Took the kids to the postgame autograph session after the scum game, a little poor planning by United had the players arriving at different times and some showed up at 8 for an autograph session that was to run from 7:30-8:30, Freddy's line was longer than most but not too bad if he would have gotten there closer to the start. As I took some snapshots of my kid and some of the neighbors there wasn't a whole lot of communication from Freddy to any of the kids, even checked his cell at one point to see who was calling him, got his and Esky's signature and on the way out the three kids stopped at Moreno's table, he signed all of their shirts and invited them around the table to get a picture with them, a little small talk and we were off......Couldn't help but notice the difference between the rookie's approach and the seasoned vet. One has to think that all of the attention is getting old for Freddy, I mean when he walked in the crowd chanted the typical "Freddy..Freddy" when the other guys came in they got a short burst of claps, considering the game had by Esky and Moreno you would hope for more.... All and all a good autograph session for youth fan club members as they were able to get all of the players.
Well, because I don't have kids (and thankfully so) I have been to several United post-game events and fundraisers this year. Several of the guys on the team have GREAT personalities and definitely show their appreciation for the fans. Petke, Thiago, Namoff, Moreno to name a few. But you'd be surprised how even some of our more seasoned players can be the same way. (They shall remain nameless...) But for Freddy, well these kids are the product of the media hype. They have definitely found the one player they can relate to most. I don't doubt that Freddy may be getting a little tired of the hype and probably would just like to concentrate on his game for a while. Given he only came in at the 82nd minute during Saturday's match and his recent comments in the press, he could be just a tad frustrated. Don't get me started on cell phones. I too think its pretty rude when you are having that type of event and the players are a little more worried about their date for that night. Glad to hear the kids all had a good time and got some autographs.
i dont think it can be overstated how lucky we are as a country to have the type of access to these players that we get and more specifically to our beloved DCU players who not only sign autographs after games, but even sit down and have drinks with at some of the post-game parties. we have a group of very down-to-earth, "real" and accessible players. that helps us adore them just s little bit more, i think... on the topic of the thread, it really is no surprise about Freddy's reaction. as DCU16SK52 mentioned, he probably wasn't happy about his playing time on top of everything from this this week, and he has been the focus of ALOT of attention which i'm sure he would like a break from. we all tend to forget that he is just 15 yrs old (or 37 depending on who you talk to ). up to this point he has had the world handed to him on a silver platter and things are now going thru a rough stretch. jaime and others like him have been there, done that. definitely a good thing for the kids (as well as the parents )
I couldn't agree more! Try going to the leagues in Europe or SA and try to have that kind of access to the players. GOOD LUCK! We are very fortunate that this league hasn't got the big egos like the NBA, MLB, etc. Let's hope that soccer maintains its more lowkey, personable approach. And yes, for those of us where it legal to have drinks with the players it's an added bonus. Even the players that don't drink show up and chat with the fans, discuss the game, etc. We are a very lucky fan base to have a team who definitely believes in community and fan outreach. I think everyone would like to see them do more outreach and keep the truly UNITED spirit.
My 2 kids went to every player. Freddy's line was the longest and he just signed autographs like it is getting (already is) old. As everybody else here has said, he's 15 and part of a PR push and doesn't know how to handle it yet. EVERY other player was downright charming to my kids. I was highly impressed with their attitudes (although I'd have been in a great mood after a 6-2 thrashing, too.) I told Troy Perkins that my kids wanted me to go to Galyans last week to get his autograph, but they were very happy that he got a new contract so they didn't have to. He had a good laugh with them and was very nice. Moreno, Dema, Esky, Earnie, Perkins, and Gros were especially good to the kids that I saw (3 seasoned vets and 3 young bucks enjoying the attention). Like I said, all were very good to the kids.
Agreed. I took my daughters as well as two newcomers and everyone had a GREAT time. Everyone was in great spirits after the AWESOME victory over the Metros. Ben & Jaime even shook my hand after I congratulated them on their GREAT game.
Let's pile on Freddy some more. Players arrived upstairs after they showered, changed, and probably did interviews downstairs. Freddy's line was at least twice as long as anyone elses. They surely told him to sign quickly to get as many people through his line as possible. We just skipped his line and got everyone else's autograph. The only bad thing to me was you had to wait in Freddy's line to get Alecko also so we missed him. No big deal but I think it is worng to blame Freddy for going quickly when he had tha tline stretching forever.
I hear ya: December 1998 at El Corte Ingles in Madrid my friend, her son and I waited in line three hours to get Raul's pic and autograph. It was an absolute mad house at this mall. Normally at the sight of this I would have just bagged it but we had a nine year old with us. We were able to spend about a minute with Raul which was enough to get two autographed pics and a couple snap shots of him with Miguel, my friend's nine year old son. It's cool United lets the players be accessable enough to talk to at various events or even play golf with (United for DC charity event)