Burgundy Wave: FanPosts

How desperate can you be?

2012-08-15T06:27:27Z

Rapids are so gracious to allow us to renew our season tickets in the middle of a horrible year. Its comical, had the ticket rep even hitting me up with a "we'd love to have you back" message. Almost felt like, "Well nice knowing you, I doubt we'll ever speak again after I lose half my buyers from this disaster."

Is this a sign DSGP will largely be empty next year? Wouldn't it be better to let the bitter taste run its course first and then ask?

I thought DSGP was supposed to be a friendly place

2012-06-21T05:53:53Z

For the second time in the last two years the jerks at the gates made my wife throw out gum! Yes, chewing gum is somehow food and can't be allowed. Then we had usher jerk come wobbling down the aisle to tell us we have to sit in our assigned seats. Doesn't matter that there are rows of empty seats, we have to sit next to the most obnoxious guy in the stadium. This douche pays to sit there every game and obnoxiously root against the Rapids. He yells out "Casey is a thug" about three times a game and boos every time Mullan touches the ball with the occasional "go break someone's leg comment". I told the usher I really felt annoyed sitting next to him and he told me tough, sit in your seat or I will get security to escort you out.

I have complained to the seat rep three times about bad experiences including the first gum incident and they say crap and never back it up with anything. So Rapids management, F-you. Remaining tickets are going on sale, if I want to watch MLS it will be in other cities or on the TV. Family friendly park my ass. More Kroenke family BS than you can shake a stick at.

Rapids to Sign Forward/Midfielder Shane O'Neill to Home Grown Contract

2012-06-16T21:34:25Z

Sources Close to Boulder's Fairview High School's Forward/ Midfielder Shane O'Neill indicated he will be signing a Home Grown Contract within the next few days. The University of Virginia bound and ESPN'S Colorado Boys High School Player of the year for '11-'12 season from scored 19 goals and 6 assists this past season. Terms of the Deal were not disclosed per Major Leauge Soccer and Colorado Rapids Team Policy. More Info When it becomes Available.

A Great First Look at the Rapids!

2012-03-11T19:15:37Z

Ed - Good stuff, front paged!

via sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net Photo from Tibs2007 in ClassVI

A few of my thoughts and observations on what I liked for the 'Pids season opening match against Columbus! Let's hear your thoughts below in the comments section!

1. "Man of the Match"- Kosuke Kimura

Kimura had both assists on goals for the match, and looked impressive the entire match. Kimura was able to create opportunities in the near the goal. Kimura had a perfect cross into the box after Columbus had cleared a corner kick, and found a leaping Drew Moor who headed in the first goal. Kimura also drove the ball downfield many times on runs down the right side, but occasionally had trouble getting it passed the Columbus defenders. Overall, Kimura is in my mind the "Man of the Match" for the assists he had and the other potential opportunities on goal he created. Plus, we all loved that Burgundy hair.

Ed - Good stuff, front paged!

via sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net Photo from Tibs2007 in ClassVI

A few of my thoughts and observations on what I liked for the 'Pids season opening match against Columbus! Let's hear your thoughts below in the comments section!

1. "Man of the Match"- Kosuke Kimura

2. Matt Pickens

The Colorado keeper might not have had much to do this match because Columbus did not have many opportunities to take shots at the goal, but Matt Pickens came up big at least twice with great saves. In the 79th minute Columbus had a set piece that was crossed into the box and one of the Yellow Team got his head on it and the ball looked to be going straight into the net. Pickens managed to get his fingertips on the ball and push it just over the woodwork. On the ensuing corner kick for Columbus, Pickens again came up with a save and was able to clear the ball out to the left sidelines.

3. Rapids Offense

Many questions came into the season opener about what the Rapids new "4-3-3" offense would look like. The ‘Pids were able to create many scoring opportunities, and Omar Cummings nearly scored three times though finished with no goals. The Rapids offense is expected to change quite a bit once Martin Rivero is able to play and Conor Casey returns from injury. But the Rapids offense looked good without those two key players with the forwards having many shots on goal. Even rookie, Tony Cascio, looked great and had a few opportunities that went just wide or far above the net.

