Conference Semifinal Second Leg: Open Thread
I thought I’d start an open thread this evening, as we are about to encounter three second leg matches in the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs:
8 PM - NBC Sports Network - New York vs. D.C. United (tied 1-1)
9 PM - MLS Live/Direct Kick - Sporting KC vs Houston (Houston leads 2-0)
11 PM - ESPN - San Jose vs. Los Angeles (San Jose leads 1-0)
Feel free to share your observations here during the match.
And if you’re not on Twitter - there’s a nice layer of snow at Red Bull Arena for the first match tonight. Enjoy your football!
16 Responses to Conference Semifinal Second Leg: Open Thread
To hear tonight that the NY and DC fans traveled in a blizzard to the stadium only for this joke of a league to cancel an hour after scheduled start is a complete disgrace. MLS will continue to be a joke in this country with that kind of idiotic planning. I’m so glad I gave up my RBNY season tickets after last year, and I suspect many others will do the same after this debacle.
I got home late and sped through the SJ-LA game. Good game.
If you think that this one blizzard was bad for MLS, let’s do what some of the morons keep insisting that we do. Let’s play ALL winter long. Brilliant.
winter wouldn’t be an issue - look at Europe.
why doesn’t a brand new arena like RBA have pitch heating? not even snow blowers?
“why doesn’t a brand new arena like RBA have pitch heating? not even snow blowers?”
Then look back at our winters. Russia might like that, but NOBODY is going to like that here, except those that don’t go.
what are you saying?
less than half the teams in MLS experience any kind of a heavy winter.
what’s really funny regarding last night is that RedBulls say that RBA has under pitch heating…
http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/sites/mlsdigitalpr.drupalgardens.com/files/New%20York%20Red%20Bulls%202012%20Media%20Guide.pdf
(look at page 10 - Aug 18, 2009)
If by less than half you mean 9, then yeah. December through February would be a disaster for those teams. Watching those teams play in the snow is going to be a blast. But hey, at least people will have warm seats. I am lucky enough to live in a city that won’t be affected that much by much a stupid decision if it were to happen, but it would be a disaster. The one thing that MLS has going for them is attendance. I will bet money that there will be less turn out for regular season, CONCACAF, and US Open Cup games. How exactly are they going to pull this off in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia logistically, and do you honestly think that they will hang around outside for these games? I don’t care what they do in another country, but I bet money that people will think twice before buying tickets. If I still lived in Michigan, I certainly wouldn’t be driving down to Columbus to watch games. I have made that drive in bad winter weather. It sucks. Hopefully the locals will like sitting in 10 to 20 degree weather at night. My guess is that not many people will do it. Usually the cheerleaders for this dumb idea aren’t fans of MLS, or don’t live in areas where this will be an issue. Of all of the dumb things that MLS could do, this has to be one of the dumbest.
Games still get cancled with undersoil heating. Spectator safety is a concern, undersoil heating doesn’t plow the roads, it just keeps a field playable if it is cold and dry.
correct, and everyone involved said the pitch was not frozen.
the only people who didn’t want the game could to go on was Backe/NYRB.
MLS even said that as long as they could clear the pitch off the game would go on as the surface was playable (numerous friends who were at the game talked of how the NYRB were actively hiding some of the 3-4 snow shovels being used to half-heartedly clear the pitch - by interns mind you; where was the actual groundstaff?)
it’s kind if funny that as soon as the game was called and the stadium was emptied snowblowers/plows miraculously appeared and cleared the pitch perfectly.
regarding winter months people seem to forget that MLS is willing to make lopsided schedules to accommodate teams - look at Kansas City last year when they didnt play a home game the first half of the season so they could play all their home games at LiveStrong. MLS could do this for the teams most likely to have an bad winter as well by scheduling their home games in fall/spring and scheduling road games in winter. mind you, I’m not saying this is an ideal or even totally feasible scenario and I’m still a bit torn about switching to the international calendar, but it is an option.
yes, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Denver, etc have harsh winters but it’s not like they are under a continual snow/ice blanket from Dec> Feb like is often suggested.
as to fans not coming out for a winter game, look at NFL: those fans seem to revel in it! not saying there is a direct correlation but…
as for “Usually the cheerleaders for this dumb idea aren’t fans of MLS,” maybe so in the larger scheme, but this fan is a diehard member of DCs Barra Brava and the only reason I wasn’t in the snow on wed night was due to work.
(in hind site this is also a response to Alan above but I’m too lazy to copy/paste relevant portions out into another post…apologies to Original Tom)
So, we have away games for 9 teams over a 3 month period? And, you obviously have not lived in a place with bad winter months. Growing up in those type of winters, I can tell you that nobody is going to want to go into the snow to watch it. Maybe when MLS has the fanbase we can talk. Until then, most of them will stay home. Even Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger think that winter soccer is stupid.
Doesn’t this look like great quality play. So much fun for all 2 fans too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSKvuvNLzp8
If you REALLY don’t think that this is the reality in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Columbus, Philadelphia, and KC, then you are seriously delusional.
We should have winter soccer.
Don’t let facts get in the way of being like the rest of the world. Neither snow, nor hail…..
We can still do this.
If we divide the season into 5ths, but movable 5ths so if it snows on Nov 7th, the fifth of the season shifts back two weeks. Then we don’t schedule home games for Minnesota, or Canada from mid Nov to April. Then we could issue MLS down filled jerseys. As a side benefit, we sell those to the fans at @200 a pop,
This is still going to work ! Really. Dont give up on me…..
Makes perfect sense. If Europe jumped off of a bridge….
Colorado is too cold at night to play a winter schedule, and I love summer MLS nights when I’m craving for soccer because Europe is on the off season. Also, I think it is good that the MLS season is in a different phase, the play-offs are not going up against Champ League and FA cup finals, or end of season races. Plus, players can be shopped to European clubs that have specific needs, thus getting them on the pitch quicker.
Makes sense to me.
Quit making sense and how greedy.
What gives you the right to want an enjoyable game in the summer when a troll who doesn’t go to games wants it switched because of that rest of the world thing ?