We did it! We successfully voted Ken Wyatt onto the Sounders FC Alliance Council. NES is now urging its members to vote Markus Kamp in as further representation for the north end of Qwest.
Like Ken, Markus grew up playing and supporting the sport of soccer, having been raised in Tulsa during the heyday of the old NASL. After holding KC Wizards season tickets for the inaugural season of MLS, he becames a Sounders season ticket holder as soon as tickets were released in fall 2008, eager to support a team that didn't have Ronnie Roughneck (who bore too strong a resemblance to Timber Jim!) as a mascot or a satin rainbow across its kit.
You've likely seen Markus in section 148 directly behind the north goal, banging a drum, yelling his guts out, dying his eyebrows green, and otherwise making a display of himself. All that withstanding, Markus actually is a responsible adult and would be proud to represent other responsible adults on the Council.
Season ticket holders get one vote per account. If you held season tickets in 2009, your vote from last year carries over to this season's tally, but you also get a vote for 2010!
Let's add another north ender to the Alliance Council. Please vote for Markus Kamp!
Thank you!
Please cast your vote at https://eballot.votenet.com/SeattleSoccer/login.cfm.
Swannies/Comedy Underground is the home of NES
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Hoist the Colors for Ken Wyatt!
North End Supporters (NES) is proud to announce that Ken Wyatt has become the 17th member of the Sounders FC Alliance Council, making Ken the first councilmember from the north end.
Ken has been a leadership council member of NES since its inception, serving as the pub contact and away match viewing coordinator. NES is very happy to have Ken's representation on the council starting this year. If you have any feedback or concerns for the SSFC Alliance Council, you now can express your voice by contacting Ken through Facebook or in person at Swannie's/Comedy Underground and section 145.
Congratulations again to Ken and thanks to all of you who gave him your vote!
Ken has been a leadership council member of NES since its inception, serving as the pub contact and away match viewing coordinator. NES is very happy to have Ken's representation on the council starting this year. If you have any feedback or concerns for the SSFC Alliance Council, you now can express your voice by contacting Ken through Facebook or in person at Swannie's/Comedy Underground and section 145.
Congratulations again to Ken and thanks to all of you who gave him your vote!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
2010 Community Shield
Join fellow NES'ers at the 2010 Community Shield. Our Sounders FC take on the hated Portland Timbers on Thursday, March 11th at 6:00pm at Qwest Field. All seats are general admission. Tickets are on sale now and are $10 for adults and $5 for kids (ages 6-17), kids under 6 are free. As always, NES will be at Swannies 90 minutes prior to first kick. ***PLEASE NOTE - THE NORTH END SEATS ARE DESIGNATED FOR TIMBERS FANS. NES WILL BE SITTING IN A SECTION IN THE SOUTH END (area yet to be determined).***
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
An Open Letter to the Sounders FC Front Office, Alliance Council, and Supporters Groups
I have a harder and harder time justifying my sports fandom as the years go by. In fact, the reasons to not really care about professional or big-time sports severely outweigh the reasons to care, or at least it often seems that way. I have many friends who couldn't care less and I find myself almost wishing I could join them.
A big part of sports fandom is nostalgia, at least to most of those who have a genuine passion for their teams. In many cases, it is the team they grew up pulling for, for whatever reason, and they still do so today. It is a mistake to think of nostalgia as "good memories;" it would be more accurate to understand them as powerful memories, good or bad. Watching and enjoying sports provides many of us with a plethora of these powerful emotional memories, which in turn feed the nostalgia that keeps it all coming.
The Sounders, although claiming a history back to 1974 through various iterations, are in reality a brand spanking new sports entity. Sounders FC have been fortunate to connect immediately with many supporters in the region. The chord has been struck, for a variety of reasons that have been explored at length over the last year.
What we have here and now in this city, with the Sounders and their supporters, is a unique opportunity to get things right. Sports fans and supporters are consumers of big-time and professional sports, yet they are the most abused and overlooked party in the equation. Owners, commissioners, and players have been all too willing to abuse this largely unrequited love for their own personal gain. Fans and supporters have played their part in allowing this to happen.
