Unintentionally? Please. Ask yourself how something like this would be received on the United board. Yeah, let's go over there and talk about since United hasn't won a damn thing in four years, they should rename it the Pansies and change the color to hot-pink. That's not going to upset anyone. Fact is, you're probably just upset that you have to support thugs like Dema and Hristo. I figure that is enough to bear for an MLS fan.
THANK GOD! THANK YOU DUSTIN, for showing me I'm not the only one with brains in this forum. Thank you mustang, ArsenalTexan, and Drum'r Boy. Jesus, lets not cry "the sky is falling" for one bad season, we're lucky we've put it off until now. On to 2004, don't look back! DALLAS BURN FOREVER! SCORCHED EARTH POLICY! 2005- YOUR DALLAS BURN, will play in the Furnace, or some other name that has nothing to do with a Devil or a storm (gotyourback, I know you were just kidding).
If you're "self-aware", as you say you are, you surely recognize a post like the above as destructive, and NOT proactive - like a Moderator should be. Don't confuse the above with "tolerance". It is FAR from it. Would it surprise you if most participants in this forum saw me for what I real am here? I promote various perspectives relative to this team's condition because I believe there should be no discrimination in opinion. Productive discussion and viewpoints should be supported, NOT 'steered' away from. I support this team and respect ALL viewpoints relative to it, and I don't agree with directing forum participants away from legitimate discussion like you have done here. If you are going to be a 'leader', or 'Moderator', know your role and support it and other's views.
Whatever. I was just asking out of curiosity. I'm not a Burn supporter. I don't know what they think. I saw this, it looked interesting, so why not ask? I just wanted information. I didn't anticipate that there would be this much piss and vinegar. I actually thought there'd be a discussion.
At least change the stupid logo. Plus, I think the loss of the hispanic part of the Burn's attendance would be a big loss, as an even greater gentrification of our teams is the last thing we want.
While I'm against someone else just coming in and changing it, I do not oppose changing to orange as a jersey color and yes I know some people love it the way it is, BUT since the topic on hand is changing ownership let me put it this way. Unless it is some owner who is rich and wants to win and does not come in and change every player "to fit their market", then they are not wanted. Now if this owner is like the Chelski owner who wants to throw in the money to IMPROVE the team, then by all means, but the whole chivas and America coming over to grab an expansion team to be a training ground for some of their plays is a bit fishy. I do NOT want to see the MLS turn into the MFL.
Uh yeah we believe you. Now if this was on the DC boards or we said something about Dema being a hacker(heaven forbid dema being an angel would never do anything wrong), you would lock the thread quicker than you can say Great Googly Moogly. So I believe in your words, you would call that person a troll. So go back to your own area and crush those who post and ask questions without reading the FAQs.
The question I asked wasn't even remotely close to that. I acknowledged that some would undoubtedly hate the idea of rebranding but I thought it was interesting and given the rumors about America wanting to purchase an existing MLS team I honestly thought it was worth asking about. If some of you people can't understand that ...
Alright, people, I know that this discussion has gotten heated (and I myself have played a part in it), but let's cool down here. Let's keep the discussion civil and on the subject at hand, not about myself or Knave. I believe him when he said that his was an innocent question. He's not a frequent poster here, so he doesn't understand the subculture here. (Just for future reference, Knave, I don't suggest that you advocate that the Burn trade for Dema, either.) Any further "hot and heavy" posts will be shipped off to the Recycle Bin.
Sorry to have stepped on toes. I thought it was just a "while we're sitting around...what if..." kind of thread. I hardly think anyone seriously thought Lamar Hunt was going to read this and decide to change the team's name, colors, and logo (well, I DO wish he'd change that). And sorry I enjoyed a few moments reminiscing(sp) about a team I followed since, apparently, before you were born. And nearly wept when it, along with the league, folded. For some of us, soccer has been OUR sport before Pele had even heard of the NY Cosmos. You know, if we're not going to talk, or in some cases, just kind of "think out loud", here - then where?
