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Propoganda Wars: Understanding TS Bias and Bashing

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    Propoganda Wars: Understanding TS Bias and Bashing

    There was a post last week where someone mentioned that there is a pro Stars bias here on TS that got me started thinking about how the clubs use it to control their public persona and marketing message. After literally culling through all of the 7,091 threads created in the Massachusetts forum through the middle of last week I found some pretty interesting things:

    #1-The old line clubs (Bolts, Scorpions, Stars) have less threads attacking them than the upstarts do (NEFC, MPS, Blazers)

    #2-ODP gets attacked significantly more than any of the other ID programs

    #3-The US Club Soccer leagues (ECNL, NEP, NPL) get attacked significantly more than the US Youth Soccer leagues (MAPLE, Region 1, MASC) do. Relatively speaking DAP gets attacked far less than either of those groups do.

    #4-Threads about the middle school years (U12-14) are significantly more active than the high school years. There is a remarkable 67% drop off in page views between threads about U13 age groups and the U15 age group.

    #5-The was a remarkable (and disgusting) negative shift in tone on TS that really first appeared in 2009. Prior to 2009 most of the threads where generally informative in nature and it was quite accepted to create threads that applauded club and team as well as individual success. Today, any such posts is treated extremely harshly.

    #2
    The Data

    Timeline
    TS Fist MA thread - 5/16/2007
    DAP Started - 2007
    Red Bull League - 2007-2009
    Encl Started - 2009
    NEFC Formed - 2009
    NEP Started - 2009
    ECNL Clubs Drop Out of State Cups - 2011
    DAP Moves to 10 Month Schedule - 2012
    NE NPL Leagues Formed - 2013

    Yearly posting data
    2007 - Threads: 545 - Posts: 23,927 - Views: 1,895,556
    2008 - Threads: 804 - Posts: 38,809 - Views: 2,209,014
    2009 - Threads: 914 - Posts: 42,264 - Views: 2,770,797
    2010 - Threads: 1,306 - Posts: 64,159 - Views: 4,348,321
    2011 - Threads: 1,254 - Posts: 62,205 - Views: 3,866,099
    2012 - Threads: 1,047 - Posts: 55,616 - Views: 3,541,823
    2013 - Threads: 1,033 - Posts: 60,453 - Views: 3,575,314
    2014 - Threads: 188 - Posts: 9,244 - Views: 533,248

    Age group posting data
    U18 - Threads: 60 - Posts: 1,857 - Views: 113,444
    U17 - Threads: 88 - Posts: 5,606 - Views: 341,869
    U16 - Threads: 75 - Posts: 8,577 - Views: 458,378
    U15 - Threads: 87 - Posts: 8,381 - Views: 425,646
    U14 - Threads: 162 - Posts: 20,375 - Views: 1,124,557
    U13 - Threads: 173 - Posts: 20,828 - Views: 1,282,017
    U12 - Threads: 146 - Posts: 21,684 - Views: 1,196,478
    U11 - Threads: 125 - Posts: 17,634 - Views: 822,475
    U10 - Threads: 69 - Posts: 4,508 - Views: 298,835

    Club posting data
    NEFC - Threads: 161 - Posts: 9,252 - Views: 680,743 - Attacking: 54%
    Scorpions/Breakers - Threads: 144 - Posts: 10,860 - Views: 813,873 - Attacking: 40%
    Stars - Threads: 133 - Posts: 7,533 - Views: 502,958 - Attacking: 32%
    MPS - Threads: 109 - Posts: 7,646 - Views: 484,142 - Attacking: 44%
    Revs - Threads: 76 - Posts: 5,939 - Views: 352,067 - Attacking: 34%
    Bolts - Threads: 74 - Posts: 4,071 - Views: 233,286 - Attacking: 36%
    Blazers - Threads: 34 - Posts: 1,345 - Views: 91,411 - Attacking: 68%

