This is shocking and hard for me to accept. There wasn't a single Crew fan that went to bed last night expecting to wake up a lottery winner?
I have started a special savings/investment account for just such a purpose (seriously). I only have $510.28 but it'll grow and one day I will turn this team around. That is my promise to you. Back on topic. Why would we have won the lotter?
Enough suspense, I'm sure you lot are dying for the punchline.... If you guys didn't go to bed last night expecting to be a lottery winner when you woke up, then how the f*ck can you expect Columbus Crew to even sniff the playoffs? This team was awful last year, Crew lose players in the offseason; magically we're better. We need players...You're right, absolutely right, we stand a chance at getting a European player. Now you're really laughing. Mark William, Ian Woan, and Rzepa. Those ring a bell? All of a sudden, with a waive of the wand and poof, McCullers is the executive of the year, and Sigi is Arsene. None of this is likely. Any of it. It's as likely as you going to sleep at night, and then finding a fat pile of lotto money under your mattress. Which begs the question, are any of you ready to demo yet?
I think there is room to hope. I am discouraged by the off season lack of signings but the team is not awful. Carroll will help in the midfield, schelloto is back. If Gaven keeps the form he had at the end of the year and Rogers develops along side Moreno as expected I don't think the playoffs are out of the question. Maybe being a season ticket holder forces me to be optomistic, that could be true.
Honestly, Zak, why do you care? I think the last positive comment you made about this team was when you were clamoring for your Funk Soul Brothers strike partnership of Jeff Cunningham and Edson Buddle. You've publicly quit this team more than once, and your posts always seem more interested in predicting doom-and-gloom, trying to say "I told you so," and essentially banging on anyone who doesn't agree with your thinking 100% about the team.
I don't think anyone can question that up to this point this has been one of the most disappointing off seasons in the history of the Columbus Crew. And when you add that to the fact that it's following two seasons of high-promises and low-production I'm not sure what there is to be happy about either. Sure our young talent may improve, but every other team is also improving whether by addition or natural improvement. They say the key to happiness is low expectations. I am going to try that on for size.
You can't argue with him though: As of today, we're a team that didn't make the play-offs (and never looked like it), minus its best defender.
You're absolutely right, the next I told you so moment being the firing of McCullers and Sigi; just as I was right about Andrulis months if not years before everyone else. Yet here we are again, Zak up in arms demanding that something be done to force Sigi and McCullers out, and it's the same cast of characters there was then, asking for time. Literally to the person. Quit this team, sure, quit paying to watch them play. Is that not somehow appropriate? Everyday you retain McCullers and Sigi, is everyday you come closer to not having a team in Columbus. I hear people talk about how they can't wait for a Junior system to replace our ineffective and incompetent drafting. Pal, you'll not have to worry about that. By the time MLS gets around to that it'll be the Philly Crew or something of the sort. A failure this year is lights out for Crew. Do you think the families that Crew covet so greatly aren't going to start spending their money on Clippers baseball next summer instead of Crew pretty much lock step? You may not like it, you may not be able to admit it to yourself, but it doesn't make it any less likely. The Zurawski failure, not debacle, is just another in a long line of failures that should be condemming, but are rather just like another page in the book of passes that are handed out to these guys. I went on record in another forum that had that deal gotten done I would've gotten season tix again; it showed at least some modicum of competence from our staff at least. I should've known better. The time is now to start thinking about how fans effectively get rid of McCullers and Sigi.
i havent watched wheel of fortune or jeopardy recently, but i thought that the lottery was only on wednesdays and saturdays
Zac, I hear what you're saying here. In fact, I fear the same things that you seem to say are desinted to happen. My issue is this, however. By all accounts this is the most pessimistic MLS-related board on BigSoccer. So who, exactly, is delusional?? We have almost all been banging on the failure of the FO since even before the Zurawski "failure." It's ugly around here.
Zak was surely right that heading into 2005, the Crew looked to be in bad shape. Lo and behold, it was the worst season in franchise history, until 2006.
