BY THE RBNY OPTIMIST
Contributing Writer, EoS

Hello everyone. I am a New York Red Bulls fan … and I am an Optimist.

“What’s the big deal?” you ask.

Well, if you spend any amount of time consuming MLS-related media: Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, The Discussion Board That Shall Not Be Named ™, SiriusXM(FC), Fox Soccer Channel, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, you hear a lot of news and opinion about The New York Red Bulls, and not much of it is positive. Yes, 17 years without hardware will do that to a team, but do we need to just accept all this negativity?

Is every move the front office takes doomed for failure? Will our DPs always get hurt? Will the team always crash and burn in a flurry of red cards? Are we doomed to a past, present and future of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? To put it in financial advisor advertisement disclaimer terms: Is past performance an indicator of future returns?

To all of the above, I choose to say, “No.”

And consider this our little secret; you can make the same choice.

I’m just a regular fan like the rest of you. A season ticket holder to boot. A year ago, when the Red Bulls lost their first two matches of the season, I spent a week reading some of the most depressing outlooks for a season, ever.

As I wallowed in despair, a thought came to me:

I’m not enjoying this. I became a fan of this team because it was fun. Fun to watch the beautiful game. Fun to root on the players. Fun to be in the great atmosphere of Red Bull Arena.

Why am I letting all of this negativity bring me down? Can’t I choose to think positively about my team? Am I really doomed to experience failure, followed by a wail of “That’s So Metro…”???

And at that moment, I chose to be an Optimist. The RBNY Optimist. I created a Twitter account and started posting positive viewpoints about my team. And, in some small way, I hit a nerve.

It was really interesting to see people’s reactions. The atmosphere around the fan base was so negative — so inbred — that two reactions prevailed. First: He’s not serious. He’s just trying to troll us! Second: This must be someone who works for the club, executing the worst social strategy ever.

But, over time, I kept at it. And I discovered that there are other fans out there that also want to support their team in a positive manner, through good times and bad, thick and thin, hat tricks and misadvised free kicks.

So, I’m taking my act on the road, so to speak. If you follow me on Twitter, I hope you enjoy a more long-form version of The Optimist. If you’ve never heard of me, I hope you’ll join me in a more positive and fun approach to supporting our team.

I’m going to continue to look on the bright side. I’m going to debunk the knee-jerk Negative Nellies that seem to congregate around this team. Oh, I’ll try to be realistic. When Henry gives up a chance to take a playoff winning free kick, it’s a bonehead move. I get that and won’t ignore it. But I’ll also point out when all you Grumpy Gills are going over the edge.

2013 is going to be the best season ever. Optimism Rules. And I can’t wait to read the comments on this post. :-)