Vancouver Whitecaps 2018

[Unnamed Trialist]

All these rich kids boasting about their high-end Vancouver dining. ..anything to avoid talking about how little ambition the Whitecaps have and how the fans couldn't care less. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

9 hours ago, The Beaver said:

Start with the New York Times food critics. Then Conde Nast. Hawksworth is highly rated but there are far more interesting places to try. Vij's, Cacao, Savio Volpe, Analena, Mak and Ming, Kissa Tanto, Farmer's Apprentice,  Chambar, Cioppino's, even old guys like John Bishop. Maybe not world class but Vancouver certainly has a strong culinary scene. And the above is only a short list of great places to try.

Your definition of snobbery is delightful. You are so blind to your pretensions, which is also delightful (and enormously entertaining). 

 

You listing these extremely expensive restaurants and then calling others people snobs....can't beat that. 

[longlugan]

10 hours ago, The Beaver said:

Start with the New York Times food critics. Then Conde Nast. Hawksworth is highly rated but there are far more interesting places to try. Vij's, Cacao, Savio Volpe, Analena, Mak and Ming, Kissa Tanto, Farmer's Apprentice,  Chambar, Cioppino's, even old guys like John Bishop. Maybe not world class but Vancouver certainly has a strong culinary scene. And the above is only a short list of great places to try.

Your definition of snobbery is delightful. You are so blind to your pretensions, which is also delightful (and enormously entertaining). 

 

Used to enjoy UT's posts, especially regarding Spanish football, but now that he's started posting more about non-football topics I've come to realize what an arrogant individual he actually is. Oh well...carry on. 

[aloyol]

This debate about gastronomy in Vancouver should be move to the Macksam thread in the "General Off-Topic Discussion" forum. Macksam could settle this question once and for all.

[masster]

11 hours ago, The Beaver said:

Start with the New York Times food critics. Then Conde Nast. Hawksworth is highly rated but there are far more interesting places to try. Vij's, Cacao, Savio Volpe, Analena, Mak and Ming, Kissa Tanto, Farmer's Apprentice,  Chambar, Cioppino's, even old guys like John Bishop. Maybe not world class but Vancouver certainly has a strong culinary scene. And the above is only a short list of great places to try.

Your definition of snobbery is delightful. You are so blind to your pretensions, which is also delightful (and enormously entertaining). 

 

I found Hawksworth and Savio Volpe very disappointing and underwhelming.

Have always enjoyed Cioppino's. It is Carlo Ancelotti's favorite place when he is in town.

[The Beaver]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You listing these extremely expensive restaurants and then calling others people snobs....can't beat that. 

Some of these are expensive but many are not. Again, you are not really in touch with the food scene here. The movement over the last decade has been towards more affordable dining, lots of innovation and great flavour. And I am not a food snob; I am not even a foodie. I just happen to have access to real information on the food scenes across Canada and, to a lesser degree, into the US.

[The Beaver]

10 minutes ago, masster said:

I found Hawksworth and Savio Volpe very disappointing and underwhelming.

Have always enjoyed Cioppino's. It is Carlo Ancelotti's favorite place when he is in town.

I hear that a lot about Hawksworth, but never Savio Volpe.  Check out Cacao or Kissa Tanto or Mak and Ming when you get a chance. And, of course, Vij's or My Shanty are remarkable if you like Indian cuisine.

[Grizzly]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

All these rich kids boasting about their high-end Vancouver dining. ..anything to avoid talking about how little ambition the Whitecaps have and how the fans couldn't care less. 

Says the guy who started talking about food in the Whitecaps thread! 

[The Beaver]

1 hour ago, aloyol said:

This debate about gastronomy in Vancouver should be move to the Macksam thread in the "General Off-Topic Discussion" forum. Macksam could settle this question once and for all.

Sorry for rising to Jeffrey's bait about Vancouver gastronomy (what a pretentious term: gastronomy). Every once in a while I find the lad insufferable and take him to task for the BS he posts.  He actually has a great handle on football itself, but his arrogance and condescension (in general) gets tiresome at times. I expect more from one of our elder members, but it is up to me to take the high road when he goes low.

Apologies to everyone for getting off track here.

Caps will win this weekend, and next. Both will be ugly, unconvincing wins. I blame Vancouver gastronomy for both unimpressive results.

[The Beaver]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

All these rich kids boasting about their high-end Vancouver dining. ..anything to avoid talking about how little ambition the Whitecaps have and how the fans couldn't care less. 

