Filed under: Family Fun, Supporter Culture | Tags: Bavaria Soccer Club, Menace, Open Cup, PDL
There were moments when I thought I may have made a serious error in judgement driving to Milwaukee for Menace Soccer’s Open Cup game. Most of those moments involved storm clouds and unfavorable scoreboards, but ultimately, you can’t go wrong seeking adventure around a soccer pitch.
The kids and I rolled into Milwaukee about an hour before game time, and seeing some pretty serious storm clouds and not yet having a hotel plan, we pulled into the nearest hotel to check availability….and walked in as the Menace players were walking out. My kids were awestruck, (as were most of the players, seeing visiting supporters) and my stock rose about 20 points, never a bad thing with hungry kids on the road. We checked out the Bavarian Soccer Park and ran into the referees, two of whom were former friends of mine from my serious refereeing days. We got the report that there would be a lightening delay, which was fine with my starving kiddos who did not find anything dinner-worthy at concessions.
In addition at meeting my long time Twitter friend, Scott Viar (@BackSeatGaffer), we got to meet Karen, ticket taker extraordinaire, and her two kids who were close enough to my kids age to make the game an instant success with Junior Menace fans. I like any game where I get to sit with Menace owner Kyle Krause and GM Todd Meiners and talk about building a soccer stadium in Des Moines, running the Menace, getting to know the players…whatever. Let’s face it, as a soccer geek, it’s always fun to shoot the breeze with other soccer geeks.
Enter my World Cup travel buddy, @Hoover_Dam, who noticed @PeterWilt1 posting about the Menace coach, and directed him to look for me. Allow me to clarify two things: my soccer geeking is pretty supporter focused, and I have a terrible memory for names. So all I knew about Peter Wilt was his Twitter profile, which states “i launch pro soccer teams and write.” Two of my favorite things! And really, I’m trying to watch a soccer game and keep track of two kids…I’m not going to Google him to find out which soccer teams, if you’re building soccer in America on any level, that’s good enough for me.
So I ask Kyle if he knows where Peter Wilt is, and he points him out and says “Wonder what he’s doing here.” Now, I could have thought, “Hmm…Kyle Krause knows this guy…and he’s surprised he’s here” but I didn’t, because me goto is to be funny: “He heard I was going to be here on Twitter and wanted to meet me.” Kyle rolled his eyes and said “Yeah, right.”
Which made it so much more epic-ly awesome when Peter walked directly over at half time, hugged me and greeted “Hi Tanya!” Kinda glad I didn’t know that he was the founder of the Chicago Fire, Chicago Red Stars, and a hundred other amazing things, or I might have passed out either then, or certainly when he quoted my blog to me and wanted to meet my famous “yellow team” singing son. Because I get pretty excited when I hear that ANYONE reads this blog.
I got to spend the game shooting the breeze with so many really smart soccer people, I didn’t even mind the two rain delays, a sprinkler delay later, or what had to be a 20 degree temperature drop. Menace walked away with the overtime win. We’re going to need to play better on Tuesday against Minnesota, but for now, I’m pretty stoked about my new friends made and met in Milwaukee. I did finally Google Peter Wilt (when I returned home and my husband saw my Twitter feed and said “Is that THE Peter Wilt?”) And yes, my toes did finally warm up again.
Filed under: Family Fun, Supporter Culture, Uncategorized | Tags: kids, parenting, soccer mom, Stadium Language, supporters section
You may remember a while back, I posted about my son going to a Chicago Fire game and learning their song “Why Are You Such A Yellow F—ing Team?” I knew one day, he would hear the “Yellow Submarine” song it’s based off, and there would be some hilarious follow up story. I just hoped it wouldn’t involve a Principal’s Office.
Well, that day arrived Friday. My daughter’s school has All School Sings, where the school has an assembly and sings songs and shares what each classroom’s projects. This one was celebrating an art project that I had worked on, so I brought my son to the thank you ceremony. And as luck would have it, one of the songs for the day was “Yellow Submarine.”
My only regret is that I don’t have video to share of his sweet little face, as it morphed from excitement about the Sing, to recognition of the tune of “Yellow Submarine,” to the horrified look of further recognition that hundreds of kids were about to drop an F bomb, to finally sweet, blessed relief that there was a second set of lyrics to this tune. It was truly a priceless moment with him, and a great story for the dinner table that night.
