Fun
With both President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney hitting the swing state of Ohio hard as Election Day nears, Columbus has been in the national media spotlight. Out on his morning coffee run, CNN's John King tweeted this picture of the digital billboards at the corner of Broad and High:
Times Square??? No- Columbus, OH. Coffee run!instagr.am/p/Qmml5GsLSb/
— John King (@JohnKingCNN) October 10, 2012
Luckily for the Crew, ads for season ticket renewals were in rotation when he snapped his photo.
Speaking of season tickets, purchase or renew yours today.
With an extra day to prepare for Sunday's match against Sporting Kansas City, Crew Head Coach Robert Warzycha decided to give his team a break from the daily training regimen on Wednesday morning. In lieu of training, the team went bowling as a team-building activity.
"Everything that we do is based on how we can get better as a team and do what is necessary for us to win the game," Warzycha said Wednesday afternoon.
"Team chemistry is just as important as fitness or anything else," the Head Coach continued. "I think it was a good time to bring everybody to bowling, because the guys that are injured that are not with the team every single day because they're in treatment and everything else, they were there too. To have the entire team together before the final stretch, before the end of the season, it was very important."
The team enjoyed a day without thinking about soccer.
"Sometimes, you need to spend time enjoying your teammates and your coaches," defender Sebastián Miranda explained. "It was avery good opportunity to maybe forget soccer and playing, and bond with your teammates. You can laugh. You can talk with your teammates and not talk about soccer, and try to enjoy [the team atmosphere] a little bit."
So, who was the best bowler on the team?
"After me, Netzo [Nemanja Vukovic] was a very big surprise," Miranda said with a laugh. "He was a big surprise."
The Crew will resume its normal training schedule Thursday morning at Crew Stadium.
(Photo Credit: Tucker Walther)
Join us at Barley’s Brewing Company Ale House No. 1 in Short North (467 N. High St., 43215) for the official post-game party featuring Crew players and fans following Saturday's match! Enter to win great prizes and enjoy specials from Budweiser plus enjoy some of Barley's amazing food.
More info at - www.barleysbrewing.com
To help celebrate the release of EA Sports FIFA 13 and look ahead to the Crew's remaining four matches, I will be playing against a different Crew player each week as one of the team's upcoming opponents. This week, I squared off with rookie midfielder Kevan George playing as the Crew, while I took control of the Philadelphia Union.
Fantastic atmosphere inside the stadium tonight. AO watch parties looked to be well-attended too! #UniteAndStrengthen
— The American Outlaws (@AmericanOutlaws) September 12, 2012
Klinsmann, U.S. players gushing over #Crew96 Stadium atmosphere. Obvious they want to play here as much as possible.
— Shawn Mitchell (@smitchcd) September 12, 2012
USA still undefeated at Crew Stadium! USA - when you need 3, come home to Crew Stadium - we will deliver! twitter.com/CrewPrez/statu…
— Mark McCullers (@CrewPrez) September 12, 2012
Well deserved 3 points! Amazing crowd tonight! Great effort all around from the boys!!#USA
— Jozy Altidore (@JozyAltidore) September 12, 2012
Well done, Columbus. We see you.
— Nike Soccer (@nikesoccer) September 12, 2012
Electric atmosphere at #CrewStadium tonight for the U.S. National Team's victory.Thank you to all of the fans tonight. #USMNTvJAM #MLS
— Don Garber (@thesoccerdon) September 12, 2012
Great crowd here in Columbus tonight! Thanks for your support and making it that much more special! #9/11
— Brek Shea (@BrekShea) September 12, 2012
Danny Williams: "I have played before emotional fans in Germany but never anything like this. The 24,000 felt like 50 or 60,000 in here"
— roger bennett (@rogbennett) September 12, 2012
Cherundolo: USSF "should put thought into playing more games here or venues that are similar." KC is next month, final round sites tbd
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) September 12, 2012
Tim Howard: "We were talking inside and there’s no bigger homefield advantage for us in America than here." #USMNT
— Adam Jardy (@AdamJardy) September 12, 2012
@americanoutlaws You guys brought it tonight! Columbus is a fortress for @ussoccer.
— Dante Washington (@DanteWashington) September 12, 2012
@americanoutlaws You guys brought it tonight! Columbus is a fortress for @ussoccer.
— Dante Washington (@DanteWashington) September 12, 2012
Columbus and #Crew96 Stadium is the home of American soccer. #Recognize. #USMNT
— MassiveCity (@MassiveCityFFC) September 12, 2012
There it is. A necessary win, but a good win. Hope the KC crowd is ready to turn in a similar performance. #USMNT #USAvJAM
— MLS Insider (@MLS_Insider) September 12, 2012
The #USMNT have defeated Jamaica 1-0. Columbus Crew Stadium hosts another qualifying win for the USA! #USAvJAM
— U.S. SOCCER (@ussoccer) September 12, 2012
EA Sports, the award winning developer of sports video games, is creating a downloadable game cover for FIFA 13 to show their support of Major League Soccer. To determine which MLS players will appear on that cover, EA Sports is polling MLS fans to choose the three remaining spots on the game cover. The three clubs whose candidates receive the most votes will join the top-ranked player on MLSSoccer.com's 3rd annual "24 under 24" list and the downloadable cover will be revealed at the launch party in New York City on September 24.
