Greddy is right. The Capo never leads YSA. Mostly, they try to keep the chant going so that we can pick up after YSA ends. People have quite a lot of fun doing it, though, and I'm not sure how we can stop them. It is not official policy in any way. Honestly, if you don't want your kids hearing the word "a-hole" then you'd better not take them to a sporting event. I assume most of these kids have played youth soccer, so they've probably heard worse from parents on the sidelines at those games. And for the record, "a-hole" is the only profanity the section regularly yells--and it's pretty mild at that. If individual Section 8'ers would prefer not to swear, they can always insert the goalies name in the chant, i.e. "You suck Rimando!"
Or just not say anything at all, which is what I do. I'll save my throat for something a little more worthwile, like the other 89 minutes of the game when we're singing.
I will personally lead this chant every game if needs be. We should not change any of our chants ever.
Except the "Here we go, here we go" one, because it's obviously not working. We NEVER score on corner kicks.
the ysa chant was partially what made me to beg my dad to take me to more fire games. And wow if you cant allow your kids to hear a swear word 5 times in a 90 minute period of time, they are too sheltered. If you wanted to hear something worse, the "F--- you cobi" chant that time when LA came to the old SF was pretty bad, but awesome at the least. Just tell all your kids that they are really saying: YOU SUCK AT GOAL.
Personally, the chant makes me snicker. I don't sit in section 8, and I think the thread starter makes a pretty valid point. Just because most of you are so comfortable and familiar with 'colorful language' does not mean every 7 year old is running around telling their AYSO goalies they are a-holes. As a father of some very small children, they often repeat what they hear with no sense of what they are saying, or of the context they are in. It is totally appropriate for a parent to not want to voluntarily expose thier children to even so mild of language. The strongest argument that the thread starter makes is that he has personally experienced folks NOT coming to a Fire game, SOLELY because of YSA. Ultimately - that is probably not so good. I find it interesting that a couple of old-timers just find it tired. I was not surprised at the knee-jerk responses at first - par for the course around here. I also know nothing will change. So, I'll continue to snicker, and evidently some folks will continue to not come.
I do not think the entire world is supposed to be appropriate for seven year olds. The minute seven year olds themselves are buying their own tickets, then I think we should ponder our behavior in light of seven year olds. A companion of mine has a metric he uses, that while I don't completely agree with, has some merit. If the item in question, be it restaurant, sporting event, what have you serves liquor, then quite clearly, it's purpose in life is ADULT ENTERTAINMENT. Things that are not appropriate for children can and will happen, we deal with them as best we can, but trying to assume that this place is supposed to be child friendly from the word go is a non-starter.
We do have problems on corner kicks. We also have a problem with free kicks too. "Here we go" on corner kicks was never a tradition until last season I think. Maybe we should try "fire go"
I can't believe we are doing this again. First and formost it's just a fvcking world. It's a$$hole. It's not a big deal AT ALL. It's a word. It only takes on meaning if you are stupid enough to let it. But I'm completely aware that there are more stupid people in this world then not so stupid people. It's something we have to all (stupid and not so stupid people alike) live with every day. So..moving on...YSA is not an organized chant. It can stop whenever people don't want to do it. I don't do it. I keep chanting whatever we were already chanting. I think it's stupid because it's been copied by too many people and it isn't special at all. I don't care either way about the word a$$hole. It's just a fvcking word. But, anyway, it isn't like section 8 is actively trying to preserve this incredibly offensive, world changing chant. People who come to the section seem to want to do it so they do it. End of story. Other people aren't going to run around with bats and clong people over the head for doing it. "Hey! That's offensive to somebody somewhere so knock that off you mean, evil person you" *THWACK* I wish someone would come up with something better for goal kicks and it could be original and fun to sing. If it was good enough it would take over for YSA. But the fact is that nobody has come up with anything and YSA stays. If someone is so damn worried about 1) come up with something better that is good enough to catch on 2) come to section 8 and do it, get your friends to do it and make it the new thing to do. That will serve to get rid of YSA. Failure to do anything else is just bitching into the wind.
then by your definition, this discussion is of merit. because what is being discussed is your behavior in light of the parents of seven-year-olds, and those are precisely the ones who are buying the tickets.
I think we should do YSA when we take corner kicks at the south end. That way the goalie is distracted when someone is attacking against his goal. I bet it would work better there. Sometimes the goalie will shank a kickoff, at least partially because of the YSA chant, but screwing up on a corner would be much, much better.
No, you ran right past it. When a seven year old is buying a ticket to a Fire match, then I will think about addressing any of my behaviors in light of having a seven year old present. If a PARENT wants to bring their KID to an event, it is the PARENTS responsibility to make sure it's appropriate for the kid, and handle anything that might come up that is troubling for the kid....NOWHERE is it the events responsibility. PARENTS do not have the right to PUSH the responsibilities of raising their kid onto us. If they have a problem, they SHOULD stay home. If *you* have a problem, perhaps you should stay home, too.
