Interesting article. It mentions KC as a new model in the caption, but hardly mentions KC in the body of the article. Most importantly it mentions the Crusaders in the same article that speaks of the Barnburners and Galaxians. Seems the Mystics may be getting undercut by Mr. Hunts free labor as the teams "supporters club". http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/oped0328oliu.html
I'm not seeing the mention of the Crusaders as a supporters club specifically in the article. I saw it in the caption, but I see that more as a paean to KC's (pardon the pun) wizardry in reorganizing the front office before it got out of hand.
I agree. I don't see it either. Don't get so paranoid. I can tell you they have never mentioned anything like that in the meetings. You guys are still the supporters club in this crusaders eyes.
Re: Re: KC: "new model" As Spoon said, I'm not paranoided at all. I just want everyone to know outside KC who the supporters are and who the free labor is. Its hard to be recognized when people screw up the facts.
http://www.kcwizards.com/news/interiornewspage.asp?story_id=P7MC94U9FII7RB6IAC2PARX84W . “The Yard” is situated in the east end line general admission seating area and is expected to become the primary supporting voice behind the team at all home games.
Some of the posters on here are not Mystics, some are. For those that aren't you can turn away if you like. What a load of crap! What have we been working for, yelling until our throats bleed, standing, chanting, trying to get people to join in for? I have no problem with starting a youth program to give kids a card and make them feel like they're in a group. But publically announcing that general admission behind the goal is expected to be the "primary supporting voice"?? I for one am sending an email to every member of the Wizards staff that applies. This is rediculous that last year they seemed to support us and help us along and then this crap. All that said, the whole stadium (save a few, mainly those non-Mystics that post on here) will continue to set on their hands and we'll be the only ones standing and cheering and in the end appreciated by the players for our support.
My pick 6 tickets that I planned to use in the Cauldron were labelled "the Yard." Maybe we can set up chants to include both ends of the stadium like an echo - or WIZ (from one end) ZARDS (from the other). It sounds like they are separating the flocks of little ones from the "foul mouthed" hooligans.
The East end is the current general admission area on the other side of the tunnel from the Cauldron. I've gotten three replies to a concerned email I sent reguarding my last post. One was from Curt Johnson and the basic theme was that they didn't choose the best words but that its not an effort to take away from the Mystics. CJ said this was talked about in a meeting with our past and present leadership (any comment from those two???). Perfectly cool with me then.
combine the yard and cauldron since "the yard" is one the other side of the tunnel why don't we bring them into the fold with us give us more of a wider range. We can post pass out chant sheets to them and give us a larger unified voice. We could still be the driving force behind the chants. I would be like us being The Ultras and then being the regular supporters.
i think it's a great idea. $17 is too much, but now for $10 plus parking you could take your kid to quite a few games in a season. now yourself, and the kids, are familiar with the players, style, etc. now you may watch several games on tv as your interest grows.
Re: combine the yard and cauldron People directly on the other side of the tunnel (kopiteinkc being one of them I believe) started joining in last season. I agree with the GA section joining us and following our lead. My beef was if the organization was undercutting the efforts of the Mystics. They've said they werent, so its cool.
Re: Re: combine the yard and cauldron I thought that it was just bad wording in the first place, that is why I didn't post that until today. Every time CJ has his yearly pregame Q&A at the tailgate someone asks the question "What can be done about the atmosphere, it seems as though everyone just sits on their hands." Usually he gives an answer as to. "Keep up what you are doing." Maybe this is a new way of dealing with the problem. I don't think anyone here thinks that having the "Zards/Yard" is a bad idea. Questions that I now have are "Now that they have a widely promoted section for the youth to be vocal, what steps are being taken to get the vocal aspect of it, or are they planning on using the PA(Mystics) to be the driving force in that? If so, then what is the difference. Also, what is the vision for the Cauldron? Given the vision what steps are going to be taken to reach it?"
And is the PA really the best idea? Using the stadium-wide PA causes some funky delay... I'm not sure if it helps or not.
We were worried about this going into last season when the idea of the PA was proposed. The biggest worry, if I recall correctly, was that of keeping a good beat with the drums. I'd say with good drummers keeping a beat was never a problem. With mediocre drummers the whole group tended speed up and get ahead of itself. I dont think the delay was every a problem. On the other hand, it projected our sound and words through the crowd. I think it helped people actually know the words we were saying for once.
Well that is horsepoo! You know what though, it really doesn't suprise me though. Very shady, but maybe they are looking at it as the Wizards offical fan club? We are an independent supporters club you know. I wouldn't mind seeing the mic go by bye. Better drummers and everyone chanting at the speed will help things.
It may have helped, but it is still difficult to pick out words unless you already know them. FYI, I'm not that far away, jsut across the field at the 50.
Re: Re: Re: combine the yard and cauldron my guess is that this section becomes the "hey, i like the idea of $5 for admission" section instead of the loud section.
If you'll check out the Chant Sheets thread, I think that I answered that with a bit of help from Ben in getting my ass re-re-motivated. (Big props to Ben for stepping up after I got down about the OKC trip) To save you the trouble, I mentioned to Ryan Haas at the open practice in January that we'd like to distribute some flyers with our chants on them at the gate. He said "great idea, we just need to approve it." I stewed on the idea b/c of money and a lack of perceived commitment. All of the discussion w/ KC Salty and CJ and how to integrate the Zards with the Mystics coincided with Ben deciding that it was a good idea and that he could front the money, finally culminating in..... The official "Cauldron Chant Sheet" will be distributed by the Wizards front office at the gates on 12 April. It features nine of our more popular - and g-rated - chants, and a couple of paragraphs pimping us, bigsoccer.com, and the tailgate in B5. The front office is covering all the printing costs, and officially endorsing our efforts. You're welcome.