Uh, yeah you were. And this time, since I was the point person during that particular vote the last time, I can tell you that you guys could have chosen either location and we would have made it work. Now the original conversation around MLS Cup or whatever, I don't know. But I do know this - it was simple math: Green - electricity, restrooms, covered pavillion, no worries about having to tailgate in the street Blue - close proximity to the stadium Now if I had been in The Inferno at that time and not working for FCD, I would have voted (myself, not as a Big Picture, "this is what I think The Inferno should do" kind of thing) for the Blue lot. But for a lot of people, the restrooms are important and a lot of the other amenaties(sp?!?) are nice, as well. Frankly, the whole point of not getting the green parking passes was to allow the group to chose to go back to the Blue Lot. Why do this if it really isn't an option? Let's see how things go this weekend. After doing the green lot for so long, let's see what people think of the blue lot. Share your opinions with Erik and Travis. We'll talk on Monday or so. But just because the FO has an opinion doesn't mean you can't make your own decision.
I believe it did play a small part, if any. Most made the decision based on the availability of bathrooms, electricity and covering. You realize we are discussing the tailgate location and not the Inferno section within the stadium, right? Your comment seems more consistent with what happened in the latter discussion.
I was going to say parking, but... Well, the day of game price I might agree with, but the season ticket buyer would, imo. Especially those who are paying $640 a seat for four seats. FWIW, those are all on the radar screen. It is a matter of working out the contracts and coming to agreements - which, I'm learning, is more complicated than it seemed from the other side. As for customer service, I know that point has been made and it is a matter of developing consistent volunteers - that is going to take time, but it is being worked on. You're welcome. And with that note, I'm off to hammer the phones to fill the stands. Cheers
Kevin, nobody is underestimating what Lamar Hunt has done for soccer in the US and for FC Dallas. Even Wagner gets a do over because of his work in getting PHP constructed. But now we are where we are. Fans-Team-Owner have a good thing going, but it can be so much more. How we got here isn't as important as to where are we going.
The only thing that can possibly be said about the switch of TG locations is that we had a discount last year in the Blue Lot and that wasn't offered this year, making the financial decision to move to Green that much easier. Now, I've been told that the decision to not offer a discount was not completely made by the FO....but I don't know how it really went down.
I don't think that Inferno (and other SG) negotiations with the FCD FO are relevant to the big picture of attracting fans to the games.
We were given a choice of TG location last year. No one argues that; however, when the choices were offered we (The INFERNO) did not realize at the time that if we accepted to move to the Pavillion, for some matches and not all home matches. I do not mind the Pavillion, I think it was a great choice, what I mind is being evicted from the location that we were offered.
We would like for Casey to play with us every week, but his team's games seem to conflict with FCD's games more often than not.
your car is at the tailgate so you don't have to carry the cooler. and you get to stick it to the man.
But I can't actually, you know, use it because I have to dissappear for a few hours. Kind of defeats the purpose. Now, I can drop off my stuff at the tailgate area, drive over to Frisco Square, walk back to the pavilion and enjoy my beer, my grilled meats and the company of my fellow tailgaters and not pay. All this is irrelevant, of course, because I do pay.....even though I bitch about it everytime I hand the smiling, but generally incompetent, parking attendant my $10 bill. Somehow it feels like it's going the other way.
I think it helps that the green lot next to our tailgate location isn't very big. There was, what, 3 attendants for the entire CB parking lot.
that's a post-hoc, ergo-propter-hoc if i've ever seen it.... ... you know how the deal went down. c'mon dude!!! as we talked about at lunch, if you're gonna stay in the ring, you have all the risk in this endeavor. yes, PHP saved the team. lamar's $30M to cover HKS incompetence is what saved PHP. but without Wagner you have no PHP ??? PHP happened because: - Jerry Hoagland had the idea - County Commissioners backed the idea - David Craig was out of his league which allowed - City of McKinney to steal the idea in order to kill it - which brought it to the attention of the Frisco people where - the city and ISD of Frisco were sitting on a huge pile of money and - where the city and ISD of Frisco were already building ice/baseball facilities - and where the ISD already had $15M bonded up for a new stadium - which combined with the TIRZ capability allowed the county to get back in - which then made it easy for Lamar to only pony $25M for a $60M stadium - although for same money you get a roof in England - but HKS still managed to botch a number of things (different thread) - which required Lamar to kill an additional $30M of Dan's inheritance - which is how we got to where we are Wagner was highly visible, and always "at the center of things", but I know from first-person experience that every single one of the above things would have happened exactly the same without Wagner. In fact, Wagner's ability to be bamboozled by HKS, although it will never be publically written about, might be the primary cause of the significant erosion of Dan's inheritance. Anyone who doubts my cred on the above, ask Swift or Jalper. Kev, son, love ya, but as I told you at the fixture this afternoon, you're playing with fire, and I don't mean goon. -bs
In any case, my big problem with John Wagner has nothing to do with the man himself, but with circumstances. The bottom line is that FCD is, at best, #3 on HSG's list of priorities, well behind the Chiefs and their minority share in the Chicago Bulls. The fact is that he can screw up royally with FCD (as he did in 2003) and as long as the two gorillas in HSG's portfolio continue to do well, he'll keep his job.
