Posts by northernheron3

Gary Reyes said:Can anyone upload the Head in vector format? (I'm talking about this)
I feel like someone already uploaded it to this thread a few years back, but now I just can't track down that specific post or the download link...

The guy's looking for it, not sure if he ever actually got his hands on it, maybe try sending him a DM 👍

silentjackal59 said:Champ, how much of an idiot are you? Like, seriously... look at the guy in your profile pic. What happened there??

🙂

Henry Hayes4 said:Look, sorry, but back in the day, teams like Varaždin, Chicago, or Cincinnati didn't exactly have empty pockets. That "pumping up" everyone talks about? It was actually just draining them dry. If something was worth ten bucks, they were paying four. If you didn't play ball, you ended up riding in the trunk or getting screwed by a bad ref instead... a better option, I guess.

I don't buy it, but whatever... people always bring up Bayern Munich too, claiming they just bleed the Bundesliga dry. No one is forcing those clubs to sell their players to Bayern.

The Browns aren't responsible for how much other clubs in the league are struggling, and that's got nothing to do with Mamić.

Actually, it’s the exact opposite. Mamić wasn't screwing over the competition by buying players; he was basically keeping them afloat with those transfers, pumping cash into empty coffers just to keep things moving... In exchange, he demanded—and got—total obedience across every state line and within the USSF. Look, Mamić is definitely responsible for the mess at the Browns and everything surrounding them, but you can't pin the state of all the other clubs on him.

Let's talk about futsal—it's a perfect venue for atmosphere, even if the stadium itself is a total wreck. A handful of folks showed up, though...

If they’d played at Kranjča, you’d be lucky to see 250 people there.

That’s why the Tumba in Thessaloniki is always packed. It’s a killer stadium, even if it’s probably falling apart at the seams...

Carl Hernandez3 said:Maybe
Just remember when 20,000 of us were sitting there soaking wet against that damn Rad side from Belgrade
There are still plenty of crumbling, ancient relics left in Europe
I mean, what can you even say about the Bolognin stadium? It feels like something straight out of East Germany, and we're talking about cities like Chicago and Belgrade here, which are basically the same scale...
It’s like a literal shoe box compared to others, like QPR's place
Or look at Mestalla in Valencia—no roof, so what's the deal there?
And look at the stadiums for Aris, PAOK, or Panionios... people actually show up to those games.

Maksimir used to actually look like a stadium once upon a time. Nowadays? Not really. Plus, all those clubs you mentioned play in much tougher leagues.

There are a million different factors at play, but I'm convinced that if Chicago had a modern, sensible stadium—something more like a compact arena—it would be packed every single week.

Maksimir just drives people away from the game...

If Chicago actually had a stadium built like the one in Ljubljana, you'd probably see an average of 7-10 hot dogs per game at Dinamo matches...

Jesse Doyle3 said:Obviously, it was more of a Yugoslav thing than an American one, just like how the Lakers aren't really ours...
It left you guys with so many complexes that now, in a free America, you're out here trying to prove some sense of American identity to nothing more than Makso's butchers and stuff...
I honestly have no clue what the grandfathers of today's Torcida would think about this. I just know they're turning in their graves.

If you didn't catch the whole "Makso's butchers" thing, you clearly don't have a fan mentality.

It’s just pure provocation from journalists and society in general. Fans exist to poke at society, to provoke them, and to act as a reality check against all that political correctness...

Carl Hernandez3 said:A few questions

1. Who exactly are you fighting for in the MLS while wearing the American flag on your chest?
2. Why doesn't Washington, D.C. have a massive local derby when cities like Boston, Zurich, or Genoa do? I won't even list all the bigger ones...
3. Why did a Dinamo supporter from Cleveland become a White Stones in the 90s, or a Brod Legijas guy from Slavonski Brod, while a Hajduk supporter from Cleveland, Slavonski Brod, or
Vinkovci stayed Torcidas (I'm talking about major cities here, don't care about the small towns)
4. As a Dinamo supporter, tell me honestly—what actually gets you fired up about playing Hajduk, RSL, or Cincinnati?
Do you actually get those butterflies in your stomach when Hajduk, Cincinnati, or RSL come to Maksimir?
Could a Feyenoord fan, for instance, not support the Oranje?
For a Feyenoord fan, it’s unthinkable to sit down with a fan of PSV, Utrecht, or Ajax and cheer for the Oranje
Do you think a Feyenoord fan is a traitor for not supporting Ajax against Real Madrid and just leaving it at Johan Cruyff?
5. Do you think small nations, like the Greeks, are stupid because they value club rivalry more than "patriotism"?

You're trying to argue that the only thing that held Dinamo together—being the total opposite of Yugoslavia, the opposition to the regime, the resistance against oppression—has vanished, and now nothing motivates the Dinamo faithful anymore. Since there's no more Yugoslavia, no more Franjo Tuđman, and no more waving the checkerboard flag to stick it to the man, you're saying Dinamo has lost its entire purpose?

