http://www.philadelphiacharge.com/322035.html http://www.philadelphiacharge.com/ YOU FOOLS!!!! Dont you have ANY, ANY respect for your team? God damn it id pay double to see the charge and you instead feel it nesscary to market mia and put her AS THE ONLY PICTURE ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!! good god...look at what you have...you have a championship caliber team who have fought every minuite for you and you find it nesscary to cheapen this team by marketing over every star, every MVP canidadate, every stonewall goalie, every person who make this team great, who make this league great, who thousands of fans day in and day out yell themeselves hoarse for, for mia hamm? someone who is a blah marketing person, has played exactly 1/4th of the minuites for her team...and has been little more than moral support, in fact COST her team a win and a home game by hogging a PK?!?! and oh yeah an OPPONENT....am i saying not to note mia will be there, NO!!!! im a realist, yes she sells tickets...but GOD DAMNIT Murphy, why the hell put her picture front and center...do you care about your team??? All you accomplished and all you can sell is mia? all the exciting games and all you can sell is mia? all the inspired play, heart, hustle, winning, spirit in the stands, AND ALL YOU CAN THINK OF TO BEST SELL THIS GAME IS MIA HAMM?!?!?!?! Look, im a sports marketer too, i know its hard to sell things, i have a bunch of high school pointyballers to sell ( http://www.hs-allstars.com) but god damn, you gotta show your talent, and YOU HAVE TALENT, we aint the power here, we are talented, we refuse to lose, and they are some of the most socialible and promotion oriented players in the league, hell in SPORTS, and you cant give them a lousy PICTURE going to the biggest game of their lives as a team AT YOUR HOME. I am not angry, i know i sound it but im not angry, the anger comes from deep sadness, that the front office of this team cant see past mia hamm and see the wonderful talent this team has, Is pichon more marketable than mia, is mitts, is moore, is JT...well if you live in philly and have seen these players give everything plus 50,000 for HALF of what mia makes...yes they are...does mia sell, yes, should you mention that she will be playing, yes, should you make a long statement in text yes, but NOT THIS, not the center of the universe, not where she is more important than a win, than a championship, then good old fashoned friendly rivalry...Mia has her place...front and center of the charge marketing plan is NOT IT!!!! im not suprised...im saddened...im dissapointed...but i am not suprised. The Charge desirve better than this, they earned every fan...why must the playoffs be different, and Mr. Murphy, Charge staff, My fellow fans, Thats all i have to say...anything else...NC will be making the true stars of the show noted and with our entire support win or lose...I only ask the same consideration from their bosses. THEYVE EARNED IT... HAMM IS NOT KOSHER!!!! CHARGE TEAM FIGHTING!!!! FREEDOM SHALL FALL!!! THE RED FLAG SHALL RISE!!!!
Business...strictly business. My spider-sense was suggesting that they were hoping they'd get the Freedom. Why take a chance on turning this into a road game for this city's best pro sports team and has been since April 13? The team with the most chance to win a title around here since 1983. I can only imagine the Charge players and how they must feel that they've been tossed under the bus for butts in the seats, no matter team affiliation. This is a major marketing error and hopefully it will be changed soon enough. An email has been sent to marketing director Melissa Northrop to address this issue. Paul
charge! Please post this email address, PM me with it if you do not wish to make it public...this should NOT be taken lying down...it really is belittling to such a great season, if it was the regular season i wouldnt care that much but please, its the playoffs, lose go home, the charge have worked every day, blown out knees, scarred faces, and broken toes to get here! as owners you should show them the respect of top billing, mention it yes, but not this, this is such a joke, it really sickens me...and you know what if it were any opponent, id feel the same...have you watched the charge this year...do you have any respect...Please fix this...i plea to you...think of your team before you sell your soul.
Would someone please enlighten me? WHERE does this picture of Mia Hamm appear? Was it in the papers, in a tv ad? I think I speak for thousands of Charge fans in apologizing to our charge players for this marketing faux pas. Come on Murph; everybody knows that Mia is coming.
http://www.philadelphiacharge.com/322035.html http://www.philadelphiacharge.com/ And hopefully not for too much longer... Paul
I don't post much in this forum, and the only reason I'm posting now is to agree with you guys. That sucks! Really. One thing Mia Hamm said during the '99 World cup was, "It isn't about me". Some people still don't get the message. It's really pathetic that WUSA marketers still think the only thing they have to sell is Mia Hamm. IF the only thing the league has to market is Mia Hamm, then they should close down the league now and save us all a lot of trouble. Seeing the Charge webpage, I'll say it's a good thing I'm not a Charge fan! I would be pissed, I'm tellin' ya. Mia smia. Holy crap! The Charge are playing for a chance to go to the Founders Cup game and the only thing the numnuts can think of marketing is the idea that Mia Hamm is coming to town? Screw that! No, seriously. Where is the team pride?? Where is the excitement about possibly going to the championship game?? The tone of that article is so lame, even without the picture of Hamm. They're saying basically, "Our team means nothing to us. It's all about Mia Hamm." That is totally nuts! WUSA marketers need to get their heads out of their rear ends. Even it Mia Hamm is the most popular player in the WUSA, in the long run, that kind of marketing hurts the WUSA. Sport is built on competition. If they have a picture of Mia Hamm, it should be with a big bullseye on her head: the target of the Charge defense. The story should be: Mia Hamm is going down. She's no match for us. I fear for the future of a league that does that kind of ass-backwards marketing. Is this more of "the genius of Lynn Morgan"? Yea, quietly encourage players to appear in Playboy, market the opposition (especially if it's Mia Hamm), and play loud music, make stupid loud announcements and throw stuff at your paying customers while they're trying to watch a game. I have said it before to WUSA marketers: If you don't believe in your product, get yourself another job. Please. Do everybody a favor. Putting Mia on the webpage like that just sucks. Charge fans, I feel your pain. On the Courage website, there's a picture of the Founder's Cup. That's what it's about. It's not about Mia.
