First, Congrats on getting a player of Kreis' caliber. Other than the turf I think it's a perfect fit. Did anyone go the the press conference or are there any quotes from Jason yet? It's 9:30 CT. I expected the SLC would have sent out a press release by now. I'd love to read a Q&A with Kreis and see how he reacted during the "unveiling". Is he excited, does he hold a grudge? and what about the turf??? Inquiring minds want to know.
Inquiring minds will have to wait a little longer. I went to the press conference, but I'm too tired to think clearly and answer your questions. I don't know the guy personally so I can't say if he was or wasn't excited. He seemed happy and comfortable, but he'd be a real jerk not to at least appear that way the first day. First, Pastorino went over some of his accomplishments. Then they showed a clip of some of his beautiful goals. Then they brought him out, draped him in some RSL gear and let him talk for a minute or two. I can't even remember what was said at that point. Nothing ground-breaking, I guess. He said he's moving his family out here soon. Coach Ellinger spoke for a minute or two, so did Big Boss Checketts. Then out came the champagne. Just kidding. The media pressed around them all asking questions, but I didn't feel like intruding so I hung back and watched. After a while, things cleared out a bit so those of us from the Loyalists who were able to make it went and introduced ourselves. He was very positive about it, told us to make a lot of noise and asked us our names, shook hands, etc. We got some pictures, and I told him I was taking mine straight to eBay. He muttered, "For what? 25 cents?" I replied, "No. At least 30." He said, "Hey, my mom would buy it for that." So I decided the guy has a good sense of humor and perspective about himself and whatnot. Seems like a nice person all-around and I think he'll bring a lot of talent to the team. Yippee Yay Hooray. (I'm too tired to give any better report than that. Sorry!)
I went to the press conference as well, and I met some Loyalists... it was nice to put faces to a few of the names I see on here.. The press conference was just as montgjules said it was... she summed it up quite well actually. Got pictures taken with him, and he signed my new ReAL Salt Lake shirt, which I thought was really cool... I bet I could get more than 30 cents for that! I Stayed for the first half of the WC qualifier and left to take the 60 mile drive home. as it turns out from the WCQ I didn't miss much in the second half. Friday is gonna be too cool! looking forward to seeing the snaps!!!
Everything went pretty well, there were alot of people there, mostly FO and local media but there must have been 75 persons or so. Kreis seems totally cool. Luckly Jules brought her camera so after everything had died down some I said we have to get a picture with him. We walked up to him, I shook his hand and said it was great to meet him and he asked my name and said it was great to meet me. Now, if I had woke up that morning knowing that I would be shaking Jason Kreis' hand and having say it was nice to meet me, I would dressed up and maybe got my hair cut the night before. He was cool though, can't wait to see the pictures.
Oh, by the way, our local media still has a way to go. I was able to catch all four sportscasts last night, Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS. First, Fox didn't even have a camera there so they just showed some pictures of Kreis off of the RSL website. The others showed some of the press conference but both Fox and CBS pronounced his name wrong. They called him Crease (as in the "crease" of your pants). I was yelling at the TV, "Idiots!" ABC showed the most though with alittle bit of the interview with both Kreis and also Ellinger.