tshile

they've always operated that way. buying club for a few years, or adding seats, gets you to lower level sideline the fastest. hell, if your account is less than 30 years old you can probably get their faster by cancelling one year and letting them call you and lure you in next year. it's a risk but it's probably faster than trying to upgrade through the system. the problem is that the auto upgrade system is tenure based, and apparently there's a lot of people with accounts that have been with the team for a while. mine was opened in '63 and i normally get slotted for 6 or 7 days after the first upgrade day, by the time i get to look there's still stuff open on the side lines but not a whole lot. i choose to stay in the corner because of price (the 99$/seat all the way around would have been nice for me now ) you can get there just by upgrading, but you're going to see the seats eaten up by people who have had their tickets for 60 years first. right now is a prime time to upgrade your seats since so many are giving theirs up.

I'm with you.

That would hopefully be part of the conversation, yes I maintain the discussion in the scientific community is completely different than the one in the political arena... in many ways. Both sides have exploited it for their own motives. Not to be confused with thinking that the motives on both sides are equal, because I do not believe they are

You're starting with the bar too high. A basic understanding of the scientific method, how research works, and peer review would probably be more appropriate

See, I knew we had some common ground to start with

The majority of people who think that this climate change stuff is something more than a bunch of hokus pokus and carefully crafted set of data points I didn't realize that in general change was the root of the conflict. I thought it was the establishment trying to hold on to their... establishment

has anyone heard anything about the upgrade system? i feel like we normally hear something before may...

I don't think Gore represents the majority, I think he's just the person the GOP wants to represent them because it makes their position easier The EPA is the one creating conflict and discord? That's rich, twa

Pretty much. The oil/gas industry and the GOP have made a living (in terms of this debate) by painting anyone who "believes in global warming" (there are various issues with that statement itself, but it's how they've crafted it) as some extreme ecoterrorist who thinks that the ocean weaves are going to rise up all at once and swallow us whole. Which makes it easier to take a quote like "and (as my work seems to suggest) the most catastrophic warming scenarios are a bit less likely" and go SEE ONE OF YOUR OWN SAYS YOUR WRONG. Meanwhile the rest of us who think the real consequences will be a little more subtle (harder to grow food leading to scarcity/famine in the world's most vulnerable areas, leading to even more political instability and generally chaotic environments) are left speechless looking at the current form of the dialogue (is it even a dialogue anymore?) wondering how the **** we even got to this point. Oh, that's right, one side (in an effort to protect itself) has completely destroyed our ability to have a conversation about it by flooding the conversation with utter nonsense and bull****. That's how we got where we are. And it's on full display, seemingly everywhere you turn. Even the scientists who are less confident about this issue are not anywhere close to what the GOP says they are. So, yes, one side is significantly worse than the other. When you factor in motives it's not even on the same playing field.

Well, it's certainly clever word play that goes on for the one side.

the wizards deserve more coverage than they're getting. that was a dominant performance. it was clear through the last two games they were just the better team, and it wasn't even close.

This is kind of how it goes... one side has done a really good job a - convincing a lot of people they do/can understand all of this if they just read an article or two, and b - completely muddying the water as to prevent any genuine public conversation on the matter One side seems to constantly have the people writing the reports they claim to support their cause come out and say their work is being misrepresented... but the supporters of this side are completely oblivious to this problem...

Taking a step back from the primary issue/concern/outrage for just a second... (mainly because I have nothing important to add to that) There are apparently a number of people who were transferred/moved/fired/whatever because they refused to go along with the falsifying of records or because they spoke out against what was going on. (I have no evidence of that but I've heard/read that accusation quite a few times) So why didn't these people do something about it? They had an opportunity to prevent the tragedy, yet didn't. I get that the primary concern is with the people 'directly' responsible for this situation, but I personally find this other part of the issue equally as important. In my opinion you have the duty, not just as an officer but as a person living in our society, to report this sort of thing. Though, the way this country has started treating whistle blowers (general public and federal government alike) lately in regards to national security/military issues, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

I don't know about Witman being a genuis but it's entirely possible he's running a team that knows when and how to turn it on and off. They look incredible right now. I hope they keep it going... they're fun to watch.

Hah I actually hadn't read the thread in a while until tonight. So I just saw that. Very good

The idea was to make it more of a matinee, or think baseball afternoon game during the summer that you can take your kids too. Avoid traffic, make it during the day, make that 4th (otherwise meaningless) preseason game more of an event at the stadium for groups of people that are not well represented on game day. It's an interesting idea. Not sure how well it'll go. That would have been weird and awkward to sing that. lol I think they've had the horn for a while... they must be planning on moving it, or adding more horns, or something. I could barely ever hear it.

Yeah. He probably drew the short straw when they were assigning roles Someone had to do it. I was the one that brought up the dream seats the first time, the text number being an important tool, and getting people in their seats for kickoff

What I got from the response was that they weren't going to corral the tailgaters into sections, thereby breaking up where groups traditionally tailgated. Essentially that they were going to try to resolve the tailgater/non-tailgater issue without assigning certain areas/lots to it. That was just his way of saying all that in a short sentence. He emphasized, over and over, that they're redesigning the lots and they are convinced they have a plan that will resolve the problems. IE: more space for all of us so we don't have to take up multiple spaces, or be in driving areas, therefore we're out of nontailgaters way. He also said that part of the plan will add 100 additional spots to some lots. I have no idea how you make the spaces larger and add more to the same area, (my) geometry seems to be at odds with that idea but he said it multiple times. I recall someone bringing up the free parking offers, and from what i gathered their response was: We're going to put a stop to rumors, and then they segued into the loyalty program and how ticket holders want to be rewarded. I'm sure that falls under the category of drastic measures to fill the seats that they don't want to talk about

