One-on-one with NISL Commissioner David Grimaldi

Hey - Fox soccer has been showing college outdoor games once in awhile
who cares except those attending family & friends & alumni
I would certainly bot get interested in college soccer just because it is on tv
but indoor soccer is fun to watch and it is quick and when people like Marcio or awadella etc. suddenly take off with the ball and maybe even juke a defenseman out and score a goal - it is exciting
Watching the Wave is is like watching an army regiment go through drills - they are very regimented and articulate with their passes and attack and 2nd to none on defense
it is an exciting game to and I will truly miss it her ein Chicago this year

Well certainly those teams were better than the current teams. Even though you had young players sprinkled through you still had some big-name MISL players. And today's Blast still have as many, if not more, local players.

Syd

Inhaling too much jewelry cleaner? Local Flavor only:

Baltimore Spirit:
Stitz, Dieter, Conway, Bush, Aczenzi, Nichols, Billy Reinhardt, Koziol... none of those guys could hold a candle to today's Blast talent.

Blast
Celenza, Wakefield, Lookingland, Nelson, Cabral (local now)

give me a break. You honestly think the talent on the Spirit roster could even compare to today's lineup?

Those Spirit players couldn't even make a PASL team

First of all Bush, Aczenzi, Reinhardt and Conway never played. Koziol was a strong player in the MISL and scored over 100 points one season in the NPSL. Nichols was a scrappy player. Stitz I never liked but he still scored 20 goals a year and Dieter was a pretty steady player.

Lance Johnson vs. Billy Nelson is a toss-up.

Dude, Byron Alvarez was the NISL MVP. How does he stack up against Marinaro and Karic? The Spirit has Hunjak, Stankovic, King, Wright, McIntosh, Parry, Segota, Kevin Smith, Rasmussen and on and on.

And if Cabral is local then so is Stankovic. Advantage Stankovic.

Okay I did forget some. The problem with the Spirit was the revolving door or players. Stealy couldn't keep players for more than 1-2 years. King played what a half a season?

Those 4 water boys did play!
Well, a few minutes here and there

Didn't King get injured when he played for us (Baltimore)?

How bout Vaccaro vs. Sagu? I'd take Cris any day.

King did his ACL after 13 games.

Here is where things are relative...again. Michael King was a good player in the original MISL. However, I don't think he was a superstar. Not like the NPSL/MISL2 days. I'd take a lot of players (even MISL2/NPSL era) over him.

Take them over a 48 year old King or King in his prime?

He scored 45 and 46 goals in 1989-90 and 1990-91 in the MISL. I'd say that made him more than a good player. And he was maybe one of the 10 best players in the league in his Wave/NPSL years.

Dan O'Keefe was the greatest player in NPSL history

Pre 1992 he was one of their best players. So was Art Kramer. I think when I saw my first Hershey Impact game Kramer was the league's all-time leading scorer.

I ran into Dan at a few Steamer games. He's a pretty good guy to chat with. He was always into the game.

When the MISL/MSL folded, and the NPSL gathered up the talent that did not go to the MLS Dan was no longer a league leading scorer.

The NPSL never had talent like the pre 1992 MISL/MSL had. Cities like Milwaukee, or Harrisburg has never really had a top level indoor soccer team.

Their teams never had national team players on them like the Spirit, Storm, Force, Steamers, Wings, etc had.

O'Keefe did alright with the Spirit in 93/94.

I thought he sucked, but if my memory is really good I think he was second in scoring in the league the year before.

OK, I looked it up and he was first (2 years before we got him). He went downhill in a flash. I'm not sure if he even played after Baltimore, did he?

Yes he did

He was the go to guy in the PASL Amateur Division, and the highest paid player at $4.25 per hour

That...doesn't make any sense.

Dan O'Keefe never had anything to do with the PASL
AND
Amateur players don't get paid.

Are you saying the entire roster for Detroit didn't make a dime last year?

just for the record, the Wave drafted Eric Wynalda in 1990...

That may be more than what your Master's bank will be paying employees soon.

Just sayin'.

Dude, WTF are you talking about?

Do I need to go over what Professional and Amateur mean again? I know things get complicated when you're dealing with more than 5 teams.

actually - there are some amateur teams paying some players under the table with cash
so it is only in theory that amateurs do not get paid and so on the record it looks like they do not get paid
just saying - it does happen

FIFAMAN~

I get what your saying about the above players, but I lived in BMORE during the 90s and seen first hand how good the above players actually are. You have to realize that those guys when they play at local arenas, they are not there to showcase their skills. They simply just play. So, to say that you 'competed very well' is just what they wanted. I remembered when the guys mentioned above and two other local Blast/Spirit players I think Roberto and Reinhart were the other two in 1992 or so, played CC College players in a promo game. The Spirit guys scored wow a lot of goals within a 30 minute game or something. And Roberto and Reinhart ended up not even playing that much during their season, but scored a good bit of goals in the promo game. And get this Jason Dieter played goal most of the game lol

Come on!!! The players and league of the 80s and 90s was a very skillful league. There wasnt any running up and down the field with their heads cut off lol like there has been the past 11 years. The league since 1998 has gone down hill. If it wasnt for Hale the league would have folded a long time ago. I mean come on there are only 5 or 6 teams in the current league.

As for the players who you stated never played. Well they never really got a chance to even break a sweat. Hell Reinhart when he played (the little times he did) scored. But because of his run in with the coaches about giving veteran players a run for their money during practices. I remember when I took off work to take my kid to watch a Blast practice. They must of had a wager or something with the rookies, because Reinhart was all over the veterans. Scored like 4 goals himself, but never got a real chance to play. Here in CA I remember reading about Reinhart playing on a D2 team in Belgium sometime during the mid 90s. Wasnt there that long, but still played. So, there are a lot of stuff that fans dont know about players. I only know, because Im a sports columnist during my spare time.

You really know your stuff.