Road Trip!

[Aero]

Originally Posted by JasonMa

There are members of the Rapids FO who leave the impression that they don't want rabid supporters with drums and noise makers, organized chancts, etc. in the crowd. The combination of draconian security and an FO that won't support the fans has led to the dwindling of diehards down to the few in section 127.

Yeah because then they would be competing with Rapid(I look like I got a swirly in an airplane toilet)Man and the cheer(but no one pays attention to us)leaders. And we couldn't have that now, could we?

I can't believe that the stadium guy actually came down to us and told us that we were being "too loud." That has to be one of the all-time stupidest things I have ever heard.

[RSL_Fan]

Originally Posted by Aero

Yeah because then they would be competing with Rapid(I look like I got a swirly in an airplane toilet)Man and the cheer(but no one pays attention to us)leaders. And we couldn't have that now, could we?

I can't believe that the stadium guy actually came down to us and told us that we were being "too loud." That has to be one of the all-time stupidest things I have ever heard.

You've got to be kidding me! Too loud?!? That IS stupid. Maybe they were hung over from the previous night (or that morning), and all that noise was making their headache worse. :wine:

[Rover]

Originally Posted by Aero

I can't believe that the stadium guy actually came down to us and told us that we were being "too loud." That has to be one of the all-time stupidest things I have ever heard.

Amazing. Does field security carry "Quiet" signs when the fans attempt to get rowdy?

It's difficult to admit, but I actually feel sorry for CRapid fans.

My first thought was that once they move into the new stadium they'll be allowed to act like soccer fans, but from what's been said the problem is with the FO as well.

Thank you, Dave Checketts.

[StarsOnSunday]

BTW, don't even try finding an open kitchen on a Saturday night after 10:00 in Denver. Even McDonald's was closed.

[praxis]

My whole take on it was there was a lot of nonsense going on. It started with the tailgate and the buffoons who thought it would be cute to get burger king hats and write obscenities on them about rsl, etc. Charming indeed. almost everyone pulled a ms america: we smiled, waved, and bailed. then we got to go out on the field whaich was awesome. deuce, i hope you post the pictures of us in the goals, because it was a great feeling to be down there. then we got to be on tv, where we sort of cheered, careful not to be too loud for the tv's. then we were escorted out and had to wiat in huge lines as there was only one gate open. it was like a clogged toilet with all those fans trying to get in (get it, clogged toilet, crapids-it was a lame joke but i like it). we found our seats and we sounded great. we cheered when everyone came on and stunned the arena. i don't know if you have ever had 14,000 people staring at you, but it is a great experience. we were tight. the people around us were a little stunned by us. tidy bowl man (again with the whole crapids theme) found some plastic trumpets and gave it to the kids on either side of us which i thought was actually sort of funny. it shows we were a presence. and the kids were having fun (too much fun with deuce). and then...bring in the clowns... some jokers got behind us and took the cheering to a hateful level. i don't mind being chided, after all we were in their home turf, but these guys were no good. they started out a couple of rows behind us, blah blah blahing. when we made that 1st goal it was so sweet to turn around and know those guys were eating the namesake of their team. at that point it was 24 people against 14,000. it was such a great feeling! we were taking it to them and there was nothing they could do about it. but then those guys got right behind me and we got into a bit of a yelling match at which point my sane wife told me to turn around and shut up, which i did. eventually security hauled them off, but only so far as they could chuck those bulk toilet paper rolls at us. not the soft ones like you have at home, but the 20 pounds that are put together like a round brick. two tries and two misses for them. their arms are as bad as their teams feet i guess. or maybe they had beer goggles on. during this time on the other side people got upset about the word crap around their kids (which i actually got in trouble for saying at my house so i sympathized) and then some guy went ballistic on deuce "because there were kids around." nonsense. and then after the game some lucky few were annointed with the holy of holy for silly soccer fans-beer. all in all i found out that it is ok for 14,000 to glare at you and hate you, but it only takes 6 people to really rain on a parade. i could go on, but this post is huge!

