Rider Insider

So it is safe to say that McGreevy’s went better than expected. Revs Fans pretty much took over the bar, singing, drinking and having a great time. You could barely even tell that the Sox were even playing a game on TV, never mind that I was a half-mile down the street. You also could see that the front office really cared about the success of the night. Word of mouth alone should allow this type of event to grow and gain momentum.
As a bit of a surprise, players Kevin Alston, Zach Simmons, and Taylor Twellman made appearances at the Copley Square bar. All stayed to the end, except for Twellman who left at half-time after being overhead say the following to Brian Bilello:

“”I’m getting the ‘F’ out of here, I will be across the street for the Sox game. Text me if you want me to make an appearance or something at the end.”

When I first heard this I imagined that it was Twellman back up to his douche-like antics. I imagined him heading across the street to some swanky lounge with his very busy Ed Hardy shirt on full display for the 2nd rate Victoria Secret model wannabes there just waiting to share his company.

Fortunately for me, and for Twellman, my assumption was wrong. According to some of the front office brass on hand for the event, it was too hard for Twellman to watch as he is so desperate to be out on the pitch. I’m willing to give Twellman the benefit of the doubt here. As a professional athlete he is wired to be more competitive than most and not being able to play is likely eating him up inside. I hope he can give me the benefit of the doubt for assuming he was being a douche.

The rest of the night was a lot of fun and I’m sure most of you have funny stories of encountering surprised Red Sox fans in the bathroom or avoiding the parasite-like Rev Girls so if you haven’t checked it out already there is a pretty good thread recounting the night here on BigSoccer.

Also, if you’re wondering why the Revs haven’t posted their photos of the Rev Girls on defendthefort.net, I think it is safe to say the reason is Kdawg. Kdawg spent most of his energy that night getting behind photos taken by team officials and giving the finger or making other unsavory faces and gestures. Nice one, K.

The rest of my weekend…

After McGreevy’s I took a relatively low-key approach and went to The Otherside Café for a PBR and some food and then out to Brookline, to a regular watering hole of mine, the Publick House. I was in bed by 12:30 AM, a pretty tame night for the Rider Insider, indeed. The reason, which I’m sure all Camille Toes are wondering, was that I had a soccer match at 10:00 AM the following morning. I wanted to be in fine working condition for my first career start in net, filling in for our suspended keeper.

My roommates, who also double as my teammates on Groton House FC, did not take the same responsible approach and got rip-roaring drunk while dancing the night away at the Harp. When I was awoken by the shit-storm that was my roommates returning at 3 am I knew that I was going to be responsible for getting everyone to the field on time. After a dry-heave-filled car ride to Daheny Park in Cambridge it was pretty hard for the Insider to take a positive outlook on the match to come. My roommates were still drunk. Somehow, thanks to best defensive performance ever turned in since I became a part of the squad, Groton House FC was able to overcome the poor decisions made the evening before by my roommates. The win took GHFC to 1-1-0 and gave us our first win this season towards our goal of promotion.

Totally wiped out by the game I could only manage a trip to Rod Dee for some delicious Thai food and the Brookline Booksmith where I picked up Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower. While I haven’t been able to finish the book yet it is well on its way to being the first Rider Insider recommendation of 2009 on the Rider Insider Camille Toe Book Club.

I know most of you are riveted by this quick view into how the Rider Insider spends his free time but to all of you doubters out there, like everything, there is a method to my madness. Thanks to the actions that I took all weekend I was able to give my good blessing to a bar for the next viewing party.

When I woke up on Sunday I was desperate to go out and drink having not gotten sufficiently drunk in over 48 hours. I recruited Garrett, who first had to complete some chores around the house, and my roommate Kdawg , who had not enjoyed a sober moment since 5 pm Friday evening, to take part in some daytime drinking on a beautiful Sunday morning / afternoon. After quite a few Guinness at the Phoenix Landing for the FA Cup semi-final we somehow allowed Garrett to convince us to go to The Banshee in Dorchester. This was my first Banshee experience and I have to say that it was an enjoyable one. The great upstairs bar and viewing area are an added bonus and that is why it is receiving the Rider Insider Camille Toe of Approval for this Saturday’s match at 9 pm against Colorado. McGreevy’s was great fun but without the team backing the event and the later start time The Banshee would be a far better situation for fans of me and of the Revs. Check back here later this week for more info on the viewing party.

The lasting effects of the MLS Marketing to families and the stupid parents who bought into it…

Seamus came across this little gem last week: Little Gem

First of all, yes, I’m as surprised as you that Boston.com has a forum dedicated to soccer talk. I assume that it is probably treated with the same dedicated neglect that their blog is shown so I would recommend staying away on a regular basis. If anything of note comes out of there we will be sure to let you know. Just like this crazy parent who doesn’t like how we say “you suck” during the Revs game. While it is admittedly quite juvenile, the chant stems from one in Mexico that is even more offensive. The offender has already received their fair share of a rebuttal in the forum so I will refrain from diving in too deeply but I will say that some basic parenting skills should allow this person to watch a match and enjoy the game even with a word as vile as “suck” being tossed around. Does this same person say the same thing on Red Sox message boards? I wonder how Sox fans would receive such criticism. You can really blame this type of attitude that we see far too often on the MLS and the Revs trying to cultivate a family-friendly atmosphere at their matches. Not only was this approach not a successful business model (see adult-oriented teams in Seattle and Toronto) but it has also left the general fan-base rather confused about acceptable behavior. The Revs have made strides this season but they need to continue to attempt to educate their fans in how soccer support around the world differs from that of other American sports so that they can understand what the Fort is trying to achieve and not waste their time complaining about a non-problem on message boards that no one other than Seamus reads.