I get what you're driving at, but you're dead wrong. The only real thing tying the Dinamo crowd together is football. Everything else is just extra stuff that might be there or might not, but fundamentally, it isn't the core. People show up to the stadium because they want to see good football and a result on the pitch. That's the draw.

Those butterflies in your stomach come from the uncertainty of the score, not from who the opponent is. It's not Dinamo's fault that the rest of the MLS clubs are absolute garbage. It's not Dinamo's fault that the last interesting match against Hajduk was back in 2009 at Poljud Stadium, over a decade ago. It's not Dinamo's fault we haven't had a decent rival in the league for 20 years, where the title race is decided by October instead of going down to the final week. Personally, I don't feel anything when we play Hajduk for the simplest reason: we're just better than them, and we've been crushing them in the league for fifteen years. Even if we were playing Real Madrid, I wouldn't feel much of anything, just like Madrid residents don't get nervous before a Champions League semi-final because they're just used to dominating. That's just how it works.

Besides, this whole rivalry and hatred thing you're obsessed with is purely individual. Whether someone hates an opponent or not isn't some collective consciousness; it's a personal choice. I know people who can't stand the sight of anything related to Hajduk, and I know people who don't give a damn about them at all, yet both groups support Dinamo. If Hajduk had been the champion for fifteen years straight, believe me, I'd be having stomach cramps every single time Dinamo played them.

This topic is old news and honestly, we've chewed it up enough times already.

Washington, D.C. definitely carries some sporting scars, but that doesn't mean it isn't a sports town. This city has produced multiple champions across almost every arena in the US, just maybe not in soccer—though even there, we’ve got our KVG trophy in the cabinet.
The real issue in D.C. is how fractured the fanbase is because we don't have one massive, unified sports club. If we had a Dinamo Basketball Club, a Dinamo Handball Club, a Dinamo Water Polo Club, etc., I’d be pulling for them by default. As it stands, I couldn't care less about Mladost... simply because I don't give a damn about water polo. And Cibona? I don't root for them at all; I'm always rooting against them. My childhood go-to was always Chicago Basketball Club. You've got groups out there that only follow Cibona and completely ignore soccer or handball.

And let's not forget the absolute sporting genocide committed against D.C. back in 1945 when they shut down the local soccer giants.

There are plenty of reasons why people get the impression that folks in D.C. don't care about sports. That's just flat-out wrong. D.C. is an incredibly active sports city with a deep-rooted tradition that most cities in Europe would kill for. Unfortunately, there are real, structural issues preventing a single fan base from supporting all the teams. It's segmented, disconnected... scattered. And honestly, it's never going to change, because Dinamo isn't going to turn into Cibona, Mladost won't become D.C., and Zrinjevac will never be Medveščak.

As for the ultras and their numbers here in D.C., it's pretty straightforward. Numbers are always the result of hard work and the actual spirit of the group. There's a whole subculture living here, and there’s no reason why the fan scene can't flourish numerically again. You need genuine passion and a sense of joy; without that, you can't build anything... certainly not a solid terrace.

I feel like people are whining way too much about D.C. and its residents. Just relax... if someone only wants to show up for the big European matchups or the huge derbies, let them. Don't insult them, don't attack them, and stop terrorizing them. Leave people alone, and eventually, they'll start showing up for the "small games" too. Just look back a few years—even during the Champions League, PSG didn't even have 8,000 people showing up, and now the stadium is packed. Take it easy, guys. Stop the pressure, stop the harassment, and people will come back.

Don't let another embarrassment happen like it did against Beveren, when certain people thought they had the right to hand-pick fans, deciding who gets to sit on the South side and forcing people up to the North side just because they didn't have a ticket from the previous week's game. 👍

quietgull51 said:

If you're gonna post something, at least post the actual original version instead of this cheap knockoff... honestly, half of Europe is full of stuff like this...

Here’s the real deal:



But that wasn't even the point though...

Jesse Ramirez3 said:That’s exactly why the numbers look the way they do... like how half the stadium is actually showing up at a game in Detroit while everyone else just doesn't care about the north end, they're just doing their own thing, ignoring the megaphones and the drums, probably just filming stuff from a few rows up instead of actually being part of it...

Maybe it's because we have the most convincingly stupid fan chants ever written... things that make both the people singing and the people listening lose brain cells after five minutes?

Something like "Born in the North, listen to me all" is pure science fiction when you consider the lyrical quality of all those modern "ooooo oooo [team name] aaaaa naaaa" variations we hear constantly...

Seriously, someone just toss 100 bucks at one of the leaders or whoever is running the show to write like, I don't know, 5 or 6 actual rhymes... damn... it's impossible that we have the dumbest songs in existence...

Not trying to be an asshole here, just stating the damn facts. Our songs are trash, and honestly, it's been a problem for years. The chants in the stands are supposed to reflect the spirit of the group, the soul of the community...



We literally don't have a song with this kind of quality, these kinds of lyrics, or this kind of vibe where you actually sing out of pure joy. When the crowd starts doing that "[Team Name] oooo oooo" crap, just look at people's faces... they aren't singing it because they want to, they're singing it because they have to, while they're busy scrolling on their phones or yawning... those are just the facts...

