I've never been to Vegas but NYC is probably a better spot for 4th of July weekend.
2016 Schedule!
- Thread starter Goodfella
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It is a really good place to go to a game when there are actually fans in the stands (i.e., when they play NYCFC). If you drive, I'd suggest parking in one of the unofficial lots a bit away from the stadium. If you park in the warehouse lot, it can easily take 60 minutes+ to get out after the game. I've also taken public transport many times and it is pretty good as these things go.
I went to both games and only had one minor incident when some cretin came up to me and my eight year old and gave us the finger. It was a good opportunity to teach her about the difference between being a good, spirited, supporter and an asshole. Other than that, like I found at all the games I went to, my sense was that you only have an issue if you go looking for trouble.
I've never had a problem there but I didn't attend the Derby last year. I've only attended non NYCFC games.
Like any stadium, there are jerks. But this isn't Millwall or Cardiff. You will be fine. It's mostly families like our games.
I can foresee us winning our first 5 games. Chicago (A), Toronto (H), Orlando (H), New England (H), Chicago (H). 15 points.
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You use fancy words like "foresee" and it makes it sound so true.
That's not completely unreasonable, and could be necessary. For kicks, I just went through our full schedule and assigned a W/L/T to every game based on team strength, how well we played them last year, H/A, short rest, etc. I won't even pretend there's any special validity to it but I tried to be reasonable. I started with those 5 straight wins, and ended at 14-11-9, which is 51 points, which would put us in the playoffs but not with a lot of cushion based on last year. Turn one win into a loss and we'd be out. I think some here would be more aggressively optimistic than me and would generate higher points if they did the same thing.
But the point that has real meaning is that if the team doesn't start with a 5-game win streak, those points have to be made up later in games that -- on paper in preseason -- seem tougher. And really, no matter how easy the schedule, starting with 5 straight wins will be tough.
FWIW, if you divide the season into 4 quarters of 9, 8, 8 and 9 games, I gave us:
1st Quarter - 21 points 2.33 PPG
2nd Quarter - 14 points 1.75 PPG
3rd Quarter - 6 points 0.75 PPG
4th Quarter - 10 points 1.11 PPG
This is really more of an attempt to measure of the schedule than anything else. If the team - as I hope - gets better as the season progresses, we could do better in the later quarters (and worse in the first). And opponents will be improving and declining as well so even this schedule assessment will be off. But right now the 3rd Quarter section of the season looks killer. If we do well there, we're a damn good team.
I'd be curious to see anyone else's results from this exercise. It takes about 15 minutes. Just go through the schedule and assign the results. Don't add anything up until it's you finish and see what you get.
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Haha I am getting married August 6th so the only game is the friday night before away at San Jose at 11pm... So I won't be watching that game but I don't miss any home games.
Nice work! I wonder how the numbers would shake out if you handicapped games that we were in control of (either winning or tied) and gave up a goal to lose valuable point(s) because of our patented defensive brain-gaffes? I cannot imagine we'll play such a porous defense this year that ideally some of those lost points will be bankable (all depending on whether we sign T & M in the near future).
Hopefully that first Friday night game is warm I would really enjoy rolling that into one hell of a night.
I looked at it and only saw 13 games in which I thought we'd be favored, based on last year.
Ha! That's way more fine tuned than this exercise, but I think the improvement I aasmed is based on a (further assumed) improved back line and having more than one scoring threat.
That's not far off of my 14 wins. The difference might be I gave us one win against RB. Based on last year that seems hopeless. They not only won all 3 but outplayed us considerably. But I also figure we won't go winless in our first 6 and we'll be a bit better and they a bit worse.
Some things that may give us more wins:
DC finished poorly last year, I think they are due for a regression.
I think a full offseason training, and a full team all year with some reinforcements makes us better than Toronto and Montreal. One big one is that LA is making big changes, and you never know how that will affect the team. They still have Keane and gio, but Cole looks like he'll be a net negative, and Gerrard seems unmotivated. Who knows.
I agree about DC and LA as possible areas for us to pick up more points. But last year we took 13 of 18 possible points from Toronto and Montreal, and this year we only play them a combined 4 games, so it's kind of impossible to do better. 12 of 12 points would be an improvement but a net loss.
I went and tailgated all day with a bunch of Red Bulls supporters. We all had a great time, everyone I was in contact with was super friendly aside from the usual stuff. As long as you have thick skin you'll be fine and will enjoy yourself.
Good to know! Were you wearing any NYCFC gear or jersey that drew attention to you?
Yes, I was decked out.
It should be noted that my wife (who was also wearing a jersey) took a walk with another friend to use the bathroom which was down a long stretch with a ton of Red Bull tailgaters and they did get harassed. Nothing but a bunch of normal ribbing. I wasn't with her so can't say for certain how bad it was but she can hold her own pretty well.
Everyone is there to have a good time, there will always be people that take it too seriously though, especially when the pack mentality takes hold.
I believe we'd just have to wait and see what the particular circumstances are at the moment when this stretch of games comes up on the schedule.
At face value, I'd blow off the Portland game, because they're in the other division and losing 3 points to them would be the less of several evils.
I would imagine (again just basing this on face value and 2015 results) we'd take the Toronto match the more serious of the three, because we'd be chasing them for a playoff spot and not the Red Bulls.
At face value, I'd blow off the Portland game, because they're in the other division and losing 3 points to them would be the less of several evils.
I would imagine (again just basing this on face value and 2015 results) we'd take the Toronto match the more serious of the three, because we'd be chasing them for a playoff spot and not the Red Bulls.
To be clear, the games are actually 3 days apart with 2 days off before and after Toronto, but the question is still a good one. It's early enough in the season that maybe you don't need to run out the backups against Toronto.
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