If Eurosnobs Know anything bout american sports landscape they should know that single table doesnt work... actually it would put american soccer in a new low. more teams would fold under single table. its best to have conferences/divisions because its keeps the season interesting and competitive. singletable doesnt do that.
How about this: You crown the ECC and WCC based on the regular season standings(like the penant in baseball) and the playoffs are all wild card spots. That acceptable?
I have read your blog about this however I have to disagree with renaming it just so we americans can figure it out. I love football(soccer) and all its glorious history. One could easily learn football verbage by watching, reading, or talking to football fans...I like the traditional names like fc and wish we had a Detroit FC..what I cant stand is the cartoonish way MLS has proceeded with stupid names like Dynamo and Crew... I am glad to see MLS moving toward traditional football but it has a long way to go..I watch the MLS but love the EPL. I no longer refer to football as football I refer to it as the NFL or College Football. We americans tend to ruin sports by changing them such as hockey...we need more goals we need penalty shootouts...its all b.s. anyway thats all I have to say for now. I have started my own blog please take a look http://pitchassfootball.blogspot.com
Bullshit...you can have a league champion and then a top 6 playoff competition for another trophy.....we Americans tend to ruin great products because we need to build false excitment to try and garner the millions of ADD sports minded fans we have here......see Hocky before when it was a great game and see hocky now americanzed for the imbisols taht couldnt understand the game before with all the fighting and low scoring games...now there is no fighting, and alot of goals, but none of the heart it once had.
Maybe you should check out the AHL. I'm a season ticket holder for the Aeros and they are constantly fighting and having high-scoring games...of course they tend to be on the wrong side of those scores
I call for the abolition of those damn plastic horns and thundersticks!!!! I try to do my own small part to make better American soccer fans and call on others to do the same... Every thurs. night I go to my sports bar, sit at the bar and get the bartender to turn on the MLS game. I get involved and cheer loudly which always spawns a 'why are you watching soccer' type conversation with those around me. You don't need to explain the intricacies of the game, just point out some finer moments. Usually ,my new friends gain at least a tolerance if not acceptance of american soccer. One fan at a time
It wouldn't hurt to follow the sport (if you're not doing so already) year around. Downloading podcasts and watching soccer helps build perspective and interest. Finding paralels in similar younger leagues brings issues into perspective in many ways. The fact is nobody here can dictate what the MLS does or doesn't do. We all have good ideas. Eurosnob or not. However, as fans of MLS franchises, we have an obligation to build this sport up in any way we can, how ever way we can. American soccer needs its own culture. Even if that means borrowing from other soccer cultures from the world.
I agree 100%.. As a society(soccer in North America) its up to us on how we support our leagues and National Teams. We cannot worry bout other people or try to immulate other leagues, A true Fan of MLS and of MLS teams and of American Style of Soccer will stick around.
The thing I fear as tradition may become commercialized garbage that wereactual fed instead of natural....for example tailgating is natural...chanting the same slogan at each sporting event "Lets Go Red Wings clap ,clap, clap-clap-clap", "Lets Go Pistons clap ,clap, clap-clap-clap"is produced garbage. I heard there is singing in college football- I have never been to a game-but I just want us to borrow things and make our own traditions and keep the dull corporate slogans found in every other American sport out.
Soccer is not new in this country. A professional soccer league in this country is also not a new concept. Creating a soccer culture that thrives and is respected is something that is still in the evolution stages. This is my opinion. I also don't think copying other soccer cultures (Euro/Mex/Argie/Ger/Ita/Spa/?) is a bad thing. In the long term, this issue will get resolved as the MLS grows. In respect to Chivas USA, for example, we have anti-Galaxy fans, Guadalajara fans, "soccer junkies", and Euro transplants that frequent our games. From my perspective, we, the Chivas USA-only fans, have to galvanize support for our team ANYWAY we can. This means accepting input from all these types of fans and creating support as best we can. We are still a work in progress, but believe me when I tell you that the MLS fans here in Southern California are not the same as Columbus or Chicago or Houston. We may not fill the Home Depot Center, but you can sure as hell hear our fans outside the stadium for 90 minutes every game. So, mixing and matching ideas can be constructive even someone calls you a Eurosnob or copycat. This league will not grow without hardcore fans. Like I said, just my 2 cents.
I disagree any one who thinks of any of that about american sports fans dont really like sports period or really just dont know what they are talking bout.... overall Right now soccer doesnt really have alot of fan appeal here in the US, But its steadily growing and developing like it should, Fans are fans wither they sit the whole game or constantly screaming they are fans. some people dont need to judge other sports fans just because especially when the have no idea.... It would be nice if MLS can try to appeal soccer more to American people and not just hope that the foreigners are going to do it for them.