Well, I guess it's OK to think out loud and even to post your thoughts here. But at the same time, please understand that there are people who have developed a love and a passion for this oddly-named team over the past eight seasons. It is their team, their baby, and just as almost anyone would object rather fervently to someone coming along and suggesting that their baby be "rebranded," so it is also for this team. I must confess that I am one of those people. However, I have kept this thread open because I understand that not everyone thinks as I do.
If he's a moderator can't he just post his opinion? And if he disagrees with someone else's opinion why should he support it?
This is fascinating to me. I wasn't suggesting changing the name to Tornado because of one bad season. I suggested changing the name to Tornado because of EIGHT bad seasons. Eight seasons of bad uniforms. Eight seasons of amateur marketing. Eight seasons of mediocre play. Eight seasons of people who don't yet follow MLS looking at me like I just farted when I tell them that there's a team named "Burn." No, I'm not from Dallas. But I used to watch the Dallas Tornado when they played on the road. And I loved hating them, and I loved hating Kyle Rote Jr. Question for y'all: Do you think the high TV ratings for the Red Sox-Yankees series had more to do with the current crop of players, or did it have more to do with everyone watching to see if the Bambino Curse would continue? Do you think that the potential Red Sox-Cubs series would have been highly watched because of what was going on in modern times? The answer is no. That series would have been all about 1918 vs. 1908. If those teams had changed names along the way, there would have been much less reason to watch this year. The Dallas Tornado name would give this team a history dating back to 1967. Good, bad, or indifferent, the tradition would bring back fans...especially in Dallas's corporate community. People in their 40's & 50's who have fond memories of the Tornado might be more willing to get behind this team if it has the same name they remember rooting for.
Thank you. And I'm glad you feel so strongly about the Burn. I hope they find 20K more just like you for Frisco in '05.....or just 10K more for next season.
It hasn't been 8 years of bad uniforms. Just one - 1996 and everyone except DC looked bad. Dallas has had just one bad year - but its gonna be 2 no matter what happens on the field in 2004. My support of a re-branding effort is due to the fact that the team has fallen off the radar in Dallas if it was ever on - even the Burn fan-base has been halved. It is going to require a significant marketing effort to build it back up. Just building a Frisco stadium and assuming people will come will not work. It doesn't work that way for soccer - only the NFL functions like that in America. The Burn will have to spend some money to put their name out there after 2 years of self-imposed exile. I do not support a name change or a uniform color change. I am open to suggestion on the logo - but none of this is going to be a panecea. SJ and the Metros aren't packing the house now b/c they changed their name or logo. My Point: After 2 years in the Southlake Black Hole it is going to take a significant, concerted and potentially expensive effort to get people to pay attention to this team again or for the first time. Right now the Burn are a bad joke in a league many consider to be a joke. HSG has not consistently shown they can make good decisions in Dallas - so more ideas are better than less.
Good soccer will bring the fans back, and new fans. Re-branding won't do sh!t. Right now we only have soccer moms and their kids becuase of 2 things -location -The fact that they don't care if we win or lose becuase it's just somewhere to take the kids who aren't watching the game anyways. so we need to find the rememdy. We can't change the location, it's going to be Frisco. So we need to improve the product on the field. If people hear we are kicking ass they will eventually come out. Maybe we can sign a good latino player who may bring some of the latinos back, but other than that we need to find new soccer fans who are vocal and who like the game. White people can be loud too
Many Burn fans have been in favor of a name change for some time now -- not just because the team played awful this season. Let's think long term here. With any luck, MLS will last into the next century. So we're talking about a Dallas team 50 or 80 years from now. Just because were stuck with a lame name now, shouldn't mean we're stuck with that same name for the next 50 years. Were the Houston Astros always the Astros? No. In the team's first 3 years, they were called the Houston Colt 45s. Then they moved to the Astrodome and changed their name to the Astros. Were the New York Yankees always the Yankees? No. In the team's first 10 years, they were called the New York Highlanders. Then they moved to the Polo Grounds and changed their name to the Yankees. Hypothetical: Were the Dallas Burn always the Dallas Burn? No. In the team's first 9 years, they were called the Dallas Burn. Then they moved to Frisco and changed their name to the Dallas Diablos (or Dallas Tornados or whatever, as long as it's not something stupid like Clash, Heat, or Fusion, etc).