Nope: I am middle-aged, overeducated, over-worked and underpaid.  I have indeed been talking about the Caps organization, but I disagree that they lack ambition and that the fans care less.  Those are facile and lazy observations.  The trouble with the Caps organization, I suspect, is that they are under financed and uncertain how to evolve their business strategy now that they've won the Davies lottery. And, yes, many fans do not give a rats ass about the product on the field. A Caps game is just another night out, just another attraction and novelty event for many fans.  But there is a large contingent of fans that know the game well and demand to see a much better product on the field.  You cannot tell me Atlanta is filling their stadium with ONLY die hard football fans. Lots of those fans are just there for the spectacle. And, of course, it never hurts if the team knows how to win AND play attractive football. Which is what the Caps need to keep in mind, and which was my original point before we started talking "gastronomy".

[BearcatSA]

7 minutes ago, The Beaver said:

And, yes, many fans do not give a rats ass about the product on the field. A Caps game is just another night out, just another attraction and novelty event for many fans. 

That's what I've felt as well, but I think that applies to many other places, not just Vancouver (as to which you alluded with Atlanta). 

[The Beaver]

19 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

That's what I've felt as well, but I think that applies to many other places, not just Vancouver (as to which you alluded with Atlanta). 

Totally agree! 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

Says the guy who started talking about food in the Whitecaps thread! 

Nice try Grizzly, I put a single word in a list, which as you know is not worthy of your "talking about".

 The Whitecaps show no sign of altering  anything with the Davies windfall,  and most fans don't care if our product is both poor to watch and gets mediocre results. The fact that supposed Caps fans are more concerned about proving we have great restaurants (for anyone from Mtl or TO that must be amusing to watch) shows you how lost the cause is. I mean, we have Caps fans posting with more passion and detail about eating out in one day than they have on the local soccer team over the entire season.

Beside that, this whole question about the tone of someone's posts, isn't that just a subterfuge? 

[Nerf]

I think it is pathetic that a discussion about the Caps became an opportunity for people to bash Vancouver. You can't blame the guy for defending our city when people who are supposed to be talking about who poor the Caps are decide to attack the actual people who live in Vancouver. Is this not a forum for Canadian footy fans? Emphasis on Canadian? If the best you all can come up with is how shitty our cuisine is, then this is just a waste of time.

[Soro17]

On 8/22/2018 at 10:44 PM, BearcatSA said:

I think the expectations coinciding with the Davies' windfall have certainly been ratcheted up and perhaps that may have a bigger impact on attendance decline if the same product is still on display with the same style of play and the same inconsistent results, even if they bring in higher calibre attacking DPs.  I emphasize the word "may" because in recent times (i.e. post Vancouver Grizzlies' days), I always inferred that enough fans would keep showing up even if the home team product was mediocre because it's a major league event.  I don't know. I'm curious to know what others think.

To bring things back on track, I share season's tickets and am thinking about not renewing for the first time. I don't expect the Caps to spend to TFC levels, but I would like to see a more ambitious mindset. On the bigger picture, a lot of contacts at the office and my kids' various activities are very much 'casuals' who see the Caps' games as a fun experience. They may go once or twice a season - I don't think they particularly care about the Caps performance or ambition and I don't think the Caps' use (or misuse) of the Davies windfall will have any material impact on attendance. As long as the Caps aren't awful, I think they will continue on with attendance in line with what they have now. 

[The Beaver]

2 hours ago, Soro17 said:

To bring things back on track, I share season's tickets and am thinking about not renewing for the first time. I don't expect the Caps to spend to TFC levels, but I would like to see a more ambitious mindset. On the bigger picture, a lot of contacts at the office and my kids' various activities are very much 'casuals' who see the Caps' games as a fun experience. They may go once or twice a season - I don't think they particularly care about the Caps performance or ambition and I don't think the Caps' use (or misuse) of the Davies windfall will have any material impact on attendance. As long as the Caps aren't awful, I think they will continue on with attendance in line with what they have now. 

Totally agree, but most pro sports teams depend on the strong fan base because they tend to be the ones who buy season's tickets, which means that the Caps MUST keep them in mind as they decide what type of product to put on the field. 

While I am as critical of the Caps organization as the rest of you lot, I know they are owned by super smart business people and I have to think that they indeed have a smart strategy in mind for how to spend the Davies cash in a way that will indeed advance the quality of football this team plays. I am not 100% confident, however, that Lenarduzzi and his team are the right guys to manage this evolution. TFC, for instance, looked destined to be the laughing stock of Major League Soccer FOREVER until they brought in Lieweke.  Caps cannot afford a guy like him, sadly, but can we not use some of the Davies cash to get a significant upgrade on Bobby?

