Supporter's Summit, Bash, Gala, Geek Convention, MLS Cup Info

Will any members of the ESC be making the trip out to the events that weekend?

I got a list I'd like you to give to Mr. Garber

 

THE biggest waste of time in all of the MLS season.

 

Why do you say that?

I was considering attending

 

Supporter's Summit, Bash, Gala, MLS Cup Info

Now that is scary.

 

Even scarier if it's Eric's girlfriend ;-)

The prevailing opinion it would seem, at least amongst a sampling of Metro supporters is that the event is a soccer "geek-fest," when th fact of the matter is, it provides an excellent opportunity for supporters to discuss key issues with club and league officials.

Last year supporters had a chance to sit down and talk with Don Garber, Ivan Gazidas, Chicago G.M Peter Wilt, and others.

Several good things have come out of the event over the years, including discussions that have led to greater accomodation of those interests specific to supporters groups like the ESC.

However, if memory serves me correctly, Metro was the only club not to participate in last year's summit, perhaps that of even the year before.

It's certainly your choice, but you're missing out on an opportunity to discuss things such as stadium security, ticketing policies, fan-club relations, etc.

The Magpie

 

And the ban of plastic bottles at stadiums...

 

I've been to a few of these, and Eric D.'s not far off the mark.

What in theory is a great idea, ends up being a bunch of people from each club sitting around complaining that nobody takes them seriously.

Granted, I haven't been in a few years since they got progressivly worse, but from what I saw, nothing ever really got accomplished, and reps from the ESC were almost always met with contempt from many of the goofballs from the rest of the league. I mean really childish, name-calling and face-making stuff.

Every group had their own problems, and nobody really seemed to want to work together to address them. ESC guys offered to help some other clubs accomplish some of the inroads we made with Metro front-office, and other than snide "no thanks" replies, no other interaction happened.

Three events that still amaze me and make me realize that The Summit is not about unity or supporters club issues from past meetings still bother me...
1) At a Summit held in New England, the Midnight Riders (who as far as I can tell are really good guys, and not terribly far off from ESC's style and ideals) put on a decent schedule of events and even organized and provided subsidized transportation for the clubs to and from the hotel where the Summit was held. The Screaming Jackoffs from DC, apparently booked their own transportation, bypassing The Riders system and leaving them holding the bag on a prepaid bus. Nice sense of community amongst supporters, huh?

2)At one held in DC (at least I think it was DC), the meeting was so uninteresting and had so little to do with accomplishing anything for the supporters clubs, the meeting became a Q&A with Esse Baharmast about friggin' game rules! I mean really dumb questions, proving not only were these people not interested in supporters clubs issues, but they didn't quite understand the game they were "supporting". What a waste of time.

3)When I accompanied a couple ESC guys to one of these alleged "ball's" in DC, we were met with the following greeting by an SE "lady" at the entrance/ticket table:

"MetroStars....ewwww".

Nice.

I certainly don't expect a red carpet, but jeez, a charity event where I was actually in the motion of pulling money out of my wallet?

Bunch this with the empty promises of "support" from various MLS officials who are never heard from again, and you've got yourself a giant variation of the line waiting outside the Ziegfeld for the next Star Wars film. Nanoo-Nanoo.

PS...NYR Metros, If you go, i'll give you $20 toward lunch that day. You'd fit in with those bunch of posers so well that you may never come back. Seriously, they are just like you, lot's of big talk, little action, plenty of whining about important stuff like "why don't the replicas come out earlier?".

 

LA is always fun for the Supporter's Summit. You get the pleasure of listening to that guy Michael from the LA supporters club spending 99% of the meeting telling you about all of his accomplishments in life and how he is going to run your supporters club. A real bore fest.

Nano nano.

 

If the guy Michael's disertation is anything like a Magpie post, make sure you bring plenty of Vivarin.

 

Shazbot

 

Re: Supporter's Summit, Bash, Gala, MLS Cup Info

Man if the metros make the finals I be glad to visit California this year.

 

Besides what Footix stated above. There really is no use for this "summit" If you want to change things in your stadium, then why the hell does Garber really need to hear about it? He can't do anything. What goes on in the stadium is a 2 way relationship between the fans and the front office. Theres no need for me to worry about(or care) about everyone else's problem, nor do I care if they care about us.

The thing with the Fire supporters has nothing to do with the Summit and everything to do with Wilt knowing what it means to have a soccer atmosophere and working with his fans one on one.

And lastly there is the personal choice of not hanging with people 2x my age whose topic of conversation is the latest Lord of the Rings movie.

 

Holding a Supporters' Summit in the "Chardonnay/Cabernet Room" just doesn't sound right.