I stand by our decision to bring the kids into Supporter’s Sections every chance we get. They get it. And then when one of our friends accidentally curses in front of them, they understand that there are some places where that language is acceptable, and many more where it’s not. That’s a lesson I’m to
Let me preface by saying that I did NOT want to come to Slovenia. There was a rumor that the US would play Germany on this date, and I was all about going to Germany: I have friends there, I speak the language, and I love watching Germany play almost as much as I enjoy watching the US. So when Slovenia was announce, I was pretty upset. I almost decided against making the trip entirely: I don’t speak Slovenian, I’d only heard of the country because they were in our group in the 2010 World Cup, and who knew how they felt about that experience. But after grumbling for a few days, and realizing that I could still see my German family friends after Slovenia, I decided to continue with my dream trip of Eurotour 2011 planning.
I arrived at 2 AM on game day, and felt lucky to find a pizza stand open who called a taxi to my hotel for me. I checked in and slept until 15 minutes before breakfast closed. I spent the mid day checking out the city of Ljubljana with two other American fans, and headed to the stadium bar around 3:30. Our first stop in the stadium neighborhood was to pick up tickets. I’ve been to enough games to know that if you haven’t seen a bunch of Americans walking around, we’re probably going to be a small crowd at the game, but I had no idea how small our contingent was until we got the the visitors ticket booth. I walked up, and as I was fishing my passport out of my back pocket to show ID to pick up will call, I said “Hi, my name’s Tanya.” And before I could get my passport out, she handed me an envelope with my name on it. When you can get tickets with a first name and no ID, it’s going to be a VERY small crowd.
We headed to the All Star Bar, and on the way, found the Slovenia Supporters selling scarves which I had to buy, and fell in love with when I saw the top read “Majhna in ponosna – little and proud.” How could I not fall in love with Slovenia? I talked with the guy selling them, who turned out to be a leader of the supporters for Slovenia. We had a good time chatting, and as I was leaving, he gave me a really nice Slovenian flag. All I can say is “you had me at “majhna in ponosna.”
We had five Americans at the All Star Bar, and several Slovenians that looked confused to find us there. The stadiums in Europe are all alcohol free (yeah…take a moment to let that sink in, AO nation) and it was unbelievably cold and damp, so I quickly switched from cold beer to Kuhalo Vino, a hot spiced wine that was going down real easy. We compared notes on travel, and came up with my favorite phrase of the night. When people speaking foreign languages without the listener understanding, the listener just nods and says, “What you say is very interesting.” It was a well used phrase for the night.
We headed to the stadium, wondering if our section would even fill a row. Would they have riot gear cops around a single row? If 7000 Slovenians got pissed, exactly what were we going to do about it? When we got to our seats, we were about 2/3 the way up the lower deck, almost in the corner.I was happy to see several serious looking riot geared up police behind our section. We got the AO Des Moines banner hung in our corner, and then went down to the front row of where the US boys were warming up. We were SO close to the field, it was really great. The intimacy of a women’s game, but with the men’s team. It reminded me of the old days, when you could run into players anywhere, before anyone knew about soccer in the US. We realized that it was minutes before the walk out, and no one had kicked us out yet. I ran up to the old seats and grabbed our stuff, updating the only other Americans (a couple from Austria) that we were permanently relocating and they were welcome to join us.
I’ve never been prouder to belt out our national anthem than I was at that game. It was so patriotic to be there, with my four new friends, cheering on our boys. And when we scored, what seemed like immediately, it took a moment to realize that, although the stadium was pin-drop silent, we had scored! We went nuts, and there was the deafening roar of five people cheering. It was completely unreal and fantastic all at once. The field was veiled in fog, so thick that we couldn’t see the far side benches from our front row vantage point. It was an amazing night, on an amazing field, with a great host. The Slovenians got some chants going, and they had a great coordinated fan group in the end zone. Their supporters got call and respond chants going with the other fans in the stadium, and created a great atmosphere. They were great sports being down or tied, and were great sports shaking hands with us post game leaving the stadium and back at the bar.
