Keeping Ross Fletcher Petition

[outofmind82]

So, I know we are in the middle of a playoff fight and we need to devote our attention to supporting our boys...

But Ross Fletcher's comments at halftime yesterday reminded me how frustrated I am about the FO not renewing his contract for what sounds like simply a "change" or a "new direction".

Personally, I feel like Ross is one of our boys too and we should be behind him as well. He has brought us 4 great years of passion, humour, excitement, and love week after week and it would be nice to see him be able to stick around and become a part of Sounders history.

Also, the idea of the FO changing things because they think we, the fans, want it without consulting us goes against the idea of "democracy in sports" they have been touting for 8 years.

In that respect I would like to share this petition to retain Ross Fletcher, and see if we can put this concept of democracy in sports into action.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/bring- ... y=14449337

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[futbolgirl]

I used to rewarch all the matches that Arlo announced, just to hear him call it.

Never felt like doing that since Ross came along. Not a bad guy, decent pbp, good ambassador.

But, I'm actually looking forward to whomever they bring in. I was gutted when Arlo left, but understood why. At the time, he was too good for Sounders. But frankly, Sounders are too good for Ross. My $.02.

[outofmind82]

Hey futbolgirl!

I totally respect your opinion. And Arlo was amazing and I miss him dearly as well!

I guess where I am coming from, and the others that I have chatted with, is that Ross also brought an incredible passion to our team as well as a great sense of humor, excitement, and outright love. I know some have complained about his accent, or said he doesn't have quite the same passion as Arlo did, but I still think he brings a lot to this team and it's fanbase that other random commentators won't necessarily bring.

My biggest issue is that if we're changing commentators every handful of years just for the sake of going in "a new direction" then we will never really be able to have a voice of the Souneders that becomes as prolific as say Dave Niehaus was for the Mariners or Kevin Calabro was for the Sonics.

I have the sneaking suspicion that Steve Zakuani, Kasey Keller, Taylor Graham, and Marcus Hahnemann will be the new commentating team, but as much as I love those guys as former players, they haven't ever quite instilled in me the same excitement listening to them as Ross (or Arlo).

In the end, I don't necessarily expect this to change anything, it's almost more to bring attention to the fact that the FO is changing things with the expectation we all want change when we were founded on the ideal of "democracy in sports" and they didn't actually ask us.

[Forza_Seattle]

Glad to see him go and should take Keller with him too.

[outofmind82]

Glad to see him go and should take Keller with him too.

Glad you're willing to have a discussion and not just pull cheap shots...

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[futbolgirl]

I can only judge my own feelings here. And those feelings have been meh for the last four years. I don't think I'm the only one either.

I'm looking forward to the change. It won't be one of those four guys. They have no play by play experience. The are all color guys, and in Kasey's case that is really fucking stretching it.

If it really bothered a enough people, you wouldn't need an online petition. If it really bothered enough people, you would have seen more than just one large Ross head at the match on Wednesday.

Besides, what's done is done. He said goodbye on the air. Nobody goes back after that.

[RatCity]

I too have felt meh. I rage for him as a person. But as a commentator im excited to see who comes in.

[outofmind82]

I can only judge my own feelings here. And those feelings have been meh for the last four years. I don't think I'm the only one either.

I'm looking forward to the change. It won't be one of those four guys. They have no play by play experience. The are all color guys, and in Kasey's case that is really fucking stretching it.

If it really bothered a enough people, you wouldn't need an online petition. If it really bothered enough people, you would have seen more than just one large Ross head at the match on Wednesday.

Besides, what's done is done. He said goodbye on the air. Nobody goes back after that.

There's 620 people who have signed it in 36 hours... I'd say that's a decent amount of people who are not happy with the change.

Again, I don't necessarily expect us to actually retain Ross because of this. More than anything I am trying to bring attention to the fact that the FO touted this idea of democracy in sports and they made a decision in the name of what they thought the fans wanted yet didn't actually ask the fans.

Apparently some do want the change, but there's also a fairly substantial number that don't.

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[Forza_Seattle]

Glad to see him go and should take Keller with him too.

Glad you're willing to have a discussion and not just pull cheap shots...

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No cheap shots just exhausted listening to two of them and got tired complaining about them. Most of the games I spent yelling at them and not at players, refs, sigi etc. They talk too much and usually (especially Keller) say nothing of importance.

Boring and annoying.

[outofmind82]

Fair enough, I respect your opinion.

However, compare Ross and Kasey to literally any other commentating crew in the MLS... I think your standards for boring and annoying might change quickly. Just saying.

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[futbolgirl]

Fair enough, I respect your opinion.

However, compare Ross and Kasey to literally any other commentating crew in the MLS... I think your standards for boring and annoying might change quickly. Just saying.

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I certainly cannot disagree with that comparison, but to use MLS as standard bearer is beyond silly. The rest of the league sucks at almost everything front office related.

The Sounders reach is large and growing. Ross was fine, but there was something close to goofy about his delivery at times. We can and should have better than MLS caliber announcers, far and away better.

[Llarian]

I think Ross is great as a person. Wonderful guy, always enjoyed talked to him.

That being said, I also believe Hanauer when he states that the Sounders plan to improve their broadcasting team overall. I wouldn't be surprised to see Zakuani as a color guy more regularly, and fully expect them to bring in a quality PBP. We'll see.