Yeah, for most ES people the conversation was what we've been having for years. What was different was the personal stories, or items you don't hear about a lot because so few people experience. For example - some of the inexcusable things disabled/handicapped people have experienced. I had no idea they were getting such a raw deal sometimes. For what it's worth, it wasn't just an "Ok, next?" response. There were genuine conversations between Allen and some people about some issues. The fans were pretty mature in how they discussed things, but some of their requests were unreasonable and/or just flat out got away from what the game day experience should be about (in my opinion) - the game. At one point I wanted to stand up and say... I'm here for the game, get me in and out quickly, and keep us safe, that's all I want. For some of the items I was curious who the hell was going to pay for them... The other thing was how disconnected Allen seemed to be from some items. Like the plywood bridge from the grey lot to the stadium. I've never parked in the grey lot and I'm aware of that situation. So you guys may get a bridge in your future... We'll see what they actually do. It was refreshing to feel like someone cared, but that could be just for show.

Larry Michael seems like a jerk. Some of the staff rolled theirs at him cause of the way he talked to them. He played a vital role of moving the conversation (some of these people talk a lot about nonsense) so I don't want to rip on him too hard. Allen was a politician. Was interesting to see. He seemed to genuinely care. We'll see what he does. It was impossible for me to get everything on a phone. This is more of a list of what was discussed. I'm sorry about that. If you ask questions about the subjects I'll try to recall how the conversation went... Anyways here you go: They had someone doing sign language for a deft couple. Was nice to seem them accommodated. Allen: first time we've reached out to fans this way. We decided we had to find a new way to do business We are trying to figure out how to reward you all. Redskins are a top 5 team in the league in tailgate experience (NFL survey) Larry Michael introduces the executive staff on hand. Says they may put parts of this online "... depending how this goes" This is not the last time we will do this. They asked who used to go to RFK, damn near everyone raised their hands Improve parking for seniors Complaints: Parking lots are closed at timed intervals Get rid of obstructed seats Pedestrians walking across exits to lots Handicap folks not allowed to park in handicap spaces Handicap spots taken by "non handicap people" (interesting conversation about how you tell who is and isn't handicaped..) Cops and lot attendants not doing their jobs (lots of complaints about the cops just standing there) About 45 minutes was spent on parking and traffic issues Allen: high scores in responding to issues, but low scores in people knowing how to report issues (NFL surveys) Tailgating: 70 percent of ticket holders say they tailgate (redskins survey) Lots of complaints about tailgaters Redesigning the lots to make tailgating safer, easier, less of a hassle for late arrivers New horn system that will sound to warn people to start heading inside so we have more people in the seats for kickoff Finally someone stuck up for us tailgaters. Allen seems certain they can fix this without punishing tailgaters. "Our vetern tailgaters will not be forced to find a new location" More gates open to get people in faster Prices and resellability of tickets was an issue. Someone suggested the redskins set up a fan-to-fan exchange system to help with opposing fans. Band moving back to the lower level Lots of discussion about how to handle when the band plays vs the sing along Full service restaurant got very little support Remove the dream seats Access to water needs to be improved Communication between team and stadium goers was a huge recurring issue. How to travel to and from, where to park, cash parking, the way staff enforce rules vs policies, etc etc etc. Taking out standing room only Someone finally called them out on the ticket list. How can we have one and have so few redskins fans in the seats Standing in lower bowl because of dream seats was brought up twice Complaints about what you cannot bring into the stadium Multiple conversations about how to make it a family atmosphere, and how to get kids (and young adults) in the stadium to make the atmosphere more family friendly. Multiple people complained about preseason tickets and being forced to buy them. Preseason schedule comes out tomorrow. Allen basically said there are league rules that force them to make us all buy them at full price. Complaints about roof over 200 level leaking Loyalty program is being worked on. The longer your account has been opened the more you get. Lots of comparisons to the Nats and caps. Then the conversation went to garbage football questions, I guess they wanted to do that to wind it down. This took up the last 10 minutes.

They have a videography crew here. I imagine they'll post it to the site. I forgot my notepad, I'll try to take notes on my phone. They have us in the locker room. So far we've been given pop corn and soda

Just sat down at the fan forum... should be interesting. Also, apparently people use the stadium roads to get around traffic. I kept trying to figure out why there were so many maniacs driving around the circle, finally figured it out. Lol

So am I. The nats have a good program. I mean look at this - http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/was/ticketing/sth/benefits_chart.jsp That's how you treat your season ticket holders. A lot of that is gimmicky stuff, but some of it is absolutely awesome. Dedicated park entrance and 'skip the line' style lines at concession stands is awesome. I'm easy to please, it wouldn't take much to make me happy on this one.

So, does Sapienza get his job back? I liked that guy

The prices vary. From MTH's thread - http://es.redskins.com/topic/142397-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-fedexfield/ While I absolutely agree with you, what is it you expect us Fan Captains to do? People have no respect for the stadium staff and the directions they give, especially after game. You expect someone to respect the requests of a Fan Captain? That's not going to happen. But you're right, part of it is on the people who tailgate. If people would clean up a little earlier and vacate the open spots they take up with their equipment, this wouldn't be such an issue. Might have more people in their seats at kickoff too... Well, at the end of the losing season the lots were empty. You could have built tent cities everwhere and no one would bother you. This has been a problem since FedEx opened. Not last year or the year before, at the end of miserable seasons, just generally a problem since the stadium opened. The parking layout was just terribly thought out.