The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/firstXI0408.html "3. Who were those five guys dressed in yellow, jumping up and down, on the far side of Columbus Crew Stadium on Saturday? If you guys are reading this column, you’ve got some recruiting to do. Kind of reminded me of some Ivy League basketball games I used to attend at Harvard (I worked there, didn’t go there), where a similar number of hecklers would try to get a Duke Thing going. Sorry to say, it looked pretty pitiful." C'mon now I thought those guys were great. We need more of people like them in what seemed to be a lathargic Columbus crowd. I don't think we should be discouraging these guys. Rock on fellas.
Re: The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement I completely agree. Frankly, Jeff, I'm very surprised you would criticize any fan going to great effort to enjoy themselves at a game and improve the atmosphere for the fans as a whole. Although few fans have done as much for the league as you (your original Boot Rooms helped suck me in to paying an increasing amount of attention to the league), let's be careful about whom we criticize. I think you owe those guys a little bit of an apology - maybe you can sit with them for a few minutes next time you're in Columbus. Let's make fun of the people sitting behind them who were too self-conscious to play along instead. Or Quakes fans. They're always good too.
      I certainly feel bad for DeRosario, but both Jeff and Sigi are absolutely spot on about Frank Yallop. -G
Re: Re: The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement Ok, Ok, let's avoid talking about San Jose fans and Columbus. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from when the San Jose players applauded us when they came to Naperville last year.
Re: The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement I don't think Jeff disagrees with you -- see text in bold. Someone needs to tell Jeff he doesn't have to keep pushing the Fire.
Re: Re: The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement I think mellon had it right*. The second bit of text you bolded was mellon's comments, not Jeffs. Jeff ended his thoughts with..."Sorry to say, it looked pretty pitiful." *unless I am misunderstanding what you meant.
Re: Re: Re: The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement You're misunderstanding. He bolded them both to show that they were in agreement.
How can we be in agreement if he says it looked pretty pitiful. I said that those guys were awesome and I hope that they have season tickets. I'd love to cheer with them if I were a Columbus fan and lived in the area. If ya gotta start small then so be it. Those 6 or 7 guys were the best fans in the stadium IMO. Or at least the craziest. My point is that we shouldn't bash these guys at all but instead encourage them to continue going to games and supporting the Crew. When he said, "You've got some recruiting to do." I took it as a nice way of saying, "You're a small group of guys." If I was one of those guys I wouldn't take it as Jeff encouraging us to go recruit but instead as, "You looked like morons."
That you saw on TV. TV doesn't tell the whole story. On cold days like that, the crowd is more vocal than you might expect - the "sit quietly and eat hot dogs" crowd stays home.
Re: The Frist XI: Rushing to Judgement "3. Who were those five guys dressed in yellow, jumping up and down, on the far side of Columbus Crew Stadium on Saturday? If you guys are reading this column, you’ve got some recruiting to do. Kind of reminded me of some Ivy League basketball games I used to attend at Harvard (I worked there, didn’t go there), where a similar number of hecklers would try to get a Duke Thing going. Sorry to say, it looked pretty pitiful." [/B][/QUOTE] It was the rest of the crowd that was pitiful - not those 5 or 6 guys. It was another polite performance from the Columbus crowd. I don't know about San Jose with DeRo. Who is going to play up top with LD? Last year's #4 forward. whoever that was - Devin Barclay maybe who is no longer with the team? DeRo was never going to be able to replace Graziani. I think SJ is going to have real trouble scoring goals. And stopping goals come to think of it.
Morning from snowy Detroit, folks. I said they "looked pitiful" not that they were pitiful. Five cold, wet dudes standing on what looked to be a made-for-ABC platform?...they get my pity, for sure. Also, did anyone notice, they bagged at halftime? Look, I've been getting angry e-mails from people who are taking themselves WAY too seriously. I was joking, okay? I have a feeling the five frat boys were probably laughing at themselves, too. And another thing, the column was crap, I admit, but it was about all I could muster given my (non soccer) assignment schedule of late. As one of my good friends has told me, "I can tell right away with your column, whether to read it or skip it. This was a skip it." I'm fine with that. Peace, JB
Jeff I got an idea. Since you are in snowy Detroit why don't you go outside and jump around without a shirt on to get a new appreciation for what those guys did. JK I thought the article was fine, I was just surprised to see what you wrote about those guys. Keep up the great work.
Regarding Mathis, can Jeff Bradley or someone else tell me what a "sports hernia" is, and how it differs from any other kind? Thanks.
It differs in the fact that the person w/ the hernia is an athlete. "A sports hernia is a vague term describing types of weakness in the anterior (front, outside) abdominal wall. " From WebMD... whole article HERE.
Thanks to Jeff that article was fun to read and informative I found particularly interesting: Too early to tell? Of course. Too soon to really know anything? Absolutely. Some DC posters disagree it's too early. Check out the DC boards the preseason tie in Richmond to the RICHMOND KICKERS has the posters predicting absolute doom and gloom!! Unbelievable. DC may end up being terrible but don't make that conclusion after a meaningless preseason game on the road where they TIE a good A-League team w/much more to play for! The SAME Richmond Kickers team that the USMNT tied before they went to the World Cup. The DC board seems to me to be going from one of the best to one of the most negative, childish, scapegoating, and reactionary. I guess 3 years of losing will help create that kind of atmosphere. Or maybe at 32 the DC board hasn't changed and I'm just getting too old for it and I'll have to change and be more selective in what I read. We praised Buddle a week ago and he lived up to the words. Wow DID HE EVER I thought he looked great too I was like "who is this guy!!" He's gonna be fun to watch-I'm gonna try to watch all the Columbus games w/McBride, Cunningham, Hejduk, Paule, Martino etc the 2003 Crew are just a delight to watch On Sunday, you could see this black cloud of rubber following the ball around the field. I'm wondering if the field will create injuries for the Metros like it did for Chicago. How's that midfielder-what's his name Digi-how's his ankle going to hold up on it? Thanks again to Jeff was a fun read and helps me look ahead to the games Saturday!!!
Well also with the news of Reyes's injury and the disapointing play in preseason matches has led to the dispair. I for one expect DC to struggle early but crank it up towards the end of the year.
And the Stoitchkov incident. Some people were making the guy out as a criminal, saying he should retire. Lawsuit. Then the video came out last week which showed a 50-50 ball....... I for one expect DC to struggle early but crank it up towards the end of the year. If DC can make it to the end of the year!
Some people were on the Buddle wagon 3 years ago, recommending (in May 2000) that then-Coach Octavio Zambrano pick him up when he resurfaced with the Long Island Rough Riders, after deciding college wasn’t right for him. As a local boy, he would have been the antithesis to Barry Swift. Of course, OZ didn't listen ... and look where that got him!