"Forward thinking" political areas of the country? You mean legalizing homosexual marriage, banning guns (ala SF), providing healthcare for illegal aliens, embracing socialized medicine and raising taxes to the point that it is hard to afford to live there? Here is some more "forward thinking." I would love for my taxpayer money to be going to this: Sex-change benefits approved in San Francisco - MARGIE MASON, Associated Press Writer Monday, April 30, 2001 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...001/04/30/state1957EDT0238.DTL&type=printable (04-30) 18:08 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco on Monday became the only city in the nation to pay for its employees to receive sex changes, after the Board of Supervisors narrowly passed the measure. ``It is landmark legislation,'' said Supervisor Mark Leno, who has worked about two years to have the benefits added. ``This is not like losing one's hair. It's not like displeasure with the size and shape of one's nose.'' An audience filled with transgenders and supporters wearing florescent green and pink stickers that read ``Transgender Equality'' leaped into the air and cheered following the 9-2 roll call. The measure needed nine votes to pass. Supervisors Tony Hall and Leland Yee were the two opposing supervisors on the 11-member board. The measure, which awaits the signature of Mayor Willie Brown, will extend up to a $50,000 lifetime cap in benefits to city workers who want to switch their gender. San Francisco apparently would be the only governmental body in the nation to make such benefits available.
If you want to buttress your argument, I'd suggest you not quote from any LA newspapers. This is not LA. This isn't even near LA. Many of us hate LA (forgive me for overstating the obvious). That said, none of the people quoted in the piece said they were leaving because they dislike California. They're leaving because they can't afford to live in SoCal. Obviously, our team could afford to live here. I understand that you don't believe that people should get health care if they are "illegal aliens" or impoverished. But apart from that, what exactly is your point?
don't you just love it when if you give them enough rope, they hang themselves? unfortunately, its our poor San Jose Earthquake players & coaches that will really suffer. (sigh)
Obviously the team (which is owned by AEG) could not afford to do business there. It probably was because of the rent and the cost of doing business. A SSS would cost AEG 2-3X more in San Jose than in Houston.
Please tell us how. The city of San Jose made an offer to SVS&E that gave them the land and had the city paying 40% of the construction costs. I read that Oliver Luck made the comment that AEG would foot the bill for a new stadium in Houston.
Don't bother even arguing with them. Its a waste of your typing. You can't have an intellectual conversation because they just don't get it. Its as though they are on another planet. I say they should call it the Houston Alamos. That would alienate most of their fan base. And you know what...they won't even know why. Those poor guys in BLUE won't know what hit them when they walk off the plane.
I don't know where you got a quote that AEG would be footing the bill for a new stadium in Houston. It will be a public-private partnership with the HISD school district just how FC Dallas did in Frisco. This thing is all about economics and it made more sense for AEG to move the team to Houston than to keep the team in SJ.
My Uncle's home in San Jose is taxed as if it is worth $580k and a similar home, but brand new, in Houston goes for less than $100k. Air conditioning for a month in the summer for a home that size would probably be $120 depending. There is also no income tax in Texas. Houston is a majority migrant community. That is Houston grew from less than 100 thousand people in the early 1900s to the present metro area of over 4 million (haven't looked at the current numbers). This population boom has mostly come from central America and the North East. Yet for some reason Houston is often portrayed as being a rural, cowboy, farm/ranch type city. The Bay Area is a lot different from Houston. However, the players should like the food, the cost of living, and there is plenty to do. The general mindset is quite different from the mindset I have seen from relatives and friends that I have in and around San Jose. I'm really not sure why Houston is stereotyped as it is in the national media. As far as arts go it promotes itself as having the second largest theatre district in the US behind New York. /shrug The weather in the summer won't be as good as San Jose and the people will have different mindsets. I have found that I have disliked most of the US for living purposes (Chicago, NJ, Philly, Grand Rapids, Denver), but my general reasons have been food, courtesy, cost of living, and transportation issues.
So, somehow, this turned into a Houston vs. San Jose discussion. I wonder how that happened? truthandlife, you have to remember that your audience here in the San Jose forum is mostly people who live in California by choice. I have lived elsewhere in this country, and I came back to California and will not live anywhere else. Just because Houston is right for you, does not make it right for everyone. The rest of you, please remember that although you personally may not like Houston, does not make it a terrible place -- it is growing rapidly in population (more rapidly than the Bay Area) so it must have some positive attributes for those who are moving there. And it sure isn't the Houston citizens' or fans' fault that the Earthquakes are leaving San Jose. So try not to get into personal issues with Houston and their fans.
