As some of you who are reading this know, I am an Everton supporter who lives in Baltimore, MD. In Baltimore, we have a football (NFL) team and a baseball team. The two teams and their ownership groups could not be more different in their commitment to the teams. The one I will discuss here is Mr. Peter Angelos, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, and compare him to Mr. Kenwright. You may think this is absolutely ludicrous, but let me explain. Angelos took over the Orioles in 1993 after previous owner Eli Jacobs declared bankruptcy and was forced to sell the team, putting the Orioles back into local hands for the first time since 1979. During Angelos's tenure as Orioles owner (slightly longer than Kenwright's at Everton, but we'll let that go), the Orioles had just moved into their home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and it hosted the 1993 All-Star Game (a contest between the best players from the American League and those of the National League -- the rules of baseball are for a different article). In 1995, the Orioles finished 2 games below a .500 record (equal wins to losses). In 1996, Angelos proved that he had money and was willing to spend it, giving the then-general manager the resources needed to win the division and make the playoffs. Since the late 1990s, Angelos has ated a lot like Kenwright, refusing to continue to spend money in order to make the team better. The Orioles failed to make the playoffs from 1998-2012, when they finally made it back in after a rule change allowed for a play-in game between the first and second placed teams in the wild card standings.
However, this is where the comparison ceases to be fair n the success side, as in baseball, you do not need to spend premium money to win every year (though Angelos has traded away top stars for prospects even this year). In (real) football, that money needs to be spent in order to acquire and keep top talent. Kenwright has failed to spend the adequate money to keep talent around, selling Wayne Rooney to Manchester United for a pittance in 2004 while the Orioles let local boy Mark Teixeira walk to the hated New York Yankees without even giving him a fair (according to him) offer for his services. Teixiera rubbed salt in the wounds as he declared in his opening press conference that his best memories as a kid who grew up in Baltimore were when his dad would take him to Yankee Stadium to watch baseball. (Imagine the fume had Rooney said something similar to that!)
Now, this is where I get to talk about fan culture. In America, fan culture is generally unified to support the team, no matter the circumstances. There are always divisions (and some radicals), but generally everyone is there to support the team, no matter what. From what I've seen of UK-based Evertonians, they may feel similarly, but there comes a point when there are drastic differences. Some years ago, a sports talk DJ in Baltimore who has been harping on the subject of Angelos for years orchestrated a full walkout of Oriole Park at Camden Yards for a home game. now imagine if one of the BBC Radio Merseyside presenters even attempted to something like that. AC Milan fans took it upon themselves to do it without that need. Americans generally like things organized for them rather than doing it themselves when it comes to sports fandom. I understand that it is wrong to speak in generalizations, but I feel that it is appropriate to single out the (real) football fans in America for being the antithesis of the generalization. For example, the people at OTF Soccer, a Chicago Fire website and podcast, are doing a #90MinuteTailgate to oppose their owners. No other sport in America gets people to do those things. There is a certain sense of apathy among Americans, and most see it as nothing they can do to change, so support must be given. To the few that are actively doing something about terrible owners, I applaud your zeal and wish my fellow Americans would do the same if that is their view. So, to all of the people reading this from the Blue Union and other groups that are campaigning to rid Everton of Kenwright, keep going, hold strong, and never give up. Oh, and also ask Americans who travel to Goodison their opinion about Kenwright and change some minds about apathy. I think the best solution to this is to start an Everton Supporters' Trust and emulate what Swansea did to Petty (with the exception of threats to break his legs) This trust is to be unified with as many Evertonians as can muster, and will hopefully span the globe with blues from different countries and with different perspectives. If one exists already, this is my callout to you to make yourselves better known.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Bohs Postseason Report
It's been about a month since my last blog entry, but I wanted to wait until the dust settled in the PDL and NPSL playoffs before I reported this. Here is my report of the Baltimore Bohemians 2015 season.
First off, here's where we rank against other PDL teams. We are 3rd in average attendance of all teams that reported all of their home games. Among all teams, we are 22nd out of 64 officially in average attendance (though I question that claim). I think that playing at Bonvegna Field has done wonders for the club for this year, but the myriad of other lines on the field sort of ruined the fan experience for me. I understand that the club operates on a shoestring budget and the rent was probably dirt cheap, but the club has to take fan experience into account more going forward. I personally think the Bohs' Supporters deserve better than to stand behind 2 chain-linked fences in order to have their own section. On opening night, the Reading United coaches actually enjoyed their presence right behind their bench on the turf. I still don't know for certain why the supporters were relegated to the basketball court, but I could tell that it was not a club decision. They are somewhat to blame for this as well, because for the second game of the season, one person brought a smoke bomb and lit it off when the Bohs scored. To this day, I don't know who brought it, and I wasn't looking when it was lit.
Fan culture aside, the club's off-season stuff must be classed as nothing short of unprofessional. I get it; it's a volunteer staff, and the front office have other jobs that they do that make them money. I fully understand that. However, when fans go to opening night and you're going to send the team in a new kit and the fans want to purchase said kit and it's not available, that's on you. I still have not seen an explanation as to why it was not available (or I just haven't been looking hard enough). If an explanation was made, please link me, and I'll edit this part accordingly. The other major incident was whenpeople could not park on the side of Du Burns Arena that faced the field due to a competing event that was taking place nowhere near Bonvegna. From speaking to club officials at that game, I know that they were asured of parking at the arena, but they were not gien it. They should have kept calling and calling to ensure the parking spaces, not just accept a blind spot and no one else gets informed. Once again, communication is key, and the Bohs have not exactly communicated that well with us fans with the exception of trying to get butts in seats. Now, they have turned the corner in August with trying to offload tons of merchandise by marketing their postseason sale as a back-to-school sale, but where was that all season?
