If you follow the Kansas City Wizards in even the most casual manner you can not help but notice that the demographics of the Wizard’s fan base has changed somewhat remarkably over the last month or two. The Kansas City Wizard’s have signed Indian forward Sunil Chhetri and low and behold the entire newsscape and culture of the Wizard’s in the web 2.0 world has changed about as quickly as you can shout ‘he hasn’t even completed a god damned fucking game yet, and the game he did start he looked like poo and got yanked out at half time’.
I can understand being excited, being the complete kiss ass Ryan Smith fan boy that I am I totally transformed into a Smitty cheerleader on BigSoccer on Facebook in person and whoever would listen and yet this is different. For me. We have doubled (at least?) the number of ‘fans’ we have on Facebook (because that little link click makes you a die hard) and almost every single post by the Wizards is flooded by these new followers with discussion about Chhetri and they are driving me completely insane.
I feel like the Wizard’s fan base has been invaded by this amorphous mob who don’t actually really give a damn about the Wizards but are here purely to support their boy. Which is fine. I guess. I saw the guys in the Landon Donovan T-shirts this weekend. But what about the rest of us? That know that Kansas City is actually the name of a City, and that unlike Manchester City, Coventry City and Brechin City (first mention on an MLS blog?) the ‘City’ portion isn’t just appended to the end like United, Athletic or ….. Wizards. People that are Wizard’s fans might also might want to absorb the fact that Kansas is a place roughly the same size as England and Scotland combined. It is not a town. It is a state just like Rajasthan is.
North America, include the states of Kansas and Missouri. See the A? That is Kansas City.
So what does this make me? The non-Chhetri fan? No .. I want him to succeed because we need a natural goal scorer like the desert needs the rain. Does this make me some kind of anti-indian xenophobic racist asshole? Not sure that is possible considering that I am actually half Indian and I do actually love India. I just feel that the hyperbole glut is completely outweighing what it should be for a player who is entirely unproven at anything close to the MLS level.
I’m just bored of hearing about a player, that has yet to make his debut from a group of people that probably have not even bothered to pull out a map to see where Kansas, Kanses, Kensas, Kansa and Kansas City are. Guess this is just the way it is going to be, and we can only hope that when Chhetri is gone we keep the new found fans. I guess a reception like this doesn’t help much.
Closing thought from an overseas genius:
Sanamar Athokpam : V hav 2 make special shirtz 4 chhetri, diz cowdung doeznt knw it’ll nt fit wit him… Wen unfit tey r lukng awkward, rnt tey hav ne precise mind..?? Damn fellwz… Chhetri iz running wit shirtz going down to kneez, pantz to heelz… Hey!! Indianz make a brand new dresses 4 chhetri..
Yeah its kinda like that …
Couldn’t agree more, my WIZARDS-loving friend!!!
The thing that drives me the most nuts about them is the 100% of the time misspelling of his name. It’s not Chettri, Chetri or Chetrri. It’s Chhetri. He’s from your damn country. You should be able to spell it right before me.
Comment by KCsince88 — April 28, 2010 @ 5:30 pm
You don’t understand the Indian fans as much as they don’t understand the Wizards, James. Not everyone supports the Wizards or atleast that was not the intent whey they joined the group in fb. But that doesn’t make everyone a ‘typical’ crazy Sunil fanboy.
The ‘hyperbole glut’ as you would call it is something that disappoints me greatly.Every single post in fb wall(i agree that it s a little too much in number) is a sincere call for Sunil to succeed and not anything bombastic.
I wouldn’t expect you to understand the consequences of this transfer for the Indian football. Neither do i expect you to realize the fact that English is not the first language for most of The Indian posters.
The wizards supporters are a close knit family and are a great joy to interact with. I seriously hope we don’t come across as a rude or ‘amorphous’ bunch (because we are not one).You raise some valid points (credit where it’s due) but it’s a needless attack on a group of people who are excited,harmless and a little naive. You should also realize that people outside know more about US than the other way round.
