Any more news on this? Also does anyone else think they should use the circled logo as the team badge and get rid of the water amusement park looking thing???
I like the circle badge logo and can live with the waterslide one too. Put me down as in favor of keeping those two items.
They could wear leopard print kits, as long as they keep the badge!!! Some things must be held sacred...
I don't think you get it HIF. The Rapids are treating fans here like Shepshire sheep. Just like NFL (and other leagues), you are just a ticket. They'll not care one iota about keeping/growing traditions (like green or the logo). Anything for a buck (a very small buck at that). If they treat me like any other leagues' fans, I'll be acting like fans of other leagues (non-supporter, come only when they win, and coming less and less every year that passes).
Since when has any top-flight, professional club not been primarily concerned with making money and ticket sales? A professional team exists to make money. The players are no different, even in MLS. Same goes for club soccer. Look at any competitive program; is their primary concern whether the parents have a good time at the games, or that the kids get equal playing time? Hell no. (that's AYSO) Yes, dropping the green sucks. But we still have a team, in large part thanks to an owner who's willing to lose tens of millions every single year. Call it a tax writeoff, call it pocket change, but if you ask me that's a hell of a lot more important than keeping a color. After all, you don't hear any Fusion or Mutiny fans complaining about how their jerseys or logos sucked for years. Not anymore, that is.
The amount of money we're talking about here is less than *4* digits. And for this, we're pissing away tradition built over 7 years. Yes, I am stopping supporter activities. It's a combination of the Rapids color change (60%), Ratz stadium location move in 2002 by the Rapids (10%), and a new supporters club move to offer an alternative to the Ratz (30%). Not only do you feel I'm out of touch with my opinions regarding Rapids tradition, perhaps many others do as well. Time for this old shvte to step aside... P.S. I better not *EVER* hear Counce complain about how he can't compete with the tradition of the other leagues.
Green... Ever notice 'Rapidman' is Blue??? If it's for the water, they focked up by removing the half-fish from the cape! (My favorite part of the costume). I'll always have my USA national team jersey, and a set of Rapids jerseys from the first years on.....although the small one's I have re-cycled to kids that haven't grown up yet. I think that it is time to plan for 2003. The color/jersey changes will come. The new players will excite us. The youngsters will grow, or some will just not make it. We will yell and hoot, argue over what to do. Let's just pick a silly section (126? 129? whatever), order tickets and screw the rest of the crap. They cannot beat us down, nor overcome our resolve to cheer, and some year, win it all. The drum will beat, Dan, you just don't know it yet. RLH
No offense Zar but it's pretty telling off a fan when they quit watching or attending games because of a color change. Thats like divorcing your wife because she dyed her hair blonde. It's the same team under the Jersey. In a sense, your saying if the team doesn't cater to your needs then you won't support them. If we all thought that way, there wouldn't be a team for much longer. What does Logo or Uni color have to do with tradition? Fans showing up and supporting their team year in and year out is tradition. Change didn't hurt the Broncos. In fact they finally won 2 Superbowls after lsoing their so called "tradition".
Black and green? So what's wring with black and green? We sorta wear that NOW, don't we? We even have a White with Black for the road (and always black shorts. We can still come out with a set of Black (i.e. better sales) souvenir jackets, hats, shirts, etc. that contain a little green ("green is the dominant color!"). Does anyone think that the Rapids are ready to let us have lower 126 for the next year for the Ratz, Mile High, Soccer Ambassadors, and other supporter's section? It's the obvious solution for the TV, crowd, and core growth of the franchise. They'd be able to better coordinate the big screen TV in the stadium for the yellow/red card and the 'olympic Judging' spoofs that would translate well into the stadium (like 'IN-COM-PLETE'). They could have a reporter in hte section to augment the radio/TV broadcasts, too (I've been uncertain why the league doesn't do this in all venues). They know that the long term success of the league is TV related. RLH p.s. "Let's go to the Ratz's nest and see what they think of the call"
Point of order: didn't the Ratz themselves pick 129 last year? I recall there was a lot of chatter on the mailing list about the 'select-a-seat' day and stuff, but I couldn't make it myself.
Re: Black and green? That depends. People need to show a commitment to buy tickets to this section (and not for a ridiculous discount), and show up. The game against Atlas on October 30th is a perfect opportunity. See the sticky thread at the top of this forum if you need more information.
