Official DM Menace 2008 Thread - [R]

i agree with regan about this. i go to drake the other day i drove by the stadium and asked myself why dont the menace play there. its got way more the soccer atmosphere than valley and was just redone not too long ago i think. ive been to some football stadiums in england and it actually reminds be a little of that. the down side is its fake grass like valley. we may not be able to buy beer in the stadium but we would at least be able to hold an official tailgate and actually have real pregame festivities. i dont know much about krause but i would like to think he thought about it but east high school plays there i think if they can afford it, the menace should be able to too.
something else i thought of is why not principal park? i am pretty sure i read somewhere that the cubs do not own the stadium but the city of des moines does. if thats the case, it should definately be our temporary home. the park itself is absolutely amazing and its real grass. it works for the portland timbers and hell, even the wizards play in like a AA baseball stadium. the grounds crew seems solid and would probably except the work. its not ideal for soccer but its sure as hell better than valley and WE ADULTS COULD BUY BEER!
i know the league fee is pricey but hopefully the stadium wouldn't be if it is owned by Des Moines. if they would be unwilling to make a deal with the menace than i dont want to hear them complain about the brain drain leaving iowa and i would demand my tax money back that they have wasted on painting the damn bridges white!
i dont see how they couldn't make money in the long run. right now as a PDL team we draw more than alot of USL2 teams and even some USL1 teams. plus i have alot of friends around the city and state that love soccer but arent high on the PDL but if we were USL1, theyd be season ticket holders. i dont nessecerily agree with them but i do see their point. more would come from around iowa and also neb or even missouri. the reason the bucs are fun is because of the atmosphere and central location, and the USHL i think is comparible to the PDL. sell beer and our attendence would probably double in a year or two if we were USL1 and had a decent stadium.
im willing to do whatever it takes as a fan to help persuade who ever i need to. if i gotta go door to door with a petition, i will. if i gotta write angry letters to someone, i will. i want this bad and i cant afford to drive to chicago or KC much.
i must of had too much coffee this morning, im wordy. sorry.

 

you must have too much coffee, no one agrees with me

never thought about principal park. that wouldn't be a bad place either, although it isn't set up for football at all. where can you buy beer at?

now that i think about it, i'ma going to write krause and be like "yo, go to drake or principal for usl1, 'fo. you sell enough crap at kum and go, you can afford it."

 

i meant at principal park there are beer venders. im with ya, lets pull a shawshank redemption on his ass and write him everyday until he brings us a USL club!

 

problem is i can't find his personal work email.

i know it should be k (missing letter, his middle initial) k@kumandgo.com

the rest of the people that have an email there are just their initials. i sent an email to info@menacesoccer, asking for it go get forwarded to him. *fingers crossed*

 

I dont know...If I had a bottomless pocket, I would build a new Stadium at the corner of NE 14 & I35/80. Where the old drive-in use to be back in its day. Right across the street to the west from the QT. Its nothing but a huge plot of ground. More than enuf room for parking, and even enuf room for a few training fields as well. However, if he moved the venue to Drake Stadium, I dont think alot of the 'West Siders' would come. Build it at the NE14 site,then more Ankeny and Johnston fans would come. I just dont see 'West Siders' coming over to Drake or the North side of DSM.

Could you see a new Stadium all lit up along a major interstate (I-35/80). How cool would that be.

Build it, and they will come!!

 

Aren't they building a prison nearby? That might make for an odd skyline seeing the guard towers over the stands. That would be a convenient place to put a stadium though.

BTW Microsoft is coming to the Des Moines area. Maybe they can pitch in a couple bucks to make it happen and the team could be a farm club for the MLS team they are associated with (via jersey sponsorship).

 

Good point. The MLS Sounders are partially owned by a Microsoft guy too. Maybe getting them to pitch in would be a sweet deal. All they have to do is look around and see all of the local fat kids to realize puts XBox ads on a DM USL1 jersey would be a good investment...

