If I remeber right, someone said that Nat Borchers said that he would like to have a coach with national team connections. It seems to be that it would be good to have a coach that would have the ear of Bruce Arena. The question then comes up, if you have a coach who is able to get players onto the national team, is that the best thing for the club? Yeah it's great to have players from the Rapids on the national team, but it hurts the team due to a lot of national team games are during the MLS season. On the flip side the only player that has been getting called up is Pablo Mastroeni, so it might be worth picking Curt Onolfo.
I just posted on another Onalfo thread that I went to high school with Curt and thought he was a good guy. He has come a awful long way for a 35 yr old! I hope he gets the job, he would make an excellent coach.
Nonsense! A player's quality gets him a call-up not his coaches connections. Borchers is a solid MLS yeoman at best. He was exposed badly with the Olympic qualifying side. Hopefully, the next Rapids coach will be selected for his experience, resume', coaching & mangement skills and his ability to identify & select good players rather than his "connection" to Arena.
It maybe could hurt the team on the field, but it sure helps the Rapids sell the Rapids a little be it easier when they can say someone so and so is a member of the US Nats!
What sells the Rapids (or any sports team in this town..with the exception of the Broncos) is when they start winning games. That should be the priority here. Not who's going to load up the USMNT with Rapids players.
I guess that I should have worded it differently. What I was trying to say is that Nat Borchers wanted a coach that had national team experience. I don't believe that he should be getting called up to the national team. Also that there are pro's and con's with having a coach who may have connections with the national team. I think that Onalfo has a good resume. I tend to believe that Bruce Arena has an eye for good coaches and it doesn't hurt having a head coach who worked under Bruce.
What's more informative - two seasons of excellent play against mature professionals in MLS, or one game played with and against U-23's in an extraordinarily hostile environment?
Winning does sell ... but to win you need the best. The best play for the Nats. People go see the best play. Adu. Donevan. DMB. Right now your average fan would only know Americans Henderson, Pablo, Cannon, and Maybe Chung. They don't have a lot of caps between them, but they have (or hopefully in Cannons case will have) caps. It's how you make a identity with a team. It's how you market a team. You need names. And if you want Americans that are names ... you'd better have National Team players. And you're wrong about the other teams ... Anothony sells the Nuggets ... Forsberg/Sakic/Roy sold the Avs ... and players like Bichette and Walker sell the Rockies. Winning comes from players such as that ... but they are names that are put out there to sell the team. I'm not saying winning isn't a major factor ... but so are the big name players on your team.
Mooch works for him now. People were just as thrilled when he left...and I'm not so sure the welcome mat would be put out for him were he to ever return.
If history is ANY indication, there's no f'ing way we're going to get league poster boys like Adu, Donovan and DMB. I suppose the closest we'll ever come to that is Conor Casey. And he's not coming back until his european experience is completely finished. Nobody would've given Anthony the time of day if the Nuggets went 21-61 last season. But they won and made the playoffs for the first time in forever, and he was a major player in that. The Avs have won...gosh, how many division championships and Stanley Cups since they arrived? They win..some players are big parts of that success, so they get marketed. As for the Rockies...wtf? I doubt many people in this town can name 1/4 of their starting lineup. Or even who their #1 starting pitcher was. And they don't sell a damn thing....have you been to a game this year? Their attendance is pathetic. They don't win, so not as many people pay attention. The only press they get anymore is when one of their star players gets busted cruising for hoes on Colfax. If the Rapids start winning, they'll get more media coverage on tv and local papers. And that's when the general public will start paying attention more. In my opinion, I don't think people give a damn who is out on the field as long as they win. Look at Real Madrid. They have the greatest collection of players in the world right now, and they're 9 pts behind the leaders. Last year they weren't even close to winning and had to play qualifiers just to get admitted to the Champions League. My point is who cares who are the big names on the field? Start winning matches and dominating opponents, and the rest will take care of itself.
I was not as thrilled to see Mooch go (I still consider him a quality coach), perhaps the CounceMasterGeneral hindered him?... On Borchers, it's silly to use that U-23 game as evidence of poor play... what is better is to see how sh!tty he plays when he doesn't have an experienced defender next to him in the middle. Borchers isn't ready to be the captain of the backline, other than that, he is rock solid. I would like to see the Rapids hire a coach that puts them in favor with the Bruce, and with the higher-ups within MLS... That said, I don't think it takes a brainsurgeon to be an MLS coach, I mean, Hankinson kept his job for how many years??? Unless the coach is absolutely head and shoulders above the rest of the coaches in MLS, why not have one that will give the Rapids the ability to compile a roster second to none? Obviously, winning is the cure-all... And this organization needs some respectability pronto...
