New-ish Crew Ownership/FO Thread

Probably #1 in terms of sports scheduling at HCS

 

Honestly, I had zero issue with the winter world cup. I hate to agree with that stooge Infantino, but I kinda do here. I don't like that it'll be in Saudi Arabia, but moving it every once in a while is ok. Let's be honest, the WC here is gonna be hot as shit. Would be better to have it in April or October here as well.

 

I've resigned myself that I'm probably never going to have season tickets again, since they seem to be trying to price it like it is some sort of elite event... which, quite frankly, it isn't. Match igniter? Whoopty ********ing shit. OOOH, FIREWORKS ARE SUPPOSED TO EXCITE ME STILL AFTER 50 YEARS ON THE ********ING PLANET, GIVE ME A ********ING BREAK. And more overpriced concessions all still made by generic workerbees from the same company plugged in at various locations... There is nothing elite at all there. It is a game. Nothing more, nothing less. And it isn't fun if the team doesn't win. Oh, boy, the scoreboard goes VOOOM STOMP YOUR FEET YELL MAKE NOISE BOOOM BOOOM LOUD RAWR. How typical and if that impresses you enough to spend out of your ass, well, then you're a sucker who is soon parted with your money anyway. Typical "spectacle is more important than the match" shittakes from LaMacchia I see. Yet another sports group running the team into the ground. I don't know why I even ********ing bother at this point. Just call me Eboeeyore.

 

Arace throwing body blows: Happy anniversary, #SaveTheCrew

"The talk Sunday, seven years removed from Saved Day, had a touch of bittersweetness to it. At this point there is, as one toastmaster put it, some "savers' remorse" among the old #STC guard. They blocked one billionaire, whiny punk Anthony Precourt, from moving the team to Texas – and wound up with multi-billionaire owners, Dee and Jimmy Haslam's Tennessee gang. And the Tennessee gang, it seems, won't be happy until folks with $6,000 season tickets pay an extra $1,000 for any infant in a baby seat, and another $500 if unauthorized bottles of formula are smuggled in the diaper bag. Do the Haslams do that? Of course they don't – and I hate that I just gave them another idea."

 

Note to self -- subscribe to Arace. I think his Haslam comment is a little bit much, but he is spot on talking about the day when the Precourt hit the fan.

Has anyone read Accidental Heroes? Does it do a solid job of presenting the saga, or is it focused on the soft, individual contributions of feelings and emotions?

 

I own a copy, but I haven't read it yet.

 

I have to question someone who is going into business with that Morgan chick.

 

Anyone who thinks the team staying is bad, or it's cheapened by being owned by the Haslams, there is only one thing to say:

you are allowed to stop being a fan. If you don't want to support the team anymore, for whatever reason, that is your prerogative. But to act like the club leaving and being replaced by nothing, or a third division team, would be better... that's just insane.

 

I don't think I've ever heard a serious and sane person say that.

 

No, but to chorg down on Jimmy or whatever Sweet Dee is packing without question is just as asinine. It is well documented here that people are rightfully pissed.

Arace takes it a step further. You took Arace's words a step further yet. Arace bleeds Black and Gold. At no point, other than throwing out narrative twists or other types of red herrings would he ever say that staying was bad.

 

1) I'm plenty ticked that I didn't come up with "the Precourt hits the fan", but it's an instant classic.

(Precourt as a "whiny punk" is good but @Sirk likes my "contemptible swine" phrase, so no extra credit)

2) It's difficult to parse "savers remorse" as anything other an unambiguously negative comment on the Crew staying in Columbus, since said "remorse" is a reference to some level of regret as to the outcome. Point to @Kyle Crew

If some guy wants to coin the phrase, which is at best inartful, to summarize his feelings, fine. But Arace quotes it approvingly. It's a little like when someone is caught retweeting a boneheaded X post and tries to back out by saying "I didn't write it". No, you didn't, but a retweet is an unambiguous endorsement, (and that's the second time I've shamelessly used "unambiguous" in this post)

3) No, those Compton Construction bumblebee jerseys will never be collectors items, no matter how much I like Blake (which is a great deal indeed). It would be nice (I myself having one in my collection) but I have a closet full of Crew jerseys going back 30 years that altogether on a good day wouldn't sell for a small bag of diddly squat).