[StarsOnSunday]

Okay.
We gathered at the FO at about 11pm on Friday night. By 11:45 we were on the road. Some of us were more familiar with one another than with others, so we warmed up the conversation by talking about... soccer. I sat toward the back with Scooter, Deuce, Areo, and Stucki. By the time we hit Jeremy Ranch, the iPod phones had found my ears and they nestled in for a long ride. I believe I chose Thursday - War All the Time to start the night off. Sleep was sparse at best. I slept in 10-20 minutes increments. I woke to change music occasionally as well. I remember enjoying Straylight Run, Bright Eyes, The Used, Elliott Smith, Coheed and Cambria, Murder By Death, and The Postal Service (night time bands). I was told that at one time the bus door blew open, but I never noticed. At one point I awoke to the realization that we were stopping. I had no idea where we were. I got off the bus and stumbled into the anytown truck stop. I asked someone "where are we?" They said "Rawlins". That didn't help. I asked "where's that?" "Wyoming". I had no idea we would be driving through Wyoming. Truck stops are interesting places. Especially at 4 o'clock in the morning.
My next memory was the sunrise over the high plains of Wyoming. It was awesome. Golden hills as far as I could see. There were a ton of antelope along the way. At this point, people started stirring and soon everyone was up and looking like death warmed over. We stopped again in Cheyenne to fill up. Another truck stop. Scooter picked up a sticker standing in firm opposition to truck stop prostitution. Denver was not too much further. I watched the antelope until about 20 miles outside Denver. For those who have never been, Denver is not in the mountains. The mountains are quite a way to the west and the rest of the surroundings are plains. This sort of disappointed me considering how much Denver hypes their mountains (Rockies, Avalanche, etc.).
We got to our hotel in the south-east of town at about 8:30. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Southmoor I believe. The management was gracious enough to allow us to check in very early. We unloaded, showered, and got back on the bus to go to downtown. Downtown Denver is very cool. We were dropped off at the State Capitol. From there we split. Most of us walked to the 16th street mall which is a pedestrian street. We bumbled about for a bit until we bumped into the team. They were staying at a hotel on the mall and were out for the mandatory team walk.
Scooter had the bright idea to get some streamers to trash the Crapids' field with our colors (brilliant). So we found some at Wallgreen’s and bought up all the Blood and Gold colored streamers. Trey from the FO once worked for the Nuggets and suggested we eat at Brooklyn's. He and Wayne Scholes met us there. I didn't talk with Trey much, but he seems like a cool guy. I talked with Wayne a lot. I had never met him before and I was very impressed. He very funny too.
After lunch we walked back to the Capitol and caught our bus back to the hotel for naps. We left for the game at about 4:30. Upon arrival at Ivesco Field, we were escorted down onto the field to stand as background for the KJZZ pre-game show. We took some fun pictures. Deuce took a picture of us in the south goal. I haven't seen that one yet. Then we went back outside to find a slew of Colorad..ian..ites waiting for the gates to open. As it turns out, it was ball give-away night for all the kids, and they only had one gate open.
We were invited to the Crapids' tailgate which was pitiful. As we approached, we were greeted with "Hey, **** you!" There was no food at all. It was a liquid tailgate if you know what I mean. There was even a guy distributing inside-out Burger King crowns with such classy and original slogans as "I (heart) Mormon P***y" and "Utahrded" written across the brow. My first impression of a Crapid fan invoked urges to break teeth. I still carry that impression (read on). We took a look at the Rocky Mountain Cup (beautiful) and headed into the stadium.
After waiting in line forever behind droves of free-stuff-seekers we headed toward our seats. In the passageway we ran into Rapidman, the Crapids' mascot. May we never have a mascot. He swaggered in our direction and stopped in front of us with his arms folded. I told him he looked like he crawled out of an airplane toilet (credit Ska) and walked on. We found our seats and quickly applied the appropriate signage indicating our presence.
