Tom: How can something "take root on its own?" Doesn't some person have to come up with the idea and make the proposal? Are you saying there's no rivalry between and among these three teams?
How else can I 'splain it? If you have a rivalry like some of the college football teams, where they play for some kind of momento, chances are it started organically. Somewhere down the line, someone put something up as a symbol for the bragging rights. Dallas and Chicago have this only because of several evenly matched, heated games between the two, including a playoff series. There's really not a whole lot these places have in common, other than the fact that I can't stand either team, and I wouldn't want to live in either place, cause they are full of drooling, slack-jawed inbreds, but I digress. This "took root on its own" when both groupd of fans got caught up in the rivalry, and created a cup. The "Atlantic Cup" is different because people in the DC United front office decided that it would be a good thing to create a "cup" for their games with Metro, even though there was already a pretty good rivalry between the fans. The problem I have with this is that it was marketing driven, and only there to try to make a big deal out of something. The real fans of these clubs know that games with their nearest rivals are important, and the feeling is that if you have to be told that the biggest games of the year are important, well, how closely do you follow the game anyway. And the fact of the matter is that the DC suits posted the idea on a DCU fan site, DC fans stuffed the ballot box, and then they tried to pass this off as "by popular demand." Meanwhile, the first time anyone on the Metro end heard about it was when it was announced by DC. It did not go over well with them. And sad as it is to admit it, we make a big deal out of our games with the Mutts, but for them, we are an afterthought, and merely an excuse for a road trip. They hate DC. They don't take us seriously. Now if we were to start beating them more often than once in the last 10 games, that might change, but until it does, the only thing that makes this one-way rivaly is geography. Tom
Well said. Who in the league would take us seriously? Who in the A-league would take us seriosly (Rochester didn't)?
To say that Rochester "didn't take us seriously" is just nonsense. Are you suggesting they didn't try to win? Or that they thought they would beat the Revs easily? Where's the evidence of that? Are you a mind reader, or is it mere speculation on your part? I can't believe how this simple post has turned into a lighting rod for negativity. Lighten up, guys and gals. It's only a game. When I started this post, I thought I was providing a straight line for some humorous suggestions. Instead I drew the usual boring pessimism from the "fellowship of the miserable."
It's not about being miserable and pessimistisc. It's about keeping it real. It's good that you, a fan, would like NE to be involved in a rivalry worthy of the new 'Allocation Cup' (I like that, rkupp!), but in the wake of the manufactured DC / Metro cup, I think other fans simply disagree with the premise. I mean, do the Rev supporter groups _despise_ one team or another as a whole? And is that mutual? _That's_ where rivalries are born. From what I hear, since I'm an independent Rev supporter, the Rev supporter groups are actually quite cordial and friendly, and promote the love of the game. And I like hearing about that just fine. What team do the Revs constantly have close and heated games against? I would personally guess DC, rather than the Metro, but the thought of a cup with them (again, in the wake of the fake) don't really float with me. Just opinion. Kevin D.
Well, I think the Revs have "close and heated games" with DC United. Last year we had Etch red-carded for kicking Pierce, followed by Moreno licking Rusty's face. We had the Revs beating DC to eliminate them from the Open Cup. We had Ray Hudson mouthing off this year about DC being better than the Revs, and about Twellman's being nothing more than a "poacher." With NY, we have the Diallo/Serna fiasco, the Naveda hat trick against Meola, Diallo's kick of Adin Brown. What exactly is it that we need to justify a "cup?"