Open Season on Crew Stadium’s Atmosphere

By: Jeff | May 3rd, 2007

A pair of items, one article on USSoccerplayers.com and one post on The Far Post (a DC United blog, I think), mounted an anthropological expedition into a foreign Major League Soccer venue. The site of their research, not surprisingly since both authors reside in or near DC, coincided with the DC’s Week 4 encounter: Columbus, Ohio.

Both authors found what can best be described, well, nothing to write home about (though they did in the end). To lift one underwhelmed impression from the USSoccerplayer’s piece:

“The fans who did show up were only roused from their seats by the lone goal of the game, and the t-shirt giveaway. The atmosphere during the game alternated between that of a 10-year-old’s birthday party and a classical music concert. There was the occasional in-game ad for some local business. There were yellow cards waved by the Crew fans whenever a United player was booked. Otherwise, Crew Stadium would have been a nice place for a nap. The traveling support from United was the only saving grace, adding a little life to a very lifeless encounter.”

While that is an eyewitness account, it’s also far from a longitudinal study on the Crew experience. The question of what Crew fans, who did of course manage to find the article, thought of it does, however, come quickly to mind. Thanks to BigSoccer, two answers came (readily*) to hand. One thread - and this one linked to the USSoccerplayers piece - assumes the position one often see on BigSoccer threads: i.e. an angry, defensive crouch that, with each successive post, devolves further into attacking “outsiders” with hillbilly ferocity. (And, just a little further down, the conversation completes its tumble into the mud next to the shack with two commenters simply going at one another.)

OK, that’s more fun at their expense than anything: the consensus answer by the end of the thread (before it actually does peter out into dueling posts) is that the atmosphere will improve once the Crew has - and for some time.

The other thread, however, does something both remarkable and, perhaps, useful: it essentially acknowledges a problem exists and looks for a remedy. The central solution on offer, however - e.g. figuring a way to get more people singing - isn’t free of obstacles (which, in truth, the other, more defensive thread addresses sharply and effectively). The biggest: not everyone wants to wave banners, make signs, sing songs, paint faces, etc.

I’m not going to get into my personal experiences in this space (for one, they’re Crew-related in only the most indirect sense, but I’ll work on this for the other space), but the various pieces of this conversation have me wondering what fans, Crew or otherwise, see at Columbus Crew games. You have been called out Crew fans: what say you?

* I emphasize the word “readily” because I’ve got very, very limited patience for the meandering, tribalist ramblings so common to the team-specific boards on BigSoccer. I’ve got a two-thread limit before the chest-thumping, repetition, and fountains of bullshit do more damage to my brain than drinking rubbing alcohol.