Timbers Army the "new Barra Brava"?

Discussion in 'Barra Brava' started by thedebo2010, May 27, 2011.

  1. spmiller6377

    spmiller6377 New Member

    Aug 15, 2010
    Glenn Dale, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Having only been in the Barra for about a year, I can see what folks are talking about. If everyone has recognized the problem, how do folks go about changing it?

    Most games I go to personally I sit in one of the Barra sections, but I recognize that if I need to be family friendly (and by that I simply mean that I won't be jumping and shouting much), I don't sit in/near the Barra. Is there anyway possible that there can be some sort of enforcement of that where a credentialed member can tell people to sing or go up to the 300s (or to the quiet side of the stadium)?

    Also, a few people have mentioned that it is more like a frat party and less like a supporter's group this year. Is there any way to have members take ownership in the barra instead of just showing up, milking off of the grill, and singing half assed for 10 minutes instead of 90? Screaming Eagles charge for the grill, and that might be a little too much, but at least they need to put in before they get out. Anyway you can do something like pass out plates that can get stuff from the grill only if people either chip in some food/drink or somehow help out (clean up, man grill, assemble flags - anything they can do to chip in for 5 minutes)? Maybe not the best idea, but something to instill a sense of ownership/membership from Barra members.
     
  2. WiseMenSayRCTID

    WiseMenSayRCTID New Member

    May 31, 2011
    pdx
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I highly doubt any TA said anything so arrogant to a visiting supporter. I've never heard anyone say anything like this. The TA wants to help grow soccer fandom in the US, which is one reason we treat visiting supporters like VIP's. (come to The Bitter End after a game, I doubt you'll have to buy your own beer.) We arent that interested in being "#1", we just want to give our beloved team the support they deserve and hope that other teams supporters do the same so we can grow the sport together.

    BTW I was really impressed with the DCU contingent at the last game. By far the best enemy support we've seen here this year.
     
  3. StagsUnited72

    StagsUnited72 Member

    Sep 23, 2004
    Silver Spring, MD
    Thanks. We hope to make it an annual trip if the schedule permits. This year we will finally get to invade Seattle in September.
     
  4. DangerMouse37

    DangerMouse37 Member+

    Jan 22, 2004
    WDC / Barra
    The Barra is a pale version of its former self, to be sure.

    I remember it well as a young lad, when I was tall and thin, bronzed and muscle-bound from long hours of hard work at the tailgates and banging away at my drum.

    They weren't the namby-pamby corporate-style tailgates we have today, no sir! No carne asada coming right up, no elders sitting by the hot stove burning the flesh of a a thousand vacas.

    No in the good old days we built our own fires. We caught our own food and shared it freely among our merry band in the lowlands down near the mighty Anacostia. We were few but tough, a real band of brothers.

    I remember how the stout hearted Richmonders would set out early in the day, driving their wagons briskly up I-95. But they never missed a game. And I remember my first trip to Lot 8. The long trek from Northwest DC, up hill both ways. And the blisters we had from the walk! But were we complainin? Hell no!

    No, today's kids, they just don't get it. They come waltzing by like they are god's gift to humanity and we're there to feed and amuse them. Texting and facebooking during a game. Feh. We were lucky if we had seats to bounce on and flares to light. And the beer man. Don't get me started about the beer man. Where is that guy anyway?

    If you ask me, what I think is that we need a little return-to-the-basics-style, get off yer asses, stop whinin' and posin' for photos kind of tough love. If we need a new banner, who's got a cotton crop ready to come in? Make the cloth you lazy bastard!

    In the good old days we didn't fear nobody. We didn't have time, working sunup to sundown to make the Barra what it was. Today we compare ourselves to the girlies from Portland and Chicago and worry about losing our edge. Its all internet this and TV that. Damn. In the old days we didn't play up for the camera. We were the Barra. They were lucky to have us on their little TV.

    Maybe the Barra has gotten soft. I don't know. But one thing's fer sure. If we could only go back to the earlier days, everything would be great.
     
  5. BBBulldog

    BBBulldog Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 25, 2004
    Dinamo Zagreb
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Croatia
    It's still up on net just bit shuffled, I don't feel like looking it up ;) There are 40-50 people in it, that was months before cup win. It was one of my rose glasses busting pics hah

    Noone can ever argue Barra was at times untouchable in MLS say around 2005-2007 (kinda like DCU in 90s) but times change, everything moves upward, other groups evolve or catch up and speed past, and in the end you either adapt and move on to the next level or you go down like Titanic, playin ~we're the best~ tune noone believes over and over till you drown.

    We adapted and reformed in only possible way we could be relevant in today's MLS scene and try to make RFK relevant again. It's a risk, but better to die fighting than fizzle out :D
     
    AnnandaleDennis repped this.
  6. Zagloba

    Zagloba Member

    Aug 11, 2007
    Baltimore
    Boy, am I out of it. I didn't know I was supposed to be so disappointed in the Barra v.2.011. I was really looking forward to June 11, our next home game.

    FWIW I love the BARRA, old and new.
     
  7. merrybee

    merrybee Member+

    DC United
    United States
    Nov 8, 2005
    Mayor, Simpleton
    This is so great I'm gonna post this on Facebook. And tweet it. During the next home game.

