A message to all the "fans" who call the team "Red Donkeys"...

Lifes tough as it is especially when you get stuck owning a URL for a team that no longer exists.

red donkey or red balls is derogatory , any unbiased individual would agree to that.

To each their own, just as long as they buy the tickets and "sweat" the colors.

 

Then how come I don't see a mention of "Red Donkeys" in MetroFanatic's recap of last night's win?

 

I get the sense that we're talking about two different things here (whether you think Red Donkeys is somehow offensive, vs. whether you believe MF would rather shut its doors than go with the other name) but the answer to your question is here. "They are Metro and will always be Metro." But Red Donkeys gets slotted in there now and then, as an affectionate nickname. Sorry if you're not buying, but, whatever.

 

Life's tough when you put a lot of effort, heart and time into supporting a team and creating one of, if not the best fan-driven team website in the country (one that you get nothing out of, materially, and which the organization itself hardly deserves) then have it all change overnight to something so utterly crass and corny, towards which you feel no affection whatsoever. You don't really believe the cost of another domain name is what's stopping him, do you?

Then again, I suppose life must be tough if you're relegated to making ill-informed internet potshots too, eh?

 

I do think it's offensive, so there's no debate there.

Whether or not they "go with the other name" (I'm assuming you mean Red Bulls) doesn't matter to me.

But you said Metro and Red Donkeys are interchangeable. I don't think it is, to which you said "a lot of us think otherwise." If that was true, then I would've seen what you wouldn't think to be a pejorative in last night's recap. I've seen it alot when they were losing (and only saw Metro one time after they lost to DC). One term when they're winning, and one term when they're losing. I don't think it's consistent. So I don't think it's interchangeable.

I'm nitpicking, yes, but if we're arguing about it, let's argue about it.

 

Doesn't change the fact that redballs and red donkey are used by anyone who's not a fan of the team on these boards as a negative,derogatory term. There are enough eurosnobs etc. to then turn around and have home fans using those same terms.

And as i ended my first post on this subject , to each their own. But as with another cliche, "don't piss down my neck and tell me its raining". Trying to justify the phrases red balls or red donkeys as a positive , doesn't make it so.

 

I was actually quite pleased when I got up this morning and read the game report on metrofanatic. The team is referred to as Metros and Metro, which is just fine by me. No mention of the controversial Red Donkey, Donks, etc... Hopefully we'll continue to win very big and the trend will continue. Also, it's fine by me that the site continues to be called metrofanatic, as Dan has told me that the day that it is not called metrofanatic is the day that the site is closed. I enjoy the site quite alot and I hope it will remain up for a long time to come. Oh, and FYI, a few weeks back there was a game report on metrofanatic (the Barcelona game) where the team was referred to as Red Bull NY, RBNY, etc... Guess who wrote that one. Ha, Ha!

 

Spare us the "affectionate nickname" rubbish, as the evidence is to the contrary. In mf.com's recent match coverage, here's how the team is referred to:

Last night's win, they're Metro: http://www.metrofanatic.com/story.jsp?ID=3851

Open Cup loss, they're Donkeys: http://www.metrofanatic.com/story.jsp?ID=3844

Loss vs. Crew they're Donkeys: http://www.metrofanatic.com/story.jsp?ID=3834

Draw vs. the Scum, Metro: http://www.metrofanatic.com/story.jsp?ID=3819
(didn’t this say NY initially?)

A consistent pattern: good match, they're Metros; bad match they're Donkeys.

Now is Dan just unconscious with regards to his usage? The signifiers aren't arbitrary.

I had problems with the "Metro Reds Initiative," but Donkeys is downright insulting. And clearly, its not being used out of an innocent sense of affection. There's an agenda here and we all know it.

Dan R. is as stubborn as a...mule. I've no doubt he might well shut his site down.

 

I've never heard any NY fan call them the "Red Balls".

 

Life's tough when you live in a warzone. Spare us the pity party.

No one's asking anyone to change a domain name.

The alternaname "initiatives" need to cease.

Don't care for the NY Red Bulls? Go support another club.

 

Not me... You are in the EXTREME minority here and you always bring up this stupid argument... The team is now the NY Red Bulls... you can call them whatever you want but in my eyes you aren't a true fan of this team but rather a poseur and perhaps a chump... The term Red Donkeys is perjorative as Doctor K said... and the Metros are no more...so either you are with us or you aren't...

 

Repped DoctorK, Repped! That's going to have to be my new sig.

 

Repped, ag nigrin, Repped!

Come on Red Bull!
Come on Red Bull!
Come on Red Bull!

 

I think that if he continues to call his site "metrofanatic.com" it's a good thing. It acknowledges the past and celebrates it

Either support your team or get off the pot. Don't be a fair weather fan. Be a fan.