4) There's no question that Arace implies that "we just traded one soulless billionaire for another" but pulls his punch at the last second, and I have to object.

First of all, every major league sports team in the country is owned by a multi billionaire.

In point of fact, it's highly doubtful whether the contemptible swine was actually in that category when he bought the Crew. He was very possibly the last MLS owner to be short of that mark. He bought the Crew using other people's money.

(That deficit has since been corrected, largely thanks to Don Garber, who cleverly arranged for him to trade a $65 million investment fund investment in a soccer team in Columbus into a team in Austin that he could sell tomorrow for $750 million.

I hope he sent Don a Thank You note. If he had any class he would have sent it with candy and a stripper, but he's way too cheap.

5) Finally, he does in fact have a point as far as Haslam Sports Inc. gouging the public to an unconscionable extent, but using absurd imaginary examples is cheesy journalism and he knows better. His point would be better made using real world cites of the way the prices have been juiced over the last five years but he dropped the ball and went with smuggled baby formula instead.

 

I'm certainly not going to sit here and say the Haslams are amazing. There was enough nuthugging with Precourt (before things went sour) that billionaire fanboyism needs to die and people need to think more critically.

Haslams seem like goobers, I hate the rebrand, the game in Cleveland, price hikes, and more... but to say there is "savers remorse" is just silly from Arace. Like you said, it has a negative connotation to it. It implies saving the team was a mistake, which it 100% was not.

If Arace has specific issues with the Haslams, just say it, don't come out with a stupid quote and then make a hamfisted analogy.

Something I tell people all the time: just say what you mean.

 

Arace's default writing style is overzealous and hyperbolic appeals to Crew fans' id. There's never any data and usually minimal substance. It's just a lot of vibes and fan service. Most of his articles could be mistaken for the ramblings of the average poster on here. I appreciate his passion and will be forever grateful for his efforts to shine a light on Fat Tony's nefarious actions during that saga. But fundamentally, I've never been a big fan of his writing. I'd compare it to the surface-level recruiting analysis you get from staff members on Bucknuts.com whenever Ohio State gets a player to commit.

 

The section I bolded sounds a lot like Modell

 

If anyone has a right to "savers remorse", it's Browns fans - and most of us still don't regret getting the name and colors back

 

There's a place for his kind of writing, it's just important to remember his style when reading his stuff.

Also, Bucknuts is still a thing?

 

We can fully agree on this.

 

You're also allowed to still be a fan of the team and think that the current stewards are not ideal. At least you are in my book, but we all know that your status as (c)Realest Crew Fan means that only your opinion counts in such situation, oh Crew Boss Kylie.

 

Arace is a columnist, not a reporter. His job is to give his opinion on how he sees things. And that means that not everyone is going to see eye to eye with everything he says, and that's fine. But his passion for things shines through and I've always appreciated how he writes, and he usually includes a lot of his own experiences that are quite valid, and he doesn't shy away from facts either. To compare him to some sort of shitty bucknuts writer is ********ing laughable. Probably the worst take I've ever seen from you, TBH. That's the kind of bullshit I expect from Kyle. This is really trash level bullshit from many of you considering that he's leaving the paper soon. He's been the only reliable voice on Crew coverage over the years, tying it all together, and he probably has been invaluable to all the newbies who get the Crew beat every couple of years. Now they won't have that resource. And the coverage will be just that little bit worse for it.

 

They can’t all be writing for the New York Times now can they? I like Arace because he writes about my team. There are very few who do. That’s worth $5 a month in my book.

 

And you all have had a tough time of it. My brother was commenting on how bad a two weeks it's been for an eastern PA sports fan--and it has been (Phillies, Eagles, PSU losses--and the Flyers are terrible). But, I noted, at least we are not Browns fans. That's a much more difficult thing to be (the passions are similar).

 

This is changing to media coverage, so I am going to add this. It is difficult to be a Journalist when it comes to MLS, with increasing limitations/restrictions to access https://www.patreon.com/posts/reporters-letter-141166212