 

Principal Park is a ridiculous idea. The Wizards are only in the CAB because it's their only option. Trust me, it's not a very good set up to see a game in. As I said earlier, I don't think there's a good seat in the house at Drake. However, I do see how it would have a pretty good atmosphere, and I'm sure that we could strike an agreement with DU to allow us to sell alcohol. I would still make the trip to go to games if they were there, but I'm not sure how many people still would. BTW, East doesn't play there, Roosevelt does, East actually has their own stadium that they now share with Grand View. Personally, it's either go USL and build our own stadium or stay PDL and find a way to move back to McGrane Stadium. From what I hear, that was better than any venue I've watched the Menace in.

 

damn don't be such a downer. ive been to CAB and it does suck but its temporary and that was my point. DU wouldnt be able to sell alcohol but we would probably be able to tailgate because its a college, not a high school. McGrane had an atmosphere only because people showed up, for which location helped. the pitch sucked. it was patchy, crowned, and way too narrow. my point is get a USL1 team and a temporary home and build from there. i just think financially that makes the most sense. i would pick mcgrane over valley though.

 

i'm not being a downer, simply a realist. I doubt the city would want us in Principal either. The work that would have to be done on the field for I-Cubs and Menace games would be awful. The grounds crew struggles just with taking on the High School Tournament for a week. Drake would be a better temporary venue if we ever needed one.

 

Exactly. Drake would be a great temporary venue until a SSS could be built. Tailgating could happen, which would bring a few more fans out by itself.

 

Polk Co is building or has built the new jail closer to the new DOT station up off I-35 closer to Ankeny. You mean you havent been there to bond out buddy??

Hoover was nice, sucked for players, Valley is nice for the players, sucks for us being so far away from the action. Move to Drake, west siders wont come (or as much). Move to USL-1, and then the boss will have to spend money for players, berthing etc..cost will almost triple. mmmmm?

Build a SSS at NE14/I-35/80, and watch the fans come. If you do it right, the Menace Youth academy can move there as well, and chances are, you would take most of the Ankeny players from their club (if you want to call it a club). Heck, if the boss really wanted to do it right, build a all sports indoor place as well, including a full size indoor field, this will be a money maker.

 

i still vote drake cuz its way closer to my house and my girlfriend wont complain as much when she has to come pick me up after the game because i had too much soda pop.

is there a reason why west-siders wouldn't come to the game if it was in drakeville?

 

my only thinking would be that it isn't *right* off the interstate. but, when you think about it, when drake bball is doing awesome, knapp sells out, and a lot of those fair weather fans are west siders. they'll go to the game if they want to. a lot of valley fans are also from waukee, they have a hard way to get from waukee stadium to valley. go down to hickman than interstate, than off. someone from wdm would go to interstate, to 31st street. if dsm usl would promote themselves in wdm, waukee, and ankeny, they'd draw a lot of those former menace fans in. not all, but a lot. at ne14th, that's a freaking LONG drive for anyone who is a south/west/central sider. anyone who isn't from ankey, or 35/80 close proximity, wont come. i wouldn't, and i live on the west side of des moines. i'm two minutes from 235, but the fact that i got to go all the way around town to get there, i wont go. drake is relatively in the center of the city, and even closer to west side, so they don't have to travel as far.

 

Why the talk of needing a different place to play. We tailgated at Valley with no problem

 

its cutting out thousands of mexican fans. pitch is fake. stands too far away. although the pitch sucked at hoover, i enjoyed that place a lot more, because it caught on with the lations, and they showed up in force.

 

Honestly, I was at Hoover for years. I didn't see a lot of the Latinos there that you recall except when we brought in Latino teams and some of their fans were complete jackasses. If they were showing up for other matches they weren't adding to any atmosphere.

I don't think that had to do with being in the Hoover area, as far as I know it is not much of a latino area either.

One thing we do know is historically much of the fan base is west siders. We need to stay closer to that area.

Do I like the fake field? No. But I do like the new Red Army members that have appeared this year at Valley and our behind the net location. And next to team performance, that is number one to me.

