theamplifiedman (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} theamplifiedman) wrote,@ 2008-05-25 16:30:00 |
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Why Crew Fans Suck
I love soccer. It's something genetic or built into my familial background or something, because it's an interest in sports I never really had a chance to exercise until Elaine and I got digital cable, when all of the sudden I had access to all of the Columbus Crew games.
To all of you non-soccer fans, the Columbus Crew is the local football team. ("Football" as in "soccer", not "American football," a game which I have more and more loathing for as time passes.) They were around when the MLS was founded, and they have, for the past three years, sucked hard. In a league with fourteen teams and ten spots in the playoffs, the Crew has not made the playoffs for the last three years. That's bad. However, the Crew are now on the top of the league, with 6 wins, 2 losses and one tie. That's good.
Our newly revived team means a newly revived fanbase as well. That's bad.
You see, the Crew fans took a bit of a trick from the Toronto FC fans (who are certifiably crazy, but in a good way) and started throwing colored streamers onto the field when the opposition took a corner kick from their end of the field. It was flashy and bright and harmless, and it helped show their support for the team. Okay, I can handle that. Play gets stopped for a minute while some field personnel clean up the streamers, and life goes on. But then the Crew fans started taking to throw other objects onto the field--full beer cups, smoke bombs, bottles, batteries, whatever the fans happen to be holding. It got bad enough that the Fox Soccer announcer pointed out that the League has to do something about it before someone on the field gets hurt.
There are several stadiums in the League where fans get kicked out or fined if they start throwing things onto the field, and that's great in my opinion--I want to see the football game undistracted by fans who "proclaim their loyalty" by trying to assault the opposing team with whatever small object they can throw. If I wanted that, I'd watch Argentinian football.
Of course, there are the fans who are defending their right to throw stuff from the stands. Yes, they're only arguing that they should be allowed to throw streamers, but I think the last few home games proves that there are always people who don't get the message and throw something else. Those fans say that they're responsible for increased attendance and/or popularity, or that their energy has brought more people to the game because there's a more traditional soccer environment. My response to those points is 1) the increased attendance is likely due to the fact that the Crew finally doesn't suck, and 2) a "traditional soccer environment" is often associated in the minds of many people to mean "soccer hooligans ruling the stands."
Columbus doesn't need traditional soccer fans. If streamers aren't thrown out during every corner, that won't ruin our reputation as a serious soccer team. What <I>will</I> ruin it is having the nation watch our team's fans, who finally have a chance to root for someone who isn't perpetually anchored to the bottom of the standings, take out the eye of some soccer player and then claim that it's tradition or some crap. I love the Crew, too, folks, but I think it's time to grow up and realize that if soccer's going to be respected as a sport in the U.S., the fans need to act like grown-ups as well.
I love soccer. It's something genetic or built into my familial background or something, because it's an interest in sports I never really had a chance to exercise until Elaine and I got digital cable, when all of the sudden I had access to all of the Columbus Crew games.
To all of you non-soccer fans, the Columbus Crew is the local football team. ("Football" as in "soccer", not "American football," a game which I have more and more loathing for as time passes.) They were around when the MLS was founded, and they have, for the past three years, sucked hard. In a league with fourteen teams and ten spots in the playoffs, the Crew has not made the playoffs for the last three years. That's bad. However, the Crew are now on the top of the league, with 6 wins, 2 losses and one tie. That's good.
Our newly revived team means a newly revived fanbase as well. That's bad.
You see, the Crew fans took a bit of a trick from the Toronto FC fans (who are certifiably crazy, but in a good way) and started throwing colored streamers onto the field when the opposition took a corner kick from their end of the field. It was flashy and bright and harmless, and it helped show their support for the team. Okay, I can handle that. Play gets stopped for a minute while some field personnel clean up the streamers, and life goes on. But then the Crew fans started taking to throw other objects onto the field--full beer cups, smoke bombs, bottles, batteries, whatever the fans happen to be holding. It got bad enough that the Fox Soccer announcer pointed out that the League has to do something about it before someone on the field gets hurt.
There are several stadiums in the League where fans get kicked out or fined if they start throwing things onto the field, and that's great in my opinion--I want to see the football game undistracted by fans who "proclaim their loyalty" by trying to assault the opposing team with whatever small object they can throw. If I wanted that, I'd watch Argentinian football.
Of course, there are the fans who are defending their right to throw stuff from the stands. Yes, they're only arguing that they should be allowed to throw streamers, but I think the last few home games proves that there are always people who don't get the message and throw something else. Those fans say that they're responsible for increased attendance and/or popularity, or that their energy has brought more people to the game because there's a more traditional soccer environment. My response to those points is 1) the increased attendance is likely due to the fact that the Crew finally doesn't suck, and 2) a "traditional soccer environment" is often associated in the minds of many people to mean "soccer hooligans ruling the stands."
Columbus doesn't need traditional soccer fans. If streamers aren't thrown out during every corner, that won't ruin our reputation as a serious soccer team. What <I>will</I> ruin it is having the nation watch our team's fans, who finally have a chance to root for someone who isn't perpetually anchored to the bottom of the standings, take out the eye of some soccer player and then claim that it's tradition or some crap. I love the Crew, too, folks, but I think it's time to grow up and realize that if soccer's going to be respected as a sport in the U.S., the fans need to act like grown-ups as well.
