The Columbus Dispatch

Mailbox: Loyal Columbus Crew fan won't stand for Haslams moving game to Cleveland

By Brian White, Columbus Dispatch,

16 hours ago

Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com . Letters are lightly edited for clarity.

On the Columbus Crew

To the editor : Thanks for a great article on our Crew. I must say I was a bit taken aback, though. My wife and I moved to Columbus in 2020, and we became season-ticket holders in 2021. We currently have six season tickets and have enjoyed two championships and many fun times with family at Lower.com. This year I have paid approximately $5,600 for our seats and additional matches, so I consider myself a faithful season-ticket holder and fan. (I traveled to St. Paul in February to see the Crew play).

I did just renew my season tickets (the cost has gone up 50% from the 2023 season) and voiced my displeasure with my ticket rep in the jump in prices. He toed the party line with the explanation: We want to keep winning, players cost a lot, the Haslams are a poor family ... just kidding on that last point. While I wasn't formally told about the potential for games in Cleveland when I renewed over the phone, the rep said he could read the small print in the renewal contract, which I declined to have him do, so that's on me.

But that the Haslams feel like they can just move a Columbus game to Cleveland to put more money in their pockets is unseemly (other words you could use there). While I'm committed to my 2025 season tickets, I probably will not renew in 2026 if they try to pull something like this. I'm very disappointed in the ownership.

Dan Foote, Grove City

To Dan : Soccer fans are easily riled, but this is an issue they have a right to complain loudly about. For one of the most loyal fan bases in U.S. sports to have their team's game vs. Messi moved to Cleveland would be a huge insult and a disregard for history in this town.

On Simone Biles

To the editor : This country has a vast ignorance what a hero is. This women is just a performer. That's it. She is a gymnast, not a protector of this country, fireman, EMT, cop, etc. These people don't get any recognition. How sad.

Michael

On Olympic basketball

To Brian : Pro basketball has expanded competitively worldwide. When a country like South Sudan, participating in their first Olympics, plays the USA close in the practice round (as well as in the second half of their first-group matchup), that says a lot about the evolution of the game. USA's team has been NBA-led ever since 1996, when Duke 's Christian Laettner was the last college player on the team. Some NBA players have represented their birth country at the Olympics. Manu Ginobili led Argentina to win gold in 2004. However, Kevin Durant is America's current superstar and all-time leader in points in Olympic competition (494).

An all-NBA team ('92 on) has taken the gold in all but the '04 games. That team had a less-than-stellar squad of players. Surprisingly, their coach, Larry Brown, had just come off an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons. Brown, now 83, is the only coach in history to win championships at both levels, the other title at Kansas in 1988. Nonetheless, he was criticized for that '04 debacle in Athens, Greece. I still don't follow the NBA season (yawn) and would rather watch college stars. Presently, I 'd choose some of UConn's players and their coach, Dan Hurley, Purdue's Zach Edey and retain Durant. Perhaps that's fantasy now. Could they even keep it close?

Larry Cheek, Dublin

To Larry : One result of this year's Olympics has been a new argument. For a while at least, the Dream Team vs. 2024 team comparison has replaced the LeBron vs. Jordan discussion, with great points on both sides. Might be time for Mr. Oller or Mr. Arace to opine on it.

On college football

To Brian : A century ago, the intercollegiate Southern Conference was growing to 23 schools but would soon break up, some becoming the SEC and others eventually the ACC. The SIAC had 32 smaller schools before it, too, found it cumbersome and broke up as well. Three decades ago, the WAC chose to dramatically expand to 16 before those older WAC schools had buyer's remorse and left their own league to form the Mountain West Conference.

I'm wondering how today's realignments will work out, especially for Stanford and California traveling so often to the eastern time zone. And not just their football teams. And imagine being those driving their equipment trucks across country. With Stanford playing football at Syracuse and at Clemson on consecutive weeks, that truck won't even bother trying to return to California that week.

Dennis Singleton, Dayton