I agree with most of what you say. But I disagree a bit with your point on big names. Winning is will certainly draw attention to the team and I would agree it is the single most important factor for the team. However, in the American sports culture, we like names to attach to a team. A sort of "face of the team", if you will. Spencer was perfect for that role with his attitude, sportsmanship, sense of humor and general pleasant personality. If the team could have won consistently during his term here, I think he would have been much more effective in marketing the Rapids to the general populace. He is someone that people can "warm up" to - a face (or, more importantly, a personality) to attach to the Rapids. I agree that, as is the case with Real Madrid, big names don't automatically win games (though I wouldn't mind having their salary budget). But a good "big name" player - one that plays hard, plays well and is a leader on the team, both on and off the field - can go a long way not only to the play of the team but the marketing of the team to new fans. It doesn't have to be Beckham or Zidane (though those would certainly fit the bill) but a player with some noteriety for his play and a mature, leadership-type of personality. Just my opinion.
Last time I'm chiming in on this ... We are talking about SELLING the team ... Yes WINNING is VERY important. But to win you need the best. Every team that has won MLS Cup with the exception of KC has had players on the national team (or were recently removed from). They are the best players the country has to offer. When MLS sells itself, what faces do they flash on television? And you metion real Madrid as an example ... remember, we're not talking about sucess on the field ... but SELLING the team ... and you just gave the example of the most popular team on earth. Hell, watch Sky sports news ... they will give you an update on English national team players Beckham and Owens pratically nightly ... same can't be said about third place Everton. Marketing is not only about winning ... but selling faces. You want to get the attention of soccer fans in the area that hey ... the rapids are decent and exciting this year ... go get Clint Mathis. Oh, and the Nuggets opened up with attendance way up in thier first ten games because of Carmelo ... before he had a chance to prove himself. And yeah the rockies sucks ... but you also re-enforce my point by stating ... no one can name a 1/4 of thier lineup ... and thier attendance sucks. But it's hard to separate Names with Winning. Which is my point somewhat ... we need National Team Players ... because they are the NAMES that equal WINNING. Oh, and the Avs have been nothing BUT names. When that team was in Quebec ... up through 1994, their only name ever was Sakic - Foote wasn't a name yet ... then Philly gave them the other names they needed (Forsberg, Dueschane(sp), Hextall - plus two that became names Ricci and Simon) .. and in 1995 Quebec was the best team in the league only to lose in the first round of playoffs primarily due to inexperience and the fact that Hextall was no longer the top goalie he once was - and guess what they did ... they got another major name - Patrick Roy and became one of the top 3 teams in the NHL for the next 7 years - adding names such as Borque and Blake. All that said, I think the Rapids future isn't getting the big names in the next year or two ...it's growing the next big names. But that sure isn't going to SELL the team very well.
Ha! YOU knew their #1 pitcher (I still want to know what he got for the $19 million before being arrested) Could go down as the second most expensive one behind Bill Clinton. Kennedy Jennings Estes? Cook C-Clousser & Greene 1B-Helton 2B-Miles/Gonzales 3B-Atkins SS-Unclear OF-Holliday OF-Wilson OF-Freeman, Reyes I went to two games last year. I have faith that some year the Rockies (like the Rapids) will win it all. If they re-invest nagle's money into some good pieces, it could be sooner than later in an unimpressive NL west. RLH
Still not budging. To sell a team well, they need to win. If we go out tomorrow and bring Greg Vanney back from France, and Kasey Keller and they get 10 clean sheets the first 10 games....yes they and the team will be popular. But if they start out 2-8, no one aside from real soccer fans will know who they are and using them in a marketing sense will not be very effective. "Even though we're 2-8, come see USMNT 'keeper Kasey Keller!!!" I don't think that's going to get people breaking down the doors of Invesco. I agree that every team needs a media darling, but winning begets those. And ok, so there's one (maybe a few) hardcore baseball fan on this board to list the Rockies starting lineup. I for one have only heard of Wilson and Helton. The rest I wouldn't know if they bit me on the face. To me Reyes is a striker for Arsenal, Holliday is another name for vacation, uhhh....Atkins started a diet that's popular...Freeman is a famous actor.... Seriously though, my eyes are seeing some of those names for the very first time. And this is supposed to be one of the more popular teams in the city.
Were the Rapids to bring in Reyna, Donovan and Beasley I doubt you'd see much more than a 10-15% spike in attendance. Simply put, the biggest names in American soccer -- hell, the biggest names in world soccer -- just aren't going to draw casual fans. Even those who consider themselves "huge soccer fans" yet have been avoiding Rapids games won't suddenly change their opinion of MLS. If you don't agree, look no further than the ratings for the World Cup qualifiers on TV... or the simple fact that some of the USA's qualifiers were only available on pay-per-view. Hell, the Rocky hasn't even bothered to run any piece of Rapids-related news in nearly 3 weeks (Nov. 20th). The Nuggets sold well prior to the start of the 03/04 season not just because of Smello but because they brought in a few other strong names -- and the local press ate it up. The Nuggets suddenly had a bunch of Big Name Players that the papers and TV stations could (and did) drool over. The only way the Denver press would pay attention to someone in a Rapids uniform would be if David Beckham were to sign for the team and a week later be caught on Colfax with a hooker on his lap, a diamond dildo up the rear and a speedball sticking out of his arm. And even then it probably wouldn't be as important as the latest dirt on Smello.