My personal relationship with FC Dallas has sunk to an all-time low.
Yes, being a true “fan” means that you stick with your side through good times and bad, and the last few months (actually years) have been really bad.
Through those times I have stuck with the team as the front office leadership (former and current) made one bizarre decision after another – starting with Southlake, ending with trading Drew Moor (edit: make that signing Hernandez). With the passing of Lamar Hunt the whole soccer thing seems to be nothing more than a secondary thought to those in control – and that is clearly filtering down to those that attend and are fans of the team.
Personally, there is a level of guilt I wrestle with because of my newfound FCD apathy, but I’m not sure I am alone at fault in its cause.
My attendance of the DC United match last weekend was my first actual viewing, in person or on TV, of the team in over a month. I had actually forgotten to set my DVR to record the last three FCD away matches! More embarrassingly, I possess the power to set up my DVR remotely from my phone (for those last-second realizations) and not once before those matches did the thought ever pop into my head.
(For a quick review of the match, I can’t believe that I think this team has actually gone backwards since I last saw them)
Since most of you don’t know me personally, I will offer up that this is a shocking turn of events since 1996 my life really had revolved around the Dallas Burn/FCD playing schedule. My wife will attest to the fact that her frustration level over this issue has regularly reached boiling points in the last 10+ years.
What’s changed? For me, it’s the realization that Hunt Sports Group simply has placed soccer as a secondary consideration and the fans behind that. The hiring of the current coach smells much more of some odd indebted family relationship than smart soccer business. The team’s lack of any real direction on the marketing front also feels more like a lack of financial backing than any real lower level decision making process. There is a noticeable attitude that the ownership feels like getting the stadium built was, “enough”.
In a great point made by Dustin Christmann in his outstanding open letter to Clark Hunt, the great irony is that FC Dallas with its rich ownership is failing at every turn where the ownerless Dallas Burn really worked hard and excelled. There was a time when the team worked tirelessly to attract soccer fans of all cultures, had creative marketing ideas and bought into the idea that selling soccer in the DFW area wasn’t like selling tackle football or baseball. On the field, means were found to bring outstanding difference-makers to the roster – resulting in a competitive team that attracted larger audiences.
Today, the malaise of yet another losing season plus the odd sense that Hunt Sports Group either has no clue as to how bad things are and/or that they just don’t care (as long as PHP keeps the ledger black with profitable concerts) has taken the whole thing to a new low. It is common talk amongst those of us in the media and fandom of just where Hunt Sports Group is going with this thing. It is clear that Clark Hunt’s decision to hire Hyndman comes with a tremendously long rope, in fact, I’d bet that the odds are better that Schellas will give up on himself before the Hunts do. But by that time what will be left?
It is really a sad state that FCD doesn’t seem to be willing to capitalize on what they have. The DFW region can be a great soccer market. The “Frisco is too far away” argument is a red herring as a good competitive side would certainly put 15,000+ in the seats week in and week out. No doubt about it. But no one wants to go out of their way, especially in this economy, to spend money on a team that oozes poor ownership.
Without question, DFW soccer fans have much to thank the Hunts for in terms of what they have given to the area, but what we are getting now is setting all of that back – in frighteningly irreparable damage.
I will be, as the sign says, “Dallas till I Die” – but that doesn’t mean I have to put out more than the team or the ownership.
Oh yes, grades. That is what you came here for. Sorry. I just can’t bring myself to do grades any at this point of the season. It is too depressing and it is simply an exercise in repetition.
Defense stinks
Midfield is jumbled mess
Attack… is… accidental?
If I have to point out anything from the DC match was Sala’s momentum killer on the flubbed free kick. I don’t know if Dario realizes it or not, but he’s either totally made of glass and can’t fall down without hurting his lower extremities, or (more likely) just gone to the “I screw up, so I will fake an injury for an excuse” well one too many times. On Saturday, the lengthy stoppage of time for a knee injury that we all are supposed to believe happened while falling to said knee to smother a free kick, simply snuffed out any rhythm the team had put together. It was truly a game changing moment.