There's a recent separate thread asking for SoccerHead's whereabouts. But whether or not he gets ferreted out, let's come up with a solution for a real yell or cheer leader at our games. One of the most fun games this season was the retro game where Krazy George came back and lead the crowd to many loud frenzies. The stadium let him have a microphone. The atmosphere helped the players to dominate that game too. The last 2 regular season games, we had big enough crowds to do a wave, but no one initiated it. Even with such large crowds, the stadium was pretty quiet except for goals or good shots. For cheerleading, the Blue Crew does little more than throw t-shirts. That ain't good enough! I don't know how this all works, so answers please... Do you have to pay someone to yell lead? What if Club Quake organized a yell leader tryout? Or why can't the Casbah be given a mic so that they can lead cheers from their spot? What if the Casbah drummers were spread around the stadium? What if season ticket holders brought small drums or tambourines to every game? I know we all have a lot of spirit, but we need a more organized way to express it at the games.
Actually, I think that the Casbah chants need to become more well-publicized or distributed to the rest of the crowd who can then follow the Casbah's lead. Maybe the Quakes org can allow Casbah leaders to suggest chants specific to a game and have the Quakes people hand them out at the gates. Personally, I've always felt (as much as I personally like Zack and George) that such "led" cheers are rather contrived and I much prefer the more spontaneous and heartfelt chanting such as you get from the Casbah. Those guys rock - I've always wanted to spend a game sitting (er, standing) in their midst.
The second to last time it kept dying at the Casbah and the very last time he tried it with Zack "Soccerhead" it just couldn't go. Regardless, Ruben loves his job whether he's official or not.
I totally agree with this! Even Ruben's wave is more entertaining than planned cheers! The Casbah and Ruben are all we need!
Ruben is the man! Why not--a good deal of the fans enjoy that spontaneousness. Others just want to watch the game. As long as he wants the wave, we'll go along. Cheers!
Gotta say, everytime I glance at this thread I see: How can we get the Quakes a rebel yell leader? Don't you think Billy Idol would be great in that role? I can see him now: "More, more, more!"
Starting the Wave in the NW corner of Spartan is silly, however. The wave often doesn't survive past the standing Casbah members, and rarely makes it across the "tunnel" gap. Starting it in the NE corner might be more effective. Also the Wave only makes sense during a long stoppage. It's much better suited for armpitball or other sports with long periods of no action. However, I think the idea of getting someone to do a Krazy George type job would be a great plan. Anything that gets people vocal is worth doing.
Okay, maybe we do need a supporters sub-forum with a FAQ. Since the same questions come up every single off-season. Without getting into the specifics again (the mic has been done and it failed miserably, the wave has been hashed and re-hashed and re-hased again), the best thing you can do is get tickets in N3 and join in. I do like the idea of gettin' paid though.
One point of yours I will address. That "we all" comment is a huge assumption, and is the biggest problem. The biggest crowds did not bring out the most spirited fans. The best games for atmosphere had smaller crowds, because the real fans of the team came out to watch. Guy (Club Quake member and "ReAL" Casbah yell leader, in case you don't know ) p.s. IMHO, I thought this season was the Casbah's best since I've been coming to Spartan ('97). There is always room for improvement and discussion though.
----------------------------------------------------------------- I'm all for more spirited crowds!! Even if they are for the opposing team. Too bad the local PD and EVENT staff disagrees. (LA supporters group incident.) Agreed. The most spirited crowds were the smaller ones with the core FANatics. Let's just hope the core continues to grow! Agreed there is much room for improvement. More Wall banners with better artistry and color. Flags with color, Checkered, Striped, With team shield and motto "Believe". Glad we don't have to put up with the Horns that Home Depot sells. It drowns out any song and chant. Continue to ban those! LEAD YOURSELF AND OTHERS MAY FOLLOW.
How to improve the stadium atmoshpere? A question that has been thought about for almost 10 years now. Has anyone really gone to the FO office with suggestions? I know of only a few of you who have. If anyone has any questions or suggestions on improving the stadium atmosphere, e-mail Auggie Torres. This is the time to do it. I remember a few months ago, a similar thread was created. Some of the ideas that came from the thread were used. I have had a few conversations with Auggie and he seems to be a really nice guy that cares about the fans. He told me that if anyone had suggestions, to send them his way. He'll listen. I know that Guy (the Casbah Yell Leader) e-mailed him about getting streamers into the Casbah section. Look what happened, streamers are now used during each team introduction and goals. So if anyone has suggestions about improving the stadium atmosphere (which besides winning another MLS CUP chamipionship, is something we all want) then I would suggest getting in contact with Auggie instead of putting it on a thread. Oh yeah, that would be awesome if they had a Blue Crew Tryout (they all need to be YELL LEADERS).
So true.....the larger crowds tend to separate the regular fans and it kinda breaks up the flow of the crowd emotion........whoa.....that was like....poetic and stuff.
I think the largest crowds also were often youth soccer teams, and the ones I've seen seem to be more passionate about getting some cotton candy than watching the game down on the pitch.
Cynical, cynical. (Do they even sell cotton candy at games? How come I've never had any?) Our neighbor in 130 is the jester who, of his own volition, leads cheers, most of them effective (sometimes he gets too ambitious--you've got to keep it to two syllables). He brings his own signs and he has the chutzpah to stand up and scream. Now, all we need are a few people like that planted around the stadium. The Blue Crew activity is erratic. Seemed that the larger the crowd, the less effort they made to get cross-stadium chants going.
I hate the wave, cheerleaders, and "We are the Champions (I.e. canned musics). By the way, why do we need a yell leader? The Casbah does just fine.
Exactly.....everyone knows the cotton candy is sold by the guys with the hefty bags slung over their shoulder.
As Ruben's agent and Tequila supplier all I/we ask for is a bottle of tequila every now and then. We're cheap!!!! (But NO Cuervo!! yuck)
While I think you guys in the Casbah are great, maybe you need to sit outside of it once in awhile so that you know what's going on in the rest of the stadium. I sit in 112, which is only 30 yards from your goal, and frankly, the Casbah spirit just doesn't transmit very far. Mics or drums/people positioned around the stadium are needed to carry your spirit further down the field. I'm jealous that we don't have a stadium of singing, chanting, standing fans as in EPL games. Spartan would be the Casbah x 20 if someone were willing to put on a show. When Krazy George used the mic, the 20,000 people in the stadium responded, even tho they were not normal Quake fans (that was the Freddy Adu appearance). We're Americans. We need someone to lead us in having fun. If the games are more fun through fan participation, we'll sell more tickets.
How about some "Casbah Colonies". A pocket of 4-6 loud, unabashed "colonists" situated stategically throughout Spartan that parrot/sycronize whatever Casbah is chearing.
Crazy George with a mic is NOT my idea of fun. I love Crazy George.... But that's just down right scary. Every time I hear that I think Freddy is coming for me. And I don't mean Adu....