An Apology (of sorts)

It would seem that my post about my experience at the last qualifier upset a few people. I can't say I'm disappointed by that; in fact, I'm glad that people took notice. It seems to me that it's about time that we as US supporters considered our attitudes and behaviors. However, a number of the reactions tell me that I should clarify some of the feelings I expressed in that post.

I'll start with issuing an apology. After re-reading what I wrote, I can see how people could get the impression that I was pointing my fingers entirely at the local Salt Lake supporters, including Salt City United. That certainly wasn't my intention; there's plenty of blame to go around; obviously, most people in the supporter end were not locals.

That said, I'll stick to my impressions of the group of SCU members in the front of section 9. I would be embarrassed by that style of "support" at a club game, never mind for the national team.

Honestly, at a national team game, I shouldn't really see the local club supporters group(s). In Seattle, the public face of the local organizers was AO Seattle; I'm sure that there's a lot of crossover in memberships between AO-S and ECS and the like, but most everyone was there representing the US team. (There were too many "rave green" shirts in the crowd for my liking, but that's not the fault of ECS, etc.)

The seating issues have to fall on stadium personnel; there was obviously a lack of communication between the front office and security as to the expectations of a national team game, especially how the seating is arranged in the supporters end.

The lack of organization when it came to chants, etc., tells me that there was a disconnect somewhere between the American Outlaws central office and the local chapter. The AO website tells me there's a Salt Lake City, but I didn't notice much of any presence of AO-SLC at either the night-before party or the game. The only people who identified themselves as AO-SLC were the two ladies selling hot dogs at the tailgate, and it wasn't on their gear. (Aside: they were hilariously great to talk to, and I hope the fundraising went well.)

In my mind, though, all of the above is secondary.

In the previous post, I mentioned some of the chants that I found to be outrageously sexist, homophobic, and/or racist. While some on Twitter decided that I had no sense of humor, I still stand by the notion that none of those things are—or ever should be—funny.

Aside from those, which should be no-brainers, I think it's time we realized that being supporters and being loud isn't a license for acting like teenagers who just discovered their middle fingers and a new vocabulary of curses. Like I said before, I'm known to curse like a sailor at times. But yelling "fuck you" over and over in public isn't cool or edgy; it shows a lack of class and/or intelligence.

Look, I've been around a while. I know all the excuses: it's "supporter culture"; we don't want games to be whitewashed and "family-friendly"; you're just being oversensitive; so on and so forth. I'm tired of the excuses. I'm tired of being embarrassed by fellow supporters. I shouldn't have to tell one of ours that it's not cool to get up in the faces of a group of Panamanians in Seattle while yelling "fuck Panama". I shouldn't have to wonder if AO is a hostile environment for me (or other gay supporters) when other Americans are yelling homophobic slurs.

It's time to change. It's time to support with class. And it's time for American Outlaws to take the lead. AO's stated mission is to "unite and strengthen". They've done a great job of strengthening our support by growing our numbers; now it's time that we unite.

In the vein of a group of baseball hecklers, I present my ideas for supporter guidelines:

Less profanity, more creativity

I know that sometimes we get intense and things slip out; honestly, a couple of my favorite pro-American chants have a curse word in them. Let's just not use the occasion as a reason to act like children yelling the naughty word they just learned. Our supporter group at home likes to say we try to keep things "PG-13". Sure, we say some risqué things from time to time. (We used to have a player named "Del Do"; what would you expect?) But we'd rather be creative and funny than juvenile; we call it the difference between being a jackass and being an asshole.

Oh, and YSA's not only dumb on its own, but is totally played out.

No racism, sexism, or homophobia

Does this really need to be said? "You go down like a Tijuana whore" may sound funny to you; the looks I saw from some of the women in my section told me what they thought of it. It's not ok to talk about Mexcians mowing your lawn. It's not ok to talk about players taking it up the ass. We're the United States of America; we're a melting pot. All Americans should feel welcome to support our national team.

Put down your middle fingers

All that flipping the bird shows is your IQ.

No aggro

We come to drink, we come to sing; we don't come to fight. Leave your aggro attitude at home.

It's not a terribly long list, but I think it'd be a good start. Above all: Have some class.

I'm open to discussion; I think it's time we got this out into the open. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter. Send your hate mail too, if you want; I reserve the right to publicly shame you.