Yanks Abroad poster decorum.

It's not always clear you mean the post and not the poster. If you give a reason for disagreeing, that carries more weight and less flame.

 

Absolutely, and sometimes I just decide to have some fun when someone pushes. Problem is that I realize my viewpoint is probably coming from a completely different angle than most on these boards considering my background.

My opinions may also be a bit ahead of the curve and I make them fairly strongly. Most don't like that, especially when I'm questioning status quo or a US player. The reason I put up my list is because I did make them way ahead of the curve, but this comes more from my corporate background and years of experience. A lot of things are easy for me to see. Just a lot more experience at a high level making big decisions.
Can't do that successfully unless you can read situations (and signs) early...and often.

This goes against the "kids", emotional types, patriotic types, etc.
Have only had real issues with two posters who it seems many others have had issues with also, and I admit that when it starts it's all about fun to me at that point. Nothing else. Pure entertainment and how I can get the biggest bang for my buck. Is this fair to others on the board...probably not, but I stress again that this is only an internet board. IMO of course that doesn't mean that much.

I'll say it again, BS is a lot of fun, but anyone who comes on here and takes it to seriously needs to turn off the computer and find another hobby for a while.
As I have said many times, "I know I'm an idiot - what's you're point?" Just doesn't matter.

Last word - I'll stay away from the sitcom stuff from now on. Has grown old anyway.

I do however believe that you don't want to stifle this board. Can be very dangerous to try and force people to act a certain way. We've got enough of that going on now...BS is a nice release from it.

Personal attacks are out . I agree...I be good boy.

 

I'd lump these two as being secondary to Kool-Ade drinkers of [a certain club in MLS] on the YA boards. Having witnessed these two personally, I'd say that the majority of the vitriol comes as a result of said Kool-Ade drinkers of [a certain club in MLS].
Dare to suggest that anyone who was ever associated with this club is anything less than superhuman? Watch the neg-reps and personal attacks pour in... Even some of the posters I normally respect fall over themselves trying to kneel and bob on the knobs of current/former associated figures of [a certain club in MLS].

[Raises Hand] Same here; Again due to the same Kool-Ade drinkers...

Actually, I rather enjoy these responses... These make the YA boards more entertaining. Well, the MOST entertaining are the child-like postings coupled with 3rd grade-level grammar.

Why not? Without A MODICUM of vitriol, YA would be bland. But some posters lack the self-esteem to differentiate between a valid critique of a player on which they have a man-crush, and "taking things personally."

Agreed...

And they will...

 

thank you for this post. i could not agree more.

 

No, they're not.

You make awful long posts for someone who doesn't care because it's only an internet message board.

 

I enjoy the board and it's fun. That's why I post.

I don't really care if someone attacks me or makes comments about me, assumptions, etc. Why should I? It's an Internet board. About that I don't care. You got it.

If you want to look up my responses and dates...feel free. I have seen others do it, and if you want to show me up then go try. Will not be able to. Prove me wrong if it's that important to you that you have to disagree.
At least when others have called BS on someone they have proven it.
Again...feel free to try.

Very typical post from you, but I've grown bored.

Just promised the moderator I'd give this part of the game up because it's not interesting anymore.

Before you go off half cocked, I said I've grown bored with this stuff, not saying you are...OK.

Again, prove me wrong. Wanna lay a little cash? PM me. I'm serious. Not talking small $$$ either. Set the rules and find a middle man for da cash.

See, now this could be interesting.

 

Point taken mr. John, bad choice of words. Though now that the thread's been delee'ed, I'm not sure if I ever said stupid - sorry if I did, though I do think the premise was silly. Vive le decorum!

 

I'm not sure why you think I'd be interested in interacting with you more than the 6 total sentences I've ever said to you.

edit: That makes 7

 

Peace.

We'll see. I'm probably wrong that Wolff will never start a serious national team game again. Bruce is conservative that way. But very few games, I expect. Close enough so that my argument will be essentially correct.

Such is my prediction.

 

Why do you then?

Why do you make statements you can't prove?

 

Thanks for your efforts to change the tenor in this forum.

 

While I commend Taylor for the memories and his waxing eloquent over the past, in terms of civility, I just don't see what the big deal is. IT seems to me that there are two components to an argument/discussion. 1. the facts and reasons profferred in the argument, and 2. the emotion in it.

Not being as confident in reasonableness as a good westerner in the 21st century should, I beleive there is a place for emotion, yelling, attacking, etc. I'm not sure that reason advances you further down the road to truth than does emotion. If you don't like it, skip it. It's no big deal, and there still is plenty of facts offered around here and civil discussions. Even if you don't like the arguing, it's well worth a visit here.