Questions for all at Burgundy Wave?

What did you think of the Rapids offense? How will things change once Rivero and Casey are in the lineup? To read my full match summary look at my Mile High South Stands Blog!

Sound off in the comments section below on Burgundy Wave and let’s get a discussion started!

What are you most excited for?

2012-03-09T05:21:44Z

I have been a fan of all Colorado sports for 3 decades, but it took nearly that long for me to discover soccer and the Rapids. Having spent my formative adult years in Portland I became a fan of the Timbers, attending a couple of their games pre-MLS, and occasionally following the team. Then I moved back home to Colorado and forgot about soccer for a while. Until last year when the Timbers had their inaugural MLS game in Colorado. All my friends back in Oregon were going crazy about the move to MLS. I started reading Timbers media and getting excited too. I decided their inaugural game in Colorado was an event I could not miss...but I had a dilemma: to support for the Timbers or my home town team the Rapids.

Now I have been a fan of all things Colorado since I was born. I've attended Broncos games every season with my dad since I was five. I went to the Rockies first ever game and followed their World Series run passionately from Oregon. But the Rapids had always fallen off my radar. But given my love of thin air and the Rocky Mountains I decided that it was in my blood to support the Rapids.

I bought tickets for last years First Kick Event in section 108, as all my friends from PDX flew in to sit in the visitor's section at Dick's. They gave me a hard time, but I argued strongly that you have to support your local clubs. Besides the 'Pids were the reigning champs and everyone knew they'd beat Portland!

The energy at that game gave me goosebumps, as Class VI and the Pid Army spent all game trying to out sing the visiting Timbers Army.

Glory Glory COLORADO, Glory Glory COLORADO! Echoed throughout the stadium on top of Portland's 'Onwards Rose City' chants.

The 'Pids fans waved thousands of Burgundy flags as the small section of visiting fans was packed full with their green Cascadia flags. I had never seen anything like it. The energy and passion at this game quickly made it one of the most memorable sporting events I had ever attended. One of the most fun fan-experiences I've been a part of in Denver. I couldn't believe this was my first Rapids game.

The Rapids scored three goals and outplayed the Timbers the full match, and I couldn't have been happier or more excited. I was also glad that my friends visiting from Portland also seemed to just be happy that the Timbers finally got to MLS.

After that game, I was hooked on the Rapids and went as soon as I could to the ticket office and purchased my season tickets in section 108 and spent the rest of the season singing with Class VI. As Rapids supporters we may not be as large or loud as those from Portland or Seattle, but we are just as passionate! I'm excited to see the Rapids support start to expand and be part of the future of the Best Team in the Rockies!
This year, I have renewed my seats and can't wait for this weekend's game against Columbus! There are many many things this season that I am looking forward to. But I am most excited for the road trip to Portland this year, as well as being back with Class VI singing my throat dry in the thin rocky mountain air.
What are you most excited for this year's Rapids season?

#COYRapids #MileHighMagic and sometimes #RCTID.

Poll

What are you most excited for in the 2012 Rapids Season?

Oscar's new system

4 votes

Martin Rivero

0 votes

The supporter's tailgate

0 votes

Singing, chanting, screaming at the Dick

0 votes

Roadtrips!

1 votes

5 votes | Poll has closed

English, Baby! Features Kosuke Kimura

2011-10-21T04:11:10Z

I recently got an e-mail from Jason, who is the content director with a website called 'English, Baby!'. The site features entertainers and athletes that have learned English as a second language in order to help other people learn to speak English. Recently they featured our own right back and Japanese legend (OK so maybe not) Kosuke Kimura, talking about the English phrase 'come from behind' in regards to the Rapids 2010 MLS Cup victory.