Of course I’m glad that the US is playing better, and happy that the Klinsman plan seems to be coming together (I told you all to stop worrying). I was glad to catch Boca’s 100th cap… I remember when he was a new guy on the team… they grow up so fast! But there’s something really special about going to the “rare” games. I like being part of the tiny little group of supporters, cheering against all odds. I love all US Soccer matches, but I will always have a special (WARM, finally) place in my heart for Slovenia.
Filed under: International Soccer, Supporter Culture, Uncategorized, US Soccer | Tags: Friendly, Paris, USMNT
My trip in Paris has been really lovely, but I’m typically pretty incognito as an American in Europe. Most Europeans assume that all Americans have long hair, and I speak enough French and plenty of German, which is not typical, so I was surprised to see how my interaction with Parisians took a nose dive once I was in my USA gear for the game. Then after the game, on the Metro back to my hotel, still face-painted and decked out, but in good spirits, the drunk French boys were a little ridiculous.
Four of us Americans stopped for food next to the stadium to let the Metro traffic die down, and around the stadium, the French were pretty nice. People shook hands, took photos with us, it was relatively friendly. Jason, a supporter from New York, and I took the Metro most of the way home together. When I left him, I had a transfer and one stop til I was back at my stop, “La Fouche” (my new favorite word to say in French). I beat the gate closed for the second time (is there anything as exhilarating as making the last train with only minutes to spare?) But then I was trapped on the platform, waiting for the last train, with a bunch of drunk French kids who hadn’t bothered to go to the game, but felt they knew enough to be obnoxious with me.
Here’s a lesson kids, even in a foreign language, it’s tough to out insult me. So here’s my guide for dealing with drunken, obnoxious French fans:
1, Be friendly. I think it was Jason that initially said “When we travel, we let the away team have one goal, to be a good guest.” Most people laughed and shook our hands. But a few were determined to changed my mind back to the belief that French people are really just a bunch of d bags.
2. When the comeback is “Yeah, but you still lost.” My next comeback was “You didn’t even go to the game, and I had a great night there. It was a good game.” Which they’re supposed to see as, dude, it’s just a friendly, lighten up.
3. But some didn’t, and to those, you must start speaking English very quickly, although still with a nice tone “Look, you won by one point in a friendly, big effin deal. I’m an American, you think I’ve never been to a loss before, get over yourself.” You can rattle on here as long as you want, but as you walk away, slow down your English a little and say “Hey, in the 2010 Coupe du Monde (World Cup in French…and you must use French just there), where were you guys in the 2nd round? (You can hold up 2 fingers, just to make sure they get it). Granted, I didn’t have a huge sample set, but that wiped the smile off 100% of drunk French boy faces. Except the one guy, who was particularly amused watching me fend off one particularly drunk fan. As the drunk fan stumbled away with his sad face on, I caught him smirking, and asked if he spoke English. He said yes, and we just smiled and laughed about the whole “drunk guy getting hauled off by his girlfriend” scene. All in all, it was a great night in Paris.
One more day here, then it’s the night train to Florence for 2 days there. I speak zero Italian. Should be interesting….
Filed under: International Soccer, Supporter Culture, US Soccer | Tags: Friendly, Paris, USMNT
It’s been a busy summer at our house. I closed my store, moved our house, and it was generally chaos around every corner. So I took some time off from this blog, (except for that stadium policy thing…that needed to be said.) but I’ve decided to make a comeback in style.
I’m in Paris for the USMNT friendly vs France, and then headed to Slovenia for that game. These are my first two away friendlies, and I’m very excited to be here…too excited…plus the jet lag is not helping my sleep situation. All I can say so far is every French person I’ve talked to is surprised that Americans are here, (and 1500 strong, according to US Soccer). My favorite response so far to the why are you here answer: “But you’re a woman.” I thought of making a joke that I was aware of that, but let it slide because it was delivered with such a great French accent. French accents make just about everything sound better. Have a French person say “Kentucky”. It’s almost sophisticated.
But I digress. Paris has been great today, although there seems to be a low level of game promotion going on. If you’re here in Paris with me, please join me at the American Outlaws meetup before the game. Details can be found here: http://www.theamericanoutlaws.com/events/us-vs-france-111111
See you all tomorrow, or later today Europe time!
