100% Agree. It is very easy to lose perspective when you just watch the revs as opposed to all MLS games (As I typically do). But last night I was watching FSC highlights of opening weekend and WOW are we far behind. Everything. Stadiums - filled with celebrating fans, the SKILL of the players and the beautiful runs & build up play & goals and even the names of players on these teams we used to be at the bottom with. Everyone has surpassed the Revs on multiple levels. Gone are the days when we could play an expansion team and get a guaranteed win. Vancouver v Montreal - Vancouver is absolutely stacked, their passes looked beautiful in the build up to the goals they scored. Not to mention both teams have SSSs and fans that were paying attention LA vs RSL -Stadium was packed and everyone was going nuts. RSL are going to massacre the Revs if the Revs don't get their acts together & RSL weren't trying in pre-season I don't feel like going over the rest of the games. But WOW did the league look respectable. The revs are like watching MLS season 2. We are so far behind.
I took it as semi-serious, but I was just using it to make a more general point about how people seem to try to find things to be negative about, and can tend to go over the top and lose any sense of perspective. Like going off on the team about picking up a waived player for, before they've seen anything from him, and saying it's evidence that the FO still has no idea what they're doing.
And why do you imagine that the waived player got waived? 99 times out of 100 it means that the waiving team couldn't use the guy, and that no one wanted to trade for him. In other words, "The player sucks!". That might be one reason that some folks think the FO is a bit clueless. Do ya think?
The semantics discussion happens here constantly, and it's always brought up in regards to being a realist or not. Last year, when ManU came here for a preseason game, I knew we'd lose, that's the realistic POV, no matter how people (not you) try and spin it. It wasn't disappointing to lose to them because it's easy to see how we're just not as good. This year, it's easy to say we're just not that good right now. Was I desperately hoping we'd start off the season with a win? Yes. Did I think we had any chance considering the strikers we were going into the game with ... No. I'll say it again, I've not made a final judgement. The previews though aren't exactly enticing. BTW, the only major changes they made were getting rid of people. Not one player they've brought in is a major peace of the future puzzle going forward. They got rid of Nicol (deserved), Caraglio, Zerka and Lekic, all due to $. That alone opened up probably at least $600k. Then there's the you-suck allocation). Then there's the cap space that wasn't spent last year. What have they done with it? It's just so frustrating. I said here last season that this could be the most important off-season the Revs have ever had. The lack of interest (outside a few soccer fans) is embarrassing, the team was abysmal, they'd have some money to spend ... and they went out and got a coach that's never coached, they STILL have an open assistant coach position, and it really feels like all the players they've brought in from outside the draft are all being brought in because they don't cost much. These aren't major changes (on the positive side). When Benny was brought in, albeit through two teams being stupid, people here were pretty ecstatic. Same when we got a jersey sponsor. The Lekic signing was mostly well regarded. Bringing in Caraglio had people happy, if a bit nervous about his injury history. People here are begging for something to be positive about, but just doing it for the sake of doing it as yet another year starts up ... personally I have no interest in putting my head in the sand. I want this team to be great, I want this team to win every flippin' game ... and I've seen them win a whopping 14 out of their last 65. I can't just accept that by saying it's going to get better. Wanting a team to fail overall is just dumb IMHO. Wanting to see better, sometimes, requires short-term failure. Or so we all thought last year and the year before when there were people thinking we had a chance to make the playoffs. I think you're reading a bit more into the thought process of people than is reality. The people that post here ... actually care enough to do so. In general, we're not the people that go to one/two games a year, we're the people that go on road trips, and no matter how bad this team is, many of us here are the ones still supporting our hearts out for our team.
The Revs resemble a USL organization? Whatever do you mean? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn7r0k_BN7k"]Deep in the Woods of New England - YouTube[/ame]
Also at least it wasn't a soccer mom commercial. Surprisingly eerie actually, they made us sound like a bunch of serial killers.
I'm trying to figure out who their "target audience" was. It sure as hell ain't us. Do kids like this stuff? Do kids casually peruse youtube, aren't their age restraints or something?
Not only would Timber Joey hack Slyde's head off in two seconds flat, the people who come up with Timbers promo videos put the Revs folks to shame. http://youtu.be/uDdU3vA_o4E
Compare that to the celebrated high school AV club videos of team member x interviewing other team mates, or some strange coffee incident video. Serious and professional v stupid and childish.
I've never liked Slyde, even new super cool Slyde, mainly because I figured that since the Revs are named after the Revolutionary War, they had numerous mascots to choose from, either historical figures, or just generalized continental soldiers. Any Revolutionary War figure would be much cooler than Slyde. But they chose Slyde. A Fox. Why? Because of Foxboro? Will Slyde be viewed in the history books as a grim symbol of the misery Revs fans suffered through as the league expanded and left them behind? I'm pretty sure I could write a good essay about that. If you look at the younger generation's comments on the MLS site (The Revs decided that they wanted to share this video on the MLS site so everyone could partake in the awesomeness) everyone seems to agree that Slyde is the 'Show me the Car Facts' Fox.
Slyde is just one, in a long list of lazy marketing gimmicks this franchise takes from modern American sports. It's actually the perfect symbol for the joke that is the New England Revolution. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure this brand could have a worse reputation than it does. That is hard to do. If they ever get a new stadium, it will be time to bury the Revolution brand.
I'm glad you agree. Also, when you look through the MLS website comments, we are definitely the laughing stock of the league. At the very bottom. I think Kansas City should be the model for the Revs. Whenever the day comes, I think the Revs should look at what Kansas City did and try as best they can to replicate the process exactly.
I made a joke about no one paying attention to Chivas one time. The truth is, no one pays attention to the Revs either. I think Columbus may be more relavent in MLS.
Yes, we are in no position to mock (although I still do) but you are right. Columbus at least have a cup and THE SSS. I think in terms of bottom feeding franchises it goes: 17. San Jose 18. Chivas United States of America (to add ridiculousness) 19. Us.
I think that list will will only consist of Chivas and us after San Jose opens their SSS. San Jose actually seems to try, and the team has a very young and talented core that could develop into a playoff team in the packed western conference. To compare that to the Revs, we may get some info on the possibility of maybe talking about an SSS in 60 days, and the core of the team is still trying to revolve around an old slowing Shalrie Joseph.