Then again, I'm a nutjob.

 

And p.s., avatars like Maxims are a far deeper, far more potent attack than stupid words on these boards. Really. Someone saying I'm stupid because of a yanks abroad opinion is far less bothersome than being force fed the face of greed and imperialism on a soccer board. Maybe I'll put Hitler in my avatar and come on here like Maxim and tell everyone to be nice.

 

but hitler wasn't a movie star...

 

i do agree that emotion has its place in a good argument... especially in soccer arguments. the life of a soccer fan is based on emotion.

emotion backed by coherence is ok. however, this forum has, at times, degenerated into pointless, repetative drivel. "cletus is fat" and "bobby is overrated" gets pretty ********ing old after the 500th time, i'm sure you would agree.

the examples above are precisely why i avoid the usa mens forum. i definately don't want my favorite forum turning into that hellhole.

 

Yeah ,but what if he finds out about paella and tapas?

 

Hey, I made a promise. Looking to have some fun is one thing. I'm done with it because it does get boring. Personally, I hold nothing against anyone for that. Depends on your poster and their mindset.

Making statements that can't be proven or backed up is another thing.
I stand by my original post on that.

Prove me wrong if you are going to question me or make a supposed "factual" statement. It's all been written down, so it's there for all to see.
Don't like me? OK. No biggie. Just don't make things up if your agenda is personnel.
Prove me wrong by showing the facts or don't respond. Very simple.

 

I think the disagreements arise from the new reality where Americans heading abroad are leaving with an established MLS resume. Whereby before many of the Americans heading abroad were unknowns, now most posters have seen the players enough to give an opinion (valid or otherwise). So, the familiarity breeds contempt phenomenon sets in.

Along with that is the competitive emotions of MLS. There are exceptions (DMB), but I build up a strong dislike for players of rival clubs, which isn't instantly eradicated after they move elsewhere.

What needs to happen more on here is for posters not to look upon a disagreement as if the other person is trying to take your manhood away. It seems a problem of ego, as much as anything. At least from my distant perspective.

 

This place is amazing really.

I for the most part agree with what taylor posted in his original post.

There is an extraneous element of heated mudslinging and sniping that goes around here, and it's tiring.

I am not faultless in that myself, nor will I claim to be, but I do think that when it comes to it there are many, many people around here that bring it to an absurd level.

Whether it is the latest episode of "The jri vs M Purse Fight" or the numerous people that continue with the "Mathis sucks!" or "Donovan is the American Ronaldinho" rants, there are many, many people who follow this subject with passion and with passion comes these types of "discussions".

Now taylor points back to the days when our pseudo-Yanks and 22 year old Brian McBrides of the era were a more peaceful time. Well, that's all we had! What was there to discuss or to debate?

Now, with several hundred guys over dozens of leagues, many players that have been developed from our domestic league that we watched from college or our youth teams accomplish many people have a hard time being partial, and that is what bugs ME the most.

And that is what lead me to my now infamous Cooper post, which has since been binned by Aris.

Now, what I had posted wasn't so much a "slam" on Kenny as it was an "enough is enough" directed to the england66@ whatever poster.

I will stand by that post. and here it is again below, directly from my cache.

As I have said many many times on BigSoccer, it is OK to admit that you are wrong. Not too many here will do that, no matter how obvious it is.

I will admit that my TONE was a bit overly harsh, but I will stand by my point. I will also admit fault that "Cooper is crap" was probably a poor choice of words. Perhaps a "Cooper has done crap" or "Cooper has proved nothing" would have been better.

BUT, IMO Cooper is NOT someone that will ever feature for the USMNT nor make an impact at any major level.

Am I not entitled to that opinion? Or should I be one of the people that makes every one of our YA's the next coming of _______ or make an excuse for them when they screw up or have failed.

Evidently, I was called out several time on that thread but had no opportunity to reply as it was binned.

I have seen Cooper play. I go to England several times per year. It costs me less than $50 to fly round trip from here to England. I make 2 or 3 trips a year to see Everton alone, and always make a point to catch a YA match, whether it is top-flight, reserves or otherwise.

I don't go and make random opinions without have an opportunity to have actually have come to that opinion.

My whole premise of the post was partially what taylor started this thread with.

It's damn annoying when the same people say the same stuff over and over and over and...all I was saying to that poster was basically "Stop making excuses for the kid, stop blaming the coaches, stop blaming his age, stop blaming everyone and everything EXCEPT Cooper for his lack of success and not fulfilling your now year-long prophecies.

