All-Star
The #PickPat for #MLSAllStar campaign got a huge boost Thursday night as CSN Chicago’s Dave Kaplan joined the #PickPat caucus during his interview with Austin Berry on Chicago Tribune Live (WATCH HERE).
You might remember when we started the campaign Monday, I pointed to Kaplan’s endorsement of the White Sox #TakeJake campaign as a point of jealousy. Thanks to Dave Kaplan for coming through for us last night.
#PickPat made its way into Jack McCarthy's column for the Tribune as well as in RedEye while MLSsoccer.com's Anthony Zilis, Hot Time in Old Town's Tweed Thornton and Fire Confidential's Guillermo Rivera have helped us spread the word!
As a recap, I received confirmation Wednesday that All-Star Head Coach Ben Olsen did indeed read my open letter appealing for Patrick Nyarko to be named to the squad. We’re also hoping that former Fire forward and All-Star assistant coach Josh Wolff will put in a word with Ben for Pat before Sunday’s announcement.
On the Commissioner front, we haven’t heard whether or not he’s seen the letter but hoping this blog, our player’s and Dave Kaplan’s endorsement will force the issue.
Continue to do your part to make sure Patrick Nyarko is part of the #MLSAllStar squad by tweeting #PickPat to @TheSoccerDon and @DCUnited before the announcement at halftime of Sunday’s match between the New York Red Bulls and Seattle Sounders on ESPN!
Yesterday I wrote an open letter to MLS All-Star head coach Ben Olsen asking him to consider selecting Patrick Nyarko for the 2012 MLS All-Star Game. I was told this morning Ben had indeed read the letter which is the most I could hope for in the matter. Thanks for your consideration Ben!
Now into the third day of the #PickPat campaign, this morning I took the deep plunge in writing another open letter, this time to MLS Commissioner Don Garber to ask for his consideration of Patrick as one of the two "Commissioner's Picks" for this month's match vs. Chelsea FC.
Here's what I said...
Dear Commissioner Garber,
Though there’s no way you remember, I had the pleasure of meeting you at the Chicago Fire Season Kickoff Luncheon in 2011. Fire owner Andrew Hauptman graciously pulled me over and introduced me as “the man who knows all things about our club”. Surely he might have been exaggerating a bit but I do pride myself on my ability to name our Top 15 goal scorers by total, in reverse order, without skipping a beat.
It’s in that spirit that I come to you with a request: select Patrick Nyarko as one of your two “Commissioner’s picks” for this month’s MLS All-Star Game against Chelsea FC.
As Commissioner you’ve accomplished a lot -- modern day statisticians and soccer purists hold you in high regard for abolishing the hockey-style shootout while the businessmen and marketers of the league praise your name for the push of soccer-specific stadia and Designated Players.
Pat’s not a DP and he’s not even the biggest name in the Chicago Fire locker room so perhaps it wasn’t all that surprising for him to not be included in the team’s six nominees for this year’s MLS All-Star fan voting. Anyone that has watched the team and Pat’s play over the past three seasons will tell you he’s likely been the club’s most consistent performer, shredding defenses with his speed, ability on the ball and excellent work rate.
With that in mind, it was considered quite a coup for the club to re-sign Patrick earlier this year as he would have easily been a target of European sides once his contract expired at season’s end.
While I made the statistical and playing case to MLS All-Star head coach Ben Olsen Tuesday, today I point to Patrick’s dedication to the club and the league as a reason you should consider him for one of your Commissioner’s picks for the All-Star game.
The DP’s of the league will certainly help sell tickets, merchandise and TV rights but players of Pat’s ability and ethic are the ones the league has always built its back on. His story alone is a great one but his ability to come in and improve every day and be a positive force on and off the field is a great advertisement for our club as well as Major League Soccer.
In the past your choices for the All-Star game have sometimes been about making sure a certain name is present but you’ve also selected players deserving players that have been overlooked.
I can think of no one better that Patrick that falls in to the second category of recognition and ask you to strongly consider to #PickPat on Sunday for this year’s MLS All-Star Game.
Yours in Soccer,
Jeff Crandall
Chicago Fire Team Writer
Keep up the #PickPat campaign. Tweet the #PickPat hashtag to @TheSoccerDon with your best reasons to #PickPat for the 2012 #MLSAllStar Game!
The #PickPat for #MLSAllStar Campaign got off to a successful start on Monday with a lot of great tweets appealing to Ben Olsen and Don Garber to select Patrick Nyarko to the squad that will face Chelsea FC on Wednesday, July 25 in Philadelphia.
Jeff Crandall
Chicago Fire Team Writer
Full disclosure here: I saw the Twitter campaign the Chicago White Sox did to get Jake Peavy onto the American League All-Star team for tomorrow’s game. #TakeJake made its way into the Fourth of July Parade and with Dave Kaplan on Chicago Tribune Live and I have to admit, I became a little envious.
THE INVERTED WINGER: Patrick Nyarko
On Tuesday we began encouraging Fire fans to use the hashtag #VoteFIRE in tweets to spread awareness for the Twitter MLS All-Star vote that begins Thursday as well as have a little friendly competition with our rival and Saturday's opponent Columbus.
As of our last tally, there have been over 1,100 tweets mentioning #VoteFIRE in the past 24 hours. Before kickoff Saturday, we will calculate the results between the two teams to determine a winner.
We certainly wish to thank the fans for their support, but the election season has just begun. Tomorrow will mark a shift in our campaign focus as we push you to the Twitter polls to vote Pappa, Pardo, Oduro, Johnson, Segares and Grazzini.
To make it easier, we wanted to make sure everyone knew how a Twitter vote was counted.
1) Your Twitter account must be unlocked
2) You must follow @MLS
3a) You must mention the player's full name, "Marco Pappa", "Pavel Pardo", "Dominic Oduro", "Sean Johnson", "Gonzalo Segares", "Sebastian Grazzini"
3b) or you must mention the players Twitter handle. In this case, @MarcoPappas16, @FreakyFast8 or @SJohn25
4) You must include the #MLSAllStar hashtag
5) You don't need to use #VoteFire but you should as we continue our Twitter battle with Columbus!
To push your drive to the polls on Thursday, here are some of our favorite #VoteFire tweets from the past 24 hours, via Storify.
Fire fans get ready to beat the Crew not only on the pitch this weekend but via Twitter!
This week, we're encouraging fans to use the hashtag #VoteFIRE to help spread the word and get out and vote for the Men in Red for MLS All-Star on July 25th in Philadelphia. The Columbus Crew will be using the hashtag #VoteCREW during the same time and just before kickoff on Saturday, June 23rd we will calculate the results between the two teams to see who's the winner.
Use the button below to Tweet your support!