    League posting data
    MAPLE - Threads: 226 - Posts: 12,275 - Views: 733,628 - Attacking: 39%
    DAP - Threads: 127 - Posts: 11,722 - Views: 628,457 - Attacking: 25%
    NEP - Threads: 127 - Posts: 6,642 - Views: 421,552 - Attacking: 54%
    Region 1 - Threads: 115 - Posts: 5,628 - Views: 420,453 - Attacking: 18%
    ECNL - Threads: 92 - Posts: 8,298 - Views: 454,758 - Attacking: 42%
    MASC - Threads: 21 - Posts: 295 - Views: 22,745 - Attacking: 29%
    NPL - Threads: 20 - Posts: 1,225 - Views: 62,310 - Attacking: 45%
    Super Y - Threads: 20 - Posts: 1,025 - Views: 66,695 - Attacking: 15%

    ID Program posting data
    ODP - Threads: 111 - Posts: 7,466 - Views: 543,648 - Attacking: 32%
    ID2 - Threads: 11 - Posts: 318 - Views: 24,527 - Attacking: 9%
    NTC - Threads: 16 - Posts: 632 - Views: 48,871 - Attacking: 0%
    PDP - Threads: 3 - Posts: 227 - Views: 13,151 - Attacking: 0%

    Scorpions
    First Thread - Scorpions Soccer Continues it's U18 Fee Structure for 07-08 (6/7/2007)
    First Positive Thread - Congratulations to Region 1 Champions - Scorpions U-14 (7/17/2009)
    First Negative Thread - Could the Scorpions empire be crumbling?? (9/30/2009)

    Bolts
    First Thread - Bolts Tryouts (7/7/2007)
    First Positive Thread - SoccerAmerica rankings: Bolts Boys #10 (2/9/2008)
    First Negative Thread - Bolts parents worst in country (2/12/2009)

    Stars
    First Thread - Good luck Stars tomorrow (8/1/2007)
    First Positive Thread - Good luck Stars tomorrow (8/1/2007)
    First Negative Thread - Stars lose every game today (7/9/2009)

    MPS
    First Thread - Monitoring The MPS Impact (4/17/2008)
    First Positive Thread - MPS U16 and U17 Boys Going to Nationals! (7/4/2008)
    First Negative Thread - Will MPS Win a SC Title This Spring? (1/28/2009)

    Blazers
    First Thread - BU17 Tournament Results FC Blazers win Nomads (4/11/2008)
    First Positive Thread - BU17 Tournament Results FC Blazers win Nomads (4/11/2008)
    First Negative Thread - What is up with the Blazers? (6/10/2009)

    Revs
    First Thread - New England Revolution Youth Academy (2/3/2009)
    First Positive Thread - Revs DA player to Malaga? (8/21/2010)
    First Negative Thread - WHY DON'T THE REVS EXPAND THEIR YOUTH ACADEMY TEAMS (2/19/2009)

    NEFC
    First Thread - NEFC: Must be a joke (7/17/2009)
    First Positive Thread - In 4 years NEFC will be the only show in town (10/7/2009)
    First Negative Thread - NEFC: Must be a joke (7/17/2009)

    Comment


      #3
      You my friend have way too much time on your hands.....

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        You my friend have way too much time on your hands.....
        He scares me

        Comment


          #5
          Guess we can all tell what club the last two posts came from. Truth hutts

          Comment


            #6
            The negativity all seems to relate back to the graduating classes of 2010-2011. 2009 would have been when most of them were committing.

            Comment


              #7
              Sorry Venkman, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought

              Comment


                #8
                Your point makes no sense given the older ages are the ones with the fewest posts. More likely it is later classes like 2013 or 14 who started traveling at that stage.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  He scares me
                  This person has the time and patience to gather all your IP data. He's the Ed Snowden of TS. Just wait. The scourge is coming and all the bad apples will be exposed.

                  Something wicked this way comes......

