Jun 24 2008
Bring On the Wizards!
And now, a moment of horn-tooting. Sort of.
My Carolina Railhawks managed to shake off a disastrous road trip in which they took 1 point in 4 games and their coach was accused of flipping the bird at Rochester fans, and they pulled out a 1-0 win against USL-2 club Real Maryland to advance to the third round of the U.S. Open Cup, America’s domestic cup competition.
It took a penalty in stoppage time to break the deadlock. That part annoys me. During the offseason, the Railhawks signed the leading scorer in USL-1 and the leading scorer in USL-2, and yet they’ve only scored 13 goals in 14 competitive matches. So why is it that these guys need a penalty in the 90th minute to beat a USL-2 team that has yet to score on the road this season and has an away goal differential of -12? I know there are a lot of fans who would take nothing but 1-0 victories all season, but man, this team really needs to organize its attack a little better…
Still, a win is a win, and we get to play the Kansas City Wizards here in North Carolina next Tuesday. The Wizards are currently the worst non-expansion team in MLS. I think we’ve got a shot… if we ever start putting them in the net like we should.
“All we are saying is give us a goal…”
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Hey Dave, looking forward to matching up my Rowdies against your Railhawks in about 22 months. No doubt your boys will have the upper hand for the first few years while the Rowdies build up their organization, but the Rowdies have some serious historical legacy to live up to, and if their management is up to it that is going to be a big long term plus.
Rowdies Fannies old and new should sign up here:
http://www.tbrowdies.com/
About the previous article you linked to and some of the people commenting there, you are absolutely correct: horrifying. These people were seldom heard from back in the 1970’s when the Rowdies were drawing huge crowds to Tampa Stadium. They will have to shut up eventually; pro soccer isn’t going away. The Rowdies still have a powerful legacy in the Tampa Bay area and a lot of people there remember them fondly. I have no doubt they’ll be able to sustain a USL Division 1 club, and when the time is right, perhaps an MLS club.
I also have to be amused at the people who, when told that the new Rowdies owners are going to build their own stadium with their own money without asking for any money from the taxpayers, completely disregard this information and hint at some kind of dark conspiracy to bilk the taxpayers. Someone is trying to bring new business and new tax revenue and new entertainment to my community? I won’t have it in my town! Take your non-mooching business elsewhere!
They are like those PTA parents in the Simpsons who will not vote for any kind of basic expenditure and even turn down freebies on the “do nothing at all costs” principle:
“The flames in the furnace flare up. Willy stops playing his bagpipes to check it out, but the furnace explodes, engulfing him in flames.
Skinner: Our next budget item: $12 for doorknob repair.
Parents: Nay!
[burning Willy tries to escape, but the doorknob falls off]
Skinner: Recharge fire extinguishers? Now, this is a, uh, _free_service of the fire department –
Parents: Nay!
Homer: Nay.
[burning Willy tries to use the fire extinguisher, but it's empty]
[he breaks out of the furnace room and runs into the classroom]
Willy: Help! Please help me!
Skinner: [reproachful] Willy, please! Mr. Van Houten has the floor.
Mr. VH: Er, I, for one, would like to see the cafeteria menus in advance so parents can adjust their dinner menus accordingly. I don’t like the idea of Milhouse having two spaghetti meals in one day.
[Willy explodes into flame and screams for a few seconds]
[the parents turn to watch]
Willy: [a mere skeleton] You’ll pay for this…with your children’s blood!
Wiggum: Oh, right. How are you going to get them? Skeleton power?
Willy: I’ll strike where you canna protect them — in their dreams!”
Sorry - any excuse to quote the Simpsons will do!
You know I’m dating myself when I admit that when I read that link about the little incident in Rochester, mentally I kept inserting the name “Lancers” whenever the Rhinos were mentioned.
Somewhere deep inside me, it’s always 1980.
Dave: John Canzano was on the same rail up in Portland about using public money to fund a soccer stadium for a potential MLS club. He famously hung up on MLS commissioner Don Garber during a radio interview. His half-assed response is here:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/johncanzano/2007/10/the_soccer_fans_are_coming_out.html
Ignoramuses like him will do everything in their power to keep the Timbers from moving up from USL to MLS. Kind of a shame, really. MLS would do well up there.