Check it out here, it's a quite cool thing.

SMASH! ping pong party coming Tuesday...

2011-09-23T19:08:07Z

via a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

Fellow Denver sports blogger Andrew Feinstein of Denver Stiffs here. THIS Tuesday night (9/27), I'm going to be hosting the biggest ping pong party in the country with SMASH! at the EXDO Event Center, located at 35th and Walnut just a mile-and-a-half northeast of Coors Field. This Tuesday's event will kick off our new Tuesday ping pong night at EXDO. Read more about it below the jump and I hope my friends from Burgundy Wave can join us...

via a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

If you're looking for a new sport to latch on to as a disappointing Rockies season comes to an end, consider table tennis.

Starting this Tuesday night - the 27th - at 5:00pm, the EXDO Event Center will be launching SMASH!, a giant rock-and-roll ping pong party featuring over 20 tables along with Denver's premier sound and light show, cocktail service, VIP bottle service tables, and a glow-in-the-dark beer pong room. For the grand opening event, all attendees get unlimited ping pong and the first 150 guests get a free beer from Great Divide Brewing Company.

For the grand opening only there is a suggested donation of $20, all of which goes to the Denver-based non-profit Invest in Kids. SMASH! will be continued every Tuesday evening after the 27th and will offer unlimited ping pong play for a modest cover charge in addition to having tables rentable by the hour.

For more information visit www.smashexdo.com. I look forward to seeing many of my fellow Coloradans there on Tuesday night!

I'm not proud. Not after that game.

2011-07-17T21:50:24Z

Supposedly, I should be proud. Proud of how the United States Woman's National Team performed in this world cup final, which was lost 3-2 on penalty kicks to Japan. Sounds like fluff to me, though.

This was a missed opportunity. A show of how fragile the psyche of the US Woman's National team is. They broke down but didn't snap after allowing that first goal to Japan to equalize and it was a concern. A good team would have recovered and scored on another one of those 27 (!) shots that they lashed terribly toward the Japanese goal, with a pathetic 5 of them on target all game long.

This was a chance to make the entire US finally have something to embrace in the footballing world since 2007, which is about the time when the real footballing revolution seems to have started to hit the US leading up to the amazing crowds and ratings for the 2010 World Cup. This was a brilliant chance to unite the country and they choked it away, more fodder for the football-haters of the country to feast on as they forced it into the much-lambasted Penalty Kicks and failed to score on their first three shots after sending two of their worst players in the match to shoot first.

The game was fantastic to watch and the drama was unending to the matches advantage, but when asked about the US team, I see no reason to be proud.

Supposedly, I should be proud. Proud of how the United States Woman's National Team performed in this world cup final, which was lost 3-2 on penalty kicks to Japan. Sounds like fluff to me, though.

The game was fantastic to watch and the drama was unending to the matches advantage, but when asked about the US team, I see no reason to be proud.

2011 Authentic Jerseys

2011-06-16T21:15:58Z

When will Adidas have 2011 COlorado Rapids Authentic Home Jerseys available for sale? Any insight into this would be appreaciated.

An Open Letter to Don Garber. UPDATED.

2011-05-12T03:28:42Z

via thetotalfootballer.com

Congratulations Don, the hypocrisy of this is disciplinary decision is mind-boggling. Marcos Mondaini's tackle on Javier Morales was both retaliatory and from behind with no possible approach on the ball. Whereas the tackle Brian Mullan made one Steve Zakuani was at least was on a relative line to make a play of the ball. Sadly both had the same resulting consequences of severe injury. Yet the polar opposites in the leagues choice supplemental discipline are astonishing. This is beyond ridiculous. I think the only difference between the two is the lack of national outrage surrounding this particular incident. Sadly I fear this is the real reason behind the difference, which to wit, I wish you or someone from the league could directly respond to this (not that I'm expecting a response).
You have lost a vast amount of credibility in this fan's eyes. I thought we as a league were beginning to turn a corner; with a MLS team cracking FIFA's World Club Rankings Top 25 for the first time in league history in Real Salt Lake, the Cascadia Cup getting national attention, MLS games being shown regularly overseas, the impact the expansion clubs and the exponential growth of supporters groups around the league. Yet with this decision, you have managed to both embarrass yourself, the league and given detractors just another excuse to dismiss MLS as a credible league the nation and the soccer world should take seriously. Congratulations again and thanks for nothing.