Waking up at 5:30 in the morning for listening to a US Open Cup commentary : you would see it as just blindly supporting Sunil but for us it’s something else.
Comment by Kay — April 28, 2010 @ 5:44 pm
And because I am not Steve Davis I won’t even edit you Kay …. I know I was walking the line on this post, and I really do know what is going on for the typical Indian football fan. There is a pride to Indians, they love their country with a very genuine way vs the forced patriotism that we get over here.
Any Indian that succeeds abroad is a hero, especially the the first in any area. I have had as much drubbed into me my whole life by my mother (Indira) and uncle (Reepu). When we signed Sunil I anticipated this and yes I appreciate that 99% of the tsunami is wishing luck to Sunil, it still doesn’t stop me feeling a little swamped as an existing Wizards fan who simply wants the other 23 members of the squad to get acknowledged and to stop receiving email and facebook requests asking why Sunil is being overlooked …..
Comment by James Starritt — April 28, 2010 @ 5:57 pm
Deragotory remarks such as above is not new to this little boy from India. Right from school level to State and to one professional club to another he is used to this kind of welcome post. He knows exactly what he is expected from his new club. He also knows he is not a WWE contestant, but a simple soccer player, a few inches/inch taller than Lionel Messi, Iniesta, xavi, bojan,pedro, walcot, S. Nasri,and off course the veteran Maradona. I don’t think SANAMAR ATHOKPAN is a soccer enthusiast. He should better, check all these details, before writing against our national star.
Comment by Ganesh KC — April 30, 2010 @ 1:30 am
Well, a surprising article to say the least. Actually I will go the extent of saying that its very disappointing. Jeez where do I start
‘he hasn’t even completed a god damned fucking game yet, and the game he did start he looked like poo and got yanked out at half time’.
Wow that fair. Real mature, James. The guy has scored I think what half a dozen in some friendlies (albeit against poor opposition). Settled in quite well it seems. In 45 mins youve decided that he looked like ‘poo’? Downthebyline actually reported he looked decent, but nothing spectacular. What were you expecting? Torres and Rooney rolled into one ? 5 goals in his first five minutes? Lot you know about soccer dude.
So lets see, you get a kid from across the globe, from a country with a billion people. People are excited as hell, wanting him and the Wizards to do well. Irritating for you eh? Its not what anybody would want….new fans, new buzz around the club. Sure. I would hate it.
You can sign jokers from English Conference. Thats neat eh? But when you get a kid whos actually could not make it to the Championship coz of work permit issues, you feel its a bit much ?
All I can say is I hope you dont represent the majority of Wizard fans. You know something else ? I know of at least 50 odd guys here in Indis who were pissed as hell when Kamara missed that chance. They believe they are KC fans as well now. Ill make sure I tell them to read your article.
Comment by Abhishek — April 30, 2010 @ 3:24 am
He did look like crap — he barely touched the ball, he wasn’t in the game. It was basically a 10 man team with him up front. You should not confuse this with me thinking he is a bad player, I have never said that – in fact in this same article I say that I hope he works out because “we need a natural goalscorer”.
And you respond to this by slighting the existing Wizards players by referring to them as Jokers which is exactly what I hate about some of the Chhetri fans. Our “conference players” have actually earned appearances which is something Sunil has not yet.
I will be his biggest cheerleader when the time comes. But some of his fans? I wish some of them would just respect the remainder of the squad and simply accept that Sunil’s time is close, but not here yet.
Comment by James Starritt — April 30, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
I take the comment about jokers back. It was in bad taste, and my irritation at your article came out.
Anyway whether you like it or not, we are now KC fans and are here to stay!
Comment by Abhishek — May 1, 2010 @ 2:06 am
Chhetri The Kansa from India will be the match winner for Kansas City Wizards. Keep patients. Don’t expect everything to happen in 45 minutes.
Comment by drkrishna — May 2, 2010 @ 12:53 pm