USCF still living in the 70's

Back in the 70's and 80's when I was a USCF member American players were still living in the space cadet glow of the post Fischer era. Membership stood at just over 100,000 and enthusiasm was high. Today, membership struggles to reach 85,000 most new members are school kids who soon drop out after a year or two, and the USCF has to borrow money to stay financially solvent. Why? Because sites like Red Hot Pawn offers the public what they want today, that is the opportunity to use the internet to play international correspondence chess in a comfortable setting. Yes, the USCF has a link to chess.com (if you look hard you can find it!) but their main focus is still OTB weekend tournaments for children (and a few adults) JMHO- Red Hot Pawn is a superior site with more tournaments, and far better opportunities to connect with other players, exchange ideas and opportunities to learn. Sorry USCF, the 70's are over, disco is dead, and I'm staying right here! 🙂

I'm a USCF member, but I don't take the magazine, as Chess Life is nothing but a joke, pandering to the age 10 and under crowd. Back in the '70's, it was a fabulous magazine, filled with great columns(Gligoric, Larry Evans, Benko, et al), and they kept their pulse on the GM beat. Now, the British magazine Chess is how a chess magazine should be done!

Originally posted by @mchill
Back in the 70's and 80's when I was a USCF member American players were still living in the space cadet glow of the post Fischer era. Membership stood at just over 100,000 and enthusiasm was high. Today, membership struggles to reach 85,000 most new members are school kids who soon drop out after a year or two, and the USCF has to borrow money to stay finan ...[text shortened]... tunities to learn. Sorry USCF, the 70's are over, disco is dead, and I'm staying right here! 🙂

you probably should become a subscriber and support this site that you love so much

Originally posted by @lemondrop
you probably should become a subscriber and support this site that you love so much

Soon. I want to complete 20 games first.

USCF players still living in 70's are still wearing flared trousers and boots with high heels, they have thick sideburns and are smoking strongest marllboro and lucky strike.

Originally posted by @mchill
Back in the 70's and 80's when I was a USCF member American players were still living in the space cadet glow of the post Fischer era. Membership stood at just over 100,000 and enthusiasm was high. Today, membership struggles to reach 85,000 most new members are school kids who soon drop out after a year or two, and the USCF has to borrow money to stay finan ...[text shortened]... tunities to learn. Sorry USCF, the 70's are over, disco is dead, and I'm staying right here! 🙂

Obviously, an era which had such a high-profile American who was regarded as a hero for defeating a Russian during the height of the cold war, would make the sport much more popular in the U.S. than now, a time when most Americans can't name one current professional player.

Also, I'm assuming there are membership fees for USCF, correct? If so, I'm sure most U.S. chess players simply don't find the value of paying money to an organization they will then have to make time to travel to, when they can play any time the want for free online.