I agree that the star for the 1975 title is dumb. It was a different club. It would be like me wearing a military medal that my grandfather earned in WWII. Guess I am a nitpicker at heart, but this team finally got some traction in the media the last week or two before the final and some of these 'reporters' can't even do their homework. They talked about this club as if it had been around for 37 years. Journalism isn't exactly what it used to be.
I think they should keep just the one star but make it slightly bigger with the yellow star in the middle with a thin green star on the outside. It could reflect both championships won.
Between a ridiculous second star and that ugly Soccer Bowl winners patch, and their insistance on putting tiny ads on the shirt, next year's jersey should be quite the train wreck. Sorry, you knew I could find the dark cloud behind every silver lining, right?
Some of you guys are funny with the last few posts. You win a championship whenever, wherever you get a star in this sport. Period. Uruguay has two stars from the Olympics, with some of the logic used here those two stars wouldnt count because some people do not count there run in the olympics prior to a world cup being established. You guys are serious about those statements too. LOL. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, you win a championship you win a championship. No one can take that away from you, hence the star. It's plain symbolism, and I like that aspect of our sport. It is important, at least to me. That being said, Rowdies should have two stars, and I really don't mind what the jersey will look like next year. We have the cup, with that comes the 2nd star and the patch next year and I am perfectly fine with that. In fact, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's very important to build this brand here. We do have history, mind you it was in a different time, but there's still history with the name Rowdies and the 1975 Championship; and now the 2012 Championship. No one can take those away. It's history, and we've made it! Let's continue the make it! COYR
I guess I am all by myself on an island of common sense in regards to the fact that this team's 'history' is only three years old. If the Rays rebranded to the Tampa Smokers would we pretend that they were the winners of four league championships? Don't ask which league. That isn't important. Sorry. I live in a logical world. Like Kenn, I lived through the original Rowdies. These guys, as much as I like them and have enjoyed watching them put together a great season, aren't those Rowdies. No amount of pretending changes reality.
Two stars it is...so tell Brazil to take their stars off their jersey since their team was different for WC back in the day...sheesh. COYR.
Uh. Apples and oranges. Back to my original gripe. Use logic and you only come to one answer. Use anything else and you can really justify whatever you want. Case in point: Why not three stars? I will let you consult Wikipedia and see if you know what I am talking about.
I've stayed fairly silent on this forum, but I couldn't resist the urge any longer. I'm a firm believer in keeping the star for the 1975 NASL Soccer Bowl also with a 2nd star from this year's Soccer Bowl. Why. It's the simple answer of tradition and legacy. Not to be confused with "history" as some would call it, its the idea that the legacy and heritage that goes also with the Tampa Bay Rowdies moniker. Yes, the team (players, coaches, front office, ownership, location, etc) are all different from the original TB Rowdies, but that shouldn't stop the people from honoring what the Rowdies name means to the Tampa Bay area, and even to North American Soccer in general. If AFC Wimbledon were allowed to change their crest and gain the use of the name "Wimbledon FC", would you argue that they shouldn't be allowed to honor the previous winnings of Wimbledon FC? It's more about honoring the past and less to do about the number of championships won.