Then why do I keep getting kicked out of church for trying to attend communion in a leather thong and paisties? I stop after YS at chant time. More because I don't actually think that Kevin Hartman or Jon Busch actually are ass-holes. I'll occasionally throw the A in for a guy like Garlick if he's time-wasting. This discussion won't go anywhere here, but it is a valid concern. The thread starter is talking about lost revenue. The response that it's not our job to raise their kids is not well thought out. By the same token, one should feel free to masturbate outside the fence at kindergarten recess and then blame the teachers for having the kids out there to witness it. From my experience with the local authorities, that argument doesn't go very far. At some point, Section 8 will become a PG section, since Guppy will likely decide that family friendly is more important than fanatic friendly. That's probably the reason for the new set of announcements at the start of each half. Remember that PW will not be around in an official capacity for BV. I'd say it is time for at least the A in YSA to go away.
Actually, this is what isn't well thought out. There being actual laws in place about masturbating in public would land you in trouble whether there were children present or not. It is not society's job to make itself sanitary for children. Hypersensitive, myopic and clue-challenged people are often popping up with a "we need to make *this* safe for children, we need to make *that* safe for children". It's all variations of one of the core diseases in this country....people unable to accept responsibility for themselves. It is a parent's job to make their child's environment appropriate for the kid (and as a corollary, prepare the kid for the environment). That job belongs to no-one else and if you are not prepared to accept that responsibility, it is in the best interest of you and your possible progeny that you stay out of attempting to dabble in the gene pool. It's not like someone is in kid's faces at the stadium screaming every expletive known to man....it's one mild word. Worrying about the terribly damaging effects of this word is buffoonery. We have people posting to these boards every month with theories about why folks don't come.....the bottom line is if you make the environment unfriendly to the group of folks who have proven they WILL come, you are trading a sure thing for a pipe dream. Now, what church do you attend that serves beer? Sounds like one of the few demoninations worth thinking about.....
at no point did i suggest that I had a problem with it. but this is the crux of the whole discussion. for some folks it is more important to be able to yell "you suck, a$$hole", without regard as to how it affects the fire's overall support than it is for them to consider that it might be in the club's better interest if they didn't. of course, this is predicated on the notion that more people buying tickets is in the club's better interest. some may argue that multiple soccer mom's and 8-year-olds are of lesser value than one screaming section 8er. the bean-counters certainly wouldn't; but i'll gladly admit that there are things more important than the bottom line - particularly things that deal with the culture of the club. that said, where the ability to yell "you suck, a$$hole" without criticism lies in any fan's prioritization of club interests, is up to the individual, himself, no?
Dear Chicago Fans, Please keep doing exactely what your doing, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. YSA is great, and these kind of chants are what fuels the passion of the game. If your corporate family-oriented bimbos want family friendly, tell them to go see a WUSA game. (Oh, wait. That's what happens when you have 0 atmosphere games). In SJ, we go "F U B!tch" instead of YSA, and it definatly rattles away goalkeepers. Keep it up.
This bit reminds me of that Saturday Night Live sketch where Dan Akroyd was the CEO of a company marketing bags of broken glass to kids. To get back to the discussion about people taking responsibility for their own families, that is precisely what the parents who allegedly refuse to return to Fire games are doing. So what we have here are two groups of people, apparently: one that refuses to go outside if there is swearing there, and another that refuses to leave the house if they can't swear outside. While you or I are not in either of these groups, which one represents a greater inflow of revenue with less security concerns for Fire management? Maybe the chant should change to You Suck Cock, since that is much more sanitary than sucking assholes. As for the liquor at church thing, there's this small denomination with a headquarters in Rome that occcasionally uses wine in its rituals.
Yah, heard of them.....been a member my whole life. Attended church for 30+ years. They don't serve wine. There's this thing called the Transubstantiation. It's part of the CORE dogma. If you're not a believer, why do you go? As for which group represents what.....there is a group of folks who have proven for 8 years that they will buy tickets. Court other fans at their expense at your own peril Stupid business decision.
if you think the 'fueled passion' of section 8 is great now, you should have seen it when they weren't the only few thousand people in the stadium. frankly, i think the give and take of "who's the best?!" "fire!" between 20,000+ throughout old soldier field rather topped these days' "you suck, a$$hole!" bellowed at one keeper and 60,000 empty seats - but, to each his own. ok. it's not fair to blame the empty stadium on that chant. but what i'm talking about is how section 8 contributes to the atmosphere of the whole stadium - not just section 8. look. we all (i presume) wish for more fans to come out. and i'll be the first to agree that if a potential ticket-buyer has unreasonable expectations of the rest of us, then "maybe you should just stay home" is a reasonable response. for example, if someone said "i'd come out to fire games if only those people sitting on the south end would sit down and quit making so much noise", i'd agree that "maybe he should just stay home". but i'd say it because, after weighing the contribution of his ticket against that of standing and singing/shouting, i had concluded that the latter was worth more than his $20. now, if people are weighing the YSA chant against the unknowable revenue and potential additional atmosphere created by a bigger crowd, and concluding "hey, it's not worth giving it up for that", well, i can't argue, can i? but i very much prefer this to a kneejerk reaction of 'f off' without taking a moment to consider the pros and cons. for that reason, i think this is a worthwhile thread, whether it has any effect on the usage of that particular chant or not.
If anyone questions the importance of section 8 to the fire experience, they can only look back to the 8 minutes we were absent in the home opener this year. The stadium was a complete morgue. If we are ever censored it will be a sad day.