Euro and copycating is also questionable, who wants to copy something that not original, at the same time whats wrong with being unique, i dont see any thing rong with the D# or the Wave or any thing else that are distinct in american sports culture and its nothing wrong with that in soccer(NASL) MLS has not captured it yet, they still need to learn how.
I think our forefathers set a perfect example of taking the ideas of others and making them American. The Declaration of Independence is based on many of the ideas that were first developed in England and France. Google search, "Age of Enlightenment" "John Locke" "Jean Jaques Rousseau" Forgive me for the history lesson, I teach social studies when I'm not posting on big soccer. The point that I'm trying to make is that we can copy now, I think, and mix our existing types of fan support (from other sports) to create a something uniquely American. Personally, I think its getting there in the MLS.
You bring a good arguement, Also Historically we have or expectly to "lead the way" or set the example, when it came to several things inspired and applied.... Does the world want or need for soccer to be a success in the USA? Does the world Care, Do Americans care? Can cant MLS be unique and different, no bodies complaining about Mexicos format or theyre fans or how their national team plays games here in the US just as much if not more than our own USMNT. Soccer in America has a indentity crisis, also conflicts of interest within.
Personally, I think only idea #2 has any merit. Number three isn't really a problem in MLS. Here's the thing: we need to stop being a community divided into camps like Europhile and Amerophile. We're all soccerphiles. If it irritates you that your soccer fan neighbor says "pitch" and "footie", YOU'VE got the problem, not him. And, if you want soccer to be more accepted in this country, you've got to be proud of it, even the not-so-occasional foreignness of it. Instead of ridiculing your British-talking buddy, just be thankful that he's a fan, unlike most people, and invite him out for a kick around. And, just FYI, for a lot of Americans who get most of their soccer news and discussion from British sources, it's terms like 'cleats', 'PK', and heck, 'soccer', that start to sound foreign. If the Brit equivalents come out in conversation, it doesn't necessarily mean that they Hate America(tm).
Ah Kot why dont you tell the eurosnobs that, do you really think they have Americas best interest when it comes to soccer? ... Steve cohen doesnt think so. the 2gs dont think so.
I don't have a problem with with "footie" jargon. I DO have a problem with being corrected by some douchebag for not using it. I'm gonna say "cleats" and "field" and "jersey". I also say "kit" and "boots", but I would never, ever say "footie", that word sounds stupid anyway. Basically, I get annoyed by those terms because usually those terms only come out of the mouths of people I meet who don't watch FIRE games because MLS "lacks quality".
Honestly, I could care less what the world thinks of our support for soccer in this country. We need to worry our teams and "bring it" at the games. I get my daily soccer fix from the BBC, The Gaurdian, and WSD podcasts. I use to listen to ESPNdeportes radio. I no longer do so because of the lack of respect for the MLS. Republica Deportiva on Univision has more love for the MLS than the clowns on ESPNdeportes radio. Footie? LOL! Futbol!
Fair enough, of course if some d-bag tries to correct you, it's because he's a d-bag and probably has nothing at all to do with his level of devotion to the English game. If he liked baseball, he'd probably correct you for not saying 'spikes'.
Well, I guess that's my problem. I really don't know anybody I would consider a Eurosnob. I've met a number of futbol fans in Kansas City, not at Wizards' games either, and even though everybody was a fan of some south-of-the-border or Euro club, they were all respectful of MLS and said that they would like to go to a game sometime. I felt that every one of them was very nearly an MLS supporter, and the right approach could put them over the edge. If we want to talk about who has the best interests of soccer in America in mind, I'd put my money on the Stephen Cohens and other so-called Eurosnobs being better for the game than the masses of NFL, MLB, etc. fans who couldn't care less about soccer and wouldn't mind a bit if the game disappeared forever. At least the Eurosnobs like the game and want the quality of it in the US to go up, and for it to get bigger.
As an American in todays society....instead of taking the things that our beautiful about the EPL and its followers and historic "football" termonology...we have to convert it to make it American...oh we cant sing at the games cause thats british....we cant call the field a pitch thats british....there was a time as mentioned in another post when we could adopt things or make them american...but those times are gone because we live in the world of the us dollar and we have to be told whats hot and whats not and what the worst week ever is....what are corporate nonsense has done and continues to do is ruin Americas traditional games so that the game itself is secondary to huge sponsors and tv revenue and short rehearsed chanting ....it all bullshit...the EPL is so refreshing in that way to me....I hope young americans like myself get their head out of there ass and see this country is being ruined from the inside and they do something about it.