Exactly. Here's another example: The Revs games are on CSN, who also broadcast Celtics games. The Celtics have Kevin Garnett on their team. If anyone has ever seen KG play they know that he drops the F-bomb left and right. Why isn't he arrested? Think the Celtics fans would be happy if he got suspended a few games for just swearing out loud at no one in-particular? Probably not. I also want to mention another experience I had at a Patriots game at Gillette a while back. I was probably no older than 10. It was a game against the Chiefs and there was one incredibly Chiefs fan in my section. Picture that one away fan that likes to try and ruin the game for the rest of us and just be a total ass. Every time the Chiefs would do something good he would go off and act like they just won the Super Bowl or something. He pissed off everyone that was in ear shot. Eventually the people around him in my section starting berating him with the chant of "A**hole, A**hole, A**hole." Yup, the very same word that started this whole situation. Guess what happened. Absolutely NOTHING. The Chief fan welcomed it because he knew he was successfully pissing people off. No security came in to stop, nothing. It just happened then was over. No fans complained. One woman who was in the row in front of me saw the fact that I was a little kid smiled and said, "Cover your ears." Really??? I should cover my ears because what, I never heard the word before. Will I be scarred for the rest of my life and never leave my house again because I heard a swear word at a NFL game. NO. It is just a word people. Are we hurting anyone by saying it? Probably not. Is it the worst thing that is chanted in the Fort? No. Can we replace with something less offensive and more creative? Yes. Will we? Hopefully. Are we the only fans in the league that do this? No. Is this the first time that we said this word or did this chant? No. Has the FO said in the past that we should stop using this word? Yes. Did the SG send out a message in it saying to stop using this word? Yes. Did the FO/TeamOps disrespect their most passionate and loyal fans on Saturday night? YES. I posted this on Facebook and will re-say it here. Sporting events and profanity go hand-in-hand. There will always be people at sporting events, whether its people in the crowd or the players themselves, that swear. Its just inevitable unfortunately. Add to the fact that alcohol is sold and consumed it just adds to the situation. This is just the tipping point for us fans who think that this team has been half-assing it and losing fans for the last 16 years. We are at a point of no return. It is time for us to voice our displeasure with how this organization has been run. You think that they can kick out and arrest some of their own faithful then issue a statement saying, "Well, we told you not to say A**hole" and not expect us to be angry. The soccer fans in this region deserve SO much more than we have been getting. We deserve a team that gives us the same passion and commitment that we do. It's not that hard. Other teams are doing it. Look at Seattle, Portland, LA, and even KC now with their new stadium. The irony in the lyrics "16 years and still the same" is quite palpable.
I dont' care how long you've supported the club. You don't sit in The Fort, and to the best of my knowledge you're not a part of any of the supporter groups. You weren't privy to the gameday situation, what was requested of the fans in The Fort, and what ensued from the actions of TeamOps. Nothing was ever made explicitly clear to those sitting in The Fort. We stopped doing the YSA chant during goal kicks, as requested. We all turned our backs during the goal kick and said nothing. However, upon doing several other chants (many of which are 10-16 years old) people began to be arrested and thrown out of the stadium. Chants that have been acceptable for 16 years, songs that were never identified as unacceptable by the FO or TeamOps. This lack of clarity of what is acceptable and what isn't has been a major issue now since the team's inception. That's the issue here. I clearly understand your position, as stated in my original post. If anything I agree with most of it. The YSA chant is stupid, I agree. The birds flying and defecating on cities is old and trite as well. For the most part I think the majority of those in the SG's are wiling to let go of these chants as well. There needs to be more creativity for the SG's to buck some of these pointless, offensive chants. However, there are some expletives that will forever be embedded in songs, and will not be changed. Cursing is inevitable and for the most part I think it goes undetected in most chants to those sitting at midfield. I didn't mean to offend you, but quite honestly I didn't think it was your place to comment on the situation as you had nothing to do with it.