The Cup was officially unveiled with Loyal1 and Deuce representing RSL's supporters. Then a true atrocity; the entrance of the Colorado Crapids cheerleaders, yes, cheerleaders. They had a routine and everything. May we never have cheerleaders. There were chants of "Nuggets Rejects" etc. As the match started the drums began apounding. The fans were floored. We may as well have been aliens. They had never seen anything like it before. After it was realized that there were no plans of stopping, Rapidman handed out an entire box of those long plastic horns to the fans around us in as effort to drown us out. Soon a few (maybe 3) Crapids fans (one with a stupid Mexican wrestling mask) parked themselves right behind us with their drum (1) and their horns. They just pounded and blew in an effort to annoy/disrupt us. They tried to over-ride our songs and chants but could not muster the crown to follow. Soon security intervened and they were sent away.
Sometime about this point a kid stood right next to Deuce, placed the bell of his horn right next to his left ear and blew. Deuce asked him to not do that. The kid did it again and Deuce told him not to do it again. At that point the kid's dad came running down the steps and got in Deuce's face, telling him not to tell his kid what to do. He was looking for a fight, but Deuce kept cool long enough for security to separate them.
We scored first and hurled our streamers as usual. Scooter had torn a bunch of programs into confetti and launched them into the air. Once again, security paid us a visit. They told us we could throw nothing in any direction and that we had to "keep it down". McKid defiantly asked "do you ask fans to keep it down at Bronco's games?" Needless to say we could not be kept quiet. You all know the result of the game, so I would go into that. Toward the end of the game, our masked friends returned with toilet paper stolen from the bathrooms and began hurling it at us from above. Others report being hit by coins and gum. At the final whistle, they ran down the stairs (none of us were looking) and threw a cup of beer on us. At that point two girls, who I don't know, took off in pursuit. They did not return for about twenty minutes so we went to find them. I guess the guys were apprehended by security and released. We found the girls with security about 20 minutes later. Most of us went to the bus while they filed a police report.
At some point, Ellinger communicated to Deuce an invitation to come to the hotel so the guys could thank us. We went, but ended up hanging in the lobby like groupies. We talked briefly with Kamler, Cutler, Cila, and Trembly (sorry if I forgot anyone). I thought we were going to take over the bar and sing 'til the sun came up. It was rather disappointing. Scholes empathized with us and later told Ellinger that the players acted like a bunch of ungrateful "tossers". Ellinger must have gotten after them ‘cause the next day they were all perfect gentlemen.
We went back to the hotel and Scooter, Deuce, McKid, Aero, Stucki and I left in search of grub. It took us about 40 minutes (everything was closed) but we finally found a bar/grill called Old Chicago. Bed time followed soon after.
The next morning was a full breakfast in the lobby. We checked out and went to the reserves match. Novak was impressive. Sackett was between the pipes. Dunny hung with us almost the entire match and had some insightful comments. He told us we need to watch out for Adam Acosta who will be a star someday. After the game the team came over and thanked each of us for our support (coach's orders I'm sure). They were much more pleasant after sleeping off the loss.
The ride home was fairly uneventful. After the sun went down, everyone got a little punchy and we started telling jokes to pass the time. We got back to SLC at about 10:00 pm. It was really a great time. I highly suggest everyone go next year. There may even be two trips next year. We must have a stronger presence next year. Hope you enjoyed the post.

[HibaIssa]

Crap, tossers and beer!


😉

[SoccerPrime]

Thanks stars and praxis. Now I feel even worse that I didn't go.
THANKS! 😉

[Jim Umber]

Definitely. Thanks for those reports. If anyone has more pictures I'm sure we'd all like to see them.

[JasonMa]

Originally Posted by StarsOnSunday

There were chants of "Nuggets Rejects" etc.

And that was from the Rapids fans! I'd hate to hear what you called them! 😉

Sorry you didn't find the Rapids fanbase more accomodating. As I said before, throwing stuff was over the line, but the BK crowns were kind of funny (though a tad more profane than I would have gone).