Ready the cannons... 'cause the Post's Marc Fisher says we don't get a say in the stadium process. http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/03/r_metro_fisher020603.htm Scroll down a ways for a poster 'From a distance' and then fire away (gently, please, because I know the guy well and he means no harm) at marcfisher@washpost.com.
From a distance: Marc, So off we go looking for a baseball stadium. And while I desperately want one in my dear hometown, I do have to ask if anyone realizes that RFK does have two summer tenants right now (DC United and the Washington Freedom) who ought to have a say in the proceedings but currently have none? Marc Fisher: Not to rile up my friends in the soccer world again, but surely you jest. To reserve a stadium that was built for baseball on behalf of a couple of teams that draw pathetically small crowds for a sport that will never make it as a commercial venture in this country is just silly. If we land a baseball franchise, those soccer teams can go play on those nice new youth fields in Gaithersburg and all 29 of their fans will be happy. Think we can find at least 30 of us to disagree????
-------------------------------------- From a distance: Marc, So off we go looking for a baseball stadium. And while I desperately want one in my dear hometown, I do have to ask if anyone realizes that RFK does have two summer tenants right now (DC United and the Washington Freedom) who ought to have a say in the proceedings but currently have none? Marc Fisher: Not to rile up my friends in the soccer world again, but surely you jest. To reserve a stadium that was built for baseball on behalf of a couple of teams that draw pathetically small crowds for a sport that will never make it as a commercial venture in this country is just silly. If we land a baseball franchise, those soccer teams can go play on those nice new youth fields in Gaithersburg and all 29 of their fans will be happy. ---------------------------------------- That little Prick. Don't make all 29 of us come down that and kick your arse. TS.
Can someone please provide Mr. Fisher with the stats on our average attendences vis a vis those of the Caps and Wiz (pre-Jordan). Oh wait, I found some... DC United 2001 21,518 Washington Caps 01-02 17,341 DC United 2002 16,519 Washington Caps 02-03 (so far) 15,440 Pre-Jordan, the Wizards highest average attendance was 17,252. I think I'll email Mr. Fisher now.
Already done. Somebody else send him dcunitedstadium.com. I will be mildly selfish here and say that I asked the question. And honestly, I am a bit surprised the Post.com chat mods took the bait of a question he knew would cause him nothing but grief.
He's not that stupid. You might recall that he wrote a particularly nasty column during the World Cup about the future of soccer, and the responses he got caused him to change his tune, at least a bit. He's also a very nice guy and rallies for a lot of very noble causes, so I'm not going to hold this against him above all else.
Who is this joker anyway? Has he written anything previously on the stadium/baseball issue, or is he just a guy with an opinion who happens to be a Post writer? Either way, I have a hard time believing he really believes what he wrote. I would hope that no one could be so moronic as to actually type that without some other agenda (like encouraging a bunch of replies or support e-mails, or just getting on the good side of all of the pro-baseball people). Hmmmm... I think I'm going to spend the weekend authoring a few things for the website.....
He's a columnnist for the Metro section who has written on the subject before. He also wrote an anti-soccer column during the WC and was swayed more towards the middle after the responses he got. So it's not like this guy's opinion is totally set in stone. He's pro-anything that makes the District better. But he is generally pro-baseball above other sports.
Is there any way to show this thread in all the MLS team forums. He's not only crapping on DCU but all teams and the league in general as well. Fans league wide need to make Marc aware of their opinions!
Actually I find him to be a rather dull columnist that specifically targets things he doesn't like, while declaring with the hubris of a long-time writer that his opinion is akin to the Gospel. I stopped reading his column after the anti-soccer diatribe that reminded me of a well constructed drunken rant of a nature of "things that I want to declare as sucky." But that was really just the last straw because I got tired of his other pieces that have as much logic to them as "2 + 2 equals 5,403 because I said it does". There are plenty of other columnists out there that actually do a good job to waste effort attempting to read Fisher's work. Now, that I've written this, I regret have wasted this much time on him!
How's the District going to look better after some Northern Virginia group uses the DC Sports Commission like a five dollar hooker?
Lowecifer: He's a Washington Post writer, not a Baltimore Sun writer. Of course he's going to have DC's interests in mind over Baltimore's. Revelation: For better or worse, a lot of people agree with him.
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by dcajedi Lowecifer: He's a Washington Post writer, not a Baltimore Sun writer. Of course he's going to have DC's interests in mind over Baltimore's. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So what? I can't think he's a c*nt? A mind-less, arrogant one at that.
You're welcome to think of him however you want, just realize that he isn't going to stick his neck out for Baltimore all the time.
I would never expect him to stick his neck out for Baltimore, but I would also never expect him to attack it so frequently.
My response: "I'm wondering (seriously) why media types take such pleasure in poking fun at soccer? Is it like 3rd grade when you thought the girl was cute, so you pulled her hair? Are you a closet lover of the beautiful game? Not that I expect facts to bother you much, but United outdraws the Caps, the Wizards (sans Jordan anyway) and the last season they were televised on HTS had higher rating than the Caps too (you can look it up). And with 16 home games and an average attendance of 20k (give or take), DC United drew roughly 300,000 fans last year. The Redskins, with eight home games, brought about 400,000 to RFK their last season. Aside from fans of MLS there are tens of millions of AMERICANS who still follow the game in their countries of origin. Drop in on the Juventus (Italy) v Manchester United (England) match this summer at (a sold out?) Meadowland and look around. These folks may not like MLS, but they're citizens and they love soccer (and they buy newspapers too, btw). Educationally yours, Rob Pitzer
This is the silly response that I wrote. I expect that it will do nothing to aid the cause, but it felt good: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subject: Pathetically Small Hi Pot, meet Kettle. Your lack of research is pathetically small for someone who works for one of the nation's premier news outlets. It's amazing to me that someone with such incredibly biased and ill-formed opinions on matters such as you write about are allowed near a keyboard. This is what I find pathetically small: salary to spectator ratio. If someone took the average salary of a player on a professional baseball team and divided by the average number of people attending any particular game during any part of the season, they'd get a number on the order of, say, a peanut. If, on the otherhand, you took the average salary of your highest paid PROFESSIONAL soccer players and divided by the average number of fans attending their worst attended game you'd get something on the order of planet earth. Ever hear of it...planet earth? I thought not. Tim +++++++++++++++
he's been added to the firing squad on dcunitedstadium.com . check out the press section and click firing squad. He probably also considers baseball players athletes. #1 Stunna
Ready the cannons... How many Expos or Marlins home games do they need to play to get as many fans that a DC United home game draws? Does that mean that baseball is a marginal sport that will never make it? I bet the stinking Fusion and Bandits outdrew the Expos and the Marlins in their last year in the league.