July 19: Vancouver at Portland (R)

[Krammerhead]

Just thought I'd mention it. Two top teams in the USL are battling it out. Games on at USL live as usual.

They are using an FSN feed so we get a proper scoreboard with a clock.

[Krammerhead]

Cracking strike by Martin Nash from 25 yards out opens the score. Whitecaps started the game in the 5-3-2 formation. Which means he'll probably drop to a 6-3-1 formation or something ridiculous.

[Blue and White Army]

Get in there, Batman Chin!

Actually, Morbital put a "proper clock" on the Whitecaps feed as of last match. :)

[Krammerhead]

Morbital? It looked like the Shaw TV feed to me.

[Blue and White Army]

Oh, Morbs was taking credit for it at the match.

...And it's 1-1.

[Krammerhead]

Why is it that Whitecaps fans don't seem to follow their team on the road? There's no live chat, nor do I see anyone on the Southsiders board commenting about the game. Even poorly supported teams like Miami and California seem to get a group following every road game.

[Blue and White Army]

Beats me. Barely a soul travelled down to Seattle earlier this season, either.

[Krammerhead]

I'm not singling out southsiders here either. The club averages 5,000 people a game, yet doesn't even seem to get a handful of people to watch and chat about road games. How many are even aware their is a match tonight? Even if people find the Southsider board too abrasive they could post on the Whitecaps section of USL discussions or whatever. There seems to be absolutely no internet presence of Whitecaps fans.

[Blue and White Army]

Where are these chats? On the USLlive.com site?

I guess the official Whitecaps site could do a better job of encouraging Grandstanders onto USLdiscussions.com ...

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army

Where are these chats? On the USLlive.com site?

I guess the official Whitecaps site could do a better job of encouraging Grandstanders onto USLdiscussions.com ...


Well, the chats are usually held by the various supporters groups. Seattle, Portland and Carolina always have one going, there may be more chats. I usually find a link to them by reading USL discussions or Big Soccer before the games. The supporters that don't have chats usually have an in game thread such as you try to have on the southsiders board. But as you just posted over there, there's nobody there. No use posting just to yourself.

Big crowd at BC Place for the Lions tonight though!

[piltdownman]

How are they playing? My internet has been hit and miss today. Only now the stream is working again for me.

[Blue and White Army]

The back line has been sad.

[Blue and White Army]

The video stream has died. Lovely.

[piltdownman]

Well my stream has gone pear shaped again. I'll my telus card, but the latency is a full second so I doubt that will work.

[Blue and White Army]

Now we're losing 1-2.

[Krammerhead]

I've been getting a fine picture. I did close the stream during halftime though so I could watch some of the Lions game on TSN broadband (best damn thing they have ever done).

Anyway, Whitecaps are looking like they could lose big.

[Blue and White Army]

Tchoumi and Kambere are a weak partnership. Come on, Lilley.

[Blue and White Army]

Klein, Jordan and Alberts likely coming in.

[Blue and White Army]

Tchoumi out, Testo out, Morris out.

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army

Tchoumi out, Testo out, Morris out.


Commentator says that Lilley is furious at his players, hence the change. Why not be furious at himself for his silly formations and silly player choices.

[Blue and White Army]

T&A shots on FSN Northwest.

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army

T&A shots on FSN Northwest.


Yes, I'm quite impressed with the talent. Wouldn't see that at Swangard.

[Blue and White Army]

What's with Gjertsen hairband? Looks like a wanker.

[Krammerhead]

Have you noticed during the crowd shots that Portland has a crowd thats made up mostly of adults? Makes the atmosphere there quite superior to that of other USL cities.

[Krammerhead]

Have you noticed during the crowd shots that Portland has a crowd thats made up mostly of adults? Makes the atmosphere there quite superior to that of other USL cities.

[Krammerhead]

7,123 at tonights game.

[Blue and White Army]

Yup, no dog-and-pony shows at PGE Park. Our "matchday staff" could learn something.

[Krammerhead]

Remember a few years back when capacity of the southside was limited to 300 and adults only? Kind of reminds me of that. They were turning people away from the Southside.

The present Whitecaps organization seems to want to make this club dog and Pony show. Thats why they tried to implement the blue and white brigade to be their "supporters" group and other such moves. I don't know why, they used to have a good thing going. I wonder if Kerfoot is behind the "family values" sporting event change?

Anyway, the better team wins 2-1 tonight.

[Blue and White Army]

Surprised Lilley risked Klein and JJ on that horrible astroturf. And why play five at the back when you're having problems scoring goals?

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army

Surprised Lilley risked Klein and JJ on that horrible astroturf. And why play five at the back when you're having problems scoring goals?


Lilley saw that he was playing a team with the best defensive record in the league and as usual thought that it would be a good idea to try and play another defensive battle. Didn't work though.

[larnicent]

quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead

Why is it that Whitecaps fans don't seem to follow their team on the road? There's no live chat, nor do I see anyone on the Southsiders board commenting about the game. Even poorly supported teams like Miami and California seem to get a group following every road game.

