prawnsandwich_sje said: Thanks That was hilarious - I now have to clean my computer screen cos I sprayed it with coffee... LOL

That happens to me a lot. Let me know if you need keyboard insurance.

EastVanGuy said:

Second, it also validates the brainless twats who occupy some of the seats in our area (infamous "drunk guy"). He took up a position next to me at the TFC game and charmed us all with "fzck you Thorington, you czunt" when he was subbed off, and then followed on with other gems like "fzck you Watson, you czunt" when he was subbed. My point is that by not getting rid of the swearing in an organized way we validate twats who left their brains at the bar and believe that profanity in akin to supporting the players. It is not in my opinion. He would make me thinik twice about bringing my daughter to games (but she would not hear of missing a game so we just put up with him).

Whereabouts are you? I sit right behind this guy and his group and I'm seriously thinking about asking to be moved. Half the time he's amusing, half the time I can't stand being near him.

Where are you Brenton? I have a guy right behind me in 251 row H who loves "Fuck you (insert colour of referee's/goalie's/other team's colour)" ad nausea all game long. Don't think he realizes all he is doing is wrecking his voice and pissing people off.

Ah, JD is right, I was talking about "beer guy", not "drunk guy".

Yep.

Two games ago we moved at half-time to get away from him. Last game he was amusing, until he yelled something about abortions.

Lord_Bob said: I appreciate anyone who keeps me from being the most offensive guy at a Whitecaps game.

I keep telling you that as long as you bathe you're tolerable.

I can't believe they let Mr. Happy Birthday back into the stadium game after game. I'd get the ushers involved myself. He's preventing guests from enjoying themselves at games. If he was smoking he'd be removed. This is no different.

Jay_Duke said: I'd say 90% of people enjoy his antics. He rarely interrupts my viewing. People cheer when he arrives. What's he doing that's so wrong?

He's not chanting from the chant sheet and following the capo's...Duh

Jay_Duke said: I'd say 90% of people enjoy his antics. He rarely interrupts my viewing. People cheer when he arrives. What's he doing that's so wrong?

Over the past two games he has spilled beer on a child, yelled out something (I didn't hear it) about abortions that offended my friend, who otherwise had a great time and has converted to being a fan, worked very hard to interrupt the chanting of people around him, chanted "Homo! Homo!" at a couple Seattle fans in our section, among other things.

For those who feel the need to inject swearing into chants, I ask you what was the most well participated in (IMO) impromptu chant this year?

"You've got a 6 dollar Magic cut"

I am from Nanaimo and having to take a ferry, bus, etc and 6 hrs round trip travel..... here is my 2 cents.

The reason the Whitecaps are a harder sell this year comes down to 2 fundamental problems.......

1) Start Times

This year there are too many 4pm starts. Last year there were 1pm, 2pm, and everything in between. This limits peoples abilities to attend games. For me, if the game is any later than 4:30 it's tight to make a ferry due to bus schedule, etc. This probably has traction for even people in the surrounding Lower Mainland.

2) Days of the week

The thing is, I was very reluctant to buy season tickets for this reason and I'm a die hard. I did get them but barely. Think of all the Wednesday games we have this season because that is a huge factor. I burn through $40 and don't even get to go. Even the 2 big games for the average fan (LA, NY) are on Wednesday. Taking that into consideration, it's not hard to figure out the problem for the rest of the Lower Mainland.

Why would anybody buy them?

Before you go on about the Canucks, etc.... well they're the Canucks. Hockey is king so take that out of the argument.

It's obvious FO is trying for lower middle, middle, and upper middle class family ticket buyer and of course they don't want swearing. Fine, I get it, but look at the bigger picture. I don't know who does their target marketing at the Whitecaps but the problem of losing season ticket holders isn't the swearing, it's the options you've given those families.

shomgotoshi said:

EastVanGuy said:

Brenton said:

EastVanGuy said:

Second, it also validates the brainless twats who occupy some of the seats in our area (infamous "drunk guy").

Whereabouts are you? I sit right behind this guy and his group and I'm seriously thinking about asking to be moved. Half the time he's amusing, half the time I can't stand being near him.

Sec 249 row K 105/6

I think that is not his regular seat, he just moved there. Not sure what to do really. I don't like to be the heavy nor call the usher, but he was seriously detracting from my enjoyment of the crowd and game. Maybe he is not the "drunk guy" other people refer to, but he was a guy and he was drunk.

