On November 8th, The Midnight Rider will be hosting a FIFA 12 video game tournament to benefit Think Taylor, founded by former Revoluton star Taylor Twellman. In TDIF's first ever interview we spoke with Twellman about the event.
TDIF: So tell us about Think Taylor, for those who don't know much about your organization.
TT: In 2008 I suffered a concussion and after that dealt with Post Concussion Syndrome (still am) and there was nothing to help guide me in the right direction. Well I want to be the resource for players, parents, coaches, trainers to find the right people to help advise them and get them healthy quickly. "If you have a broken foot, you don't see an eye doctor".
Today the New England Revolution announced that Steve Nicol and the team had mutually parted ways and Nicol would not be returning next season. While this is something we have called for a while now, it is a bittersweet moment. Nicol will always be a Revs legend, but this move is the best for the team and for Nicol as well. We wish Nicol the best and look forward to seeing what the next step is in his career.
So we are officaily abandoning our Band of The Week posts, not because we are going to stop posting music but just because the format isn't conducive to what want to do anymore, and it'a a pain to come up with something every week, so we present to you the music files. It could be a band, a song, a genre, whatever, but this is the new Band of the Week just like Pink is the new Black... ya I said it. Today we present "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, first the original and then covers after the break...
Sigh... it's that time of year again. The phone calls every week, the emails, the pretentious invoices that come in the mail. Season ticket renewal crunch is here.
Why is it worth it? No one has been able to answer that question, no one can give me a good reason to renew my season tickets.
It used to be that Special Event ticket, excuse me tickets in years past, you knew you were going to get a friendly or two, some sort of international competition, US Open Cup, and/or playoffs. Well this is the second year of no playoffs so I won't be using it for that. We are in no position to qualify for any international competition. We regularly blow off the US Open Cup which would be helpful for getting into international competition, and the FO decided to fuck over its STH's on our friendly this year forcing people to fork out more money to see the match. The ManU game would have had a solid showing of Revs supporters if they didn't screw that one up, but hey at least the few of us fools that did spend money on it got free parking... So why should I renew my tickets, because my unused special event ticket will be credited to next years? I don't fucking think so.
Marko Perovic... You fucking morons.
Last year the hook was statements about signing one and quite possibly two Designated Players in the offseason. That didn't happen, yes we finally did sign one halfway through the season, but he is hardly what we expected as a DP and is only a DP by a technicality... his transfer or loan fee or bribe to his agents... whatever it is... it's still fishy to us. I won't call it an empty promise, but it was a half-assed promise to get people to renew. We all knew we had a ton of cap space as well, and the Revs acted within their Standard Operating Procedure of signing aging/injury prone Europeans that otherwise were looking at retirement and didn't make it a whole season. Yep they sure didn't do enough with that cap space... Why should I renew?
Apparently we are at most 14 months away from breaking ground on a stadium. If you believe that I also have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. Krafty Jon said in an interview last December that they hoped to be breaking ground in 12-24 months. Well with the amount of time the permitting and approval process would take before a shovel would even hit the ground, the likelihood of this happening is zilch. Now of course every ticket renewal crunch we start to hear rumors of stadium news and this year is no different, they've already started. The fact is there is no deal yet, and there is no hard evidence that there will be soon (Please Revs, make me eat crow on this). Foxboro is killing this team, it sucks to go there, the stadium is too big and it perpetuates the feeling of being second class citizens... You aren't fooling me with empty promises to make me renew.
Fortgate... way to make me feel like a valued customer... You fucking morons (again).
You want me to renew? Fire Burns and let Nicol go. It is obvious that they can not rebuild this squad or even field a competitive team. It's no secret around here that we despise Mr. Burns, I don't know why they thought he had any qualifications to do this job but he doesn't, he's not good at it, just because he played the game doesn't mean he is going to be any good in an FO. Nicol won't be fired, his contract is up at the end of the season, but I do not want to see it renewed. I think Nicol is a great coach, and have always enjoyed speaking with him, I wish him the best of luck elsewhere but his time has run it's course here. The team needs fresh blood and new ideas. Many people want to see Bilello gone, I haven't touched on this that much. If I can say one thing, personally I like that guy, professionally it's another story. If he is one thing it's easy to read and see through, Fortgate proved that more than anything. Listen, getting rid of him will do nothing unless there is a total philosophical and cultural change in the organization starting at Krafty Bob and working it's way all the way down. A new COO will just be more of the same if there isn't that shift, Krafty Bob and Jon need to decide that they want this team to meet and hopefully exceed the standard set by Portland, Seattle, Toronto, Kansas City, otherwise nothing changes. You want me to renew... this would be a start.
We need to see a lot of new faces next year, both in the FO and on the team. Shalrie will likely leave and if he does it's a shame but understandable. There are not many players here that I want to see next year, the squad needs to be blown up other than a handful of them. If we see the same players that at most are riding the bench for other MLS teams as starting players next year then I have no interest in renewing. If we plan on rebuilding with draft picks I have no interest in renewing. If we rebuild with way past their expiration date European players I have no interest in renewing.
I am not alone. This is why many will not renew, it is also a path to get those people to reconsider but only if this organization is smart enough to see that. It is likely that I will not renew, that doesn't mean I will stop supporting the team, or even stop going to games. It is incredibly easy to get a free extra ticket on the plaza before a game and I will most likely do that. The best way to send a message to this team is not renewing your tickets, they need to be hurt in their wallet, just as they have hurt us in ours. Please give us a reason, we really do want to give you our money but this abusive relationship needs to end or we're out.
Talk to us the week before the season starts and we'll see if you've even remotely done a good enough job...
