Rapidsfan.com has been in touch with folks at the Anschutz Entertainment Group (owners of the Rapids) regarding the best method for fans to write to Kevin Payne, Director of Soccer Operations. They have asked that we collect correspondence and send it all at once. All Rapids fans are encouraged to write a letter to Payne regarding your opinion of the Rapids coaching and/or management. Whatever your opinion may be, good or bad, it is important that the fan community lets Kevin Payne and AEG know how the fans feel. This is an excellent opportunity to communicate your feelings along with many other fans in a singular setting. We recommend that letters not be limited to events of the past few weeks, but rather how you feel about the Rapids over the past year or more. Rapidsfan.com will not be editing your letter in any way, as we will not be reading any letters. We are simply re-distributing them to AEG as requested. Utmost privacy will be maintained in this matter; names, addresses and letter content will in no way be released to the public. Please include your real name with your letter. Listing address information (email or snail-mail) is optional, however we do recommend that you at least include your city and state. Please send your letters to: voice@rapidsfan.com If you would prefer to send your letter on your own and via snail mail: Kevin Payne Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Soccer Operations Anschutz Entertainment Group 1100 South Flower, 3rd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90015 Phone: (213) 742-7101 Fax: (213) 742-7291
Wait... you mean... no... we can have... *gasp* an opinion? a say? ...and someone will listen!? The heresy of it all...
Thank you for adding absolutely nothing to a topic that is of serious concern to many rapids fans. Folks, write what you like. But please do write, regardless of how you feel. It doesn't need to be an expert treatise; even just a few sentences can help make a difference. Spread the word, and please take this opportunity to share your comments with AEG.
As an observer - I would be interested to read some of those letters you write - if you wanted to post some here. We have our own issues here in Dallas and I would and it would be interesting to see what your issues are and what AEG response might be.
Sorry I wasn't more help with my other post. Are you hoping to entice a coaching change? A management change? It really is disappointing to read of the lackings of the Rapids. What you guys need is a Peter Wilt sort of GM, and a quality coach. Good luck with your letters, again sorry my attempt at humor wasn't appreciated. Please post some letters on here, it might provide inspiration for others to echo the sentiments.
There is no specific goal or agenda in asking fans to share their comments on the Rapids. The overall tone of how the fans feel should be dictated by the content of their letters. The purpose of this campaign is to provide AEG with a collection of honest opinions from true fans with regards to the team. It is to show that the fans do care how the team is run and coached, and specifically to provide an idea of how the fans feel about the current situation. This is why I'm asking all fans to write letters, to express their feelings about the team. One of the biggest complaints that I read on this board and that I hear from tailgates is that the fans claim the Rapids aren't interested in listening to the fans. Well here's a chance to make our voices heard. As for posting letters, perhaps we will do so once we receive and submit our batch. But until then, we (Rapdisfan.com) are not even reading the letters ourselves. If we do decide to share some letters, it will only be at the consent of those who write them in the first place -- and of course, these folks are welcome to post their letters to this forum if they decide to do so on their own. I'll be honest, the response so far has been less than hoped. Granted this call to action has only been out for a few days, but I've seen more than a few people making repeated posts on these boards in this same time, while not writing letters. It's time for fans to show some passion. Otherwise, it's just another argument in favor of the Rapids/AEG focusing primarily on efforts that will sell tickets, and nothing more. Speak up, folks!
I've already submitted my letter, but I'd be happy to post it if people would like to see it. I'll say this much, it's not particularly friendly to Hankinson or Counce.
Come on everybody. We need to send letters, good or bad. It doesn't have to be long or pointed at anyone, just your thoughts on the team. If we don't get a good response, we may never be heard again. Email all you friends.
I'm in. It's now in Greenie's hands. I am counting on that anonymity pledge, btw. Write those letters! You have nothing to lose but productivity and you probably hate your job anyway!
Anonymity, NO! As a former Chief of Medical Staff at a University Hospital I can assure you that ALL anonymous complaints are immediately deposited into the trash. If you desire to make your opinion heard, then stand by it. Write cogent, well though out letters or comments and sign them honestly. Only then may they resonate!