I'm up a bit higher in row BB, but same seats. Is that the guy with the tattooed sleeves and who wears his pseudo-Raybans to many games? The one who likes to jump all over the seats and fall into everyone else? If not, it appears as if we might have a couple of those kinds of guys in 249.

Different guy, but we are way pff topic I think, from th thread. I apologise, although I can see I am not alone in disliking generally stupid comments with some ugly profanity. I'm not perfect and use this sort of language too, I just don't scream it out loud unless I hit a thumb with a hammer.

Back to the larger thread, I say let's do without profanity in the stands if we can and I am still interested in suggestions for getting those with poor judgement on language in line without getting pissy about it. As a group, I think we already are trying to get teh chants cleaned up, providing it doesn't neuter them completely.

I personally always liked "you've come all this way just to lose", especially now that it might even be true this year!

It isn't the swearing for me just the way they are doing it that it becomes obnoxious. If someone behind me kept yelling "I eat fluffy bunnies" repeatedly I would laugh the first through 10th time but sooner or later it is just getting in the way of the songs.

EastVanGuy said:

bili said: What's wrong with profanities?

Some people swear. Some don't.

Why always cater to the lowest common denominator?

The profanity IS the lowest common denominator.

I get where bili is coming from on this. You are defining it as the LCD; there is no reason it should be so defined. I think Bili's argument is from a "freedom to say whatever" view. LCD then is forbidding certain language to appease the tender-eared.

Simply shouting out "you czunt!" at every official and players on both sides is embarrassingly stupid. Perhaps the stupidity was just as offensive as the words themselves.

This is a bang-on situation to avoid profanity. Is it there just to be profane (rather than actually say something)? Then it might as well go.

Side note: Not to rag on you, EastVanGuy, but I've always found it funny that people (adults, usually) edit their words in such a way that it is completely clear what it is meant to be, simply to avoid swearing. "Czunt" really isn't less profane than "cunt," and it seems to give the word more power than it deserves (the notion of naming any word "THE F word" is hilarious to me). This is a discussion to have after a few beer, however.

I am all for an intelligent and funny chant, as the best and most memorable chants are. If they NEED a profanity then use it, but we aren't grade 6ers who just learned these words.

Yes.

Most importantly, lets get back on track as to why it is a good idea to get rid of the swearing - because it helps tv broadcasts, which ultimately accomplishes our goal of a prosperous and viable soccer league in our city. That is the best reason I can think of to clean up our language.

There have been no complaints about the broadcasting. We have cleaned up "our" language, as far as organized chanting goes. Random drunk guy swearing won't care whether we swear in a chant. And when the rest of the stadium is saying "bastard" or "fucking dynamite," it is well out of our hands.

What utter crap. You can pull whatever phony statistics out of your ass that you want, but in the end it's all about people who want to say whatever they want (i.e. swear) not giving a shit about anyone beside themselves.

This is about finding a common ground. Soccer moms are going to have to accept that YFB isn't going anywhere and that if you go to a sporting event you have to expect a certain level of profanity.

Swearing supporters are going to have to accept that this isn't Anfield and that "we're fucking dynamite" chanted by 500 Southsiders is going to offend people, and not just soccer moms. Nobody's saying you can't yell at that "fucking ref", but altering a few chants is inevitable.

If that's unacceptable then I suggest you return to the kingdom where you make all the rules.

bili said: Whew - good rant. Missed your cup of coffee this morning?

Nope. Second espresso actually.

5dollar_footlong said: There are times in life when being self serving proves to do more harm as a whole, compared to the good it brings to the individual. I like you guys, and your chants, but you really limit yourselves with using profanities in your chants. More people would join in at games if you did. Do you really think the dad there with his kids is going to start dropping F bombs, and encourage his kids to do so? You say your main priority is to support the club, yet the club doesn't like the use of profane language. I mean, all they are asking is for you to replace a few words. Is your vocabulary so limited, you find this impossible to do? I like the YFB, but with young kids around me, and their constantly asking their parents, "Dad, what does that mean?" makes me quiet down a bit, for sure. Everyone wants to have a good time, and I would like to see more people involved in singing your songs, but people won't with all out swearing involved. Would it not be better to be less self serving? Just saying.

As a dad with a little one at the games, I don't use the FBomb, in the chants when they come up. If I ever get asked the hard question of "what does that mean?" I welcome the opportunity to parent my child.

Keep in mind that quite often, the chants with profanity start from back to front, not from Capos onward. So unless you can devise a way to keep so many hundreds of people in line you may just have to suck it up. I would also like to mention that there are those not in the south side proper who quite often like to start the "blue and white" chant. It's not the Southsiders responsibility to monitor the supporters sections (248 - 207). However there is an opportunity not to join in when it gets started.