Filed under: Family Fun, Supporter Culture, Uncategorized, US Soccer | Tags: Stadium Language, Tifo, US Soccer, USMNT
An email went out to the American Outlaws nation yesterday, telling us that US Soccer wants to promote a “classy reputation” by not having profanity in the Supporters Section. The “You Suck A**hole” chant at the US vs Mexico game in Philadelphia was cited as the reason for why we, the supporters, are being punished by losing our privilege of hanging banners for the game tomorrow.
I’m a mother and a supporter. I bring my children to games, including the game in Philadelphia. My views on language in the supporters section are well established and outlined here, but let me add that I was far more concerned that stadium security was not dealing with drunkenness that was escalating to violence within and between supporters sections than I was about explaining to my children that certain words are only appropriate in certain situations.
While cursing in the supporters section doesn’t bother me, I can understand why US Soccer would want to cut it off. There has been an increase in cursing, and while I’m not offended, I do miss the days when our (as supporters in general, American Outlaws, Sam’s Army, whoever you stand with) chants were stunning for their creativity than cursing. It strikes me that this is a parent-child relationship gone bad. US Soccer birthed a new movement of passionate supporters, American Outlaws, and their child is growing up faster than they perhaps expected, and they’re getting difficult to control. American Outlaws doesn’t want to be the kid with a bunch of rules anymore (children rarely respond well to punishment without clear warning), and (at least some of them) don’t take kindly to being told to limit their free speech rights. So here’s my attempt at mediation in this relationship:
To US Soccer,
As a USSF referee, we’re taught to be careful the promises we make in a game, and the punishment must fit the crime. By taking away the supporters right to hang banners, you’re punishing people who aren’t the problem. My children take extreme pride in carrying the American Outlaws Des Moines banner and stadium flag and seeing it in the stadium. That is a huge part of how they support the US. They were devastated when we couldn’t hang banners in Philly, and panicked that we might not be able to carry in the stadium flag. Don’t take away the creativity of your supporters as punishment for those who show no creativity and think supporting is as simple as chanting YSA and flipping off the other team.
By all means, let’s work together to get the cursing out of the section. A directive that anyone chanting YSA will be immediately ejected would be a fitting punishment. That may seem like a giant undertaking, but we all know you don’t have to caution the entire wall to respect 10 yards, just the first brick in it. Let’s get more educated stadium personnel, who feel empowered to remove the people who are causing problems so that the supporters section is still raucous and fun, without becoming dangerous or alienating the rest of your growing fan base.
PS I also reffed Latino league. Let’s not pretend that there’s far more bad language in English than Spanish. I think we’d all feel better if we did better than “those aren’t our fans”. Deal with all of it or none of it, please.
To the Supporters,
I’m with you. When I read that email yesterday, I was furious. But after sleeping on it, US Soccer has a point. Do we really need to curse in every chant? Would “Mental” be any less inspiring to the team if we went “freaking mental”? The American Outlaws mission statement is “To support the United States National Soccer Team through a unified and dedicated group of supporters.” So while US Soccer is not in charge of any of us, are we really supporting them if we’re specifically doing what they ask us to refrain from doing? We can do better. Don’t get angry, get creative. Show them that we are more than cursing. It would make my day if those going to the game tomorrow found some funny, even sarcastic, curse free replacement for YSA. I know there’s someone out there with something very funny and ironic to say. Let’s get that person some paint and bed sheets, ASAP.
Ultimately, we could fight and be pissed off, but what good will that do for us? You can have all the free speech you want, but in a private event, it won’t be you far. Ultimately, US Soccer can make all our lives pretty miserable, but it would be directly against our mission to drive them to it.
To everyone:
We’re all on the same side here. We want to grow US Soccer and having games with great atmosphere will make that happen. This is one of those aggravating ”you’ll charm more bees with honey than vinegar. We can both do better in working together to create that atmosphere.
Filed under: Family Fun, International Soccer, Supporter Culture, Uncategorized, US Soccer
The American Outlaws Des Moines flag arrived today and it is so super awesome amazing cool I can’t even believe it! I thought I’d share photo before this one makes it’s debut in Detroit and KC. The kids are pretty stoked about it, as you can see!
We still need 2 things: money and a name, and that’s where you come in!
1. Please send money!!
Tanya fronted the money for this out of her house fund, and she’d really like to replenish that fund ASAP. So please send what you can (memo it AO Flag)! How?