Another "give them enough rope and they can hang themselves" example. Their intelligence just shocks me. http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/hou/
me bad. Just very difficult when they troll into our boards. Seriously, those poor San Jose Earthquake players.
Yeah, I so did not understand what was going on there. I thought that picture looked just as silly as everybody else in the country did. Its like...what the hell are they doing dressing like that? 8/ I wonder what the mayor's back story is...let me find out. If he was some west texas rancher (I know he's a Clinton croney) then I guess it makes sense.
You cannot compare American soccer players to NFL players. Soccer players have a different kind of bond with their fans. It is more egalitarian than the bond NFL fans have with superstar NFL players. Good job insulting the Quakes players as they prepare to suit up to represent your city. It is pretty clear that you just want some spectacle that is easy for you to drive to. You don't want a soccer a team. The more you speak, the more sickening it is that someone like you is getting this team at the expense of the San Jose fans. - Paul
Notice the guy in the cowboy hat is: "Born in San Antonio as the son of school teachers, White attended Harvard University on American Legion scholarships and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in economics. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where he was elected Editor-in-Chief of its law review and graduated with highest honors. White began his career as a tort lawyer, and worked at the Susman Godfrey law firm from 1979 to 1993, where he became partner. He served as Deputy Secretary of Energy of the United States under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. He organized the unsuccessful Frontera Resources, a developer of oil and gas in the Capsian Sea region, and was also the Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, from 1995 to 1998. He was the President and CEO of WEDGE Group, an energy, contruction and real estate company, from 1997 to 2004." from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_White_(mayor) /shrug I run a business in urban Houston that typically sees between 6k to 9k people walk through our doors per day. I doubt in a week we have 10 people come in wearing hats like that.
I don't agree wtih banning guns, but the rest is fine with me. Do have something against homosexuality and people who need medical attention? You are a piece of work. This is what people are trying to tell you about why San Jose is preferrable to the players over Houston. In Houston, there seem to be people like you who only care about money and consumption, while in the Bay Area there are people who care about people, irregardless of their sexual orientation, economic class, or race. The spirit in the Bay Area is much greater than the spiritual wasteland of Houston. - Paul
http://pavilion.woodlandscenter.org/ It is a nonprofit center. And yes, I do not think AEG is interested in Houston. I think they want to move the team to Houston. Tell Club America that Houston has 15k attendance. And then cut their losses by selling the team off.
I think his point was something completely different. Chad went to school back east so that may be confusing you. Anyway, one thing I noticed that is different is that Houston offers public education in Spanish. I think we embrace the hispanic culture more than many areas of the US and Houston is by plurality hispanic. So which people in Houston are creating the spiritual wasteland? The vast amount of oil people that came in from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, the largest Nigerian community in the United States, or the million and a half hispanics? Or maybe you mean the Chinese communities that have their street signs in Chinese! 8/ Seriously, stereotyping Houston is not exactly a good way to show how great San Jose is. San Jose has plenty of great things about it that could be mentioned without just randomly stereotyping Houston. And for the record, most people do not look forward to change. It doesn't really matter where they are being told they have to go to it will be a difficult transition.
Would you and Chowhog go back a page and read the comment from BillReeves about keeping your comments to the thread issue? If you wish to keep this pissing in the wind contest going, do it via e-mail or instant messaging (go just meet in a bar or an alley) and work out your differences of opinion.
I hope he does get fined. I hope that more of the players say what they are feeling about this. I hope that the league fines them, too. I hope that the Union steps in for them. Unfortunately, that won't happen. Players from other teams won't stand up for Brian or anyone else who speaks their mind. It is truly amazing that in America, that athletes are punished for saying how they feel.
I haven't yet read through all of this 10 page thread yet, so I don't know if this has been mentioned yet: The players also will not look forward to playing on artificial turf (with football lines and markings permanently painted on, possibly) during the extremely hot and humid summer in Houston. Even if the games start at 8:00 p.m., it will still be very hot on that artificial surface. Foot burning hot. And the catch-22 about starting the games late in the evening is that the Stadium (Robertson) is in a "bad" part of Houston, i.e., higher rates of crime, so the later a game starts, the less likely people are to attend (especially families with younger children).
Up until now, your friend has been helping professional athletes that make $250,000 per year and many who make millions. It will be different for him helping professional athletes most of whom make less than $75,000 per year. Unlike an in-season trade situation, the current players who are under contract with MLS for the 2006 season should not move immediately. There is still plenty of time for the current roster to be modified through trades, transfers, player loans (outside and inside MLS), waivers, cuts, etc. Better to wait to see if they end up being on the season starting roster (after training camp and preseason) to invest financially and psychologically in a move.