 

Is any of this or the stadium near all those terrible fires?

 

I didn't mean to disuede anyone from attending...but based on my experiences, it ain't exactly as advertised.

 

By Footix's own admission he hasn't been to a Summit in the past few years, and I'll admit there have been some events that haven't been as well run nor as productive as others.

In terms of the 2002 event there might have been one or two Metrofans in attendance, but by their own admission they weren't familair with the ESC nor part of any supporters group. Hell, even the likes of Wilt, Garber and Gazidas were wondering as to the lack of Metro representation, this when every other MLS club featured some supporters group representative in attendance.

Seems like the prevailing lack of interest amongst Metrofans stem from a conception that nothing every gets accomplished, and that it's effectively a soccer geek-fest: the demographic of those attending/participating not being representative of the Metrofan-base, or more specifically, that of the ESC and/or other Metro supporters groups.

You have a right to your opinion, but with respect to the Supporters Summit this represents a divisive attitude that doesn't reflect well on your club or your supporters.

Granted, many of those issues of concern to Metrofans are club/stadium specific, so the logical course of action would be to work with the front office to influence change. However, in the absence of such communication, or when things aren't working out in that respect, then why not go to the league office to express concerns, ask for advice?

But then, if the Metrofans don't feel that they need to go hat-in-hand to the front office with their concerns, or to engage in discussion as improving fan-league relations in general... then by all means, don't participate.

But this comes at the cost of a stigma that Metrofans don't care about anyone else or anything larger than themselves, that they don't care to have a voice in league decisons or influnce that could help/hurt their matchday experience, and that the remaining supporters groups within MLS as a whole or separately can more or less *#*#*#*#*#-off.

Once again, it's your choice, but if you're not part of the process, don't expect to receive any benefits that may come of it whether they be direct or otherwise.

The Magpie

 

Please feel free to list the benefits that "Metrofans" have missed out on by not attending. Maybe this will influence my decision.

 

Surely you are not forgetting that MLS supporters are now invited to the black tie gala that takes place at an inflated price the night before the final?

 

if we have no representation we will never know, now would we ?

It would be nice if the Metros got representation for nothing else just to tell us how boring it all was. But can't hold it against anyone for not going its not like the MFO would be paying for the expenses.

 

I did and for that I am truly sorry.

I guess Garber was looking for the ESC to ask some questions not pertaining to his interpretation of the offside rule.

Seriously Maggie, what groundbreaking, momentous decisions have ever been reached at the Supporter's Summitt?

To a lot of people it is just another reason that most supporter clubs in MLS don't get it.

It's about the SOCCER stupid.

 

So why don't you go and gives a write up on it when you get back.

This isn't a secret society meeting. If something actually came out of these summits, people would know. Although the people that are front and center at these things would prefer it to be kept a secret.

The worst thing that could happen to the majority of supporter groups in this country (I am looking at you Screaming Beagles) is for Soccer ot go mainstream. Those people would have to find a new niche sport to support- curling anyone?

 

I certainly don't speak on behalf of ESC, but what benefits have we missed out on by not attending the last couple?

My attitude about the Summit honestly doesn't come from a "we're better than everyone else" angle, or even a "we don't need anyone else" point of view, but rather a "what a waste of a nice afternoon" opinion.

As for MLS suits wondering why no ESC participation, maybe I could refresh their memory as to ESC's last interaction with MLS' Fan Liason, or whatever that position was/is called...He asked us to place him on one of our teams on our last charity soccer match, did not show up, and skipped out on paying his entrance fee! As far as I know, MLS has NEVER reached out to ESC for our good...conversely we've provided people for a couple MLS events as "designated fans in replicas" without so much as a thank you.

Seriously, Magpie, I'm not wise-assing you here...I can't fathom a damn thing that could be accomplished at a Summit for us that couldn't really be done with a phone call instead. If there's some sort of agenda that list some specifics that may apply to us, maybe we could guide someone who's going out there to stop in. But to kill a morning to hear somebody out west bitch about why he can't bring a horn into the stadium is just silly.

That reminds me of the year some dude with a ponytail from Columbus spent a good amount of time trying to convince the crowd that perhaps beer should be banned from MLS stadia, because of a bottle throwing incident. Ay yi yi.

Again, I'm speaking on my own behalf, not ESC's.

 

"Although the people that are front and center at these things would prefer it to be kept a secret."

You know, I see a lot of uninformed assumptions being made here but precious little else.

If you don't show up, if you don't participate then how do you know. Reports on each summit have been distributed to a representative of each MLS and other U.S. supporters groups via web LISTSERV, why not go ask the head or representative of the ESC for a copy?

Then again, why do you deserve a copy of you refuse to participate?

The Magpie