Same country, though, right? Same program? Played continuously since they won their first World Cup? Brazil didn't go out of business, right? All you do is miss points. When the zombie apocalypse comes, you'll be safe because zombies eat brains. You have no ability to think rationally, or to connect things that should be connected. You think you're making your point, when you're actually not. There's a continuum with Brazil (which, let us not forget, is a national team, not a club team). There's no 17-year gap where Brazil didn't exist. The current Cleveland Browns claim the heritage that goes back to 1946 in the AAFC because...well, because they do. And because there was only a three-year gap. Even though they're actually different organizations, the people of Cleveland consider the history of the Browns to go back to 1946 and that this current team has as much right to the AAFC titles of 1946-1949 and the NFL titles of the 1950s and 1964 as the former one. When the Earthquakes moved to Houston, all that heritage was kept to the side in anticipation of a new team (which came just a few years later). The current 'Quakes can reasonably claim the championships of the last 'Quakes from 2001 and 2003 because they weren't dead and buried. Claiming the heritage of the original 'Quakes is a bit sketchier because they died. These teams that are, let's face it, trading on nostalgia are the spiritual descendants of the originals, but they're not in the bloodline. It's been beyond stupid from the get-go for this team to claim some of the history (the star, for instance, for a title they didn't win) while never bothering to realize that Steve Wegerle's #7 was retired. Now, you can feel free to think of it however you like - you enjoy having a team back, you enjoy seeing the colors and the hoop socks and all that, fabulous. Knock yourself out. Enjoy these guys for what they are - your team, which is something you haven't had for a while. But just like eventually they'll be able to clone humans and you'll be able to get a replica of a departed loved one, you can create new teams and give them the colors and crests and stuff of departed teams, but you can't make them what those teams were. You can't clone the things that we loved about them. To paraphrase Rick Pitino, Mike Connell ain't walking through that door. Derek Smethurst aint' walking through that door. (At least not to play.) And clones just look like your loved ones, they ain't your loved ones. That time period was special. Those of us who lived it loved it. We realize it's gone. We realize there can be new memories made by this bunch and congrats to them for winning it, and we can't begrudge them what they've accomplished just because they don't have Marsh and Wegerle and Connell and Fabbiani and Jago and just because the Bay Area sports scene is so much different now than it was in the late 1970s. But these Rowdies ain't those Rowdies, just like the new Cosmos can never ever ever ever ever be anything but guys in replica jerseys. What made the Cosmos the Cosmos can never be adequately replicated. Can you have a good time? Absolutely, you can. You don't have to overthink things. But you don't get the star for 1975. That's not honoring history. That's trading on it. That's pandering to it. And that's bullshit. Yes, you win it, you're entitled to it. But if you win it, I'm not entitled to it 37 years later just because I make myself up to look like you.
I understand the argument both ways, but I wouldn't have a problem with 2 stars. One of my teams is the Vancouver Whitecaps who were in the NASL from 74-84 originally, then folded, in 1986 a new Vancouver team was created called the 86'ers, then a few years back (around 2000)became the Whitecaps when the owner purchased the name from John Laxton. 2 different teams but most in Vancouver see them as one and don't really differentiate between them, and they also now have a 1974 logo on the jersey even though the team was created in 1986. Just my 2 cents.
Because "Since 1974, Except 1984-85 And From 1986-1999 We Were Called Something Else" wouldn't fit on the collar. And as for the "no one can take your championship away," just ask Lance Armstrong and USC football.
So stop the stupid argument. I can find teams that folded and were re-born and they have stars. They play with same name, same league name, and same type of soccer not indoor, so yes they deserve 2 stars. and to prove that I will agree that you were right on attendance figures, but IF they have a better average next year you have to admit it's due to winning Soccer Bowl. and also I will not call NASL "minor" league from now on, if they play in a market with no other soccer team, NASL teams are considered "major".
So then by that logic the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL are major league? Interesting reality you live in. Is it pharmaceutically induced or were you dropped on your head as a baby?
Reading this debate among fans about the star leads me to wonder what the actual members of the 1975 team think of the current Rowdies wearing this star on their jersey. Would they prefer that their accomplishment remain permanently confined to the dustbin of history, or do they like seeing some sort of tribute to their championship out on the field even if it is "trading on nostalgia." Have any of them spoken out against the star on the current team's jersey? Before this new iteration of the Rowdies, I knew next to nothing about the original Rowdies. I was aware that the Rowdies existed, but I did not know they won a championship. Seeing the star on the jersey lead me to look up some articles about the 1975 team and the members of the original Rowdies team. Without a revival of the Rowdies name and colors, I doubt I would have ever taken any interest in the original team. I agree that this is a team of "guys in replica jerseys," but at least it keeps some sort of legacy alive.