RSL’s theme song is “a little help from my friends”

I am not sure if RSL counts San Jose, Columbus, or Chivas USA as friends, but this weekend with RSL sitting on the sidelines of MLS action, but without doing a thing the likelihood of RSL making the playoffs went up according to sportsclubstats.com. San Jose’s 1-1 draw with Toronto gave RSL a 1.3% increase, the Crew 1-0 defeat of New England provided a 5.1% increase, and the Chivas 2-0 win gave us a slight 0.1% increase, and with the extra match in hand RSL’s playoff chances improved 7.3% to 27.3%. All of this is fine but like RSL captain said on Saturday night “We have to handle out business”, I haven’t heard wiser words from a man who just won a crock pot in a long, long time.

So here is what the playoff picture looks like after the weekend matches are factored in:

So within 7 days RSL could move themselves into a playoff spot, it will take a win over New York on Wednesday night, a result on Saturday against Toronto FC and “a little help from my friends” as New England faces off against Chicago at home, Columbus is at DC United, and even some help from Colorado who are at FC Dallas. Remember just after the All Star match when I said I thought it would likely come down to the match at TFC? Well a win against New York would put us at 37, a draw at TFC 38 (a win would put us at 40) and if Dallas and DC get less than 3 points in their match and Chicago beats New England we would be sitting in the final playoff spot heading into the final weekend. There is no doubt that there will be a ton of drama going into the last match with Colorado, playoff spots, Rocky Mountain Cup, several thousand employees of Xango in the stands, and a chance to chant “nobody likes Conor Casey”, it is clear that with just 14 days left in the MLS regular season, almost every match will impact the playoff picture. For RSL it is simple, win all 3 matches and you have very little to worry about, but anything less and you will spend a good deal of time over the next two weeks watching what happens in other matches.

Some Thoughts

So I have seen a ton of negative, whinny, and bitching on the various boards and blogs about RSL over the last couple weeks and to be honest I think it sucks. Listen we have a team fighting for the playoffs and this is the time you get behind your team, when you help push them forward, not when you try to do your best to drag them down. If you think players and staff don’t pay attention, well then you are clueless, there are months after the season is over for everyone to play armchair coach and hyper analysis every move and decision but with 14 days left in the regular season can you put the bull on the back burner and try to be real fans? I find it funny that fans a few weeks ago were proclaiming how cool a video about Fullham was and how they would love to have a team like that, but if you can’t support a team who made it to the Western Conference finals last year, how would you support a team that hasn’d done a damm thing for decades? Really, how about we realize that our team is 5 years old as a franchise, our head coach has less than 3 years of experience, most of the leadership of the team has less than 2 years with the organization, how about cutting them a break for a couple weeks. Don’t get me wrong, they have made mistakes, they will continue to make mistakes, and I have been one to point them out but that doesn’t mean for a second that I stop supporting the team, that I stop cheering for the team, that I stop believing in the team.

It was funny how upset many people got on Saturday as the US went down early to Honduras, and they laughed when I told them to have a little faith we would tie it up, but when of all people Conor Casey got not one but two goals and the US took the league they cheered. It was even louder as Landycakes put us up 3-1, but how quickly they lost faith when Honduras got back into the match, I understand yelling and getting upset but a fan never loses faith in their team. If RSL fans really want to create something special like they saw in that Fullham video, can you imagine their fans not showing up to a friendly because they had to pay half price? Can you imagine them just giving up when facing relegation in early 2008? Rewatch that video, because if you really pay attention you will understand something, our players know out names, they still celebrate with the fans, they still sign autographs, and if we really want to build something special like that, then we have to be with them through thick and thin.

I say spend some time this week making signs for Wednesday, show up early and cheer for the team during warm ups and show them that we are still there, stand up and cheer when they announce the players and stay standing and cheering during the match, think back to the atmosphere we had last year during the playoffs. Remember being part of something special, something bigger than your petty complaints, show your team that it matters to you if they win, find a way to be able to say that you were there when we came from the outside to crash the playoffs, don’t just claim but be a part of it. It was just over a year ago that Rio Tinto opened, and while many have issues with the sponsors but get over it, we get to watch our team play in a beautiful stadium, when we show up and act like real fans, it is electric and everyone knows it. There will be a lot of people from around the country watching the match on ESPN2, let’s show them that while we are not the biggest market in MLS, we have as much passion and love for our team as any of their favorite markets.

It is time for us to be real fans, it is time for us to set the example for our team, it is time for us to show them our heart, our passion, and our desire, can we for 14 days be the best fans in the league?

With two RSL matches this week, after 2 plus weeks off (gotta love MLS scheduling) I will do my best to post previews, reviews, and updates as often as I can.

OFF MY SOAPBOX
14 days, 3 matches, time to prove we are worthy (3-0-0)

This entry was posted on October 11, 2009 at 11:27 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.