Not all fans have access to computers. And, out of those of us who do, some of us aren't always near our computers due to other commitments. Therefore, we do not pay for USLLive if we can't get our money's worth. I prefer to listen to Peter Schaad and Alan Errington which is what I did tonight.

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by larnicent


quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead

Why is it that Whitecaps fans don't seem to follow their team on the road? There's no live chat, nor do I see anyone on the Southsiders board commenting about the game. Even poorly supported teams like Miami and California seem to get a group following every road game.

Not all fans have access to computers. And, out of those of us who do, some of us aren't always near our computers due to other commitments. Therefore, we do not pay for USLLive if we can't get our money's worth. I prefer to listen to Peter Schaad and Alan Errington which is what I did tonight.


That scenario plays out for all of the teams fans in the league. Not everybody has a computer, yet teams that are only averaging 500 a game (which is what California really gets) will get a handful of fans each game for a chat. The other new team, Carolina, supporters group had to change servers for their in game chats as it was crashing due to too many people trying to join the chats.

So yes, not everybody has a computer and plenty of people have other commitments, nor does everybody follow their teams on USL live (game day chats were going on well before these games got videocast). Yet other teams fans seem to be able to pull enough supporters together for an in game chat. There have been fans serving in Iraq joining the game chat and fans who can't watch or listen but join the chats anyway.

I can't believe a city that is supposed to be a big soccer city can't get a handful of fans together for road game chats. Other teams fans don't use the excuses you give, perhaps Vancovuer soccer fans aren't as good as other USL cities.

[Richard]

Doesn't Team 1040 have a phone-in after the game?

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Doesn't Team 1040 have a phone-in after the game?


What does that have to do with getting a group of people/supporters together during the game to chat about whats happening on the field?

Phone in shows are boring and useless and the radio station controls what is being talked about.

[Richard]

Nothing and I agree that phone-in shows are excruciatingly boring, but it is an indication of fan interest, the apparent lack of which for away games has been part of this discussion has it not?

[piltdownman]

I for one think its pretty sad. I personally am having trouble with my internet. Where I live shaw is 'upgrading' our internet service. Its down half the time and when its up my "5Mb download speed" is capped at 2441 Kb/s with a massive Latency of 167 ms. Whats even worse is at the office we have shaws most expensive internet package (i think its 20-25 Mb download) and I still max out at that magic 2441 Kb/s and its still down half the time.

[analyst]

The Whitecaps latest loss puts them way behind Portland, which also has many games in hand.
This is almost the same team as last year, minus Suarez and Caig.
Lilley's abusive coaching tactics aren't motivating his charges as much as last year. Won't be surpised to see the Caps sign some more over the hill Americans.

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

I for one think its pretty sad. I personally am having trouble with my internet. Where I live shaw is 'upgrading' our internet service. Its down half the time and when its up my "5Mb download speed" is capped at 2441 Kb/s with a massive Latency of 167 ms. Whats even worse is at the office we have shaws most expensive internet package (i think its 20-25 Mb download) and I still max out at that magic 2441 Kb/s and its still down half the time.
A little off topic but I also had a problem with my Shaw service maxing out at under 2MB/s. I have been a Shaw customer for 10 years. To cut a long story short, switching to the latest model Shaw modem solved the problem, I now regularly hit the rated 5MB/s. The Shaw service tech who came out to investigate my complaint said that Shaw has a new operating platform and the older modems run on the old platform which is by definition slower and gradually being phased out. Try switching Shaw modems.

[piltdownman]

quote:Originally posted by Richard... Try switching Shaw modems.


Thanx,

Funny Enough they just swiched the modem here at the office a few hours ago. While my Latency is now normal (30ms) , my download speeds now seem to be capped at 965 kb/s which is so close to 1 Mb (1000,000/1024 = 976 , minus the headers) that it can't be a coincidence. I get the same speed (within 2Kb/s ) on every Speedtest location I have tried. The tech says my conection is 25 Mb/s, but 'the system in my area is being upgraded and to expect outages and some performance losses until everything is fixed in Hopefully December'

What great service, sadly its the same story for HD service in my area. It won't be ready until Decemeber. That and my digital cable keeps going out, so all I get are the anolog channels.

Oh well.

[Richard]

Are you sure your download speed issues at work are not related to your local network?

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Richard

Nothing and I agree that phone-in shows are excruciatingly boring, but it is an indication of fan interest, the apparent lack of which for away games has been part of this discussion has it not?


Well it's a good indication of fan interest which is why I believe they no longer have phone in shows after road games.

[Calgary Boomer]

Maybe it's because the same 3 people are the only ones calling in. Or, because it's hard to form an opinion on a game you didn't see. Not everyone has USL live...

[Krammerhead]

quote:Originally posted by Calgary Boomer

Maybe it's because the same 3 people are the only ones calling in. Or, because it's hard to form an opinion on a game you didn't see. Not everyone has USL live...


They should. They seem to have no problem buying digital boxes and whatnots for their glamour league games. Whats $49 US per season or a few bucks a game. Hell even I could afford it.