Doesn't have to do with news or any of that, but I feel we can discuss a few things about what we as supporters will do WHEN we've got our team. Step one: Stand all game. That's right. It's our duty. Stand and sing. All game. No bitching about it. Step two: Profanity and obscene songs encouraged. They're the best kind, and I hope we won't have to make our songs PC for the kiddies. I feel that's what St. Louis fans are, kind of, is a little wimpified. I'd like to get away from all that- booing Blanco whenever he's on the ball (if he were to still be in the league, which is unlikely), stuff like that. Also, I still would rather have us at an end, but I think the majority want it in the middle. My thoughts are, at the end, you're right there when a goal is scored, and the players can celebrate with you right there. Thoughts on all that.
Totally agree on standing, singing, booing particularly hated players, etc. I imagine the profanity/obscenity issue is going to break down by who has kids they want to take to the games and who doesn't. A little profanity isn't the end of the world, but there's a limit to how much I want my daughters to hear, in terms of, er, explicitness. Of course, if I was bringing them, we wouldn't be in the supporters' section. I would think the ownership group might have opinions about this, too. I've never been to an MLS match, aside from exhibitions here. And you can't hear much on TV. What are the chants like in DC? Toronto? Houston? What can you hear outside the supporters' group section?
Umm, no. Tell me again why profane and obscene songs are going to accomplish anything, other than turn people off.
That movie is dumb, and the biggest reason is that it suggests that Elijah Wood could possibly beat somebody up. Anyway, as far as the obscene songs, they accomplish wit, funniness, and shows opposing teams that we don't like them. There's a reason they sing them in all the other leagues in the world. Also, in the end, all we're talking about here is cursing. What's a better father-child bonding experience then being present when your kid is put into an environment where the "f" word is encouraged? That way, you can tell him or her that it's appropriate to use it here and not at school or work. I think it's a positive thing. Plus, I don't put too much significance into bad words anyway; in my opinion, if we don't treat them like forbidden words, they wouldn't have such negative effect.
You make the assumption that it's only kids that don't like to hear obscenities. I'm not going to say no one should be allowed to curse, but to list it as one of the top 2 things that the supporters should make a priority to do is a little immature. Not many people are going to buy a ticket because they want to hear the cursing and obscenities, but there are plenty that will not buy a ticket because they don't want to hear it.
If you're an adult who can't handle obscenities to the point where you wouldn't support your team, then I'm speechless. ("you" in this statement means "someone", not necessarily crewe. I can't stand the English language and its lack of a "you (plural)")
I completely agree. St. Louis is still a pretty conservative town. That stuff doesn't fly here. There are always people complaining about the language at Blues games in the paper. Sure, the occasional word is going to be said, but it definately should not be a goal or a "step". And if anyone brings one of those plastic horns, I will personally shove it up your a$$.
You don't have to curse all the time to support your team. It all comes down to security in the end. Even with a soccer friendly ownership like OnGoal, we're still discouraged from the organized F bomb dropping during games. As crewe said, more people are going to be turned off by the organized cursing then more are going to join you because of it.
considerably less shocking than saying that we absolutely must curse at games. I'm a big fan of keeping it roughly PG to PG-13... forget the sportsmanship hugs and flowers crap, but there is no need to start chanting the F-word either... there are people at games who don't want to hear that, and we should respect that. Suck, damn, hell, and occasionally bastard, when used in moderation, are just fine...
The reality is that if MLS is to succeed in St. Louis, it will need the support of families. You are not going to sellout the stadium purely to adults (and mostly male). Using me as an example...if I determine that the atmosphere is not conducive to children then I'm probably buying one season ticket, maybe two and hope that I can find a friend to go. However if its more family friendly then I'm buying four tickets and bringing my wife and 2 boys. Four tickets is a lot better than one in Jeff Cooper's eyes, not to mention that you now have kids growing up supporting a team. In regards to copying the European leagues, I don't think that is a road you want to aim for. I was born and raised outside Manchester England, an avid soccer fan, but not once was it ever a remote possibility that my Dad would take us to a game. It was not a place for kids, or women, at least in his eyes. When we moved to St. Louis we were going to Cardinal games left and right (even though we didn't know the rules) mainly because it was such a great atmosphere for an adult or child. Luckily most European leagues can thrive without family support, i don't think this is the case in St. Louis. Those leagues have great atmosphere, but I think we should emulate the good aspects, not all aspects. Again, not saying you can't curse, just don't go out of your way to do it. Sorry for the essay.
I'm not suggesting we go out of our way to do it; that was never my intention. My intention was just that we don't refuse to use them. I don't want our collective wit to be limited by censoring ourselves. Honestly, I don't think it will come up all that much. They don't really do it all that often in songs in Europe and South America anyway (although much more often than they do here). When I said "encouraged", I mean simply as opposed to discouraged. If someone doesn't want to cuss, that's fine, nobody will force him, but I don't think someone should be chastised for cursing, especially in a supporters section. I, for one, am going to let them fly. Sorry in advance if I'm sitting next to your kid.
I definitely think it should be discouraged or curtailed. We need to win over as many fans as possible. I cannot really see someone not coming because cursing is discouraged. I can definitely see someone refusing to come back after hearing the F-bomb dropped a few times. Die-hard fans are going to make up about 5% of the crowd. We need to make room for the families etc. 5-6 years down the road when people have accepted the team you might be able to loosen things up a bit.
the things that we need to do for the atmosphere are stand and sing the whole game put up banners and wave flags bring smoke bombs and streamers Those things would make for a great atmosphere.
I'm not too up of these sorts of things, but are smoke bombs even legal in MLS games? Seems like they would fall into the flare category. Putting up banners and flags are definately a must. I'm not trying to be all about kids here, but if you could get local club teams or highschool teams to bring their team flag to the game that could be pretty cool. Much like they do at England and other national team games when folks travel from different towns. That could showoff the st. louis tradition that we all talk about. Now that I think about it, you don't want to make it a youth event though.
smoke and streamers are ridiculous......also drums,horns,and any other obnoxious noises that are just annoying, those are fans that arent there for the game, just for the chance to be loud and annoying while getting away with throwing things on the field...... stick to good ol' singing scarves, flags, and yelling
Depends on the rules for the facility where the team is playing. For instance Arrowhead, that was a major no-no, although we still had smoke bombs go off. Rumor is this year smoke bombs will be more accepted.
I'm not much of a smoke and streamer guy at all, but some people support their team by being loud. The louder your stadium is, the better the atmosphere. I hope that's what our fans realize. The louder the better.
We need something that gets everyone going and participating. Osasuna's stadium holds 19,000 people and they have a tight-nit atmosphere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOij7ZcVCQM if we can have 1/3 of that atmosphere then I would be happy, we could really make some noise with how the stadium is setup.
Swearing like a Tarantino film reject does not make you come across as witty or funny. It may let someone know you don't like them, but in my experience it normally leads to fist fights. As for my child? I would prefer if he didn't us F-word ever. The number of places where it could loosely be considered appropriate is pretty small. To answer your question about what would be a better bonding experience though, ... um almost anything you could think of. Well anything that didn't involve killing.