This is the part that really hurt, speaking only for myself: No, it's what you do at soccer games if your goal is to annoy the poo out of me. What? That is your goal? Oh, well then, carry on.
To follow up on this, there was almost ZERO advertising/marketing to general soccer fans. I never saw an ad for the game on Time-Warner Cable, the newspaper had its first ad, I think, on Sunday, etc. So while I see why some might be skeptical of Cary as a USL-1 market based on the demographics...there's a whole 'nother demographic that they can get if they want.
We all have fun in our own way. My way is to watch the match and ponder deep thoughts about its significance in my life. This guy's way is to PO Bootsy. Equally valid, I think.
Damn, where'd I put that platic horn ......... If you know what you're doing, the horns are excellent (see: Grillmaster, one each). However, they sell them to children who can't make or keep a tune. There was a bad one next to us for a while last year. We taught the kid to play on the drum beat, and all was well. I like the horns, but see where others can be annoyed. They should test your musical ability when you ask to buy one. If you can't blow it right, or can't keep up with a drum beat, the sale should be denied Imagine if they sold big bass drums to these un-talented, un-musical (is that like saying white?) people, would you want them to ban all drums?
I can imagine that they could be used to effect, by a group even; but I've never seen/heard it. Usually it's just this background drone that's always there, thousands of strangled G#'s constantly going, sometimes drowning out people who are trying to encourage, thus help, the team.
Jamil Walker is a Rochester native. He got hyped to hand it to his hometown club. People who complained about the jock rock and loud PA got a little taste of how the Rhino's ownership envision USL D1 soccer(...and maybe successful pro-soccer in the US? I hope not!!!). (There are many complaints and attempts by various fan groups and fans in Rochester to stop the PA.) The kids that they drew out with their families are the clientele who already spend money on soccer and would likely spend money on this form of "wholesome family entertainment". The Rhinos figure that diehard fans will come to soccer games no matter, so they cater hardcore to AverageJoe Sportsfan and his wife Soccermom and their 2-4 little kiddies. As much as I am often annoyed by the atmosphere they seem to create, I am intrigued how Rhinos management have found a way to generate interest in watching professional soccer in the one demographic every potential MLS city loves to hail but cannot recruit, youth soccer players.
yes, if all buyers where musical amputees. You know, the ones that can't hold a note, or carry a tune?
Don't take offense. My comment, which is what I'm guessing prompted your statement, was meant for the Metros' consumption. I'm very happy to see MLS teams play in places that don't have Div 1 soccer available. Anything to spread the love of the game is a good thing. Matt
Me and a friend (and his 8 yr old son) went to the game last night. We were blown away by the turnout. Much of the crowd though was kids, and unfortunately getting their parents to become regular fans of a USL team might be a little harder than getting them to come see Freddie Adu. Still, I'd love to see them put a USL team in SAS. It's a bit of a drive for me but I'd definitely come to a few games a year. Couple of gripes....they have got to lose the sound effects and canned music. It sounds ridiculous and it's annoying. The parking definitely needs work, though you have to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one...I don't think anyone could have predicted the number of folks that showed up last night. One more annoyance....why do announcers feel like they have to announce corner kicks throw-ins etc? Just announce the line-ups, subs, goals scorers and cards. Oh, and the biggest gripe about SAS...make sure when you buy tickets and let TicketMaster choose the 'Best Available' that they don't stick you in Row A Row A is the front row, which all in all wouldn't be too bad since it's raised high enough to see the field pretty well. BUT unfortunately the damn walkway is right in front of Row A, not lowered below all the seats like you would expect from any sane stadium design. So basically we spent the whole game trying to look around all the people who got stuck in traffic and wound up coming in late. Overall we had a great time, SAS is a nice little park for soccer. The game even wound up being very entertaining for an exhibition.
It's called "a job", not to mention a 35ish minute drive in somewhat dense traffic down I-40 from Durham. I didn't have any expectation of getting there by kickoff. I did expect to see more than 5 minutes of the first half. I go to the NHL matches all the time a few miles north of there and even on the worst days it doesn't take 45 minutes to move 3 blocks. You can't have a crowd of 8k, let alone the hoped for 15k, funneled through a single parking entrance.
Thanks, Matt. I mainly wanted to thump my chest with parochial pride over what happened here last night. "Play the game and they will come," was the feeling last night. And yes, the traffic was as bad as the closing scene in Field of Dreams. I knew your post was targeted at NY/NJ (I had earlier made the same reference), so I took no offense at all, and I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in loathing all things Metro.
Well, I was hoping after 10 years of abuse from us, that they'd be able to discern basic word shapes. Things like SUCK and LOSER Edit: Woohoo: 250 posts. Time to go back to work now...
As the comeblowus krew have found out, you've got to put an entertaining product on the field. Jock rock and annoying (to us) PA blabbermouths don't get the crowd to come back again and again. GM
I almost forgot... the PA announced consistantly called Jamil, Jamal. People around me got tired of me correcting him. There's only so many times you can yell, "It's Jamil, with an I, you idiot." without people being annoyed. I was interrupting their Adu-worship fest.
If you haven't read the newsobserver.com story yet about the little kids, read it. Funniest thing I've ever read. United is now apparently "Freddy and his friends". Almost as funny as the whole Caternica thread on Rivalries.
High school? At the N&O? In this economy? No way. Rising college junior, unlikely but possible. Rising college senior, more likely. Grad student, possible. Unless the N&O has some strange new program or has really fallen on hard times.
A local reported did some research last Saturday night at the Rhinos game as to the amount of PA noise involved in the "Rhinos Brand" of a soccer game. 56% of the game there was either music or ads running (46minutes). 1min 55 seconds of that PA noise was soccer related (goals, cards, subs, freakin' corner kicks and throwins). For people in the main stands, the fire works after the game had the lowest decibel level of any of the manufactured noises. read the whole article here: Rhino Droppings 7-13-2005