*Dwolla us! Go to Dwolla.com, send money to 812-460-2944 or tweet money to @TanyaKeith
*Paypal us! Paypal to TKeith71 (at) yahoo (dot) com
*Do it up old school: Get a check or cash to Tanya Keith c/o Simply for Giggles 510 East Locust #120, Des Moines IA 50309
Pass it on! Please share this project with your friends!
2. Help us name it! The two other flags running around US Soccer fans are named Big Ass Flag and Baby Ass flag. Since I would prefer not to have my children telling their friends about anything “ass”, we want this one to have a PG name. We also want the name to be about the Midwest (in a positive way, not referring to our fly over status, thank you anyway Prairie!) We were talking about naming it the Midwest Menace, as a nod to our local team, the Des Moines Menace. What do you all think?
Thanks for your help with this project, and we can’t wait to see you all with it in Detroit and KC. (I’ll bring it to Boston if someone wants to pay my plane ticket, but I won’t hold my breath!!)
My reasons for going to the AO Rally had nothing to do with parenting. I love taking my kids to games, but the Rally was something I wanted to do for me. I remember June 5, 2002, being in the stadium for the moment (or 90 some moments) that the US beat Portugal after coming off our last place finish in the 1998 World Cup. Doug and I were up late talking in our room that night about how cool it was to be there in such a pivotal moment for US Soccer. When I heard about what American Outlaws were planning for this Rally, I thought that the event had the possibility to be another epic moment in US Soccer history, and I figured it was time for me to get serious about AO DSM chapter leadership, and on both counts, it did not disappoint.
But even though my intentions were self/chapter serving, we did have two very interesting discussions at lunch with the Soccer Family Style Family (ages 8 and 3-1/2). The first was about facebook photos. I was flipping through the photos on my phone and commented that a few of them were not facebook worthy as they contained some things that should stay in Vegas. When people question how close I keep my kids to the supporters section, I have to think, isn’t it better for your kids to learn lessons on what not to curse, post to facebook, etc from OTHER people? I think so.
Then we talked about Grant Wahl’s Campaign for FIFA President. We talked about political corruption, and the things that FIFA has done to lose some of our respect. We talked about the need to stand up to injustice, and how even if he doesn’t win (he admits it’s a long shot), it’s important to push the discussion forward to the best of each person’s ability. OK, I admit, it’s over the 3 year old’s head, but you could see my daughter’s wheels turning. She gets it, and that’s a cool thing to see as a parent.
And did I mention that I got to meet Mama Donahoo? That’s right, Mom of two of the American Outlaws founders Korey and Chris Donahoo. She didn’t believe me when I told her she was my hero, but really? When you’re trying to raise good soccer supporters in the US….who would you rather meet? It was epic for me, Mama Donahoo.
We’re working on our statement on Grant’s candidacy…you’ll have to stay tuned for that one. Until then, remember….American Outlaws….not just for kids. It’s for parents too.
I’m on my way home from the first American Outlaws Rally, and want to share my experience of the AORally, but honestly, I’m overwhelmed. I’m still processing how great this experience was for me.
As a long time US Soccer junkie, and I’m a big fan ot what American Outlaws have accomplished is such a short time.I felt I had to be a part of this rally to see what they have planned for the future and to bring my experience to help build the organization.
I got so much more out of this rally than I expected. I got a ride to and from LA from my AO brothers in the LA chapter. I’m riding with a great group of guys, and I am getting and extra 10 hours of talking AO (and a side trip to the Hoover Dam!)
I learned about Little Feet’s new programs, Free Beer Movement, and more. I got to talk to Alexi Lalas, who delivered a love letter to the fans that was about his perpective of the growing soccer culture in the US for all the years I’ve been a supporter. I saw previews of One Goal’s video, and got to talk to Grant Wahl about his work and FIFA President campaign.
But most of all, I feel this trip rekindled my passion for growing the fan culture in this country, in particular through the American Outlaws. It was so exciting, as an entrepreneur, to recognize the huge opportunity that sits in front of AO right now. The fan swell that my family have tried to develop since 1993 is finally happening, and it is quite incredible to be a part of it.
And I’ll tell you more about that, but after I’ve slept a few hours. Until then, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, American Outlaws. We love you, we love you, we love you….