    :D
     
  8. writered21

    writered21 Member+

    Jul 14, 2001
    Middle of the Road
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Clearly, as a veteran of those long-gone battles, what's missing is the MD/DC/VA soccer game wars during the tailgates. Beer in hand at all times, or it's a card.
     
  9. merrybee

    merrybee Member+

    DC United
    United States
    Nov 8, 2005
    Mayor, Simpleton
    the Richmond crew and I were talking about that. Should definitely happen.
     
  10. bigredfutbol

    bigredfutbol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 5, 2000
    Woodbridge, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I am so ready to do this again.
     
  11. PedroUnited

    PedroUnited Member

    Oct 16, 2005
    Richmond, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I still got the pull overs I bought for this
     
  12. Red&Black

    Red&Black Member+

    Aug 30, 2001
    Lot 8
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Burkina Faso
    how about next tailgate? the ref is ready
     
  13. dcchelseafc

    dcchelseafc Moderator
    Staff Member

    DC United
    Sep 2, 2005
    Naptown
    Club:
    DC United
    yes, lets make it happen! I need a replacement for Riz for me to run over!
     
  14. Red&Black

    Red&Black Member+

    Aug 30, 2001
    Lot 8
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Burkina Faso
    so let's say a 5:30 or so kickoff
     
  15. dcchelseafc

    dcchelseafc Moderator
    Staff Member

    DC United
    Sep 2, 2005
    Naptown
    Club:
    DC United
    ill tell Jay to send that out in the email at 530
     
  16. Red&Black

    Red&Black Member+

    Aug 30, 2001
    Lot 8
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Burkina Faso
    excellent
     
  17. PedroUnited

    PedroUnited Member

    Oct 16, 2005
    Richmond, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    done
     
  18. Theopisa

    Theopisa Member+

    Pisa Sporting Club
    Italy
    Oct 7, 2008
    Venezia
    Club:
    Pisa Calcio
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    I don't think it's the case of TA, but most new groups arriving in MLS think they're the best. It happened to TFC, and for the first two years they were quite a big change; it happened with Seattle, it seems that God was one of their members when he decided to create the universe. It's happening with Philly fans, who think they're the best group in the league. San Jose groups think they are the only one carrying the ultras mentality in MLS. I think a lot of it has to do with this "I am better than everybody else" which seems to be in American's DNA. Instead, sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not.
    At the same time it also continue happening with some "old days" groups. Like in the DC, where many people live in a state of denial and keep saying that DC Utd has the best tifo in the league. Reading all these posts, I am glad to realize that a lot of older fans don't think this anymore, because it would only hurt us, in the end.
    I think in DC the problems of Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles are exactly the opposite; the SE had almost no generational change, when it was time for new young people to replace the older guys, there was nobody there, and their tifo kind of "died". Today it seems slightly better but I think the old days are gone. The younger people went all instead to the Barra, which literally "boomed" for a couple of years, in numbers as well as in tifo. The downside of this however is what I've read throughout these posts: too many young people who come to the Barra because it's cool, they eat/drink free, they get shitfaced and don't really give a **** about the game nor about making a good tifo.
    Then you have the DU and La Norte, two smaller groups that together put up some decent tifo, seen the small number of members. I have been hanging out with them (after 10 years of SE) since last semptember, and the reason it prompted me to change is that everybody there knows what to do and when to do it, with energy, passion, desire to get a better group of what they actually are (and they're not bad at all). There are a lot of ex BB and ex SE in the group, which obviously mean something.
    Last but not least, obviously what happens on the field has an impact on the stands too. If the average DCU crowd has always been 18K and in the last 2 years we are lucky if we can average 13K, a lot has to do with the poor results of the team and the deadbrain decisions of the FO, like raising tickets prices for 3 years in a row right when the teams did not qualify for the play offs for 3 years in a row, or to sell Soccerplex tickets at the same price of RFK ones when the opponent was Ocean City (a trend that finally changed). Obviously for DC Utd it must pay better to have a half empty stadium with higher ticket prices than a nicely packed one with cheaper tickets. A real pity.
     
  19. Zagloba

    Zagloba Member

    Aug 11, 2007
    Baltimore
    Kudos to the drummers for the increasing tempo on "Vamos United".

    It got the whole side jumpin', a sight to see.:)
     
  20. spmiller6377

    spmiller6377 New Member

    Aug 15, 2010
    Glenn Dale, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Second this...that was fun.
     
  21. DangerMouse37

    DangerMouse37 Member+

    Jan 22, 2004
    WDC / Barra
    shucks. will have to do that again. it sounds too much like a funeral dirge most of the time, so something new is good.

    wish the team could have built (and maintained) that level of intensity...
     
  22. DCWarrior

    DCWarrior Member

    Jun 26, 2008
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Loved it.
     
  23. spidergoose

    spidergoose Member

    Nov 2, 2004
    Annapolis
    Club:
    DC United
    This has been a general problem in recent years, I think.
     
  24. Riz

    Riz Member+

    Nov 18, 2004
    R-ville, Murrlin
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    And a problem with many of the chants.
     
  25. La Barra Blonde

    Oct 21, 2007
    Section 135
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The monotone drone needs to be corrected as well. Ya'll should practice the I Just Can't Get Enough chant on the buses up to Joisey so we can start adding it into the mix.
     

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