 

my pool of thought that if its our stadium that is keeping us out of the higher ranks of the usl then i move for a change of venue and i think drake would fit our needs best. its not ideal but i think its an improvement. hell, cleveland city plays on a baseball field and doesnt even cover the dirt so compared to that, fake pitch doesn't bother me.

imo building a stadium for a pdl team in hopes of it going usl is a huge mistake. hold off on building when we have exsisting stadiums that would work fine and spend the saved money on players, promo, etc. until the fan base grows. then once we pull 6-7k, build the best damn SSS the midwest has ever seen. its fairly rare for an mls team to have a SSS let alone a usl team. i agree with CD that the product on the pitch is priority number one, so i dont think the esthetics of a stadium are all that important right now.

as for the tailgating, it sucks having to pour beer into plastic cups. (which turns into almost all head for some reason...?) if it wasnt at a high school, especially a WDSM high school, we could hold official tailgates and not have to worry about a security guard on a golf cart coming to shut us down. plus im uncertain but if it is at drake but not a drake event, we might be able to buy beer there.

now as much as i talk about it, beer really isnt a big deal to me. but if we wanted the dsm menace to be the thing to do on the weekends during the hockey off-season, alcohol is gunna have to be sold. what is a big deal to me is that we have the market to be an underground soccer city but were just gunna sit on our hands.

 

unfortunately that's what 95% of the people do, unless they score. even then, not a lot of standing/cheering.

 

I just moved to Des Moines. Where do people go to watch soccer around here? MLS in particular?

 

Welcome to Des Moines!

I hate to say it, but it's difficult to follow MLS here. KC is our closest team, but they're 2 and a half hours away. I am a season ticket holder for the Wiz but find it hard to make the trip because not enough people can go with me, or even want to go with me.

However, we do have an unusually large following for our PDL Menace. Sadly that season doesn't even last a full 3 months and we have to play in a high school stadium. Although, I suggest that when next summer comes around that you give it a chance. Us Iowans love to follow our lower level teams as well as our obsure sport athletes(Shawn Johnson, Lolo Jones, endless list of wrestlers, etc.)

 

yeah there isn't really a pub in this town that favors football (the good kind). although, thanks for the idea. this town does need a pub like that

 

Normally I say my house cuz I'm cheap so I don't go to bars much and I watch most untelevised chicago matches on my comp but as a crew supporter you probably don't care much about that.
I'd say go to limey's pub. As far as I know, they have fsc and sentana but for some reason man u fans breed like mesquitos there. so I'd avoid it sat or sun mornings unless you want to hear idiotic conversations about who's hair is a better summer doo, nani's or ronaldo's.
Welcome to des moines. Its not as bad as you think so long as you avoid the state fair.

 

Hey don't diss the fair completely. The food there kicks ass and is worth at least part of a day there doing some people watching/laughing.

 

Agreed. The Fair is great for playing the "punch mullet" game. Similar to "punch buggy", but instead of a VW Bug, you get to punch your friend in the arm every time you see a new mullet. 2 if it's on a woman.

I also like to practice my pick pocket skills. There are tons of easy marks with giant wallets hanging out of back pockets with tons of cash and you can easily outrun them if you are caught. (Pssst... don't tell the cops or the pros. It will ruin it for us amateurs!)

My friend owns a t-shirt shop and made a shirt with this on it:
I went to the Iowa State Fair and all I got was Type 2 diabetes!
That pretty much sums it up.

Back to Des Moines sports.
Drake has a competitive soccer team and plays at Cownie Soccer Complex SE of downtown.
The Des Moines Buccaneers Hockey team is very entertaining and has a very loyal following. HS age kids, but they don't play that way. They are some of the best in the country and regularly get drafted straight to the NHL. The league also allows fighting unlike college and some other national youth leagues.
The Iowa Cubs are fun to go to when you just want to hang out. The stadium is a great place to watch baseball if you like that pansy sport.
I've never gotten into the baby NHL and NBA teams.
There is also an Arena Football team that is fun to see if you like to watch car wrecks, drink beer and get goofy.

Welcome to Des Moines.