I remember a TV broadcast from several years ago. There was a bit of a tangle and our own Jim Rooney yelled, clearly audible on the TV, "C'mon, ref, that's a f***ing foul!" Broadcaster Adrian Healy paused for a second, knowing full well that the whole thing was picked up on the broadcast. Then he said in his very deadpan Brit way, "Apparently referee Raul Dominguez didn't think it was ANY sort of foul." Anyone remember when the Galaxy came to town in 1996 and Jorge Campos was their keeper? He was seranaded with "CHOOO-CHA POOOOH-TAH!" to the cadence of the "Rev-o-LOOO-shun" chant and nary a peep from security. Trust me, that's a whole lot more vulgar than any YSA chant. Then at some point they went with "Pay-ahhhh-so!" which means "clown" What? you mean to say that no one on our multicultural security staff can understand a lick of Spanish?
Regarding homophobia underlying "********", let us not forget the homophobic origins of "you suck"... I'm not sure if I already mentioned it in this thread, but there were homophobic, sexist, and racist comments being made that went unpunished on Saturday.
Clearly this is a hypothetical situation you're offering-up, given that management of New England's current "professional soccer team" has proven itself incapable of generating "creative" ways in which to manage and market the franchise under its stewardship, let alone provide "creative suggestions" to supporter groups on any number of topics. Bottom line? Kraft Soccer and the New England Revolution are as dysfunctional a collective as has ever drawn breath in the world of pro sports. Period. As for Brian Bilello, he is "... an errand boy, sent by [paper] clerks, to [deliver] a bill." The sooner he goes back to ordering foam-fingers and facing merchandise in the Patriots Pro Shop, the better.
This is incorrect. Some/many stadiums in the league have a You Suck chant that ends with something other than Asshole (in Chicago it was just "aaaaaaah"). I think New Jersey and Foxboro are the exceptions...(and apparently Seattle according to a previous poster). When I came back to Boston in 2004(?) the game day experience in the Fort was already pretty painful to the ears. Shifted over four or five seasons into a mini-Columbus in terms of maturity levels. None of that bothers me as much as the team being crap and hating it's own fans though. I won't support it, I've been done supporting it for a while. I hope that someday my team will come back to me, I've released it, like a hideously ugly larval coccinellidae, in hopes that someday it will fly back to me as a lovely and useful Ladybug, munching on aphids...or something. I've forgotten my point here.
I can just can imagine the look on a Foxboro PD officer when teamOPS guy brings him a fan and say "I want him arrested, he said a-hole"
kraftco have created a huge revenue opportunity for anyone ejected/arrested: 1. purchase ticket to pats fixture 2. film evidence of vulgarity being reported to security and unpunished 3. file lawsuit 4. ? 5. profit
You know, this is the part that SHOULD upset the Krafts. There are so many ways the team could have handled things other than the way they did. They're the ones with the giant HD screens and PA system... ask the players to record an announcement to be played before the game. (Yes, there are ways to do this without upsetting your fans.) The e-mail to their STH is a no-brainer. It just seems like there are a lot of things that the team could have and probably should have tried before throwing paying customers out of the stadium.
It is mind blowing grown adults are arguing for the right to swear in a public place. Say "YSA" at work and you'll probably get fired on the spot. Say "YSA" at school and you'll probably get suspended. Say "YSA" in public and you'll get kicked out of where you are, and risk getting arrested. Why should Gillette Stadium be any different? I go to 5-6 game a year, but stopped going into the Fort in 2009. If you are there for the Revs, giving up swearing in chants should be easy.
I suspect the issue is that when you people yell " YOU SUCK, A**HOLE" it confuses our coach and team.