The salient point, Balonpieface, is that GE promised. GE wanted a good relationship with us, and was willing to do whatyever he could for us. He had the same relationship with us as Chicago's poor man's version of GE, or, to be more specific to Chicago, the poor crack whore's version, Peter Wilt. Yes, we had a patch of dirt, finally covered by grass. With incompetence of the construction, GE could hardly be held responsible for that. With the departure of GE, Jalper took over for the interim. He was the one who told me about the pavilion, and he would like us out there. When I expressed the idea to Nick, he replied he was fine with it, though a cart to move the drums in would be nice, as would be a cart for old people. I certainly did not mind the only time I was there. The restromms, covered areas, electricity, were all a vast improvment, though the concessions window did not seem well thought out. Along came Hitch. Away went the permanent grill, the closet for the drums, and the stable place for the tailgate. As I have been out of the loop, I am hoping two questions. Intially, did the FO force or encourage the SGs to purchase tickets in the blue lot, even though the majority of the tailgates are held in the pavilion. Second, the tailgate is moving due to a youth tournament? You know the answers, Gordon. Charlie foxtrot. Sierra november alpha foxtrot unifrom. Dead but dreaming, Scipio Diabolus, vox fatum. Contra. Texas Hold 'Em, Friday, 8:00, here.
With all of this crap about the TG situation, why don't we just move to Frisco Square? Free parking, plenty of space in the empty lot west of it, nearby food and bathrooms, eh?
This is getting a little frustrating. Just like with the flags, no one said you couldn't keep the drums here - that was a CHOICE made by the drummers (I was one of them at the time) to keep them with the people who use them. I've said this before, and I'll say it again until it sinks in - no one from the FO forced anyone - or encouraged anyone, for that matter - to get parking passes ANYWHERE. In fact, (and I can attest to this since I've been the main contact person on this), all that has ever been done this year is to echo the sentiments of The Inferno leadership, which is to NOT buy parking passes so that no one is locked into any one location. Yes, the tailgate is moving because Frisco is having a tournament out at the fields where they will be using all of the fields until 10 p.m. In order to minimize the conflicts between the groups (specifically, so that The Inferno won't have to be hassled), *The Inferno* decided to move to the Blue Lot for this game.
Can't comment on tailgate geostability, or grill extance, but inre: a closet for anything, GE promised what he had no power to deliver when he didn't even know if it would exist, and obviously did nothing to find out if it could exist because if he did, it might, but now, it doesn't, which is probably why Hitch is unable to deliver something that he didn't promise and which doesn't exist. I've been through the entire facility several times, and of all people, you can rest assured, that if I had been able to spy someplace that I considered safe for my stuff, it would be considered safe for all of the Inferno's stuff, and rest assured, HKS insured that no such space exists anywhere in the facility. Could Wagner have made that happen? Yes, but you don't know what you don't know, and in some cases, what you are pre-programmed to be unable to know. Subtext conjugate and extrapolate. If I could avoid hauling 100 pounds of gear in and out of the place, rest assured, I would be storing my stuff in the facility. I'm not. -bs
What the Houston types fail to realize is that every game is not like that. The attendance this year has been pretty good, numbers *and* actual-butts-in-seats wise. The point that remains unsaid amid all this useless smack talk is: people here really didn't care much about this particular game, one way or the other. It just wasn't that big a deal to the locals, is all. Nothing personal I'm sure. It's a long season. We will do it again soon. It will be fun. Until then, let's move on, shall we?