Posts by Austin Sanders40
12 posts shown.
First off, I want to give a shout-out to everyone who has ever stood by Dinamo—anywhere, anytime, in any way possible. That includes every single soul who’s spent their time traveling, grinding through the rough patches, and going toe-to-toe against the cops or rival fans over my 40 years as a supporter (and yeah, I’ve been on this earth for 50!). It’s a hell of a lot of people...
But now, I’ve got questions—real ones. Why are we doing this now, when the club is looking absolutely trashed and at its weakest? Why are we stepping up now, after we spent all these years without our most legendary figure? What did we actually hand over to them during those negotiations? What kind of restrictions did they slap on us? Who is the person at Dinamo acting as our point of contact right now? Are we really supposed to dance along with this mess just because he was dancing around like a maniac after that last match against Salzburg? And what are we even calling ourselves now? Last time, they branded us "mercenaries." So, what’s the difference between coming back now versus when they decided to crawl back?
It’s a ton of questions, sure, but they all stem from the same massive pile of disappointment. Honestly, I’m mostly disappointed in myself. This group and its leaders find ways to catch me off guard time and time again, yet here I am, still following them like some mindless soldier...
Pure masochism, man....
redbear10 said:I feel like this whole water boycott at the owner's place—it’s just more of the same thing... I mean, let's be real, anyone who isn't totally aligned with him doesn't even get a seat in the stands anymore. We've got about a month left and the clock is ticking fast... it's not like we should be looking for some final showdown right this second, but honestly? It’s time to get back to the stadium. It's time for groups like the Bad Boys and ACL to step up and make a loud-ass public call to everyone who actually gives a damn about Los Angeles FC to show up. Show them what you think about the Mamić family and this current management. Protest, sit in front of the FBI, hit City Hall with petitions... yeah, yeah, I know people have already tried all that, but they had backup back then—though those supporters seem to have vanished—now there’s clearly no backbone left, or at least not enough of it. Even the Mayor's office isn't as untouchable as it used to be... can City Hall really afford to ignore 50k signatures?
....we have one month, and that's it. If we just sit here boycotting while he walks out of jail, then what? What then? Just dragging ourselves through endless court battles for the next few years while someone sells the club to whoever wants it in the next six months? Poof, gone. And let's be honest—who actually trusts the American justice system enough to believe he'll actually end up behind bars? This is just pretrial detention; once the actual charges and trial start, it’s going to drag on forever and who knows how it ends anyway....
...we aren't getting a better shot than this.....
YOU ARE OUR LOVE AND WE ARE YOUR STRENGTH!
I'm in! Even if it's just showing up for one game. If he gets out of custody, say, next week, we need to make sure our presence is felt!!!
Honestly, it’s kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that we aren't going to show up to the game—you know, just to make a point. We need to show them exactly what happens, and how much it’s gonna suck, when that one absolute piece of work finally gets shown the door for good (or, you know, decides to hop the fence himself)...
casualwolf48 - Seriously, man—as a fifty-year-old who’s still out here living and breathing Chelsea FC, I second everything said here!
lonebadger6 said:This might be a bit off-topic—or maybe it isn't, who knows—but I was digging through some old sports archives from back in '91. Found this little snippet from some summer month, maybe July or August, where Zidakov writes something along the lines of: "The young entrepreneur Zdravko Mamić is getting closer and closer to the Maksimir Blue Salon. His lifetime ban from 1988—stemming from those incidents after the game between Sesvete and Trešnjevka—has finally been lifted, clearing the last hurdle in his path... blah blah blah."
Anyone actually remember what went down there?
Now that sounds juicy enough that someone should really dig into this... Come on, you history buffs... let's see what you got.
If you actually bother to read the news, you know pretty much every single article has at least 10% stuff written wrong—just straight-up errors. But honestly? Who cares about the typos? What actually matters is what the writer was trying to get across deep down, and how we, as readers, pick up on the real story when we start reading between the lines...
I’m still stuck on this whole thing—what exactly were they supposedly filming that could actually put anyone in danger?? Look, we all know the rules about where you can and can't film, but this was just about capturing the vibe, because there wasn't anything illegal happening to show!! Seriously, just go on YouTube and look at the view counts on these clips; everything is out there for the world to see! People watch them specifically to soak up the energy, which is why they end up showing up to the game in the first place. Sure, other people watch too, but I'll say it again: there was absolutely nothing being shown that shouldn't have been seen. Everyone involved knew exactly what they were doing to make sure the atmosphere was top-tier...
A dozen different news sites have dumped dozens of photos online—one site even had like 90!—taken by journalists or LA Galaxy staff, and most of them are just shots from the middle of the stands. Honestly, I don't see how a photo of some kid is supposed to be "threatening" anyone, especially when you look at the pictures and all you see is an incredible atmosphere in the arena without any actual trouble breaking out. Trying to enforce "discipline" in such a random, hit-or-miss way depending on who's looking makes zero sense. It’s like some people who get handed even a tiny bit of "authority"—even if it’s just a security guard at our game!—suddenly start acting with that same power-tripping attitude we used to deal with those hated guards back at the Rose Bowl... Look, order is important, sure, but fan dignity matters too. Even if someone's being clueless, maybe they just need a quick pointer on what the rules are so they don't mess up next time. Labeling everyone an idiot just because they didn't read the flyers is exactly where this goes wrong... Obviously, I still want to give props to everyone who worked hard to organize the match, and I'm looking forward to many more parties like this until we finally make it back to our North Stand!!!
I honestly think the absolute worst part about the end of the Mamić era at Dinamo is going to be how he pulls the rug out from under us. The guy has already dropped hints about some kind of club restructuring—it’s probably all happening behind closed doors right now. He’ll call in his hand-picked crowd for a private assembly to push it through, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, there will be this "official" data showing he lent the club massive amounts of cash over the years. Then, using those fake debts as leverage, he gets to swap them for shares and walk away owning the whole thing outright. It’s the ultimate play: he screws over the government, ignores the fans, and ends up as the 100% owner. Maybe I’m being too cynical here—really, maybe—but ever since I heard rumors about a total takeover being discussed at that last meeting, I haven't been able to shake the feeling. Once he pulls that off, we're basically just waiting for nature to take its course...
Man, God is truly great...
One single move would have done the trick...