In the American soccer community, there is a stated resistance to repeat these old habits, and at the forefront of this movement is Sounders FC and its supporters. We have the opportunity to create a community in which the supporters matter, and the club’s entire organization listens—really listens—rather than just pretend to listen. Thanks in large part to Drew Carey’s ownership, the apparatuses have been put into place for an ownership-fan relationship unique in American sports. The Alliance Council, the active and vibrant supporters groups, and a front office that purports to want to listen to the supporters are working together to see Carey’s vision through to reality.
Like Carey, I have long envisioned the "club membership" model in American professional sports. (I would like to see public ownership, but that may be a pipe dream, so this is certainly the next best thing.) I would like to see "club members," or season ticket holders, be treated as true shareholders in the interest of the club. Again, the nominal apparatuses are in place for this to happen with the Sounders, so let's continue to make this happen! Let's not put up with the same old excuses, the tired obfuscation from alleged "businessmen" who tend to hold too much sway within sporting organizations.
I am encouraged by what I have seen in my first year as a Sounders FC supporter but I am also struck that we are only partway there. This process may take a few years. In fact, in my efforts during the inaugural season, I always had it in my head that this is all "Project 2011" giving us all 2 solid years to really get our stuff together and become one of the great sporting clubs on the planet. Coincidentally enough, 2011 will be rocking when Vancouver and Portland join in. Let's give them something the really be jealous of!
Seattle is a town of innovators and has been for an entire century. We revolutionized air travel, computers, and coffee, just to name a few. Now, let’s revolutionize sports fandom in America!
Jake Reeder
A big part of sports fandom is nostalgia, at least to most of those who have a genuine passion for their teams. In many cases, it is the team they grew up pulling for, for whatever reason, and they still do so today. It is a mistake to think of nostalgia as "good memories;" it would be more accurate to understand them as powerful memories, good or bad. Watching and enjoying sports provides many of us with a plethora of these powerful emotional memories, which in turn feed the nostalgia that keeps it all coming.
The Sounders, although claiming a history back to 1974 through various iterations, are in reality a brand spanking new sports entity. Sounders FC have been fortunate to connect immediately with many supporters in the region. The chord has been struck, for a variety of reasons that have been explored at length over the last year.
What we have here and now in this city, with the Sounders and their supporters, is a unique opportunity to get things right. Sports fans and supporters are consumers of big-time and professional sports, yet they are the most abused and overlooked party in the equation. Owners, commissioners, and players have been all too willing to abuse this largely unrequited love for their own personal gain. Fans and supporters have played their part in allowing this to happen.
In the American soccer community, there is a stated resistance to repeat these old habits, and at the forefront of this movement is Sounders FC and its supporters. We have the opportunity to create a community in which the supporters matter, and the club’s entire organization listens—really listens—rather than just pretend to listen. Thanks in large part to Drew Carey’s ownership, the apparatuses have been put into place for an ownership-fan relationship unique in American sports. The Alliance Council, the active and vibrant supporters groups, and a front office that purports to want to listen to the supporters are working together to see Carey’s vision through to reality.
Like Carey, I have long envisioned the "club membership" model in American professional sports. (I would like to see public ownership, but that may be a pipe dream, so this is certainly the next best thing.) I would like to see "club members," or season ticket holders, be treated as true shareholders in the interest of the club. Again, the nominal apparatuses are in place for this to happen with the Sounders, so let's continue to make this happen! Let's not put up with the same old excuses, the tired obfuscation from alleged "businessmen" who tend to hold too much sway within sporting organizations.
I am encouraged by what I have seen in my first year as a Sounders FC supporter but I am also struck that we are only partway there. This process may take a few years. In fact, in my efforts during the inaugural season, I always had it in my head that this is all "Project 2011" giving us all 2 solid years to really get our stuff together and become one of the great sporting clubs on the planet. Coincidentally enough, 2011 will be rocking when Vancouver and Portland join in. Let's give them something the really be jealous of!
Seattle is a town of innovators and has been for an entire century. We revolutionized air travel, computers, and coffee, just to name a few. Now, let’s revolutionize sports fandom in America!
Jake Reeder
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