> No offense Zar but it's pretty telling off a fan > when they quit watching or attending games > because of a color change. The players are free agents from all over America, and even outside it. The location was picked by people in New York City in order to maximize the possible market. The only thing that is consistent in the team is the uniform. As Seinfeld said, when you cheer for a team you are really cheering for laundry.
The Ratz DID NOT pick 129 last year. They were told by the Rapids to use that section and with the new supporters club starting up, we had little/no voice to object.
For "real" fans that bought tons of green articles of clothing and other green merchandise, we're now expected like Shepshire sheep to go buy a whole NEW set of merchandise in the new colors. And do the same again in 3-5 years. All the other leagues piss on fans like this. They change colors (like the Anaheim Angels, Denver Broncos, etc.) with the expected goal of milking every last marketing dollar out of your wallet. I thought MLS would be different. Silly me. Oh...wait a minute. You haven't bought jack shvte so it doesn't bother you. Nevermind. On to the second point... Read what spejic said. Pretty darn true. I was asked to explain myself at the MLS Cup Supporters Summit before some media and other key lead supporters (about 30-40 in attendance). They all seemed to "get it." Sorry I can't type a good enough explanation for you here so you can "get it" as well...
Re: Re: Blue and Black... Yep. And? Look at it as your contribution to the club you "love". Could be worse. How many jerseys does ManU have now?
Art, and others, seem to read my messages with a slant they can deal with. I didn't say anything about changing jerseys. The Rapids have had 4-5 jerseys (home) in 7 years. And I have every one. In fact if you count my kids and away jerseys, I've bought close to 20 jerseys in 7 years. No more.
GreatZar, I'm a neutral fan and I agree with you... Colors is going to far...hopefully the black and blue is what they stick with the rest of the time... I can see changing kits, even though i prefer teams stick with one once they get a good one, logos maybe also...but team colors... if a team switches a kit or badge at least you can still wear it...colors, you show up to the stadium in green when the team is blue???
Re: Re: Blue and Black... Don't think its very fair giving someone crap about not buying as much Rapids merch as you. You know you can still be a fan without buying every jersey that comes out or t-shirt or whatever. You don't want to support the Rapids anymore because they change colors, that's your choice. For me and many others, it is the guys in the jerseys we're supporting. And it's also a little naive to think that the Rapids or MLS aren't going to try and maximize their merch revenue. Especially a league that has losses as big as MLS. Happens in every sport.
Seems like were not the only ones getting a "New Tradition." http://www.metrostars.com/metronews/submissions/2002/october/10222002v2.htm
Zar, Just wondering how you feel about the Metros changing their logo? Are they pissing on their fans too?
My point exactly. Unlike Jerry Seinfeld and GreatZar, I certainly am NOT "cheering for laundry". I'm there to support the players, the team, the organization and the league. Uniforms and colors are all about marketing. The team is all about money. I happen to prefer a change to blue and black but ONLY because I'm there for the players and the game, not there fashion sense. Lastly how would you know how much money I've spent on Rapids merchandise? Before you start calling people sheep you should realize that the green as well as the black and blue is all made for sheep. No matter what color you purchase your still padding their pockets.
Funny to talk about the "tradition" of green when the team doesn't have a stadium and whose longest-serving player has been with the club for 3 seasons. I don't like the color change simply because blue/black are already widely used in the league, while green has remained unique. But let's face it, there are a lot of people that simply don't like green kits -- regardless of how well they're designed, it's a somewhat unpopular color of clothing. No coincidence that it's one of the least used colors for sports teams around the world. And there hasn't exactly been a massive public outcry against the color change. Nothing more than a couple dozen people posting on BigSoccer. No, the Rapids never went to the fans to find out how they felt about changing colors before making the decision. But if enough fans -- specifically, season ticket holders -- had voiced their displeasure, it's very likely that the color change would not have held. Zar talks of not wanting to be a sheep, yet he's bought 20 Rapids kits over the past 7 years regardless of how hideous and ill-fitting they may have been. Baaaaaaaaah. BTW, how many Galaxy fans complaining about their (rumored) color change? Doesn't appaer to be that big of an issue. Perhaps they're too distracted by a team that's on the verge of the double and will have their own stadium in 2003.