To Fans From The REST OF THE MLS!! DevilDave, a Metros fan, said it very well: I would add, not just an insult to the Quakes, but to the entire league. To visitors to this forum, especially fans of other MLS teams, I would like to invite you to join us in our efforts to keep the club identity intact. Please join us by emailing tonyh01 at tonyhuston@comcast.net Your information will be kept confidential, and hidden in all emails to the group. Thanks for joining in.
I'd also like to add: What kind of message is this to the kids who will be the long-time supporters of soccer in this country? Success on the field means your team identity is up for sale? Dad: We're going to see our team play the defending champs today. 10-yr-old: I thought the Earthquakes won last year, didn't they? Dad: Well they did, but the new owners changed their name. 10-yr-old: Why? Dad: Because... just because you do your best, it's no guarantee that some corporation won't make you change your identity. **** That's kind of weird, isn't it? Changing the name of the Cup winner is very strange message to send to the core fans of the league, as well as to casual sports fans. It would seem to say: the league isn't really very serious about itself. What other league would take its champ, not some also-ran, and change an identity that its fans actually love?
      I'll add what I wrote in another thread...       ... so that everyone realizes that this is not an "anti-Mexican" issue, but an issue of keeping the team's identity intact.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
To Fans From The REST OF THE MLS!! I agree completely with the above. I don't care what country/club/company it is that takes over. I just want to remain the SJ Earthquakes with our colors, logo, name, players, staff and loyal fans. Is that too much to ask? I even love cozy Spartan Stadium where everybody knows your name (well, they don't know mine but that's OK also...it's cool seeing familiar faces and high fiving with others when we score a goal).
Now I expect a lot of fans from other MLS cities to start calling you guys racist or stupid. Or uclacarlos or other galaxy fans will say, don't you understand? MLS will gain millions of dollars. Just a warning in advance.
FQ: You may be right but I don't think 99.9% of the people here care about race or nationality. Speaking for myself and I suspect others: I would be happy with a Mexican investor/operator (or German, or Japanese, or English, etc.); I'd be happy a team with some Mexican senior internationals. But I wouldn't be happy with: 1) Changing the team's name or 'branding' ESPECIALLY after winning the Cup 2) Disbanding a team just to get Mexican players aboard, ESPECIALLY after winning the Cup 3) Throwing away the support of the core fans who have stuck with the team through years of MLS mismanagement, only to have the management scrapped once it got its act together, ESPECIALLY after winning the Cup. Success by any measure is not easy. The franchise has finally made a connection with Northern California fans beyond its loyal core. Let's not throw it away on ill-conceived, misguided changes.
Has it been stated that if America do take over the Earthquakes they would want to change the name? If Club America wanted to take over the team but leave it the San Jose Earthquakes, it wouldn't matter right? Don't you think that if MLS and Club America are in negotiations that MLS is asking for this consideration? I can't imagine MLS would allow the renaming of the Earthquakes.
Here is the article from Sunday's SJ Mercury: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/soccer/7684672.htm Teuffer also said the Earthquakes' name would be changed to ``America.'' Regarding that, Garber said, ``We could look at that at some point, but that is probably impossible for this year.'' Garber implies that although a name change will not happen this year, it is open for discussion for future seasons. This is why Quakes fans are up in arms.
My sentiments exactly B. I really hope if and when CA becomes I/O, that they really consider keeping the name and WHY it should be kept. When are we going to find out what happens? Tomorrow? I read in one of the Spanish articles that things would be finalized by tomorrow's draft. Is that true?
Well, you should have checked out the Chicago boards when the story broke that CA was going there. Their posts read the same as ours do. I know they understand how we feel, and would probably back us up in everyway possible.
