Keep Andrulis and you could go for 11th, 12th and, with expansion, maybe even 13th and 14th! I really am glad I'm not a fan in the same situation (OTOH my real home-team, Flamengo, has been sad for near a decade now).
Are we both thinking about the 7/4 Crew Review guys? I thought that was an upfront highly critical review of GA and HSG's shortcomings. Perhaps the classesless comment bothered some, but the overall article didn't gloss over any of the major factors and highlighted the SJ performance and the poor overall record, including '04. IMO, it was an article written by a patient, professional sports reporter who's gone distinctly to the dark side. This is no knee jerk critique and seemed fair and was only somewhat sympathetic to GA on a personal basis.
Has Greg Andrulis actually been berated "wherever he goes?" Honestly? Outside of getting heckled at Crew Stadium? Are people berating him at the local Kroger?
1) I take great exception to the comments about Elliott and Fraser. The fact that neither of them are "scorers or playmakers" has nothing whatever to do with their professionalism. which is above reproach. They are classy guys, on the field and off, and they conduct themselves in a manner which a lot of other people - in soccer and out - would do well to emulate. To suggest otherwise is simply ignorant. 2) Merz is trying to have it both ways: be critical of Andrulis and at the same time be sympathetic. It is one of the oddest paragraphs I can recall from a sportswriter. "Kicking someone when they're down" is a strange phrase for him to use, essentially criticizing those who think Greg needs to go. His next sentence negates that by saying that standing up for Greg "is not easy". Very odd juxtaposition. (And for the record, expressing an opinon regarding a professional coach's performance is not "kicking a man when he's down". Going to his house after he's been fired and laughing at him is "kicking a man when he's down". At the moment, Greg is the Head Coach of the Columbus Crew. How is that "down"? Seems to me he's still "Up") Then he gives us a testimonial about what a wonderful guy Greg is. He touches all the bases except "is kind to stray dogs". Then, right after tossing in another inappropriate cliche ("nice guys finish last") just to make sure we get the point, he opines that if he doesn't win a couple games sometime soon McCullers will have no choice but to fire him. He speculates on the numbers a bit and seques right back in to the Pity Party, implying that none of this is poor Greg's fault, because "he didn't miss the penalty kick or get a dumb red card" but that he's going to be "the fall guy". Leaving aside the silliness about the fans being "classless" for "berating" Greg "everywhere he goes" (Really Craig? They're "berating" him at the 7-11 when he stops for a Slurpee? In airports? At his kid's school play? In San Jose? No Craig, let's grow a pair and say what you mean: that you think the fans AT CCS are being mean to him.) I have a question for "Mr Professional Sportswriter" Merz: Was Butch Davis "The Fall Guy" in Cleveland? Did he miss tackles and passes and blocks? Were the fans in Ohio "classless" for "berating" John Cooper "everywhere he went"? Dave Miley in Cinccinnati is a VERY "nice guy" who was indeed "last" when he got canned last week. Did he miss the cutoff man too many times, or strike out with runners in scoring position? How long a list of fired Head Coaches from every sport would you like me to make here? We could go on all day, Craig. Yet incredibly, you started the piece complaining about how the Crew has no "offensive strategy" to speak of and ruminating on how they probably couldn't beat a D3 side. You can't have it both ways here, Craig. You are "berating" the coach's product and then telling everyone that they're "classless" for publically expressing the opinion that he ought to be replaced. It's called "weaseling" CrewBoy.
C'mon Craig, join us Internet nuts over here on the dark side. You might learn a thing or two. But answer me this first: just how much lee-way do you have to write whatever you want? I mean, do the progressive folks who run Ohio's Greatest Newspaper even know you write about soccer, do they care? Do you feel you can let loose with whatever you want and you'll pretty much be guaranteed you column a week (unless there's a juicy story related to an OSU walk-on long snapper or something)? Or do you need to tow the home town line somewhat ad pull your rhetorical punches? Because what you need to know is that you really have a pretty important job in terms of soccer's growth on this country. Let's face it, there are but 12 MLS franchises in a whopping 11 markets and it's your job to cover one of them. And not just any old one, THE first one to get its own stadium and the market that'll be hosting the biggest soccer game in the nation later this year. Do you cover soccer because it's interesting to you, because you think the sport is destined to be huge in this country someday, or do you just not have the seniority to get the really good stories at the Dispatch? Because if it's the former, you must underdstand that the Crew's decay threatens the sport here. Oh, not among the kiddies, who'll contiunue to play in vast numbers. But as a would-be, big-time professional sport in central Ohio. Get a couple more SSSs built (and they're doing this as I type) and the USSF might start thinking why the hell they're playing qualifiers in Columbus... MLS might queston the wisdom of playing it's marquee matches here... You see, we were the first experiment: build a SSS and they will come. Like so many clinical trials, the initial returns looked great, but the longer-term data are looking problematic. What really concerns me is that the guys who run this league will mis-interpret what's happening here in Ohio. They might, oh, see a bunch of fickle, Internet nut soccer "fans" who bail on their team even though we have a nice stadium and an equally nice coach (I mean, the guy looks like a Muppet, he's so friggin' nice). I mean, what more do these people want? Well, Craig, if you have half a brain and a set of testes, just come out and tell them what we want: a team that's dedicated to excellence; to winning games especially at home, and playing their hearts out; an organization that respects and connects with the fans, that is professional and forward-looking; that gets po'ed everytime it reads another MLS big-wig proclaim that the MetroStars must be successful because the club's in the league's prime market. This team could be huge here. CS could be sold out with regularity. The attendance numbers could force local TV and print media type to actually pay attenton to the club and MLS. But we've fallen so far now, the organization seems content to with so much less. What a waste.