Wow. Reading that was painful. I don’t see these idiots coming out of the woodwork whenever an NFL/MLB team wants some public funding or when the government makes investments in public infrastructure in order to attract outside businesses and investors. “Protecting the taxpayers” is a farce.
The situation in Vancouver is in some ways even worse; the owner wants to pay for all stadium costs and yet he can’t get a Canadian port authority to either allow him to build on his own land or swap land to build on. He’s out there waving a wad of cash around and the idiot bureaucrats sit there with their arms crossed, refusing to do anything.
I do think we’ll be seeing the Timbers, Whitecaps, and Rowdies in MLS eventually, either by buying into MLS franchises, or by an MLS/USL merger. We’ll probably see a second New York City team reviving the Cosmos name, too.
Timbers Army are great supporters. An MLS Portland Timbers playing in a modernized PGE Park would be fantastic. Make this happen soon, ye football gods!
Anyone not familiar with the Timbers Army should check them out on YouTube, and take a gander at this cartoon:
http://homepage.mac.com/merussell/iblog/B835531044/C1162162177/E1320928499/index.html
I have my doubts that we’ll see another Florida team in MLS soon, given how many have folded. From what I heard, Miami FC doesn’t get a lot of love down there right now. Plus, Montreal would get into MLS before Vancouver, just because they’ve already got a worthy stadium.
I have even bigger doubts that there will be an MLS/USL merger any time soon, too, just because their business models are so different. MLS would have to change a lot of its single-entity structure — starting with those stupid allocation rules that are making it impossible for Chicago to sign Brian McBride right now — in order to accommodate USL, because no USL clubs are going to buy into that.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the MLS teams in Florida. It’s a common misconception that MLS folded down there due to lack of support. In spite of having a lack luster team that was run (badly) by MLS and had no owner, the Tampa Bay Mutiny didn’t do that badly. Miami Fusion had an owner without the deep pockets to be in MLS in the first place, and Miami were playing their home games in Ft. Lauderdale, far from their fan base.
Take a look at attendance figures for the last year Tampa and Miami were in MLS (2001), and ask yourself: do you really believe that lack of fan support is the reason why MLS is in not in Florida?
Tampa Bay Mutiny 2001: 14,479
FC Dallas (then Dallas Burn) 2001: 12,574
Miami Fusion 2001: 11,177
Kansas City Wizards 2001: 10,954
San Jose Earthquakes 2001: 9,635
Florida soccer fans got royally screwed over by MLS; they were the sacrificial lambs who got slaughtered so that certain other more highly favored (but not as well performing) franchises could survive (hint: Lamar Hunt had strong personal and business ties to both Dallas and Kansas City).
As to a possible future merger: MLS has been sharply modifying its single entity rules over the past few years, so anything is possible, especially once more new owners come into MLS (and thus can outvote AEG and HSG) and once all franchises start turning a profit. Stupid rules were made to be rewritten.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention earlier, the Tampa Bay Mutiny were being absolutely raped by the Glazers/Buccaneers in their lease at Raymond James stadium. There was no way they could make money playing there. MLS shut the team down simply to get out of that lease. It had nothing to do with lack of fan support.
Also I would not judge cities suitability for MLS based on USL attendance. Sure Montreal Impact attendance figures look good, but it is a non-profit entity that subsides cheap tickets for fans and youth soccer.
Toronto Lynx attendance was microscopic; that had no bearing on MLSE’s bid that created Toronto FC. Seattle Sounders will be in MLS because of an ownership group that includes Paul Allen and free use of his NFL stadium; Seattle Sounders USL attendance figures were nothing to write home about.
USL clubs with excellent histories of fan support (Portland, Rochester, etc) won’t get to MLS unless they get some very deep pocketed ownership. Miami and Tampa Bay will be in MLS when they have deep pocketed ownership and an SSS (or equivalent).
The new Rowdies ownership is building a SSS (presumably on land suitable for expansion to MLS standards) and obviously it will help raise their visibility with MLS expansion if they draw well, but if they don’t draw well it won’t rule them out either.