When I said "I am sure that all the YA posters would like to see him do well also." That INCLUDES me. of COURSE I want Kenny to succeed. Of course I want to see our guys do well. But when they don't, or when they fail to live up to expectations I will certainly say so, and state my reasons why. Otherwise, what's the reason of a message forum in the first place?

If you are going to let numerous baseless slams over a players coach, or tactics, or somehow bash a totally unrelated player who plays a totally different position slide by without a comment, you sure and the hell can not get in a hissy fit when someone calls you out on it.

But I call a spade a spade, and don't have on my "ooooooh but he is signed my Man Yoooo" blinders, nor do I have a personal interest in someone because I have once met the brother of the girl who is dating the guy whose mom walks so-and-so's dog.

And that is objectivity.

However, evidently that thread turned into a big mess and I had no idea, as unlike some people, I don't have 15 hours a day to post on BigSoccer and hadn't made but one or two posts since then, although I do frequently check my PMs.

But a few people did PM me a few quotes. And gave me the run-down and how the whole thread turned into a heated battle over Y-A.com and then at the end towards my personal business.

Now that's just madness.

Like I just said, I don't spent all day on BS, but I have now answered this question above.

Then came this gem, which from what I understand got the whole ball running.

Whatever your personal thoughts are about Y-A.com, you are more than entitled to them. But, whatever my involvement in that site is had zero to do with my posting.

If you think that Y-A.com is a two-bit blog, that's great! However, for every person that has a negative opinion on the site, there are dozens that feel the opposite.

No, we are not the greatest writers in the world, none of us would ever say that.

But our effort, and the incredible amount of credibility that has been given to us by the players, the teams and other media has been something that myself, and the others involved are very, very proud of.

We don't make stuff up. We don't go through the web and find stories, re-write them and pawn them off as our own.

When we do a match report, it's not done via a matchtracker, nor watching on TV or listening on the radio. No, we are accredited to the Press Boxes, with our laptop computers and our tape recorders. We do the best we can, and we try to remain as partial as we can.

The teams and players have given us great access and support, they respect what we are doing, and for us that's enough. It's great to have a guy like Kasey Keller tell you thanks for going out of your way to talk to him or have Gooch personally give you a phone call to update you on stuff or to have the largest newspaper in Belgium ask for your permission to translate and re-print your article. Having Grant Wahl and the editor of SoccerAmerica compliment you is pretty cool also.

We've accomplished a lot and we're damn proud of it.

We aren't going away, and we're only going to get better at what we're doing. In any case we know we are appreciated by the site's visitors by the dozens of positive emails and notes we get sent each day. And that's it.

Now to try to end this long ass post....

Very true. I am not. I am too busy running my own business.

But from that post came some crap which was WAY out of line and had no business on this site, and Aris was right in binning the thread.

I am not going to name names, because I am bigger and more mature than that, but to the poster who went on the huge rant that led to the thread being binned, I will say this.

I now know who you are, and now understand why you always refused to tell me who you were on BigSoccer.

But to come on a public forum and try to tell the world false and blatant lies about a man's livelihood is, for lack of a better word, cowardly.

While we did have our professional differences, my business is THRIVING. I took my website down for one reason and one reason only. And it's not because I "was a total business failure" as you put it, no, rather, it was because I am a one man show, and by having my website up I was getting more work that I could handle.

If you call counting MLS, Hunt Sports, Sega, and Sports Interactive among others, as clients a "failure", then I aspire to fail more.

That was cowardly man, and you honestly should be ashamed. I know understand why you were ran off of BigSoccer once before (how is SoccerNova going btw?) and had to come back under your new username and why you are one of the most famous trolls on the whole site.

So if that's your acumen, rock on, and if you want to "taunt" me by putting my url in your signature...bhe..feel free.

But as an "olive branch", I'll make sure that your business, my ex-client, gets a nice banner ad on Y-A.com.

I'll close up this post, because I honestly feel that this thread was a result of myself, by saying this.

Not everyone here is "peachy" all the time. Not every picks up on everyone else's sarcasm all the time and we definitely are not always going to agree. Some of us can admit that we are wrong, some of us won't.

But in the end, we all have a passion for the same thing, and although sometimes from passion comes negativity, it's something that binds us all. How you choose to use that bond is up to you.

Cheers

-CW

 

www.ryanair.com

Not sure if you noticed taylor, I live in Italy, thus I use RyanAir out of Pisa, which is about 30 minutes from here....right now a round trip ticket costs 6 Euro

just for clarification, of the 25+ ppl involved with Y-A.com, only 7 are BS posters, and half of them had never even heard of BS.

 

Hear Hear. I root for them all. Even the ones who frustrate me. Like Mathis.