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Top 5 Threads by Page Views by Year(Views=Interest)

                    2007
                    MAPLE D1 GU14 Competition - 74,056
                    Monitoring The MPS Impact - 67,935
                    Girls High School Soccer - 44,366
                    Tryouts or looking for a team/players - 43,068
                    Projecting towards college - 40,242

                    2008
                    commitmentsss. - 450,001
                    U15 GIRLS - 118,321
                    U15 Girls age group - 80,854
                    U12 Girls - 53,454
                    BAYSTATE LEAGUE!!! - 53,281

                    2009
                    U16 Girls State Cup and such!! - 93,472
                    Girls High School Soccer 2009 - 92,377
                    New and Improved U17 Girls info, rumors and such - 90,635
                    Rising U16 Girls - 58,464
                    Mergers and Defections - 53,276

                    2010
                    U13G Predictions Fall 2010 - 112,647
                    2011 Boys Soccer Verbal Commitments - 99,974
                    Guide to the NESCACs or I gotta fever for more NESCAC - 94,396
                    ISL Girls 2010 11/22/10 - 82,340
                    Good Teams Developing in U11G - 74,649
                    U12 Boys in MAPLE - 70,019

                    2011
                    A nicer ! heavily monitored ! GU 14 2011/2012 - 273,719
                    OFFICIAL U13 Girls Power Rankings and Predictions Thread - 130,518
                    High school girls soccer - 101,212
                    Eastern Mass High School Soccer 2011 - 82,795

                    2012
                    New England and National D1 Womens Soccer only please - 152,612
                    2012 Boys Eastern MA Soccer - 143,012
                    Fall 2012 gu13 - 119,258
                    U13 Boys 2012-13 Thread - 101,441
                    U12 Girls Spring 2012 - 99,592

                    2013
                    2013 Boys Eastern MA HS Soccer - 171,888
                    Dap - 158,127
                    ISL Boys Soccer 2013 - 100,844
                    Gu13 spring 2013 - 100,638
                    2013 Girls D1 HS Soccer - 96,882

                    2014
                    Nepotism running rampant at the Revs Academy - 37941
                    McGirr out at PC - 35005
                    Scorpion Bowl - 33944
                    NEFC Tournament- 28057
                    U14 Girls Rankings -16674

                    Comment


                      #11
                      This is pretty cool!! Clearly someone is bored at work, but still data and stats don't lie!

                      I wonder if the negativity as a whole can somewhat be attributed to the recession and fears about money (justifying club soccer costs and/or scholarship aspirations with mounting college costs)?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Here is your answer. A lot of venom seems to get hurled at NEFC and there is pretty clear line that that shows when the dispute started. First blood was pretty clearly drawn by Scorpions. Here are the first 10 threads ever started about NEFC on TS. Basically 8 of them invited criticism of the club.

                        NEFC: Must be a joke - 7/17/2009
                        NEFC recruiting practice- 9/11/2009
                        NEFC in Big Trouble??- 9/11/2009
                        When is the NEFC hearing?- 10/20/2009
                        When will NEFC file the lawsuit against the parent? - 9/12/2009
                        Happy with NEFC - 9/12/2009
                        NEFC Week 1 Predictions - 9/17/2009
                        NEFC parents are answering the call - 9/11/2009
                        NEFC killed JFK - 9/12/2009
                        NEFC love the NY Yankees and hate puppies - 9/13/2009

                        The first negative attack on the Scorpions started with these threads a few months later.

                        Jited Scorpions Parents Club Baby Seals In Their Spare Time - 9/13/2009
                        Could the Scorpions empire be crumbling?? - 9/30/2009
                        When is ther Scorpions Hearing? - 10/16/2009

                        The start of all this coincides with BB & PM moving to NEFC along with most of the Scorpions Youth Acadamey in the Spring of 2009. It is pretty clear that this was not one group of parents attacking another but rather one group of coaches arguing with another. Here are the remaining 7 of the first 10 attack threads aimed at Scorpions

                        Scorpions are breaking up! - 1/25/2010
                        Scorpian Coach Language - 11/18/2010
                        NEFC taking a bulk of the Scorpion kids. - 12/15/2010
                        Scorps declining? - 4/22/2010
                        scorpions downhill - 5/26/2010
                        What happened to the Scorpions U14 Girls? - 6/2/2010
                        U13 Scorps @ Delco? - 6/9/2010