Is the Galaxy having any problem in Carson? LOVE the Burn logo, colors, uniforms, logo system, mascot, tradition. Move into Frisco and it'll all be FIRST RATE. And you know what? You'll have a decade of hard-earned history. A couple of you will be saying "I always thought we should have a wasabi third jersey." Can't we stop reinventing ourselves and start investing in what we got? BURN BURN BURN BURN BURN. Say neigh to the naysayers.
Thanks El Jefe. We'll keep Dema but you guys better be nice to Ali Curtis. I just wanted to chime in on something that vw wrote above. I think he's right, sports teams changing their names is really quite common. His point about the Yankees is good. Even the most storied and tradition filled teams sometimes underwent a name change along the way. Just ask Newton Heath, the team now known as Manchester United. Someone suggested above that I'd be irate at the mere suggestion that my team might look into changing its name. You're right. I would be irate but that's because I'm really pretty happy with the name. But had my team been named AC-DC, or the Washington Force or the Washington Freedom (all things that were apparently in the running) I actually think I'd be pretty open minded about a name change. But don't get me wrong. I respect the veneration of the name that some of you guys have and, again, I really don't have a pony in this race. I'm just curious about how Burn fans would feel about this. And, honestly, if these America rumors are true then I'd bet this isn't the last time this is discussed on these boards. That said, the point about the Dallas Burn having their name already on the Dewar Cup is really a very good one. One of the things that made it so easy to change the name of the Clash, I think, was precisely the fact that they'd never won anything.
1. Knave - Your morphing United logo tells a story. The hastily contrived DC color and logo system was basically Nazi. Didn't hurt 'em a bit. 2. Teams like Man United and the Yankees don't need history. They've got it. It's soccer that's constantly challenged for not having roots here, and for it's history of always trying - and failing - to market itself as the hot new thing in town. The Burn have spent eight years trying to accumulate awareness. Why blow that? 3. The switch "back" to Earthquakes hasn't been easy and certainly hasn't helped. It was basically another blow to a club that was already down - perpetrated by a moron, backed by an ownership group that couldn't give a shjt, and rubber-stamped by a fawning league administration.
Appreciate the Tornado, but don't bring 'em back Len, I appreciate those who have memories of the Tornado. I'm glad that team had an identity that people cared about. Unfortunately, that team died almost 20 years ago. The thing of it is - changing the Burn to the Tornado is not going to bring them back. All it is going to do it destroy what momentum the Burn currently have. And I for one think that even a two year hiatus in Southlake isn't going to kill the brand. Far from it. For those who were there on Saturday, we had a strong crowd, a good game and some of the old magic back. We got the entire crowd into the Dal-las Burn doublesided chant - twice! And I was more than pleasantly surprised at the strong response from the North side - it took maybe two times before they were going, and they were strong. It was almost as if they had been waiting all year to do it. Sure, winning 4-1 at the time probably helped, byt even when we did it the second time, when the game was a lot more in question, it was still strong. Bottom line - just like you have an attachment to the Tornado, there are a LOT of people who really do have such an attachment to the Burn - and many of them who haven't been coming will come back when the team is playing better, and even more will come back when they are playing in a better facility. Or more to the point - at the end of last season, you had a very solid core of fans that were tied to a team identity after seven years of hard damn work. Don't you think it would be easier to revitalize that than to completely reinvent the wheel? Because I can tell you, there are enough Burn fans that would have a very hard time going to see a different Dallas team.