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Olesh

Member Since 21 Feb 2004
Offline Last Active Dec 12 2022 02:24 AM

Posts I've Made

In Topic: Thank you, Steve and Shep!

14 October 2022 - 12:19 AM

Yes, a huge thank you to the MSG crew. It's easy to take for granted how good we've had it TV-wise for the history of the club. Basically every game live on one network, easy to find overflow channels if necessary, and very few tape-delayed games in the early years. Also one of the first to have pre and postgame shows. I've seen a lot of MLS telecasts, and MSG was the first local broadcast that treated it as 'Major League'. 

 

Our announcers have always been among the best in the league, and better than most of the national crews. Shep/Tommy and JP/Steve for a local broadcast team, you've got to be kidding me! 

 

Shep in particular has been the biggest constant of this franchise. He's really the only remaining link to the Metrostars days. His voice, his sayings and his straight shooting will always take me back to sometimes frustrating, but fond memories of players chasing bouncing balls on bad field turf in an empty Giants Stadium. For longtime fans, that's our MLS, and it's nice to still have people and institutions around that remind us of those times, the years invested and history shared. The past few seasons, when I ask my father if he wants to go to RBA for a game, his response is often 'Nah, I'd rather stay home and listen to Shep'. I can't imagine whatever comes next will illicit that response.


In Topic: Introducing: Metrodle

25 May 2022 - 01:44 AM

Yesterday: Mr. Clean!

 

Today: wow. This one is a doozy.

A tricky thing about some of these early guys is you don't think of them as international, since they never took up the precious 3/4 foreign slots at the time. Wasted guesses on the Brancos, Caricolas, Arley Palacioses, and Wellington Sanchezes of world without considering 'domestic' players.


In Topic: Russia attacks Ukraine

24 March 2022 - 05:23 AM

Russia is bidding to host the Euros, in either 2028 or 2032.

 

https://www.espn.com...kraine-invasion

 

Immediate response from FIFA and UEFA: Picture the scene in Revenge of the Nerds where the nerds petition the Greek Council for membership and they all in unison put up a thumbs down. 

 

If they were actually serious about the bid, instead of walking into the UEFA meeting with presentation binders, they would just bring Putin's head on a pike. Might not even need to bring the customary suitcases of (non-ruble) cash to secure the votes.


In Topic: (No) attendance, again

24 March 2022 - 05:10 AM

Step in and do what, and why? Force Red Bull to sell because their attendance sucks? That's never, ever going to happen.

MLS did that with Chivas and Chicago. Why wouldn't they do it again if things continue to rapidly trend downward and they think they have a solution? The Chivas situation was a dumpster fire, but the inciting incident was having a slam dunk stadium location lined up that they couldn't capitalize on. In Chicago, they had an interested local rich buyer, so they pretty much pushed the existing under-capitalized guy out of the way. 

 

At this point, the thing I'm looking forward to most as a fan is the day they announce Nelson Rodriguez as the new GM. That hire would bring more hope than any player they could possibly sign.

 

Also, wasn't this exact outcome completely obvious to everyone going into the 2020 season? The pandemic just bought everyone in the FO two years of excuses.


In Topic: Thellwell out

27 February 2022 - 04:56 AM

A few things here:

1. EXACTLY. Who is hiring the climbers? There's your problem.

But....

2. Aren't most of these guys international climbers?

3. Do we really want a front office filled with Hamlett clones for all of time???

Obviously the organization is rotten at its core. This just serves as another reminder to the few remaining RB apologists who might still believe this club represents anything more than a resume blurb to those passing through. 

 

There's a difference between luring wunderkinds from Europe and hiring Jesse Marsch (or anyone from within the US/MLS system). Guys like Thelwell and Stuber are doing just enough to catch the eye of RB Global for a promotion or else will cut bait and bail before anything happens that will seriously ding their resume. For a guy like Marsch (or Armas, Lesesne, Curtis, etc), this is their realistic professional pinnacle. Anything above managing/sporting directing RBNY falls into 'Beyond Wildest Dreams' territory. It's naive to think that doesn't impact one's approach to the position.

 

The hubris of the organization to think RBNY a) is enough of a destination to consistently attract and retain top rising international talent b) has a solid enough support structure in place to allow talented management to hit the ground running and succeed and c) is good enough at identifying replacement talent to overcome the inevitable churn are just more of their fatal flaws. It's also what keeps a guy like Hamlett in place. He ends up as the default fall back when half the soccer operations staff turns over every season. Suddenly in that scenario, institutional knowledge and continuity becomes of out sized importance. As long as this is the hiring philosophy, he will stick around, competence be damned.