Saturday, May 19, 2007
I don't know if I can stand there any more ...
Last night just before kickoff of the Seattle vs. Rochester game one of the guys who has brought a drum for years, to the best of my knowledge behaved reasonably well, etc ... was run off of the section because he doesn't drum in sync with them very well ... he has been going for years ... I thought it was cold and ugly, but with my little girl in tow I didn't really feel like I could get involved, and since I don't stand there every game I held my tongue ... but I felt like an absolute jerk for not doing anything ... a few minutes later, I took her and sat up higher ... I don't know if I can sit in 113 any more after that .... no one stood up for the guy, but the three guys that ran him off were very vocal about it so maybe no one felt like they could ... one guy pulled out ten bucks to offer him so he would leave ... it was something I am embarrassed about having witnessed and done nothing about, my daughter being there or not ... the guy was not as angry as he was genuinely hurt, I couldn't look him in the eye while he packed up ...
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I was the guy that offered him the $10
ReplyDeleteThe snare drum, played out of sync and constant, does not allow for the atmosphere (singing/chanting with drums backing it up) that 113/E.C.S. is trying to accomplish.
Would it be alright if I showed up with a trumpet and just started wailing away?
We have asked him many times to play with the other drums, and to give us time to sing/chant, and he will not make any kind of compromise. We have offered him a tom drum in place of the snare. No go.
When he would not compromise, we asked him to move a little higher in 113. Nope.
So, our last resort was to offer him his ticket money back.
The fact is, if he stayed and was not willing to make a compromise, other people would leave.
Maybe this is just my take on things.
At the risk of this turning into a long running back and forth I will comment ...
ReplyDeleteI never have doubted that there would be reasons and that there was probably something that had occurred previously ... I also know that he pre-dates many, if not most, of those currently standing there, so it is hardly like he just popped in with something new to screw things up for the group that had established itself for many years ... I also believe that it was handled in a very public, and frankly offensive way that is the opposite of why people are standing in that section ...
I watched for reactions of those who had been there for years and saw people try to not look him in the eye and turn away from the conversation, clearly uncomfortable with what was happening, but not willing to get involved ... when I heard the sentence, "We are the Emerald City Supporters," complete with the speaker pointing to his own chest, and the words, "it throws off our cadence," I found myself gathering my things and my daughter and leaving ...
As a Sounders Supporter for over 30 years I was stunned by seeing that in the "fan" section ... I have watched the section grow from a handful of people in Memorial to a group that is pretty good sized and a genuine part of the scene that was fun to be a part of ...
That is just my take on things and why I do not go down to that end of Qwest any more ...
People seem to like to point out how long they have been supporting their club.
ReplyDeleteI can and do respect them for sticking by them for so long.
At the same time, I may not be the oldest Sounders fan in the stadium, but that does not mean I don't love my club any less.
Yes, he has been coming to the section for many years, but only to a handful of matches per year. Last year people left the section because of it. We (people in the E.C.S.) have had ongoing discussions about the distraction that it creates.
Yes, we so get together and have meeting and such...
Many of the people in 113 (hell, most of the people in Seattle) are not the kind of people that like confrontation, and I don't deny that the people that do not really involve themselves with the E.C.S. might of been put off by what they saw or heard.
That said, those who are involved with the group talked about it and decided that it had to be done.
In the past, we tried to talk to him in a low key manner. It didn't work.
The guy comes into the match right before kick-off so there is no chance to talk to him anywhere but in public. It came to a point where someone had to be the asshole. Do you really think we wanted to do that?
We talked about having the most non-threatening member of the group talk to him about it, but I don't know if that would of really worked.
I'm sorry that he is not willing to compromise a bit. There is plenty of room in 113, 114 and it's all G.A.
What the pod was doing just 3 or 4 years ago is not the same as what the E.C.S. is doing now.
We encourage people to come to 113 and stand/sing/chant/make some noise. There just has to be some kind of order to the chaos.
As I said, I risked this turning into a long back and forth ...
ReplyDeleteAgain, I have and had no doubt it did not come out of thin air ...
I have no doubt people newer to any group or activity, etc ... can have great feeling for it like people who have been around longer ...
But ... and these are the final words on this subject on ShotgunProse ... it was ugly to watch and that it turns out to have been discussed in advance and the chosen course of action makes it much, much worse, not more understandable ... I wish the ECS the best, more or less, but I cannot and will not stand there again after witnessing a Sounders supporter offer another Sounders supporter money to go some where else, regardless of why ... I have been a local soccer supporter for my entire life and will continue to do so, but it will be at the other end of the stadium ...
After he left 113 he came and sat behind us. I felt bad but also had to ask him to leave as he was "tap tapping" constantly. He is obviously a disabled man and was causing an irritating distraction. With some much empty space in the stadium there is plenty of room for him to go....There is a place for all of us, him included...Just not right behind me...
ReplyDelete