Um...About Beckerman and Rapids Fans....

I think it's fair to say I'm pretty disconnected from fan opinion. I almost never visit Big Soccer, the place where a helluva lot of fans lurk, because 1) I think it's a time-consuming black hole, and 2) people there take the whole "eat, live, breath soccer" thing more far more seriously than I do. Beyond a simple love of the game, soccer for me is an excuse for excessive behavior - e.g. yelling, drinking, and, in my youth, breaking other people's property. In other words, I miss a lot of this kind of chatter and hope I don't speak to that facet of the game very often because I'm not remotely qualified to do so. Hence this:

"Are you reading the same blogs I am? On big soccer, we are ready to lynch our coach over this deal. Beckerman has not always been the best player in the league, but he has come a long way and is now a very solid player. The supporters have a lot invested in him because we watched him grow. He is a terrific person. He was the spirit of the team. So, they trade him for a nobody. After last year, the FO doubled (yes doubled) Kyle's salary. Almost all of the Rapids marketing stuff has Beckerman's picture on it. Now they trade him because he pissed off our terrible coach. If nothing else it was good for some Beckham/Beckerman cross marketing. Now nothing.

A Rapids fan - who will only be identified by name if he so chooses to reveal himself (I'm a stickler for online privacy; I asked for permission to post, but not to name) - wrote that in response to my earlier post on the Beckerman trade. And I appreciate the assist (anyone and all: feel free to do the same in future; communication (usually) makes us smarter). In any case, he wanted the world outside Colorado to know that the trade that sent Kyle Beckerman to Real Salt Lake didn't make all Rapids fans happy.

In fact, judging from the thread on Beckerman trade that linked to me (right around the 18th page into it), the response to this has been overwhelming negative...um, actually, there's talk of canceling season ticket packages being bandied about as early as the 4th page in the thread (which is as far as I've gotten....it's not a bad read)...which is worse than lynching to sales departments; lynching, after all, ends quickly and with less noise (these days, anyway).

I'm still plugging through the thread; it seems a person or two accepts the deal with cautious optimism, but the people who feel burned control the space. Interesting times....