Fire Sale

On 14 January Cerner Corp. cuts 97 jobs in the KC area. Company spokeswoman Kay Hawes said that the local layoffs were part of global job eliminations totaling 152 positions. This is not good news for Cerner Stock holders. As if the 3rd quarter report of Cerner shares losing $5.93, or 9 percent was not bad enough.

I know you all are thinking this has no effect on us or the Wiz. Or does it?

That's 97 former employees that will not buy tickets for themselves or their family. I might go as far as to say some will probably never have anything to do with any of Mr. Neal Patterson's holdings.

As for the the Wizards they are saving money by trading away Nick Garcia and Jose Burciaga . And look at the cash they save in salary and make in transfer fees by letting Eddie Johnson go with out a fight.

Now we hear that Sasha is out the door too. Who will be next, Jack Jewsbury , Kerry Zavagnin or even Jimmy? Will we have any experienced starters left?

Now if we can have a moment of silence for those Wizards you may not have ever heard of. Yes I mean our waivered Youth.

Edson Elcock - waived
AJ Godbolt - waived
Chris Konopka - waived
Willy Guadarrama – waived

I would like to thank you all for your service to the Wizards and the community. Some of you have been kind enough to volunteer your time to this community. Some have taken leadership roles, others have sold themselves.

Strange how both Cerner and On Goal LLC. seem to be cutting costs.

This has been,
Baines Breath.

The season is right around the corner.

Yes, believe it or not, the fans are getting excited about the draft.

Lets be brutally honest, the fans opinions really mean nothing when it comes to player personnel decisions. What am I really saying? Peter and Curt could care less what you and I think. Just send the sales department your money for those tickets and Sing and Chant. Face it you and I do not know what is best for the Club. If we did we would be working for them.

I have to say that BenC1357 might be right. " I mainly have this feeling because the top players in the draft usually use MLS as a stepping stone toward Europe and MLS never sees their best days, or they simply flop. " And Curt's is quote in the Star, “We want to be a franchise that’s selling players all the time” makes BenC1357 correct.

But lets look at who we might get anyway.

Patrick Nyarko He is 21+ and a 6 footer. Not bad height for a MLS but a bit short for most European teams. Comes with ACC honors and could develop into something special. Conclusion Curt would sell him.

Sean Franklin Nice career at Cal State, does have international experience. Short but fast. Can play DM or D. Current Club San Fernando Valley Quakes

Julius James All-American honoree and collected BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. Nice size for a physical defender and has the potential of representing Trinidad and Tobago. What does this mean? If he wants to play for MLS, he will only be a Youth International (YI) for one season. This is a serious problem for him and undercuts his value.

Chance Myers First-team All-Pac-10 honoree. Another DM and has been chosen to Participate in under 23 service. Hello Beijing. Could be a problem. I as a fan hate to lose half the team to national call up.

Eric Avila A true midfielder, M.A.C. Hermann trophy candidate. Someone who might step up in Davey's absence.


What the Wiz need is are forwards, defenders, wing and center back (now say goodbye Nick and Jose). And anyone who went to a match last season knows they need a Midfield. Just watching the ball go from a defender to a forward was getting pretty boring.

Lets Face the facts. We have traded away talent and are rebuilding. This means as fans we may as well admit that we have the potential of losing a lot of our games, although the Wizards will find a pretty way to package the truth and won't admit to rebuilding.

All of this really does not matter because Peter and Curt have already made their decisions. They will pick the players that have the most value, or should I say resale value.

Enjoy the baseball stadium, Stand a chant, and watch us rebuild this team for a winning inaugural season in the SSS.


This has been,
Baines Breath.

The Cauldron

There's been a lot of talk lately in blogs and on message boards about the Cauldron and it's location at Community America Ballpark. The arguments have gone from the pricing of the Cauldron season ticket to the support of the section.

The price for one season ticket in the Cauldron for this coming season is $299 for a 15 game regular season, and apparently 3 special game tickets. So over the course of the season, people are paying $16.61 for a ticket to the game. Of course that's if the Wizards use all 3 special game tickets this season. Which personally I don't see happening. Usually you get 2 special game tickets, 1 for the first round of the playoffs and one for the conference final. Does this mean the Wizards have a friendly with a team on the horizon for the coming season, or are they just adding the extra ticket so that they can make the ticket prices per ticket for ALL season tickets look lower?

Since we haven't played a friendly at home since 1997. I have my doubts that it's for a friendly.

Many people that have been part of the Cauldron for years are now having to look at possibly relocating to the berm where the tickets are cheaper. They aren't doing so without complaining though. A big part of the Cauldron's growth this past season was the fact that the Cauldron was the cheapest ticket for the games. Will it still be so without that fact this season? That's hard to tell.

What can Cauldron members who are pissed about the price and the move out of the section do? Accept it? Or do like La Porra has done and be organized? Kansas City's Argentine supporters group received discounted tickets last season for the Cauldron, and I would not be surprised to see them receive it again this season.

My suggestion is to get organized. Start the push for dues or to get the Cauldron more organized. Supporters groups all around the league are able to have some kind of pull with the front office because the group is organized. Paying members of the Red Bulls, ESC get discounted season tickets as a perk of being paying members of the group. Barra Brava lists some of their benefits on their website. Included in their benefits are discounted tickets and even discounted parking among other things. I'm sure that other supporters groups have similar benefits too. Why can't the Wizards work with the Cauldron's leadership to try to get similar benefits for the paid Cauldron members if and when they start collecting dues?


That can't be the only benefit for members though. There has to be more to it then that. And all of it can't come from the team. Barra Brava has t-shirts, the Midnight Riders list their benefits on their website. Those extra benefits have to come from the group itself.

This is not to say that the section should become a reserved section for only those paying dues, no. The section should still be GA for the group of the group.

If you agree, contact the Cauldron leadership, all their emails are on the website, and tell them you want the group more organized.

This has been,
Baines Right Leg