Hey Tony, I'm planning to give a link to this thread on the ESPN MLS board. Also, I've been posting about this topic there for the past 2-3 days. http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/espn/request.dll?LIST&room=soccer_mls It's a bit dead board compared to BigSoccer. But still whatever extra exposure we can get from all MLS community, the better. There're few other threads I've found, but they appear somewhat dead. I don't have logins into those, but I can look into it. http://www.ussocceruk.com/USsoccerUK_Forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=1314&posts=35 http://www.ussocceruk.com/USsoccerUK_Forum/forum-view.asp?forumid=20 Let me know if getting email from these random sources would be OK with you. I'm assuming it should, but just want to double check. Once again, thanks for taking up this effort.
OK, done! http://boards.go.com/cgi/espn/request.dll?MESSAGE&room=soccer_mls&id=44112 http://www.ussocceruk.com/USsoccerUK_Forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=1314&start=36 http://www.ussocceruk.com/USsoccerUK_Forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=1335&posts=1 http://www.ussocceruk.com/USsoccerUK_Forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=1336&posts=1
I posted Tony's e-mail and basic message over on the MatchNight Forum. There are a couple of handfuls of Quakesfans over there, though many of them (me included) also surf here. http://forums.matchnight.com/categories.cfm?catid=24 Is Soccer American Graffitti still up and running? GO QUAKES!! - Mark
I am very much against the possibility of the Quakes' name being changed also. The problems that the Quakes have had over the years with putting paying fans in the seats will not go away with yet another name change. The problem, which seems to not be much of a problem anymore if the end of last season is any indication of future attendeance, will only worsen, as any fans that the Quakes have picked up over the past 3 seasons will turn their backs on something which is no longer theirs. My question to you is: How is sending you my email address going to help? Wouldn't your efforts best be served by initiating a letter writing campaign to Garber/MLS HQ? Cheers, O.
i didn't really visit this board much when the clash changed their name to the earthquakes, but was there as much outrage then?
No outrage, mostly joy. It was a return to the name of the beloved San Jose NASL team of the 70's and 80's. Even had some of the same admininstrative folks involved. "Clash" befuddled, bemuzzed and flommoxed most everyone.
Yes, a letter writing campaign is a good way to get your point across. Another way is to try and get as many people together as possible in order to obtain one big collective voice that is working together. It also allows us to determine a course of action as a large group with the same goals and arguments. Each individual is encouraged to write their own letters to Garber if they wish. However, in numbers we can focus our efforts as a group into the most affective places. Coming together as a group gives us the opportunity to act quickly on any developments, as well as providing us the ability to take a proactive approach once we have information that is based on facts (not rumors). Anyway, I feel it's important to assemble a group of people who are against some of these things so we can be more organized and structured in our efforts. Individuals can do a lot, but a large group of people can have a very strong voice. Large numbers can speak volumes. If one person at a time came by to protest some place for whatever reason, they would be heard. But, the protest would have more of an impact if you had those individuals backed up by a large group of protestors. Suddently people would take more notice, because you have an organized group working together to achieve something. Sorry for the ramble.....
Hey thanks! I appreciate that. Yes, I've got great protection. Plus I have some tracking software in case somebody decides to do something like that. So, I'm not worried as I'll be able to track it down pretty quickly if that were to happen. I was a tech guy for many years before getting laid-off over and over and over again.
      Bajoro is correct, and here is a further explanation by spejic (originally found here) on how the "Clash" to "Earthquakes" name-change came about, and why most fans here embraced it:       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
There're a number of other forums I've found. But I probably don't have the bandwidth to subscribe to them all. If any of you're on these, could you please get the word out? The more people we reach, the better. http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/Rec...MLS)/Teams/San_Jose_Earthquakes?show_groups=1 http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/Rec...agues/Major_League_Soccer_(MLS)?show_groups=1 Also, markmcf8, I went around looking in the Matchnight forums, but didn't find your post. Is it in the Quakes forum or the general MLS one?
I even had people tell me, "They changed the name back to the Earthquakes? Now, I'll go!" That is the kind of loyalty that the name commands.