff tickets (Not like they were busy during the playoffs or anything) All in all, it was a fiasco, and everything, literally everything, would have been different had Griffiths' shot bounced down off the crossbar instead of straight out. But yeah, Nicol's strategy/tactics were terrible. As he used to say, "Yuh gut tae loo' a yuurself inna mirra"
Ah, it was a fighter, best known for its work during the Battle of Britain. That is, for its defensive accomplishments. The Lancaster, on the other hand...
In a sport that in it's very nature is so militaristic, having a World class performance fighter plane as your helemt logo is solid. I mean in gridiron we witness the blitz, a shotgun formation, the trenches, a bomb, the head coach is the General, teams have working howitzers on their sideines I was simply thinking that a plane flown by underdog flyers in an attempt to make an all out defense of their land would really appeal to dem British guys!