[The Beaver]

6 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Nice try Grizzly, I put a single word in a list, which as you know is not worthy of your "talking about".

 The Whitecaps show no sign of altering  anything with the Davies windfall,  and most fans don't care if our product is both poor to watch and gets mediocre results. The fact that supposed Caps fans are more concerned about proving we have great restaurants (for anyone from Mtl or TO that must be amusing to watch) shows you how lost the cause is. I mean, we have Caps fans posting with more passion and detail about eating out in one day than they have on the local soccer team over the entire season.

Beside that, this whole question about the tone of someone's posts, isn't that just a subterfuge? 

No, my passion is for you, Jeffrey! You and only you! 

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, Soro17 said:

To bring things back on track, I share season's tickets and am thinking about not renewing for the first time. 

You are not the only person saying that. Some it seems have already announced this to the club, can't source it but I know it to be true.

I personally would not stop going but only go 4-5 times in the summer as is. 

I do find it hard to accept that Vancouver might have become a casual fun venue for soccer as it was never that kind of crowd, and anyways you get the feeling that most fans are really not having a lot of fun.

[The Beaver]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You are not the only person saying that. Some it seems have already announced this to the club, can't source it but I know it to be true.

I personally would not stop going but only go 4-5 times in the summer as is. 

I do find it hard to accept that Vancouver might have become a casual fun venue for soccer as it was never that kind of crowd, and anyways you get the feeling that most fans are really not having a lot of fun.

Two kinds of fans: Avid soccer fans and those who are just out for a novelty event. If 20,000 fans show up, I have no idea how many are of the avid type. Last game I attended (with my soccer-loving wife) there were six 20-somethings sitting behind us and they did not pay any attention to the game. It appeared to be a place to connect, get some drinks, and then figure out what they were going to do later that evening. (They also claimed, with irritating authority, that Davies was 18.)  Based on this hard evidence, I would estimate that 25% of fans attending Caps games are of the avid sort, and the rest were of the wanking sort I had to endure that evening. 

[BearcatSA]

8 hours ago, Soro17 said:

 As long as the Caps aren't awful, I think they will continue on with attendance in line with what they have now. 

That's my feeling, as well.

[The Beaver]

13 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

That's my feeling, as well.

Yes, that is my fear, but somehow I am not convinced the Caps would continue to draw good crowds if they continually put out a mediocre product. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

What gets me is that the Southsider board grabbed hold of a supposed incident involving a player and the Pride game, coming out with a press release, and were then obliged to retract.

And then they are silent about the play of the team, the quality of the coaching, where the team is going. How the money is to be spent. How we have a GM who coasts into semi retirement. And FO who has lower ambition for the Caps than for any of their personal business endeavours. For a supposedly ethical cause reduced to symbolism, a lot of noise; for what is important, lot's of silence.

I think other supporter groups, however less officially, have been more insistent. 

I don't mind that there are casual fans who are there to get out of the house for a few hours, but those who aren't, why so passive about such poor play? For me, that is what is truly insulting, but as this board shows, it is what you get when even supposed hard-core fans are more interested in the prawn sandwiches.

[The Beaver]

Caps win!

Terrible first half performance (I blame Jeffrey’s prawn sandwiches), but a much better second half. Lots of character on this squad. Reyna, for me, is the Caps’ best player hands down. Davies with another ho-hum game, but a massive acrobatic clearance in the dying minutes.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Just now, The Beaver said:

Caps win!

Terrible first half performance (I blame Jeffrey’s prawn sandwiches), but a much better second half. Lots of character on this squad. Reyna, for me, is the Caps’ best player hands down. Davies with another ho-hum game, but a massive acrobatic clearance in the dying minutes.

But that was truly a poorly played match, compared to some other games in MLS the level was pretty bad. Typical Caps, capable of the best and the worst in the same game. 

I think Davies really should have gone to Bayern, these months are going to be eternal for him and there is no point to prove anymore, he seems like his head is not in it like before. And with Coman injured he could probably even have gotten minutes.

[jpg75]

30 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I think Davies really should have gone to Bayern, these months are going to be eternal for him and there is no point to prove anymore, he seems like his head is not in it like before. And with Coman injured he could probably even have gotten minutes.

He could only have trained until the January window, no games since the transfer can't go through until he's 18.