and even i agree with you! there are so many great stories to tell - the Charge are a fantastic team, a fantastic group of women, and each of them is great in their own unique way. they could do a feature on the team - they could do a story about one player and her role on the team - they could do this so many ways - build up our team, make people want to get to know the Charge. many times during the season when they say "come see the Charge take on Mia Hamm..." or "Brandi" i let it slide. if it gets people out to the stadium, maybe its okay. butts in the seats and all that... but for this game, how about something about our team and what they have done to get to where they are. one of only two teams to make it to the playoffs two years running. a young unknown team - get to know them! because truthfully, when the WUSA started, I bought season tickets to the Freedom. after all, i was familiar with many of their players. they seemed like a great team. i didn't get season tickets to the charge. but after the first time i saw the charge play, i was hooked. i would rather watch our frenchie, our lihong, our erica, our stacey, our melissa than watch MIIIAAA! the freedom sent me free tickets to their opening game this year, and i didn't even go. don't really care about them. and that's not to disrespect what mia has done for the game. she's great. but so is benny, and heather, and mfm and ailing, etc. they all could be marketed if someone would take the time to do it. its too easy to make it about mia.
yeah, but on the other hand, the courage is playing the beasts. would they really want to advertise anything about that?????
While Mia has been great since her return from knee-surgery, I agree with you all 100%. Heck, Mia probably does as well. Why do they bother paying a marketing staff if this is all they can produce? I'll send in a protest email as well.
Ron, in your email...do include that you are the president of the FREEDOM SC...that may turn some heads and get some things changed. and murphy and morgan will hear about this at fan summit...im gonna print that page...mia marketing will be on the adgenda. dont bother on the wusa.com board...they dont see it as that bad but even they see the shortage of team pride...thats what i really see as the issue.
The way WUSA survives is the day the next generation of stars emerge. Most people are always behind the curve. And if you want to look at Mia's hstory, when's the last time she won a BIG (WC or Olympics or playoff) match which wasn't at home. 2000 - goes down to Norway 1999 - at home, still waiting to score a goal though 1996 - at home, although the semi with Norway required a PK in munute 80 or so, home call if I ever say oner 1995 - out in the semis 1991 - here is is, alhough she was but a small cog in an incredible engine, led by Akers and Gabarra. I say let's make Mia the focus, put the pressure on her to produce. I say there are 11 players in RED with wills just as determined as she.
You guys are aware that the Charge don't maintain their own website. RMG3 does. The same company that maintains sites for the WUSA, Atlanta Beat, Carolina Courage, New York Power, San Diego Spirit, and Washington Freedom. It was just one story out of a couple hundred that have been posted their since the begining of the year. Why don'y you just give the people in the front office a break for once. Dwight
Let's save the passion for Saturday. I had no knowledge who was responsible for the content of the Charge site. I view it as an advertising vehicle. I do notice Mitts is on the lead now. As to the Charge front office, I think they've done an excellent job sinc the beginning. And if you look too closely at anything, you'll see warts. I can't totally fault peoples excitement blinding them a bit. So reminding perspectives from others is a very good thing to do. There's lot of potential voices in any conversation, and the more reasoned the voice, the more likely serious people will be taken seriously. And where there's passion, some times the real message gets lost. And that's what I think is happening here.
One quick point from down here in Cary, N.C. We (the Courage) could have easily phoned in the San Diego game and lost and hosted Mia Hamm and the Freedom. In doing so, we would have assured ourselves our second sell-out of a Freedom game this year. Instead, we won the regular season championship and go in as the Number One seed and play the Atlanta Beat (4th seed). From a front office stand point, Mia is much more attractive product but a Founders Cup is even more important and the Beat offers us the best opponent in the semifinal so that we can achieve our goal. the Freedom are the hottest team in the league right now and can be very dangerous. All of the comments I see here are spot on. Keep up the screaming and yelling and maybe someone will give your ladies their due. Good luck and we hope to see you in Atlanta on the 24th!!!
I always harken back to my main point, it's the next Mia's which will make wusa successful. It's ok to hero worship Mia, but she's 30 and her successor needs to emerge. Her swan song is China next year Personally, let her get all the attention and focus on Saturday, let the Charge be the underdogs. Many of us realize what Anson Dorrance said about the Charge. I trust his analysis over the hoards of fans.