Bad_Gones said: What utter crap. You can pull whatever phony statistics out of your ass that you want, but in the end it's all about people who want to say whatever they want (i.e. swear) not giving a shit about anyone beside themselves.

This is about finding a common ground. Soccer moms are going to have to accept that YFB isn't going anywhere and that if you go to a sporting event you have to expect a certain level of profanity.

Swearing supporters are going to have to accept that this isn't Anfield and that "we're fucking dynamite" chanted by 500 Southsiders is going to offend people, and not just soccer moms. Nobody's saying you can't yell at that "fucking ref", but altering a few chants is inevitable.

If that's unacceptable then I suggest you return to the kingdom where you make all the rules.

=D> =D> =D> =D>

Wow. Is this conversation really happening?!? I have spoken to so many people who went to the Seattle game and have never gone before. They loved it. Some of them were from abbotsfors and they are talking about season tickets. WHY, because this amazing atmosphere that original fans have created. I sit 5 rows from the visitors bench. I pissed off Aron Winter so much with my comments that he blew me a kiss. When I see the coach getting frustrated or rattled i jump on it. People love it and talk about wanting to sit there because the way we can interact with the players and staff. I am looking forward to the next time sigi comes back. I need to ask him again how many krispy kremes he eats a day.

The MLS needs the Cascadia rivalry and the atmosphere it creates to stick more bums in seats and keep the league going strong.

I find it funny as well to talk about STH lost due to complaints about the supporters, but we don't ever hear about STH gained because of the supporters. Maybe it's time for another survey from the FO?

Brenton said:

Bad_Gones said:

Nobody's saying you can't yell at that "fucking ref"

Actually, a few people are saying that, including the FO.

That's a different issue than the YFB or "Fucking Dynamite" chant. What I was referring to was the individual yelling at the "fucking ref". This thread is about chant censorship and in particular the YFB chant (unless of course we've become untracked).

PBandG said: Where are you Brenton? I have a guy right behind me in 251 row H who loves "Fuck you (insert colour of referee's/goalie's/other team's colour)" ad nausea all game long. Don't think he realizes all he is doing is wrecking his voice and pissing people off.

I think your referring to these guys who love to crowd the isles in between 251 and 252. They get down there and sing "Blue and White" over and over again because they are completely smashed.

They got sent back to their seat shortly after security was called over to clear the isles.

Bad_Gones said:

bili said: If people have a problem with swearing - stay home. Nobody is forcing you to buy tickets or watch.

Jeezuz but you're thick today. Nobody (at least not me) has a problem with individuals swearing. It happens. It's the coordinated swearing (for lack of a better description) that's being questioned here. Can you not see the difference?

You're "nobody's forcing you" argument is pretty lame on it's own. Once again it's just another example of "I want to do whatever I please, and fuck everyone else." Your personal kingdom awaits m'Lord.

fyi - I don't swear at matches. I just believe that people should have the right to do so.

It's not tiddly-winks. If I want to go to a sterile environment for sports, I'll go to a Canucks game. If I want to get into a fight at a sporting event, I'll go to a Lions game. If I want to go to have a few beers and be myself, I go to a Caps game.

bili said:

Bad_Gones said:

bili said: If people have a problem with swearing - stay home. Nobody is forcing you to buy tickets or watch.

Jeezuz but you're thick today. Nobody (at least not me) has a problem with individuals swearing. It happens. It's the coordinated swearing (for lack of a better description) that's being questioned here. Can you not see the difference?

You're "nobody's forcing you" argument is pretty lame on it's own. Once again it's just another example of "I want to do whatever I please, and fuck everyone else." Your personal kingdom awaits m'Lord.

fyi - I don't swear at matches. I just believe that people should have the right to do so.

It's not tiddly-winks. If I want to go to a sterile environment for sports, I'll go to a Canucks game. If I want to get into a fight at a sporting event, I'll go to a Lions game. If I want to go to have a few beers and be myself, I go to a Caps game.

Swearing is a right? It isn't a right in any other public area.

bili said: Sorry - what law am I breaking?

Public nuisance. Look it up King bili ... or have one of your pleebs do it. Either way, I'm not bothered.

bili said: I've sworn in public many a times - no criminal record.

In front of police... they weren't bothered.

Very likely true. But none of that establishes a right. And it very definitely is against the stadium rules (how tightly they want to enforce those is up to them).