Plus, fans who participate in the voting will be automatically entered to win two tickets to the Sideline FIFA Lounge (lounge seats on the sideline of the field with TV's and consoles included) at the 2012 MLS Cup!
Voting started on Saturday and will run through September 15. Columbus Crew's representative is Designated Player Federico Higuain.
While cleaning out our bookshelf in the digital department here at Crew Stadium, we found this video from the 2006 season of "The Voice of the Crew" Dwight Burgess interviewing various Crew players for a video series that would be shown on the stadium scoreboard.
Here's one of Dwight interviewing his now-broadcast booth mate Duncan Oughton. Even six years ago, you could tell the two had a natural chemistry.
What kind of pants is the Kiwi wearing here?
Who's ready for football season?
To hold you over, here's footage of Crew forward Justin Meram kicking field goals during his time at the University of Michigan. Meram briefly spent time place kicking with the Wolverines football team before deciding to focus solely on soccer.
Admittedly, Houston hasn't been my favorite city I've visited with the Crew this season. It's extremely hot and humid, there's nothing to do around the team hotel, and nearly every restraunt downtown is closed on Sunday.
However, the Dynamo's new BBVA Compass Stadium has made up for the misfortunes mentioned above.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the stadium: there's a lot of orange in this place.
Outside the press box, images of various Houston Chronicle front pages over the past few years pay homage to Dynamo's short time in Houston.
A Dynamo legend overlooks the entrance to every lower-level section. For example, here's Brian Ching at the entryway to Section 125.
Here's the view from the north end of the stadium, looking toward the stage area. The dimensions of the field at BBVA Compass Stadium are 70 yards x 115 yards to suit the Dynamo's style of play and execution on set pieces. The MLS preference for pitch size is 75 yards x 120 yards.
In the southwest corner of the stadium is where the Dynamo supporters groups sit. No, Crew fans, it's not as big as the Nordecke.
Finally, and most importantly, the Crew's Equipment Manager Rusty Wummel was a happy camper with the spacey visiting locker room.
We should all take a moment today to thank the soccer lords for social media.
How else could a membership manager at Perth Glory Football Club in West Leederville, Australia connect with Columbus Crew fans in Columbus, Ohio?
It all started on August 1, when Chris Edwards individually tweeted all 19 MLS Clubs, asking why he should support each one. A few short days later, the Crew faithful had convinced Chris that he needed to be Columbus ‘Til I Die. In his words, the fans had been brilliant in communicating and engaging with him, which is one of the reasons why he was interested in supporting the club. But for Chris, being able to support the club didn’t just mean being a fan from afar. He wanted to make an impact all the way from Australia, but wasn’t exactly certain how to do so. That was how he and I became connected; one of our season ticket holders recommended he speak to me about some ideas, and we started exchanging (lengthy) emails.
We started to discuss the similarities in the two front offices—Perth Glory plays in the Hyundai A-League, which is incredibly similar in structure to Major League Soccer. Both our clubs played their first season in their respective leagues in 1996. Until Crew Stadium was built in 1999, we started our first few seasons playing out of Ohio Stadium (built for football). Perth has been playing in stadiums structured for cricket or Australian-Rules football as they wait on construction to begin for their updated venue. Michael Garcia and Bobby Despotovski, both former players, work with the club in their front office, just as we’re lucky to have Frankie Hejduk and Duncan Oughton working with ours.
Perth refers to their season ticket holders as “members” of the club, and as a membership manager, Chris works on building their season ticket base. I shared with him the details on Goal 10k and the importance it holds for our club as we get closer and closer to 10,000 season ticket holders. Perth, too, is seeking to reach new membership numbers this season, so we had much to share with each other.
As our conversation turned to talking about the benefits of young players being able to see the game live, it became evident how Chris wanted to support the team. In order to both contribute to Goal 10k and help our local youths, Chris purchased four full season tickets and donated them to Kicks For Kids, a program of the Crew Soccer Foundation. Through Chris’s donation, 72 kids will have the opportunity to see the highest level of the world’s beautiful game live in 2013.
Crew Soccer Nation, please be sure to welcome our new MASSIVE member, Chris Edwards to our family. From the other side of the world, Chris will be touching the lives of our youth right here in Columbus Ohio.
If anyone wants to connect with Chris Edwards…
Twitter: @edster42
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chris-edwards/3/9ba/735
Perth Glory FC
Written by Crew Season Ticket Account Executive: Melanie Seiser