                        Just to be fair, here are the first 10 attack threads specifically aimed at the Stars. It is pretty clear that criticism directed at the Stars came quite a bit later with the ramp up of the ECNL and in many ways is tamer than what was going on between the Scorpions and NEFC

                        Stars lose every game today - 7/9/2009
                        NEFC taking down Stars?- 10/7/2009
                        The not so promising future of Stars - 6/10/2010
                        Stars chances at Nationals? - 6/22/2010
                        Stars Parent apology - 6/22/2010
                        Disappointing Stars Girls Teams - 7/10/2010
                        Stars "poor us" pity post - 9/2/2010
                        why not go to Stars? - 9/2/2010
                        U13 Stars United choose the weakest bracket - 9/5/2010
                        Blazers or Stars who's worse? - 10/15/2010

                        The interesting thing about the tone of the Stars posts is in the early days of TS they most definitely liked to draw attention to their success with posts like these below and that in the early days it was quite common to read threads like these. Could you imagine if one of these clubs started a post like one of these today?

                        Good luck Stars tomorrow -8/1/2007
                        Will Stars win in every age group? - 6/16/2008
                        Stars go to another National Final - 7/27/2008
                        The Unbeatable Juggernaut that is U13 girls Stars - 9/30/2008

                        Comment


                          #13
                          One thing that is quite disturbing is how the attacks have started to become personal. Back in the early days of TS it was very common to read congratulatory threads about teams and in particular the state's top end players. It was very common to post links to press releases and details of their exploits in ODP and with the National Team. Basically all of these players were Stars and Scorpions and there was never really any criticism of the players, let alone their parents. The tone of that very clearly changed in 2009 and now those sort of players and more specifically their parents get openly attacked.

                          A perfect example of how disgusting this has become is occurring right now in the "U14 Girls Rankings". What it appears that happened is someone criticized the Scorpions U17 recruiting success in the "u17 Scorpions ECNL" thread and the next thing you know a series of searing critiques appear targeting the parent of an NEFC U14 national team hopeful. It really seems all too closely related to be coincidental. If you all will remember, another parent from this same NEFC team was also soundly criticized last spring for posting a link to a local newspaper story about her child going to a national team camp. Similar to this situation, that child's parent was also portrayed as wildly obsessive and arrogant then soundly criticized in a thread. This is distinctly different treatment than the Mewis sisters, Bock, and Andrews historically received her on TS and it is pretty clear that their club affiliation has more to do with than any parent's personality.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                            One thing that is quite disturbing is how the attacks have started to become personal. Back in the early days of TS it was very common to read congratulatory threads about teams and in particular the state's top end players. It was very common to post links to press releases and details of their exploits in ODP and with the National Team. Basically all of these players were Stars and Scorpions and there was never really any criticism of the players, let alone their parents. The tone of that very clearly changed in 2009 and now those sort of players and more specifically their parents get openly attacked.

                            A perfect example of how disgusting this has become is occurring right now in the "U14 Girls Rankings". What it appears that happened is someone criticized the Scorpions U17 recruiting success in the "u17 Scorpions ECNL" thread and the next thing you know a series of searing critiques appear targeting the parent of an NEFC U14 national team hopeful. It really seems all too closely related to be coincidental. If you all will remember, another parent from this same NEFC team was also soundly criticized last spring for posting a link to a local newspaper story about her child going to a national team camp. Similar to this situation, that child's parent was also portrayed as wildly obsessive and arrogant then soundly criticized in a thread. This is distinctly different treatment than the Mewis sisters, Bock, and Andrews historically received her on TS and it is pretty clear that their club affiliation has more to do with than any parent's personality.
                            Just a quick search since 9/2012 there have been 500 posts here on TS about Mewis. That is the max search result, undoubtedly there are more. There are also more than 500 posts about Brock and Andrews as well.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              What has been going on over the last couple of years is directly related to these two lists. As the bigness of the college names has decreased so has the increase in attacks on the non ECNL players. It is all about the dispersal of talent.

                              Comment

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