So here is the problem, the way you've just constructed this; if I go by "Metro", if I refuse to suck down "Red Bull" (and I do, absolutely and unequivocally), then my team is, in many respects, in the past. You can accuse supporters who hold on to Metro of whatever you like, but for my part, I'm realistic. I can call them Metro and a couple dozen people on soccer boards will understand what I'm implying (whether they agree or not), but when I watch a game, it's "Red Bulls" out there. It's damned hard to see "Metro" there, no matter how hard you squint. If "Red Donkeys" is a grievous insult to you, well, "New York Red Bulls" is an disgraceful insult to me, of years of my following this team through the darkest days of the franchise and the league being instantly nullified because some bastard thousands of miles away was clued in to a decent marketing opportunity and wrote a check. The only greater insult comes from those long-time Metro "supporters" who can't line up fast enough to lick Mateschnitz's boots, talking about how "everything about Metro sucked anyway;" some of these very same people spent years standing up and singing for that worthless, s**t team and "tradition" in 101, RFK, Foxboro and other places, yet flipped as fast and as hard as they could for the bull. Such people are your true hypocrites, and ought to be ashamed of themselves.

The result of all this is a disaffection that isn't going away, not after one big win, not after many wins, be they Donkeys, Metros, Reds, whatever. Maybe I'm the only one feeling that, maybe not. I can only speak for myself. Your exhortations to "be a fan" aren't worth much, because it's a whole lot more complicated than that. I have no interest in being part of this brave new world of sports marketing projects, yet I can't quite tear myself away fully, either; I like the game too much, look forward to the development of US players, and still dream of having a real local team to cheer for someday.

It's a little like an addiction in that sense, but I watch ambivalently, not avidly. With that distance, I can bring myself to say that our rivals to the south, hateful intestinal parasites that they are, support a team with a hundred times more integrity than this one, as Red Bull, will ever have. And should anyone I know ask me, as they sometimes do (I've brought my share of people to Metro and 101 over the years) about this team, I'll dissuade them from anything other than casual interest, as well.

 

Like I could care who I am in your eyes. Who are you?

 

I'd rather wind unjustified-declaration-making clowns like you up.

 

I think Metro has become an accepted nickname for our NY Red Bulls. Personally, I like it; it is a nod to history, and it embraces the metropolitan New York region.

Red Donkeys is a slur. I don't read anything like affection behind the name. It is something that might come out of DC. In our worst days, I can't recall Metrofantic refering to our team as the MetroScum. I think one sports writer, not connected to our fan groups, called us the Meisterscrubs or something very near that. But if we fans blamed the team or the coach or the GM, we still repected the team name: Metro.

There is something unseemly behind Donkeys. Chivas was denigrated as "goats" and they turned it around into an eventually repected nickname that stuck. Could that happen with Donkeys? Maybe. There was no affection behind the name 'goats' at first, it was meant as a slur. Our problem is that we've had a ownership and name change that some simply refuse to accept.

 

I prefer jester, but I'm sure you mean clown as a term of affection.

 

We're not hypocrites; its that our loyalty transcended the name. The hypocrites are those who claim they're more loyal while they call the team donkeys.

Michael K., its clear you need to move on and are having trouble doing so. Supporting the NY Red Bulls is untenable to you. Simple solution: support another side or don't support one at all. But don't pretend to be supportive as you call the team the Donkeys. You seem willing to call them anything but what they are, while Dan R. just seems bitter they've gone and changed the name away from one that corresponds directly with his fansite. Both positions are unrealistic and immature.

So now you think the Scum are better than we are ("more integrity") and will "dissuade" others from supporting this club. You've said that, so now its clear. Goodbye.

 

How about all of you STFU and relax, smoke a bowl, drink a 40 oz, etc?

F***in A...

 

Ah, Michael K, you ask that question as if ag nigrin's input here is insignificant. Getting a bit full of yourself, eh. True, you are a bigsoccer moderator and you are listed as being a moderator of this forum (New York Red Bulls) specifically. Please know that, In my opinion, the fact that you are a bigsoccer moderator on the forum New York Red Bulls is an affront to those of us who would follow this team through anything. Do the right thing and resign and please ask one of the moderators of the DC board (John_Harkes_6, Knave, Riz, Lowecifer) to take your place. At least we know where they stand on things. Better one of them than someone who claims to support this team. But then again, you might ask, 'who am I' to suggest such a thing?

 

Well you responded so you obviously care... I am and have been a loyal supporter of the MLS team in this area...they are now called the NY Red Bulls... AEG owned the Metros and they treated the team like second-class citizens...and they also held "Faith and Family" nights for christsakes... Red Bull has hired the best US coach, mad esome good player moves already, and are paying and making our own stadium in Harrison a reality...something AEG couldn't do on their own. I was a Metrostars supporter and season ticket holder for 10+ years but thank god they are no more... Red Bull is now our team... get over it... Arguing for socio-political reasons is ludicrous... You are entitled to your opinion but you should recuse yourself as a Red Bull moderator as you
don't represent the majority of posters here on the Red Bull threads...