Personally, I could care less what anyone else calls the team. I'm not a fan because I want to debate people on the best name, nickname or cheer. I'm a fan for the soccer. Of course, that doesn't mean that I will pass up the opportunity to occasionally tweak noses once in a while.
Here, here! (or is it hear, hear?) I can't stand the overly blatant commercialization that is creeping into sports. Honestly, how many sport facilities in this country can you think of that ARE NOT named for some corporation? I could see Red Bull having a small sponsors logo on the jerseys, but to name the entire team has definitely crossed the line. GO METROSTARS!!!
I'm sorry, but... commercializatin creeping into sports??? What the hell do you think pro sports are? Why do they even exist?
Not to mention the fact that those who most vocally decry the new corporate name are pining away for... another corporate name. The only difference is that it's the old commercialization and not the new commercialization. As for alternate solutions, the problem I have with "Reds" is that it sounds too close to "Revs."
No kidding. Everyone keeps talking about how the name change is great because of all of the championships and what not are bound to come our way. Let's review: Do we have a "knock our socks off" foreign signing who was highly touted and appears to suck? Check (For all of the "He's like Ronnie O'Brien, but better" talk, Canero was good for little more than a couple of cheap shots. To top it off, he never seemed to be out wide when he was supposed to.) Do we have a penchant for giving away games? Check. Do we play unattractive, ineffective soccer where it looks like the team has not only never played a game together but would have trouble naming their teammates? Check. Did we have a disappointing turnout for opening day? Check (proportionate to the amount of $$ spent). This is the same old Metrostars with a different name and a more comfortable locker room. As to the old "corporate" name, if Klubotnick had called the team the "Metromedia Stars," I would have hated that, too. "Metro" is a generic enough word. It didn't scream out "tacky" like the new name does. On top of that, it's the history, not the origin, of the original name that we are "pining" over. That name had 10 years of history behind it. Say (miracle of miracles) this team does win a championship in the next couple of seasons. Will it mean as much to you? I know I'd enjoy it, but I'd enjoy it a heck of a lot more if it was a championship won under the name that had suffered many poor seasons. Don't believe me? Tell me the Rangers Stanley Cup win a in 94 wasn't more exciting/important to fans than one that went to the Devils or the Red Wings. The reason fans stay with a team through the lean years is to be that much more excited when that team finally brings it together. Changing the name, colors and jersey eliminated that possibility (or, at the very least, put a damper on it to some degree). I'm not saying that the team didn't need a new owner. I'm not saying that the one they got won't (eventually) do a lot of good for the team. I'm not saying that they don't have the right to name the team that they bought whatever they want. I'm not saying that you Red Bull folks have to call the team Metro Reds. I'm just saying that I prefer to call them that so that, when they finally do pull a Rangers '94, it will still mean something to me, because those 10 years of suffering will have been vindicated in some small way. Bottom line, we don't tell you Red Bull folks how to be fans. Why do so many of you (especially when many of you are relative newcomers) feel the need to dictate to us how we may or may not support this team?
That is your opinion. I disagree. Personally, I think it's tackier, in part because it is so generic and bland. Corporate names are corporate names. Just because one can pretend that MetroStars wasn't a corporate name doesn't change the fact that it was chosen to promote a product. Just like "New York Red Bulls" was.
Perhaps the biggest problem I have with the "Metro Reds Initiative" is that it doesn't just refuse the corporate, but also the regional name. Metro is not specific to this region. And Toronto had first dibs on that name for a soccer team (didn't they wear red?). I love New York on the screen as the scoreline or in news flashes. I love New York in the MLS standings and media coverage. I love New York on the crest and uniforms. The thing I love most about RB is New York. If you really don't want to say Red Bulls then why don't you just say New York? Think of how angry it makes Zoff, and that should please any supporter of this team to no end!
I think a song about a different sport says to "root (root root) for the home team". You don't cheer for the team name, the players, the colors, the shirt. You cheer for your team - New York. (Also says "if they don't win it's a shame"... shame shame shame so far)
Anyone get an extra program from the opening home match and willing to part with it for a fee? It would be a great piece of merchandise to start my collection.
Even though the Red Bull drink tastes horrible, the name is cool. I know I would have been thrilled if they had bought the Quakes and kept the team in San Jose.
And they always drop in the team name in this line when they sing it. What's done is done, I say. The name is changed, ain't no way they're changing it back. It's still not my team, but I've said many times I'm in a wait and see kind of mode. After three weeks, though, you'd think I'd be just a little bit more convinced of the benefits. I'm not. So I'll wait a bit more.
I loved Metrostars and I love Red Bulls. No big deal, but I havent been following the team nearly as long as most people.
Continuing to repeat the same unreality -- ie, that the name "metrostars" was promoting a product -- a claim that you have been shown time and time again to be meritless, to me is the height of trolling. So please stop it.
This will probably bother most people who have already posted on this subject but what the hell. 1) I still don't like the Red Bull name because of the commercial reasons. 2) I really don't like the Metro Reds name. The team was the Metros and is now the Red Bulls. Stop making up some hybrid nickname. It's silly at best and dumb at worst.
I agree with this. You like the old name, don't like the new name, so you just make up some ridiculous new name?
Call them Metros. Call them Reds. Call them Metro Reds. Call them something else, if you can think of something better.
Sometimes I will call them Spanish Jackie, other times the Lorna Doones. But only when they play away. At home I will call them Red Bulls, unless they continue to snatch ties or worse from the jaws of victory, in which case they are still MetroStars.
yeah, but WHAT THE ******** IS THE PRODUCT!!! Holy shit I can't take it anymore! Red ********ing Bull is a soft drink. MetroStars is a soccer team. MetroMedia is whatever the ********. We are here to support soccer not a ********ing soft drink.
You can have your silly name sucker. At the end of the day you have to cross a river into MY state. Keep paying for parking and concessions. Keep paying those turnpike tolls.