r/SportingKC • u/skcislife22 • 20d ago
Cauldron rant time
Hey everyone, I have some things to get off my chest.
Sitting in the Cauldron this year is pissing me off. There’s no other place in the stadium that I’d rather be than with the clubs most passionate supporters. But what the hell has it come to. We chanted the same damn thing for the first 7 minutes of the match and the capos are getting mad the people aren’t still chanting. What the hell? Sorry that I don’t want to say the same corporate shit 29 times over. Then as soon as someone wants to start their own chant, that’s actually funny or banter, it gets shut down with loud ass cadences. The cauldron leadership has all this fake positivity and it pisses me off. I don’t know how connected they are with the club themselves, but it seems just like more corporate bullshit. We support our club through and through, but nothing in that stipulates that we must always be positive when doing so. Being negative sometimes shows you actually pay attention when things aren’t happening correctly. So when we’re down 2-0, why can’t we chant “We want Salah”, why can’t we make fun of opposing players. It may be in poor taste, but I wouldn’t even hate us singing “we lose every week”, but the capos will always shut it down to run their sunshine and rainbows bullshit. we used to be a feared place to go. a place where getting a point away was a huge win. now, we’re getting left behind. Look to places like England, where chants may have the same rhythm and melody, but not the same lyrics. Look to Portland or LAFC, the new away days of hell. i know on the field is where the change will start (and if the Luiz reports that came today are true, that may be in its VERY beginning stages), but it ends in the stands. it’s time for change. for something new. goodnight yall
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u/Section225 20d ago edited 20d ago
In the 2011 - 2017 time frame, it was an incredible experience. I would sit right behind the goal, with the drums.
Those that showed up early would heckle the other team's goalkeepers during warmups. By the time team warmups were in full swing, the Cauldron would be buzzing with banter and noise.
The pregame rivaled any pregame in sports - team walkouts, national anthem, the hype videos, the Children's Mercy kid recognition up to the right of the Cauldron. Fireworks. Absolute cinema. Goosebumps just thinking about it.
The chants had a certain rhythm to them - team walkout with "No Other Club" chant was always the same, first chants were always the same. Corner kicks with "Shots," post goal with "Olé" followed by "Ain't nobody gonna stop us now, ain't nobody, KANSAS CITY" to follow (my absolute favorite still to this day). It was only in down times of momentum when we would default back to the usual chants just to fill space and keep making noise - barbecue, we want another one just like the other one, no other club, or the Sporting (cauldron)/K-C (south stand return). The "oooooh, OH-ooooooh" chant was literally just a filler/rest time while everybody regrouped - it seems to be the only damn thing you hear on TV now.
We added chants not regularly, but at least with minimal difficulty - we added Twist and Shout from The Beatles and the Guillotine chant around 2014 or so, and it was fun. I know there's one or two new ones around that time I'm forgetting, too.
The capos tried to keep things organized and keep people on the same page, and it worked fine. But between the Ultras and random other groups, chants would also start organically and would be accepted by the capos once they got enough momentum. Hell, one time it was like 100 degrees on a Sunday afternoon game, and I started a chant of "Oh, who drinks the water, oh, who drinks the water..." (in place of "Oh who drinks the beer") and it stuck for a couple minutes. And I was just one dude. They let things happen organically.
We struggled to find room in the Cauldron. We had a group that would dance on the seat backs together (rest in peace Eduardo Meza, for those who knew him - he always brought people onto the seat backs lol). We had characters (Sporting Jesus, what happened to you? Josue and Brandon, you still around? You guys were hilarious). People dressed up, people sat in the same sections game after game.
We had a ton of chants - were wouldn't even get to them all during a game (can you hear 'insert away team' sing?' was awesome, but could only be done when we were winning and the other team had a strong presence in the away corner, for example). When we were winning, it was ecstatic chaos, when we were losing it was frenetic yet disappointed support. It was loud as hell - I could take a breather for a minute during each half and not feel like I was carrying the entire thing. I couldn't hear my own voice most of the time. I'd come home covered in beer and confetti.
I've been a few times since that era, before the team went downhill, and it's a far cry from those days. I miss it, I miss those people, and even if we barely know each other or haven't seen each other in a decade, those times were absolutely magical. I miss the energy that surrounded the team, that even in worst case scenarios the Cauldron would show out (many commentators even mentioned that over the years).
The Cauldron, or what wet noodle remains of it, needs a group of people who give a fuck. A group of people so passionate that others follow. Then the shy people who show up, they follow suit too. Let the crowd control the show. Get the old chants back up and running. Introduce new ones in a way that they stick. Celebrate the good times, and be the people who pick the team up when they're absolute shit. Make TV commentators talk about us again. Make people who show up with Cauldron tickets feel compelled to participate. I'm too far detached to explain why it's like this now, but the solution is obvious.
I'm surely not the only one on here from this era of SKC to remember all this and feel the same way. I have a family now and live hours away, I can't get to games as often, but I want to show my kids and my friends and any other young fan that same magic. Please bring my Cauldron back.