San Jose - Kansas City W.C. Final (Saturday, 11/15) postgame thread [R]

Re: new here! Anyone know

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Western Conf Finals Attendance

Can somebody here help me out please? I was reading the following article: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/columnist/dure/2003-11-20-dure_x.htm .

It was written by Beau Dure. At the end of the article, he states, "The attendance numbers at San Jose continue to be fishy. If there were only 16,108 people at the semifinal against Kansas City, it must have been "Bring Your Own Crash-Test Dummy Night" at Spartan Stadium."

Anyone know why he would imply that San Jose/MLS understated the attendance figure? I must admit, from wathcing the game on TV, the stadium looked packed, but the TV cameras I think are only on one side of the field.

 

Western Conf Finals Attendance

I do not even understand what he means. In the first half of the question, he implies attendance was understated (if there were only . . .).

Then, to call it "bring your own crash-test dummy" would seem to imply that people brought a dummy to sit next to them, meaning the attendance is overstated.

The crowd was great, and seemed to be larger than 16K in terms of noise. The stands seemed close to full, but the south end zone was completely closed off.

I have no reason to dispute the number. I think the writer was trying to close his article in a cutesy way. He failed to do so with that clumsy sentence.

 

Re: Western Conf Finals Attendance

I think Dure is clearly stating that San Jose/MLS understated the attendance. As you point out, he first states that the stated attendance was "only" 16k or so. By referring to people bring their own "crash test dummies" I think he is saying that there seemed to be, e.g., 22,000 in attendance, so that if the official count was only 16k, the "other" 6,000 had to be crash test dummies.

 

My understanding is that if the entire stadium is full (including the upper deck on the west side) it holds about 31k. The lower bowl holds about 22k. Last Saturday, I looked at the crowd from the field right after the first half was ended, and it appeared to me that the stands were essentially full with the exception of the south end, and some seats on the corners in sections 135 and 106. There were also a few (less than 100) people in the upper deck. Therefore, I think it entirely possible that the official count was either accurate, or possibly up to 1k low. Anyway, my point is that I would rather get a count that is possibly a little under than a wildly inflated count. FYI, had this been a Cyberrays game, the attendance would have been announced as 21,358!

 

Hope this clarifies matters...

That's something Beau said live and in person in reaction to the attendance being announced at 16,108.

His comments in today's USA Today were meant as a complement, people.

I think he was referring to the noise level in the stadium-- something which, from what I observed on the audio webcast from here, was well and truly loud and amazing. The fans in my hometown, you guys were fantastic last weekend, and as always.

For Beau's actual in-game comments in their proper context, go here. It's the third post from the top.

 

Y'know what? My final word on it is this:

This is a BIG 'back at ya' to those fans in the seats the last two games. Irregardless of exactly how many butts were on the seats, you guys (and me!) managed to create and sustain an atmosphere of such loud, enthusiastic support that it seemed bigger than the stadium could possibly hold. I still can't believe the sound during the second half when the shout of "San - - - Jose" went up from the crowd as one. It was pretty awesome!

 

For those of you who haven't seen highlights of the conference championship yet, Fox Sports World (according to the Comcast schedule) is replaying last Saturday's MLS Wrap today at 1 PM PST.

 

Yeah, that was awesome. Also the EARTH....QUAKE thing that was going on. Gave me chills. It was soooo cool.