I e-mailed Merz with this article and said. "I've met Greg Andrulis and agree that he is a nice man. But politeness does not make up for severe incompetence in business." Then go on to talk about penalties, tackles, etc. I'll let y'all know if he replys.
Don't count on it. I've emailed him numerous times and not received a word back, which is frankly all I need to know about him. If the GM of The Crew, a writer for ESPN.com and other newspaper reporters can email me back within days of my response, then surely Merz can. What else does he have to do? He writes about three-four stories a week (at most seven, one for each day). At my job, I'm regularly required to write at least two a day and some of those are longer and more in-depth than what he writes.
Come on now, this article may be crap but Craig is probably a nice guy. He usually gets his punctuation right and loves his kids. Let's not kick a man when he's down. Seriously, he knocked this out between flipping burgers at his grill out, knowing full well that his editor never reads his soccer stories.
You know, I hate to admit it but Fred brings up an interesting comparison with John Cooper. How many writers at The Disgrace wrote about Ohio State fans all being "classless" for complaining about Cooper's performance and record? How many articles appeared defending Cooper because he wasn't the guy screwing up out there? How many times did anyone at that rag write about how unfair it was to kick Cooper when he was down? Did I miss the article where they announced that Cooper hasd more clas than Ohio State fans who "berated" him? When it's the Bucks and their fans, nobody over there has the balls to tell Scarlet and Gray fans that they're "classless". Crew fans though - who gives a damn if you insult THAT bunch?
To be honest, it makes me question their motivation to run a soccer club in the first place. If it's to lose money, then fine, keep Andrulis, objective achieved. Re the league, after ten years, maybe one, or two clubs at a push are making money. Now, bearing in mind the only reason Anschutz and Hunt are in it is 'to take advantage of soccer's fastest growing sport status' and accumulate the bucks, someone soon is going to wake up and say 'hang on, it ain't happening'. One thing's for sure, they won't give it another 10.
Sorry dude...but I love the league, and all signs point to a drop most everywhere...do I think the league is on its last legs..? NO...not as long as HSG and AEG are in it...they won't let it die...but if you go to a Crew game, or watch a KC game, or most others, we have problems in the league...and the appearance, both on the pitch, in the stands, in some of the front offices, is that the league is on its last legs...
All the HSG teams have experienced enormous attendance drops, but there are logical explanations besides "the league is dying" In Dallas they had a good, solid fan base which they flushed when they decided to get into a pissing match with the Cotton Bowl and move out to Dragon Stadium. The fans deserted them so quickly that the abandoned plans to stay at Dragon another year, swallowed their pride and moved back to the Cotton Bowl. Sadly, the fans who were treated so shabbily aren't coming back. In KC, they did well in the past, but Lamar decided to send a shot over the city's bow in his fight to get them to build the Chiefs a fancy new palace. So he announced that he's selling the Wizards, and if a suitable local guy can't be found then the team will have to leave town. And it's very tough to get fans to commit to your team under those circumstances. As for the Crew, aside from the whole coaching kerfuffle, and how even casual fans in CBus think the club has an idiot in charge, Jim SMith, who the Hunts adored, was a disaster. As FF and others have documented, he didn't really have any feel for providing a "Soccer Experience" - he was trying to put on a circus with soccer in one of the rings. His feeling was to provide enough bells and whistles and mascot games and garbage and that was what people wanted. So people came and watched bad soccer and didn't enjoy it and didn't come back. Meanwhile the hard-core fans, whom he insulted and ignored, partly because he was sure they'd never leave, left. With due respect to Mark McCullers, while Jim Smith left town in a hail of Hosannahs, he got out in the nick of time and dumped a load of sh!t in the lap of his successor. Everyone thought Smith was handing over a smooth, well-oiled machine. Instead, the wheels were starting to fall off. And frankly, since HSG is run by accountants and bankers (Wagner is a CPA, Clark Hunt is an Investment Manager) I suspect they knew this. If there's one thing they ought to be able to do it's read numbers. But what McCullers is supposed to do about it, I can't begin to fathom. Literally nothing is the way it should be, His sales staff deserted him, he can't get any cooperation from the Expo Board on every customer's number one complaint (the parking lots) the team on the field is an embarassment and his most loyal customers are giving him the finger, blaming him for a huge pile of garbage he didn't create. If he can pull this operation back from the abyss, then he will have performed a business miracle unparalleled in our times.