Re: Anonymity, NO! Don't you worry your fine mind about this. I put my name on it. No shirking my civic duty here. What I meant is that I am counting on Rapidsfan's posted pledge to forward my letter without reading it or posting its poetic, urgent, and impassioned plea for AEG to at least care a little about the on field product. Although Ingmar4Rapids has never been chief of any staff regardless of the level of prestige, or ever believed that the US health system gave one crap about patient welfare and kept even signed complaints, he wishes to keep his life of quiet desperation a private one from his fellow posters. I do believe that Greenie/Rapidsfan will honor this, I was just kidding around. And I do believe that doctors care somewhat for the health of insured patients; it keeps medical malpractice premiums down until they can get "tort reform" through the legislature.
Re: Re: Anonymity, NO! Your anti physician harange is self defining and unenlightened. Get control of yourself. My post was simply to inform you and others that anomyous complaints do not carry any weight whereas acknowledged ones are considered and addressed.
Lets not get off-topic here. I'd hate to see a good idea get lost in a debate over medical insurance processes.
Re: Re: Re: Anonymity, NO! Nowhere was it suggested that people send anonymous letters. If you read my initial post, you'll see I clearly state that people should sign their name. Rapidsfan.com also pledges utmost privacy of information with regards to these letters. Wel not be reading the letters nor releasing any information to the public about who wrote letters or who posted what opinion. The only suggestion of anonymity has been that after submission, should the authors wish their letters to be published on this forum (and/or Rapidsfan) they will be done so anonymously and only with prior, written permission. Finally, your simply being a member of the medical profession means nothing. There's a whole reason that new, stringent laws regarding HIPAA compliance exist -- and that's because the medical profession has been releasing private information about patients for years. So enough with the righteous pontification, OK?
I guess I jumped the gun on this topic by sending out my cogent, concise letter to Tim Leiweke about a week ago. The letter proposed a suggestion for Tim to pass along to his boss. It was the urgent need to replace to the current coach and/or the GM, if Dan Counce fails to act quickly before the rest of Rapid's 2003 season is lost, and more importantly, before another round of disgruntled player trades is initiated by management to cover the problems related to their current coach. I signed the email and I received the following quick reponse back from Tim on that same day............ "Thanks for the input. I will pass your thoughts on." What more can you expect?...adios
After watching our "sit back and hope for the best" style against LA, I think I will send a second letter to Kevin Payne. Everybody needs to send in something, good or bad. Greenie how are the responses looking?
Unfortunately, the response so far continues to be less than impressive. We currently have a total of 16 letters to send, including mine. I'll be blunt: it's pretty pathetic that many of you will spend hours every week complaining about the team -- specifically, Hankinson and/or Counce -- but won't take a few minutes o write a letter. We may not be reading the letters themselves, but we certainly are seeing who sends them in. And I know many of you have not yet done this. To repeat: this is not a letter-writing campaign with a specific goal. Fans should write letters simply to let Kevin Payne and AEG know how they feel. Good, bad, indifferent, whatever. It's hard to make an argument how the Rapids don't listen to the fans when in honesty, the fans aren't really saying that much to the Rapids. Making comments to BigSoccer or an email list don't count for much, even when you use your real name. I simply have trouble understanding how so many people can claim to be passionate about the team, yet won't take even a minimal amount of time out to express their opinions to someone who cares. We'll be sending in our batch of letters regardless of the numbers, but I sincerely hope that self-proclaimed "real fans" out there take this opportunity to make their voice heard.
Hey, if we're being given the chance to voice our opinions, we should take advantage of it. If the powers that be disregard us, it's their own d*** fault. Better to try to voice an opinion than to keep it to yourself. The latter accomplishes nothing!
It's worth pointing out that there are probably some who, like myself, had already contacted Payne/AEG directly prior to the rapidsfan.com letter collection (which is a good idea, btw). I suppose I could forward along another copy of what I sent, but I know they got it, so... why? The point is that it shouldn't be assumed that, if the current campaign yields N letters, then only N fans have made their opinions known. Certainly everyone who has an opinion on the way things are being run should take the opportunity to have their voice heard.