How can anyone go see a preseason game for Burn without notice in due time!!!!!! They have forgotten about the fans... too bad... Why bother with free games if you can't give anyone a chance to get there! Of course I still support them! Their PR/Website deparment stinks!!!
The plans for these were not finalized until the time they released the announcement. Trust me. Chris Ward, Burn PR guru, would have enjoyed sending out the release as early as possible. In this case, this was the timeframe he was given. So cool off, and go Wednesday. Don't be so eager to start jumping all over the front office.
Chris Ward was the MLS PR man of the Year for 2002 as voted on by his peers, we in the daily media business. Before you publicly attack someone's professional credibility take the time to fully inform yourself of all the circumstances. I'm not trying to dogpile you on this one, but it's unfair to jump on Wardo without knowing all the details. You've still plenty of time to get to the Wed. Sat. matches. ToLo
I agree 100% with dangermon and italchacao. Hitman and Tolo, your explanations only serve to highlight the poor planning on the part of the Burn office regarding the scheduling of these scrimmages. Getting the word out 12 hours before an event is poor planning regardless of the color of your lenses. Now for the real question, do these scrimmages count as events as defined in the agreement between DSLP and Southlake Carroll ISD? If they do, then what a waste of 3 events.
Thanks for the support italchacao, chamo ... To the others... this is a chat board/forum... not a press release... chill out... honestly... How many people actually go to DallasBurn.com to get news as compared to MLSNet.com... I go to MLSNet.com everyday! Hey... at least the Burn have Chris Ward! That's better than no PR at all... but not a consolation of poor misinformation due to upper management problems and poor time management.
Chamo, I'm not defending the lack of advanced notice. Certainly it's fair and appropriate for fans to be upset and to voice their complaints against the lack of advance notice on the scrimmages. My issue was simply that you can't shoot the messenger, Chris Ward. Saying the Burn's PR departement "stinks" is a very unfair assessment of the job that Wardo does. Every other team in the league has 2 PR people except Dallas who has only Chris Ward. If you don't like the way situation was handled say, "man I wish they'd told us sooner," but those decisions are not made by Wardo and again it is unfair to say that he stinks. Please don't take my replies as confrontational. Everyone, especially me, is open to criticizism. I just felt it was a little unfair to blame Ward for what was something completely out of his control. ToLo
I was at the game at Southlake on Saturday and I was told the switch was last minute because of field conditions at UTD. Everyone needs to chill.
Well "stinks" is a bit strong... this just comes from my mounting frustration in the way the Burn informs the fans... this has just been another blow... Okay... this is not against Chris Ward but to the poor PR policy establised by the Burn Management. Why don't they let Chris Ward run the show!!! How bout that... let Mr. Ward do his job and promote the Burn. I too don't want this to be another confrontational soccer forum and I'm sorry for the rude comment. I just wanted to make my point.
If you were at the game Sat., then you are 'already chilled', my good man. Gawd, ya didn't even need a cooler! heh.
Bingo The original post did not mention Ward by name. Hitman was the one who singled him out, unintentionally. No offense taken on my end. Ward does more with less than any other PR guy in MLS. But that does not mean that he does enough to keep his customer base informed about his product as evidenced by this latest snafu. Keep up the good work ToLo, and Hitman too. We learn almost as much if not more about the activities surrounding the team from you guys as we do from the team itself.
Just FYI... 1. The scrimmages this week do not count against the number of events the Burn can hold at SLC in one season. 2. The game agaisnt IW was moved at the last second becasue the UTD people decided the field could not handle the abuse. So it was not the Burn's fault. I am sure if anyone has suggestions on how the Burn could better notify fans of late changes, they would be happy to take the input. Heck post it here and I will be happy to pass it along. Certainly anything that can help bring more fans to see the Burn play would be appreciated.