Signed,
A seriously outraged and perplexed Colorado Rapids Supporter, Jonathan B.

****UPDATE****

Well the League Office has confirmed the suspension and issued a statement regarding the decision. The Following is an excerpt From Nelson Rodriguez, MLS executive vice president of competition, technical and game operations.

During its discussions, the committee characterized Mondaini’s tackle as late, clumsy, and from behind," Rodriguez said. "It was also, however, seen as an attempt to prevent his opponent from scoring. Brian Mullan’s tackle on Steve Zakuani last month did not serve such a purpose. Rather, it showed utter disregard for his opponent’s safety and appeared to be driven by anger.-- Via www.coloradorapids.com

If this is what the MLS leadership saw, It is clear in my eye's they do not understand Soccer. What I take away from this statement is that they clearly felt they overreacted with the Mullan decision.

New to this blog and the game (regularly)

2011-04-13T15:22:44Z

Alright, so I am a diehard Nuggets fan, moderate Broncos fan, moderate Rockies fan and recently decided to give soccer/footy a shot. I was talking with a buddy of mine who is a HUGE Liverpool fan this morning and he convinced me to get into the game. I found that he is 10 times more passionate about the sport than most American sports fans, so it sounded like a lot of fun. So, here are my thoughts:

I know that the Rapids won the MLS cup last year, I live in Colorado, love every other team here (except the Avs...hockey doesn't do it for me), so I'll jump on the Rapids bandwagon. Sort of a no brainer here. I'd love to get an idiots guide to the Rapids here. Who should I watch for? What style of play should I expect? Can we repeat this year? When does Tony Meola get in the game (for that matter, Cobi Jones)?

Secondly, I'm thinking of following a Champions league team. My buddy suggested Aresenal (the Nuggets-Kroenke connection). He proceeded to tell me some things about the beautiful style of play, fiscally smart, coaching style, how the suck on D, how they need an enforcer, etc. Is this wise? Anyone here have any other suggestions?

I love watching the world cup and Olympics, so I get the sport fairly well. I would just love to hear your thoughts.

Go Rapids!

Free hat party!

2011-02-04T03:37:08Z

Free hats for everyone who posts within!*

Seriously, I never get any comments around here so I figured a stupid lolz fest like this would do the trick. Or more likely, it will get 4 comments, two of them posted by me asking where all the other comments are. I'm on to you people!

*Free hats will probably be made of newspaper or some similar material, maybe I'll just give you a cardboard shoe box and call it a hat. Actually just about anything can be worn on the head, so what constitutes a hat? Maybe I'll give out all those 300 hats that are lying in my closet that I owned as a child, like that Reds hat that I got from little league when they named all of the teams after actual MLB teams and I got stuck on the Reds but the stupid Red Sox got the really big kid who I'm pretty sure was on steroids at age 6 and wound up winning whatever the hell the championship we had in that age was and we found it really funny since when I was 6 the Red Sox still really sucked and weren't sweeping the Rockies in the world series, but that's another story. Also free hat probably not included because I don't know where any of you people live.

Free hats for everyone who posts within!*

Bravo Rapids fans, bravo

2010-11-14T05:02:25Z

Given the frustrated tone of my other fanpost on this site, I wanted to follow up after the Eastern Conference final with an acknowledgement post. I watched the game on FSC and was very impressed with the near-capacity 17,729 that showed up in sub-20-degree weather to watch their team's victory and then to send them off to the MLS Cup final. The crowd took about 15 minutes to fill in after the game had started, but fill in it did. It really came to life on the ~~Cummings~~ Kimura goal and from then on you could easily hear the crescendo over the FSC broadcast every time Colorado threatened to score again (which happend a number of times in the second half). Entire sections of the stadium near midfield could be seen standing for the entire second half.