With all of the off-the-field stuff taken care of, let's talk about the on-field play. The Bohs did very poorly at home, only winning 1 home match in the entire season. It's a shame that all of the road trips are at least 3 hours away (except for DC United U-23s) so I could see this team for what it truly was: road warriors who didn't play as well at home. I think the players were poorly selected, and they did not play well at all at home. I especially was not a big fan of the defense and goalkeeping (it should be noted here that the captain was injured partway through the season, and sometimes some people had to play out of position to make up the numbers on defense). For a team that was plagued with injuries, I don't think the goalkeeping was up to snuff, and I don't think Billy Heavner can win you ballgames by himself. I think if Billy is to succeed in soccer, he needs a good defense to back him up, because he proved this season that he can't put the team on his back. Jordan Bekker must have done a whole lot at those road games to make the All-Conference Team of the Season because when he played at home, I didn't see anything truly special.
Going forward, here are my goals for the Baltimore Bohemians for next season:
1. Communication - Never underestimate the value of communication. Even if something last-minute happens right before a game, report it on the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Don't leave the fans in the dark as much as you did this season.
2. Address the Bonvegna situation - While Bonvegna was a hit for attendance, the fan experience was lacking. Either get the field to get rid of some of the lines so as not to detract from the soccer, or at least try to find another solution until you can build your own stadium.
3. Recruit better players - Baltimore is one of the biggest, most important cities in America, and the club can only recruit from UMBC and Loyola? I know that the players are there already for their college careers, but several teams had players from overseas clubs and much bigger colleges than those two are. Broaden the scope of recruitment, and more people may come.
So, that is my long-awaited review of the Baltimore Bohemians 2015 season, and hopefully I'll continue on for the 2016 season.
First off, here's where we rank against other PDL teams. We are 3rd in average attendance of all teams that reported all of their home games. Among all teams, we are 22nd out of 64 officially in average attendance (though I question that claim). I think that playing at Bonvegna Field has done wonders for the club for this year, but the myriad of other lines on the field sort of ruined the fan experience for me. I understand that the club operates on a shoestring budget and the rent was probably dirt cheap, but the club has to take fan experience into account more going forward. I personally think the Bohs' Supporters deserve better than to stand behind 2 chain-linked fences in order to have their own section. On opening night, the Reading United coaches actually enjoyed their presence right behind their bench on the turf. I still don't know for certain why the supporters were relegated to the basketball court, but I could tell that it was not a club decision. They are somewhat to blame for this as well, because for the second game of the season, one person brought a smoke bomb and lit it off when the Bohs scored. To this day, I don't know who brought it, and I wasn't looking when it was lit.
Fan culture aside, the club's off-season stuff must be classed as nothing short of unprofessional. I get it; it's a volunteer staff, and the front office have other jobs that they do that make them money. I fully understand that. However, when fans go to opening night and you're going to send the team in a new kit and the fans want to purchase said kit and it's not available, that's on you. I still have not seen an explanation as to why it was not available (or I just haven't been looking hard enough). If an explanation was made, please link me, and I'll edit this part accordingly. The other major incident was whenpeople could not park on the side of Du Burns Arena that faced the field due to a competing event that was taking place nowhere near Bonvegna. From speaking to club officials at that game, I know that they were asured of parking at the arena, but they were not gien it. They should have kept calling and calling to ensure the parking spaces, not just accept a blind spot and no one else gets informed. Once again, communication is key, and the Bohs have not exactly communicated that well with us fans with the exception of trying to get butts in seats. Now, they have turned the corner in August with trying to offload tons of merchandise by marketing their postseason sale as a back-to-school sale, but where was that all season?
With all of the off-the-field stuff taken care of, let's talk about the on-field play. The Bohs did very poorly at home, only winning 1 home match in the entire season. It's a shame that all of the road trips are at least 3 hours away (except for DC United U-23s) so I could see this team for what it truly was: road warriors who didn't play as well at home. I think the players were poorly selected, and they did not play well at all at home. I especially was not a big fan of the defense and goalkeeping (it should be noted here that the captain was injured partway through the season, and sometimes some people had to play out of position to make up the numbers on defense). For a team that was plagued with injuries, I don't think the goalkeeping was up to snuff, and I don't think Billy Heavner can win you ballgames by himself. I think if Billy is to succeed in soccer, he needs a good defense to back him up, because he proved this season that he can't put the team on his back. Jordan Bekker must have done a whole lot at those road games to make the All-Conference Team of the Season because when he played at home, I didn't see anything truly special.
Going forward, here are my goals for the Baltimore Bohemians for next season:
1. Communication - Never underestimate the value of communication. Even if something last-minute happens right before a game, report it on the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Don't leave the fans in the dark as much as you did this season.
2. Address the Bonvegna situation - While Bonvegna was a hit for attendance, the fan experience was lacking. Either get the field to get rid of some of the lines so as not to detract from the soccer, or at least try to find another solution until you can build your own stadium.
3. Recruit better players - Baltimore is one of the biggest, most important cities in America, and the club can only recruit from UMBC and Loyola? I know that the players are there already for their college careers, but several teams had players from overseas clubs and much bigger colleges than those two are. Broaden the scope of recruitment, and more people may come.
So, that is my long-awaited review of the Baltimore Bohemians 2015 season, and hopefully I'll continue on for the 2016 season.
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