c'mon, it has to be true. i've seen dc supporters around the southern midwest. casual supporters tend to be drawn to a champion and well, DC is king in MLS. anyone think otherwise???
Well depends on how you classify ChvasUSA. Even then I think we are behind LA. We have more dispora because of the nature of DC though, if that is what you are talking about.
Yawn. This would make a great closed season thread. I've pretty much never seen people wearing any MLS gear in towns that don't have an MLS team in them. Thx, Jay!
Saw a guy down in OC, MD the other weekend with a home United jersey on. Was half tempted to yell over to him about it but figured I'd just look like a crazy soccer fan. Course I almost told a guy I drove past down the jersey shore last month that the Metros sucked (had a home jersey on) but I figured he already knew that. I've given up on talking to people with MLS stuff on cause I talked to some guy who had a fire shirt on in San Diego last year about Andy Herron and he looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Turned out to be a brit who passed through Chicago, caught a game, and bought a shirt. He had no clue about anything I was talking about and made me realize it was pointless to start conversations with anyone wearing any soccer gear. In response to the thread title; I'd have to say no. I believe DC is probably the most recognizable; but hardly the most widley supported.
We saw tons and tons at the match in Harrisburg that the reserves played earlier this month. We were pretty surprised, actually. (I suppose that *does* count as a town that "had an MLS team in it", but only for the night )
People walk around in Wilmington all the time with DC gear on. I've seen 5 strangers this month with DC gear. Were right near the divide, so we keep on preaching the good to help people avoid the donkey swamp.
I went to about 5 or 6 regular season games on City Island last year. At EVERY single game I saw a kid or even an adult with a DC United shirt or jersey. At one game I sat next to a guy with a Quakes shirt. I terms of pro soccer, South Central PA is DC United territory. I've seen a few people in my men's leagues with DC stuff and every once in a while I'll see a decal on a car (rarely). I think that mostly people up here make it to about one game a year.
I was down in Va Beach this past weekend and saw a guy wearing the home jersey, said hi, chatted real quick. I know Knave can attest to there being many DC fans in NorCal, heck in Sacramento I used to know about 5 or 6 guys that would watch games when they could. I'd say DC is fairly widely supported.
That sounds similar to my experience with Longhorn apparel up here in NY. A dismayingly large number of people mistook my "flippin' the horns" to be me giving them the evil eye. After the third dousing with holy water, I just decided to give it up.
You know, Comcast Sports Net covers DC United games even for Philadelphia and much of southern and central New Jersey (though no Ravens, Caps, Wizards, or Nats).
We're the best-supported club in our own stadium, in practically everyone else's stadium, and with a few notable exceptions (such as mutinywxgirl ), I could give a damn who supports us elsewhere. Besides, the Galaxhite can be the best-supported club in the country, but what else do they have to show for 10 years of miserable existence?
I can vouch for OC, NJ. They put the match on the center big screen for our gang. It was a bar called Charlies just outside of Ocean City. If your ever near there and want to catch a match, the manager and food were great.
id say the only teams that might give us a run for our money are chicago and los angeles. no question. i don't really think that the galaxy are that well liked outside of california but they seem to draw extremely well there. chicago might the only other team close to DC United in popularity nationwide. ive seen a few fire jerseys around, but then again, it is the midwest.
Don't know where we'd rank in terms of being the most well supported, but I guarantee that we're the most well-known.
Whenever I'm down the trailer we have outside Ocean City, NJ I catch the games on cable down there (like I do up here); but I didn't realize there was a friendly place to go catch the game. I'll have to go there next year whenever I'm down there. Not sure; might have been. Does he have a kid that was around 5 or so? I didn't get a good look at either cause I was caught off-guard by seeing a DC jersey. Well crap, I'm right on the other side of the DE line in PA and I never see anyone walking around with anything like that. I catch people at the bars wearing Brazil jerseys and some Milan jerseys, but that is about it. I feel like I'm the only one representing MLS (which I think I am most of the time).
Not going to troll on your boards, but this year, DC United is behind in jersey sales to Chivas USA, RSL and the LA Galaxy. Chivas USA gets the best road support - but if we're talking the road support given to MLS teams not based on other teams (Guadalahara), it's probably Los Angeles. But come on - look where you posted this thread! What kind of response did you expect? If you wanted a more objective view - you could've put it in MLS:General.
I've seen a Reggaeton rapper in PR wearing a Galaxy jersey in his videos. I've seen a guy wearing the Chicago Fire white away jersey at the PR Islanders games. I own a Fire away jersey as well and I also own an Adu DC United Jersey... so there are a few MLS fans even outside mainland USA.
Although I love DC's kit on the TV and think they are the coolest looking bad ass team in all of MLS... the jersey when held in hand is a tad bit boring for some reason. I can never figure that out for myself as to why it looks so great on tv and when you hold the shirt in hand it looks flimsy. Maybe its the lack of logos and adverts or something, I don't know. I have thought that DC should think about a re-design, not a radical one, but a little change from year to year. The changes lately have been extremely minimal at best.