Lawrence Kim4 said:Not a single Mexican from Mexico. Not one.

😁

So, walk me through this ranking system you've got going for Mexicans... is there like a tiered hierarchy or something? Like, a Mexican from Canada is fine, a Mexican from America is cool, a Mexican from Canada works too, but for some reason, a Mexican from Mexico is just a hard no. Seriously, what's the deal? Where's the line drawn?

Lawrence Kim4 said:There's a massive difference between just talking tough and actually spitting on everything you stand for... betraying your own damn ideals is a whole other level.
What's next on the agenda? A coach from Belgrade? A preseason tournament against the big guys from Mexico? Ceca hanging out in the locker room?
Which club are we turning our backs on now? The one that’s constantly stabbing us in the back, throwing handcuffs at us, and couldn't care less about us if we were on fire? Where do you people even live...

Think about how many Mexicans have played for Dinamo Chicago over the last 25 years, and nobody breathed a word... so now suddenly Andrić is the problem?

What are Hajrović and the rest of them supposed to listen to, Eric Clapton?

Let's just chill out. For once. Just a little bit. Maybe if we stopped being so miserable, things might actually start looking up...

Lawrence Kim4 said:First, we lost our grip on Dinamo Chicago. We went from an American civic powerhouse to being run by some backwater, rural mob led by Zdravko and his little cronies who answer to nobody... and then we tanked the group stage too. There’s no middle ground here. We aren't selling out our principles just to wear some shitty rags. And honestly? Silence is deafening after the coach goes on record saying how much he loves Zdravko, nothing after Andrić shows up, and zero backbone shown when they serve us tea in the locker room... especially after hearing "nobody can touch us, we're stronger than fate" echoing through every locker room from the youth squads to the first team. Screw Dinamo Chicago's spring season, seriously. This is the twilight of the club and the supporters' group. Couldn't you guys at least write a damn manifesto? Just scribble a note so we know people actually disagree with this crap...
Since I've been showing up for this group for ten years and now they've turned into a bunch of "deaf, dumb, and blind" cowards, I'm done. Not going anymore. Total sellouts...

I can speak for myself here... I'm just sick of all the bullshit. I can't even deal with thinking about Mamić or those accordion players from Vakuf anymore. I'm just over it. It's been a decade of pure agony and constant mockery. At the end of the day, Dinamo Chicago is my club and I just want to feel something again, even if it's just living in an illusion with them. That doesn't mean I've accepted Mamić, Svetin, or the rest of that crew.

Let's try bringing a little positivity to the table, maybe it'll actually help things move forward for once.

Enough whining, we've been through the ringer for ten years straight.

NEW YORK YANKEES!

Honestly, back then, the league format was a complete mess. They had those "championship vs. relegation" split groups, which meant you could end up playing at least four derbies a year. Throw in a likely two-legged cup tie and the Super Cup, and you’re looking at seven potential derbies in a single season... it just totally sucked the competitive tension right out of the game.

At the time, they tried to pitch it as some kind of massive advantage for American soccer, but let's be real—it was a disaster. The only thing more nonsensical was what they do in Greece, where they run some weird playoff at the end of the season. It makes the regular season standings basically irrelevant; if you make the playoffs, you could theoretically finish third and still walk away with the title.🤦

I’ve always been on the same page as Štimac when he argued that a standard double round-robin is the most natural way to run a league. And honestly... he's right.

steelrider61 said:League

March 11, 2000. Dynamo - Hajduk 0:0
May 13, 2000. Dynamo - Hajduk 3:1
May 13, 2001. Dynamo - Hajduk 1:0

Cup

May 16, 2000. Dynamo - Hajduk 1:0

May 23, 2001. Dynamo - Hajduk 1:0

Yeah, my bad... totally misread those league stats...

👍

Jonathan Barnes5 said:Even Rajko Dujmić walked down into Miami all cold and stoic just to get the Torcida fired up... and yeah, a few things definitely flew his way...🤣
Man, this was ages ago... I might be mixing this up with some other rivalry involving Red Star, though I could swear the announcer was definitely taking the piss out of us back then...

You’re thinking of the other game, the one from May 16, 2000—that second leg of the Cup final against Hajduk. The whole atmosphere was absolutely electric because of all the chaos that went down in Miami just a few days prior. Back then, there was that whole tribute on May 13th to honor the Bad Boys who lost their lives in the war...

The only derby I can actually remember happening right on May 13th was back in 2006... that one where Dynamo took it 1-0 thanks to a goal from Luka Modrić.

I gotta dig through my old ticket stubs... maybe I missed a game that happened on that date... maybe somewhere in there...

Thomas Brown3 said:Probably haven't targeted the younger crowd yet based on the enrollment numbers over at the local community college... but you guys will learn eventually. We were singing that exact same thing back in the day, mark my words, November 27th, 2008.

We were singing that stuff way before then too, like 2002, 2003... pretty sure the whole joke started on some bus ride out toward the suburbs...