My boss who lives in Columbus called me and brought up one of Merz's articles on the declining attendance at CCS. I told him it has more to do with the poor play of the team than a lack of interest in soccer. I didnt read the article but it sure left a bad taste in the mouth of a non-soccer fan. OTOH, I wanted to go to the game last weekend but i just cant bring myself to spend the money when the product is this bad.
I agree completely, Raoul. He called out Andrulis for the lack of wins against the East, said he likely needs to win two of his next 3. I don't know what else needs to be said. People get pissed off that he says, nice guys finish last? He's still pointing out Andrulis is finishing last, so what's the problem?
I agree with you on this point.....it certainly would be a business miracle, and I don't envy McCullers' job in the least, at this point. The scary, "between-the-lines" point of all of this is, the lack of a miracle could be the downfall of our club. Not good odds.
Interesting points Bill about Smith leaving behind a bad product. You should check out McCullers latest response to one of my emails. Since some have taken issue with me posting the entire email, I'll say this: He said the team he inherited had more problems than even he suspected and he's currently under way with a plan to fix it. He didn't elaborate on what that plan was, though. He also said something like it's easy to fire Greg it's harder to build a championship environment and that's what he's trying to do. To which I replied if it's so easy to fire Greg then do it. Anyway, I agree with Raoul and Hang's assessment. I thought the article was pretty balanced -- shocking from a news report I know. The only thing I really take issue with Merz is his lack of response to emails even if it's a simple thanks for writing. While I have not always liked the way he approaches some articles or even what the article said or didn't say, I think he does a good job. Sometimes I think people expect too much out of him, like he should be the Bill Urban of the Crew or something. But his job description is most likely to provide reports on the team in a fair and balanced manner. I think he does that in a way that allows the reader to make up their own mind. But that's just my opinion too.
This has been the #1 complaint that I've heard from several former Burn staffers about HSG. They don't really "get" the fact that they're in the entertainment business and that they treat their sports properties like they were manufacturing widgets -- maximize the revenues while minimizing the expenses. Well, that's nice, but that's not how the entertainment business works. Case in point: A couple years back, I saw some article talking about how movie studios were more enthusiastic about big, expensive blockbusters than they were about small, independent films. The reason is that the big-dollar flicks tended to be a safer investment. If you spend a ton of money on big-name actors, big-name directors, flashy special effects, and promote it out the wazoo, chances are that people will come and see your movie, at least for a week or two. In the end, a big-dollar movie will be profitable more often and on a bigger scale than a smaller flick, strange as it may seem. And that kind of world is alien to the green visor-wearing beancounters on Elm Street in downtown Dallas. Just imagine how they would've tried to make War of the Worlds. In the entertainment business in general and the sports business in particular, you gotta have sizzle to get people in the door. But that requires spending money on something that doesn't really have an immediate return, so it's an anathema to the beancounters at HSG.
I've heard from several people this morning that War of the Worlds was an absolutely horrible film. Tom Cruise has lost his mind and he and Spielberg apparently just tarnished their names further with an all-action, no story, no plot, no dialogue type of film that is just painful to watch (so I've been told by several people). I guess it's ok if you're happy with just watching special effects and CGIs or whatever and don't care about other film elements. I digress You are correct that HSG just isn't willing to "spend money to make money". I guess they don't realize just how much they're supposed to spend in order to reap the benefits of that expenditure. Perhaps Uncle Phil needs to have a little fireside chat with Massah Lamar and give him a few pointers.
Let's set the record straight. First off, this has been a great discussion. Second, I think the majority of the issue with the Merz article (I generally like the job he does) is that one hand he is calling Andrulis out for the lack of the wins in the east and then on the other hand, he IS defending Greg by stating that it's not his fault that players are getting red cards, or missing pk's. Third, the nice guys finish last, while may be appropriate in Greg's case, is rubbish. Greg isn't taking the fall for anything other than a lack of tactical skill in managing a soccer team at the pro level. The problem is that you can't "call out" a guy and say he's not getting the job done, and then say he's not getting the job done because the player's aren't doing their jobs and that it's not his fault. I understand that GA can't run "Rudy" out there for inspiration when it's time for a pk. But you know what, we've missed 80% of the pk's we've had this year. The league has missed collectively 10%. Something is amiss in Crew camp. And it did appear that Kyle was trying to get a Red card. But why? What could possibly be so bad, that he didn't want to play the rest of the game (oh wait, he was probably being subbed like in every other match), or the next game? There are underlying problems that exist on this team, and each one invariably leads back to the coaching staff.
Do you really think he was trying to get ejected? It looked to me like another half-assed challenge by a player with little to no defensive skills. It also appeared, by his reaction, that he had forgotten that he got the first yellow.
If you can't remember that you've already got one yellow in a game, then you don't belong outside of the special olympics league.