Not to take away from the MLS Supporter's Photo Thread but this article appeared on mlssoccer.com today. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/supporters-week-top-5-all-time-mls-tifo Nice of the them to recognise some of the stuff we do, but I get the feeling (just based on the comments alone) that there are a lot of other displays out there that may have been missed. So lets see your BEST.
The Dichio banner is probably the only one of ours I would submit, but this was was pretty good too. (although not even close to the 'best' of all time or anything)
I made this video at the beginning of last year featuring tifo and other displays... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVATuy75Js"]YouTube - MLS tifo displays[/ame] IMO, Chicago, Seattle, and DC are heads and shoulders above everyone else. Off the top of my head, the two best tifo's ever in MLS are Chicago's "City Flags" and Seattle's "The Boys From Seattle Are Back".
Even because of that, the Yoga tifo, and sadly the Jesus middle finger in Columbus , I'd still put TFC in there with Chicago, DC, and Seattle. Houston, well, they can be off and on, and it's debatable but at this time they'd be a tier below IMHO (but on the cusp of breaking in with the top four).
I would have to agree with your assessment. DC, Chicago and Seattle are the best, but we here in Toronto have our 'moments' too. And yeah the 'boys from Seattle are back' was pretty bad ass!
The Jesus middle finger wasn't really a 'tifo' but it did achieve the desired results of pissing a lot of people off.
I've always thought Chicago took MLS tifo to new heights after DC got the ball rolling. 1. The Chicago skyline tifo they did back in Soldiers Field. 2. The huge banner imported from Europe (Poland I believe) used at the opening of the new stadium. 3. The Chicago flag tifo. 4. The Mario Brothers tifo. 5. The red and white umbrellas.
Maybe this is coming from a biased perspective, but I think people don't give enough credit to the level of detail in the artwork/painting. That Yoda tifo wasn't all that impressive. Nor was the Dichio banner. The Dichio one was large and that is about it. Both lacked artistically. Size isn't everything. I think La Barra Brava's old displays proved that. They were visually stunning. Their "Fight for our colors" and "Heart of a Lion" displays were great. Regarding the Timber's Army Timber Jim display, I don't think it was as great as others seem to think The concept was great. Execution was ok, but visually it didn't impress me. The Timber Jim and Space needle looked like crap. The table rolls were bleh and having a lame ninja tifo go on at the same time off to the side with purple smoke? I liked the TA's Cascadia flag tifo and their large "Card" display with the Timbers logo in the middle. Those are both better than the Timber Jim cutting down the Space needle display and I think worthy of being in the discussion for best in MLS. And yes, I have no issue talking about TA's displays when talking about MLS displays. The Union Ultras have some cool looking overheads. I remember seeing a detailed grim reaper banner from Houston that looked nice. Don't remember which Houston Group made it. Houston also has that large as ******** orange black and orange overhead. Chicago had their huge banner that got lost:-/ And S8C also had the flare displays which looked pretty darn good. Here is a list of ECS displays. http://www.weareecs.com/media/tifo/displays/
I agree tHat some of the more 'artistic' banners don't get enough credit, but sometimes is less about that, and more about getting your message across. We made one decent size banner with a complex image on it and nobody knew what the ******** it was or what it was supposed to be. We simplified things for both the Dichio and yoda banner and both were very successful. If noone can read what it says or figure it out, the overall message is lost no? (not saying that is the case with yours, we've just tried to keep our stuff simple)
Not a big fan of the Boys From Seattle banners b/c the inclusion of the fan silhouettes. Who is the banner for?
im perplexed that ECS got credit for that Davies display when it was merely me and koolkeith who suggested to Drew Carey that a show of support would be cool. That is basically all we did. nothing more. we had no hand in that display (if you even call it a display). But then again i guess this is why they think the FO funds our tifo. unfortunately this is not the case. These are our tifos made by ourselves and funded by ourselves: http://www.weareecs.com/media/tifo/displays/ End of story.
To be honest DC got rollin after a game in Soldier Field, 2004 I think. They did 3 different things in 1 game (2 overheads, rolls, bunch of 2 poles) and lit fire under my ass to move bit faster lol. I still got some pictures from that match, http://bastaic.com/s8c/, that was science fiction as far as adding color to rest of country at the time. It's subjective list like all so can't discuss tastes. Seattle tho has done plenty objectively way better actions than 9s (wasn't that FO doing it anyway so it shouldn't be on list) Our tifo crew has done shitload over the years (and one every game second half last season as DU) so can't pick just one personal favorite but I guess Benny Lion one is up there since it worked out nice with him getting to play last 10 mins of that game too.. probably due to display
the concept of tellin the team that "we are with you and behind you all the way" does not come to your mind? Supporter logos, faces, imagery make it onto tifo all the time. This is a great tifo as it sends a concise clear message. Should have heard the uniting roar this tifo brought to Qwest field when it went up. It charged our boys and our fans to support for a Full90.
It's a pretty good message, and Seattle really does have some good Tifo. Overall, not as good as ours, but still some of the best in MLS.
Wow. The Cascadia Summit really worked! Hugs all around! I'm someone that is not in any supporter group and just likes looking at them. I loved the Chicago Mario one, and the Timber Jim space needle one also. I thought the one United fans did at the Open Cup final was awesome. I thought the ECS Opening night one with Thor was great, just because of the detail in the drawing. Impressive stuff all around.
This is one of my personal favorites, from before DC United's Open Cup Final victory against Charleston in 2008. Then again, I'm also swayed by the way this particular photo captures the team in front of the display, and Nike's conveniently placed "Take It to the Next Level" advertisement below the display.
Forgot about this one, another good display. You have a good pic or video of the Fight for our Colors display?
I've asked this before, is there a way to safely raise paint off fabric so that the fabric could be re-used? (thus saving money)
And we almost made it out of the stadium with that one. If not for Crew Stadium security, Hey-Zeus would be making a yearly appearance @ TFC/Crew games.
Not really an answer to your question, but we actually planned on reusing the Dichio banner plastic. The paint stuck long enough for the display but could be easily taken off. Unfortunately things didn't work out as planned and it had to be thrown out. But I don't think you'll be able to get paint out of fabric. On another note, I've always thought the Chicago Fire megabandera was one of the best banners in MLS history. Shame their FO 'lost' it. Its great that more teams and supporters are interested in tifo. I can't wait to see what Portland comes up with this year. I just came back from a session prepping our display for the home opener.