During the regular season, Colorado averaged 13,328. Tonight they exceeded that average by 33%. Everyone in attendance was rewarded by getting to watch their club earn a trip to the final. I wish you luck in the final, but also luck in retaining as many of the fans in attendance tonight as season ticket holders for next season.

Bravo Rapids, bravo. The game was a success both on and off the field.

Time to hold the Rapids FO accountable

2010-11-09T17:24:10Z

Disclaimer: I live in Seattle and I'm a Sounders FC fan.

I read a lot of blogs and ever since the MLS showed up in Seattle I've been both a Sounders FC fan and an overall MLS supporter. I'll be one of many fans accross the nation watching this Saturday when your Colorado Rapids take on San Jose in the Eastern Conference final (I'll spare you from reading further criticism on the rediculousness of the Eastern/Western Conference playoff system). The TV raitings will probably not be that great, but I'll be doing my part as I know many Sounders fans will be (and fans of other teams).

It pained me to read this morning how the Rapids front office is marketing this playoff game (or rather not marketing).

After selling more than 11k tickets in their playoff opener with less than five days notice, the Rapids face the challenge of again selling tickets on a short turn around. Interestingly, the team is not aggressively pushing any promotional offerings in advance of the game, but through their website, there are two deals being offered to attract fans... To locate these deals, a fan must click through the website to the ticket page. The front page of the website contains no reference to the offers.

I've heard a number of pleas from other fans of other teams that they want to "export" the success that Seattle is having to their own teams. Fans of teams that are not Toronto, LA, Seattle, or Philly get very defensive when their teams are ridiculed for low attendance. I don't blame them. They want to know what can be done to make their own clubs successful off the pitch like these other teams.

Well, Rapids fans, here is your chance right now. Call your front office out on this one. Why aren't they aggressively marketing this one? Do they even want people to know that their club is two wins away from a championship and that Denver residents have a chance to see one of those wins on Saturday?

If you're looking to take ques from Seattle in order to export success, take a que on this one. From the moment that Seattle made the playoffs, tickets were on sale and links were provided off of the front page to buy tickets. Season ticket holders had the ability to buy speculative tickets to all rounds of the playoffs about a week before Seattle had even clinched a playoff berth. The marketing of playoff matches was agressive to say the least.

I intend to watch the playoff game in Commerce City on Saturday [Ed. To be clear, I'll be watching on TV, I'm not traveling to Colorado for the game] and will probably be rooting for the Rapids. However, what a shame it will be to have the stands less than half full again. Marketing matters and the lack of marketing speaks volumes about the Rapids front office.

Colorado Rapid fans unite and let it be known that the front office needs to (nay, must) care as much about their team making the playoffs as you do. Don't accept excuses. They owe you results in the form of TV adds, newspaper adds, online adds, creative special promotions, giveaways at the gates, and most importantly, butts in seats.

Follow-up: If you've read this far, keep reading the comments. Things are not as bad as the footiebusiness.com editor (or I) make them out to be. It appears quite a bit is being done to promote the game. Hopefully it will result in a big turnout.

Disclaimer: I live in Seattle and I'm a Sounders FC fan.

It pained me to read this morning how the Rapids front office is marketing this playoff game (or rather not marketing).

After selling more than 11k tickets in their playoff opener with less than five days notice, the Rapids face the challenge of again selling tickets on a short turn around. Interestingly, the team is not aggressively pushing any promotional offerings in advance of the game, but through their website, there are two deals being offered to attract fans... To locate these deals, a fan must click through the website to the ticket page. The front page of the website contains no reference to the offers.