Received a letter from Kevin Payne with a solicitation to renew my half-season plan (already did the full season earlier). No apologies for the crap season. Instead, the letter included an autographed "rookie card" for Andy Najar and Payne's extolling of young talent on DCU. Specifically named were Najar, Shanosky, Hamid, Jackovic, Quaranta, Zayner, Burch, Wallace and Pontius. Payne said Pontius had his hamstring issues since high school. Interestingly, no mention of Allsop, Hernandez, Boskovic or Simms. If I were to guess, Allsop is gone, Hernandez is gone, Boskovic has another year on his contract and Simms gets traded. King and Morsink are both exposed in the expansion draft and the "survivor" becomes Shanosky's mentor. Obviously no mention that Dave Kasper is getting a size nine in his ass on the way out the door. Discuss:
Maybe I should be outraged that I didn'tget a letter from Payne urging me to renew my half-season plan. All I got was the renewal itself. Somehow, I feel slighted.
They probably thought better of writing another letter after the last one blew up in their faces. Best to keep it zipped in case the Mayflower moving vans pull up in the middle of the night.
I'm renewing and so are my friends - Yes - We're all quite disappointed about this past season in particular - (And while we're all huge fans of Moreno's past accomplishments, we've also seen how much he's successively lost in the past 2-3 years) - (And, yes, we're a quite upset at management, but also realize this was the group that assembled the team for Nowak - go figger) - But we support the team and the jersey - We're renewing
I am happy that you are renewing and applaud all other people who are renewing, as I do not want my team DC United to go under or leave. But, I do have a problem with the quoted portion of your post. While management has done an okay job in the draft, their acquisitions are nowhere close to what they were in 2004. That team had Moreno in his prime, Gomez in his prime, an up and coming Nelsen, an established work horse in Stewart and up and coming work horse in Gros, a wily veteran in Olsen, a gifted goalscorer in Esky, an anklebiter in Kovalenko, a solid defensive midfielder in Carroll, an experienced defender in Petke, etc. etc. etc. And did I mention Nick Rimando was in goal... The current management has either lost their touch OR gotten lazy on their accomplishments and are not doing the hard work to ensure that player acquisitions pan out. It also helped that Piotr Nowak knew what he was doing, had an eye for talent and was not going to be persuaded by management to pick up slackers...
Speaking of moving vans, wasn't the MSA report supposed to be ready by the middle of this month. Not that we can expect anything other than a positive report, at least that would be one step out of the way. Then maybe pressure would start to build to make some decision. Anything to start kicking the can down the road would be better than sitting here doing nothing. Whether the team stays or goes, the non movement on the issue seems to be sucking the life out of interest in the team (in addition to the team sucking).
I renewed my four season tickets the first day I could. And I have my KP letter to prove it! (Along with the Najar rookie card that has one of my photos on the back)
I haven't heard a peep since September, and I'm still wondering if United management somehow got the MSA to embargo the report till after 1st November (when the 5% discount on STH renewals ends) or even till after 17th December (when incumbent STH will lose the right to renew in their current seats). Because of the way they've kept such a tight lid on all this, I remain convinced that this project is farther along than people are letting on - the front office doesn't want anything stating (or at least suggesting) that relocation is on the front burner to get out while the STH renewal window remains open, and why would they be so tight-lipped about all this if the project weren't progressing toward implementation? I still haven't renewed...and until the blowing-town option is off the table, I'm not renewing.
You seriously think that DC would collect as much season ticket revenue as possible and then bolt to another city? Do you also think they're trying to brainwash us by putting fluoride in the water supply at RFK?
The earliest, realistically, that they can relocate would in all likelihood be 2012, given the time necessary for all the regulatory approvals and whatnot (the most commonly cited scenario has the Ravens' stadium serving as a temporary home pending completion of the new ground)...meanwhile there is the matter of the 2011 season which will be at RFK, and seats must be sold one way or the other (and even if there weren't this relocation business going on, selling United tickets is a difficult enough proposition already, with the team's recent performance combined with competition from the Nationals for the local sports dollar) - imagine how much STH renewals would tank if word got out that a move was on, while the STH renewal window was still open.
why would they not be if the project were progressing? I'm going to try to use the standard generic tried-and-true argument against your conspiracy theory: Do you really think the FO is suddenly competent enough to pull that kind of thing off?
not to go all conspiracy theory about it, but yeah, I'm surprised we haven't seen the results of the study yet. Not just "United has decided not to trumpet the results" -- we haven't seen it anywhere. Did it not actually get released when scheduled?
My wording in that post left a lot to be desired. I guess, I am wondering wether they had this touch for finding the right talent and they lost it OR they used to work hard doing the necessary research to make sure who they were picking up was indeed a worthy talent and they are not doing it now. Reading my clarification confuses me even further! I need to stop drinking during lunch on a working day!
For a sport that's far more popular than soccer is. For the MLS examples you cite, contraction isn't moving a team. And the team isn't moving unless there's a stadium. And a stadium in Baltimore isn't happening unless they can pay for it. And paying for it won't happen without the state or city's involvement. And the state or city won't get involved without public discussion. All those NFL teams that moved all got new stadiums that were built in the boom times of the economy when local governments were relatively flush with cash. Times have changed.
You're both right! Times have changed and DCU has stood still. (which I really don't understand, with all that blazing speed we have)
We're definitely at RFK next season? I'm going to wait to renew my season tickets until the last minute (but WILL renew), provided I'll be going to RFK. Has that been stated anywhere by the team?
There is going to be some sort of college football game at RFK next year... its already been confirmed... the only way for that to happen is for DC United to remain a tennant and keep RFK open... we will be back for at least 1 more year.