Actually.. i did win the lotto... the last drawing in Mi .. I play with all of my crew (no pun intended) on second and third shift... I think we each won $5.15... of course we just rolled that into the next drawing.... I think that's tonight.. I'll let you all know how I do... As for the real reason why Zak posted - I hear ya'. You sound like my dad. He's been on that soap box since before McBride left. I think he basically built the soap box. BUT - he's still a fan. Zak is right. We do suk and we're not getting better. Here's the thing, I can't quit the club because our FO sucks. I mean, are we supposed to push the club out of town and then really hope the MLS awards us another franchise? I think not. Write some letters to the editor (or Mr. Mitchell). Call the local sports talk shows and complain. But if you push the club out of town because we suk, well then it all becomes a self fulfilling prophecy... “We'll stop coming to the games and really show the FO”... and then act shocked with the team leaves........ I'm going to make a few home games this year (like I always do) and I'll go to Chicago (like I always do)..... Being a Crew fan is cool because we suk.. not in spite of it.. like being from the D. get on board with it already... and hey, if it's not for you - there's the door... I'd rather lose Zak than the club (no hard feelings Zak, I’m sure your normally a pretty positive person).
He was right. Unfortunately for us he was right then and he's right now. We need to make some signings.
As everyone knows, I have real issues with the stage deal, and I honestly believe it is a gruesome mistake, but I have no intention of listening to a bunch of crap about it all, so screw that. That issue aside, the problem with the Crew is Sigmund J. Lardass. When he was hired, part of the deal was that he and he alone would have complete and total control over personnel. Period. Fatty was even a bit snotty about it, I thought. But he wanted the responsibility, and he got it. So it's really pretty freakin ridiculous to blame McCullers for the fat that the team is stinking up the league. Hell, did anybody notice who it was who flew to Dallas to sell HSG on signing that Polish shithead? In case you missed it, it was Sigmund. No word on how many seats they had to buy to shoehorn his fat ass onto a plane, or whether they just went ahead and leased a C-17 for the trip, but McCullers wasn't on board. The on-field product is Sigmund's baby, and his alone. And the biggest, maybe only, problem this team has - or had until they started in butchering the building - is that the team is the league laughing stock. And that's Fatty's fault, and no one else's.
Wow, and I thought I was a "Debbie Downer." The whole "FO Sucks" feeling is pretty common in most support bases amongst all major sports, so it's kind of tired at this point. The facts are: We haven't been able to land anything significant in the international market, which is extremely frustrating. Our scoring (at this point) is either going to consist of inconsistant players from last season, or draft picks (which is like playing the lottery - so I hope we do win!). Our defense really hasn't been great for some time, so having to possibly rely on a rookie is worrisome. However, we also have arguably the best stock of young talent in the league. Just need to get them on the field more. We also have four young international "Discovery" guys joining camp which shows that the staff is doing some homework. (As long as they make the team, one or two of them crack the starting line-up and one is an impact player). Through the research that has been done by folks on these boards, this sounds like its actually a possibility. GBS is back, and a few of the guys really started to come along in the latter part of last season. So, there are some reasons to have some hope. Granted, a quality international signing would help lift everyone's spirits. But come on, deep down we all know this will not happen. (At least not quality) Lets face it. We have never been a dominant power in this league (no, Supporters Shield does not equal dominant). Thats part of being a Crew fan. We always have an uphill battle against the league and on the pitch. Like Brutus said, get on board.
So Zak, you want Sigi and McCullers out, with whom do you want to replace them? We got, almost undeniably, the best available coach out there when we hired Schmid. What, you really think Warzycha would have us in a better place right now? Sigi was the right hire, and the team has gotten better every year he's been at the club. That's hardly grounds for a termination. Now of course the improvement isn't as quick as any of us would like, but it is improvement. I would love to hear your suggestions as to who should be the Crew's coach in place of Schmid. Is there somebody out there who has proven they can take a troubled MLS team and turn them around in one season? Well, I guess there's Bob Bradley, but I've heard he's busy with other things now. Anybody else? Unless you can convince me there is, I'll continue to believe Sigi is the man for this team.
Zak, the team won the lottery last year-Robbie Rogers. Sigi could have traded him immediately and he was smart enough not to.