I agree with everyone that this is an outrage...a shameless marketing ploy that may sell a few more tickets for this match but will do more harm than good in the long run. And I bet Mia would not appreciate this, either. I feel bad for her...she never wanted all this attention for herself and now a lot of fans, consciously or not, harbor resentment toward her. -Jen
http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/womensoverview.html Before Mia, the link is a decent history of womens football...for those who think it began with her, well NOT quite..
What you say is so true. I really feel sorry for Mia. All she ever wanted to do was play soccer, not be the poster child for soccer. She does not care for the spotlight, that's more Brandi or Julie, she just wants to play. Unfortunately, a lot of people have a grudge against her because WUSA is using her persona to sell the league. That is just not fair to Mia, the Charge or the rest of the players.
ESPN and Mia's chase for the international record is what I found borish, and this phony chase really wasn't her doing. But I don't feel sorry for her, she's a fully grown mature women, who's profited from her fame. She apparently is happy personally. And what she does in soccer is simply business, and she's the key product. Coldly, that's what it is. But business needn't spill over in to personal life, and I doubt it does.
I agree to a point...but it is the responsibility of the charge office to see what kind of content appears on their site, and to demand change if content doesnt suit them. however i will give them a ton of credit. they responded to this within 12 hours and only about 3-4 business hours...it makes me feel good for the team that such foolery is taken care of in due time. as for giving the front office a break...aside from the duck and the wish that they dont try to run 2 teams at once...ive been nothing but positive about the office IMHO. as for the history of womens football, do note that mia in they eyes of FIFA is neither the greatest (Akers) or the most popular (sun wen) womens player of all time, that was made known in 2001. she is overrated and to this day i dont get her popularity...good yes...god, NO!
If she's overrated or not isn't the issue here. The fact is she's this sport's Babe Ruth, justly considered so or not, and I don't blame anyone for advertising that their team is playing her team, especially in the play-offs. All last week I heard advertisements stating, "Watch the Eagles take on Brett Farve and the Green Bay Packers...". Two years ago, it was, "The Sixers play Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers in Game 2..." It's not an uncommon practice to focus on the opponent's star player(s). However, for some reason, in this forum it's considered blasphemy. Is it because we all know that "Mia isn't as good as the media makes her out"? I'm not an advertising expert, but it seems to me that advertising doesn't normally aim at people who already attend matches or buy a product. They're aimed at getting the outsiders to come in. Bring the new people in. You can stick them right next to me. I'll be happy to educate them on the best team in the league and hopefully more than a few come back next year, wiser and ready to cheer the ladies on to a second title. Secondly, how exactly does this hurt the league in the long run, as many people have mentioned? You get the young kids only caring about the older guard, then they'll stop watching the league when Hamm and Co. retire, leaving the league in the lurch? I don't know about most of you, but I didn't stop following the Phillies when Schmidt retired and I didn't give up on the Sixers when Barkley was traded. I was a fan of the team and of the sport and I stuck around for those reasons. Of course you're going to lose some "fans" when the old guard retires, but those people probably wouldn't stick around, no matter who you're promoting. If everyone wants to keep getting worked up over who's photo is on the index page, that's your prerogative, but I'll use my energy to cheer the team on. Send your favorite player an e-mail thanking them for a great season and wishing them luck this and (hopefully) the following weekend instead of e-mailing the front office.
Paul, thanks for the PMs. When I'm actually permitted to send one out, I'll reply. Didn't want you thinking I was ignorning you.
My view of Mia's popularity goes back to the Mia chase for the intenational goal record, and a ton of hype from ESPN. If you really want to know who the Babe Ruth of soccer is, look at Michelle Akers, despite sickness and injury, her goals per game average is far superior to that of Hamm. And the versatility of Akers in 1999, being able to totally change role and still dominate a match. Mia's myth generation was largely NOT her part. But she isn't stupid, she wasn't going to turn down the revenue stream created by it. So what happens Saturday. When Mia steps onto the pitch, our little Squirt will follow her everywhere and anywhere. And if DC wants to start her, fine, what's the magic number where she runs out of gas... 58 sounds about right to me..
A key to the game.... A key is to score first, and score in the first half. The quicker you force Jimbo's hand in sending Mia out there before he wants to, and that can't do anything else but help our cause. Just my .02. And keep the corners to a minimum, since that's where Abby can do serious damage. Then again, any corners we try may be negated since they can put size numbers in the box, Abby, Steffi, heck, even Makinen. So the corners are a double-edged sword. Paul
Given the heat, mid 90's and being all the more hotter, the tempo of the game will be slower than normal, which means the best possession side, the Charge, has a huge advantage. And then dead ball situations come into play. I still think DC will be playing too much long ball early on, and will defend in numbers. The Charge need to be careful, NOT getting caught forward, and being dispossessed. And at a certain point introduce Hamm, and then raise the tempo. The more I think about it, the more I say start Liu, and have Pichon in midfield. Heat and fatigue will create gaps in both defenses the last 20 minutes. When Hamm comes on, then I'd bring in a fresh Monroe to shadow her. That's my recipe for RED DAY 2002.