No one is arguing for the right to swear. It was the inconsistent way of handling things. Please read the entire thread. I heard a group of one game college kids. Using f-ggot, and a few other homophobic slurs which are a million times worse than YSA. They were withing ear shot of Team OP's and the team ops guys laughed at it and did nothing. About 15 mins later when YSA is said all hell breaks loose. The other problem is all the problems that happen in the Fort are wrongfully blamed on the SG's. Read this great Blog for the details http://www.thedrugisfootball.com/2011/06/fortgate.html
Has anyone from the front office or in any capacity with the team contacted you Monty? I know Fran is the president but you're still the face. Even though I only sit next to you guys (getting too old to stand for 90), I emailed Tavis my ticket guy to express my displeasure with this BS. I also tweeted Twellman and he replied.
After the last 8 weeks of Bruins hockey taking a toll on me sports wise. I was going to go to only the Man U game until September. But after going to the tailgate Saturday and having a good time and still riding the high from the Stanley Cup. I decided screw it I will go to every game left that I can, well that changed last night I will go to the ManU and Philly games. After that I will go down and tailgate with my friends and hang out in the lot during the game. Then tailgate after, just going down to be with friends.If I hadn't given up ST a few years ago due to money reasons I would have mailed my tixs back tonight.
Doc, I'd like a pony and a million dollars. Throwing a temper tantrum won't get them for me. The Revs FO would like to change completely a deeply embedded aspect of behavior of their most passionate supporters and soccer supporters *generally* Change is going to take hard work, commitment, bridge-building and give-and-take on their part if they want to be successful. But hey, why bother when you can arrest your paying customers? organizational temper tantrums aren't any more successful in the long run than human ones. Plus, all due respect doc, it is what it is, not what the Revs FO might wish it to be. It's football. It's loud, rowdy, crude, and occasionally profane. It just is not going to be the family picnic that the Krafts seems to dream of.
If the YSA chant is such an issue, why not have a discussion with the SGs and say, "unacceptable, it's over, no more, it's done and we have a zero tolerance policy for the YSA chant starting now". They do, after all, have contact with key members of each of the SGs? You can only think they wanted an incident. The only other possibility is that Kraft doesn't have his soccer FO communicate with the security company who runs security at the stadium he owns.... um yeah, not buying that. It's dumb and unimaginative and part of EVERY OTHER MLS team's fan's repertoire. I don't care for it, but ejecting and banning fans for it with no REAL clear cut communication? idiotic or incompetent? you decide.
I did not attend the match on Sat. and after reading this entire thread I'm very disappointed. The FORT is now offically tainted and it seems to be only the fault of the Revs FO. This is only the beginning of traditional cheers being "restricted". Actually as a NE footie fan it's quite embarrasing. Do you think they'd do the same to visiting fan sections? That's a great way to promote and encourage away fans to visit Boston. If the COO of the organization doesn't have the awareness/confidence/personality or savy to appease all types of fans and put out the occasional fire/complaint then I don't believe that person is the right person for the job. There is such a disconnect from the FO and ownership from it's fanbase that I don't see how it can be repaired without some changes at the top. Not that I agree with the use of vulgar language at sporting events, but it is engrained in the culture and fabric of all sports. My patience for this franchise is waining quicker by the day. More energy of mine is spent defending the franchise then actually supporting the players on the field. It's taxing and draining. It doesn't have to be this way. I can't think of any of the team in the league where it is. The Revs are pretty much in last place in so many ways...on and off the field.
I've been trying to read up on all of this over the last hour or so. Seems like the only two parts of this guy's statement that matter are: (except it totally looks that way) and He's basically throwing right in our faces what bothers everyone most: The Revs hate the supporters in the Fort and want nothing to do with them. I'm exaggerating, but its basically what he said. From reading some of your comments, it sounds like they might finally be getting their wish. I haven't been around much the last few years since I work in Pennsylvania now, but I've applied to jobs in MA and would like to come back at some point soon. If its true that people in the Fort were actually arrested (and it sounds like it is), then I think I'm done with the team. I'm coming back for the Man United game and will try to stick around for Sunday's game to join in whatever protest you all decide to carry out. But that will probably be it. Also, wouldn't it be ironic if, after Kraft saved the Patriots from St. Louis, his mis-management eventually caused the Revs to move there? Makes sense on a few levels.