Well, since YOU worked on those contracts.... maybe you should ask Lewis what they are actually getting paid
No. No they are not getting paid peanuts. The peanuts are given to them by the booster club so they can eat on road trips.
Well played. Sad but true, unfortunately, for many of these indoor soccer guys. The outdoor pro lacrosse league pays guys an average of $25,000 a year/season on the low end but top guys can do better, a few guys make 6 figures. Indoor soccer could be a viable semi-pro sport, but right now they're getting boat - raced by lacrosse and cage fighting. Nothing against lacrosse but when some MASL roster players can't even buy groceries, it doesn't say much for the sport.
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/9vC5wzsgwR— Milwaukee Wave (@MilwaukeeWave) February 13, 2017 way to show class...he was wearing a pink 6th attacker shirt in honor of an assistant coaches aunt just diagnosed with cancer— Cedar Rapids Rampage (@CRRampageSC) February 13, 2017 ...So, that happened.
There was no harm in this. The only reason it's "princess" is because this is the theme of the game, the team wasn't targeting him because of the color of his shirt, the promo just happened to be when he had his 6th attacker shirt on
Please... you have 4100 people in the stands to pick from and they do this? And the promo happened at least one other time during the game so it wasn't that it 'just happened to be when he had his 6th attacker shirt on". It was a bit classless to do this. don't defend it.
You seriously think the organization would make fun of someone with cancer? They had no idea it represented that....it was worn as a 6th attacker jersey!! They do it to get the crowd going? You've never seen opposing players on the "kiss cam" in any sport they do that.....I guarantee you there was no intent to make fun of someone sick! That's a terrible assumption
you see an entire team warming up in pink shirts. you see the goalkeeper wearing a pink shirt during the game. you see the 6th attacker wearing a pink shirt. You don't stop for a second to think that there may be a reason? But beyond that, it's less about the pink shirt and more about doing that to a player on the losing team. Especially a player who has won 3 championships in Milwaukee with the Wave. I would have expected more class and respect for that player.
Poor choice and timing to be sure, but I certainly don't think the Wave organization is craven enough to exploit a tribute to a person who is ill for comedy. To be fair, I have never viewed the Wave as being particularly respectful of opposing players during the game, again, during the game. From the copious amount of disrespectful sound effects directed towards the visiting team, to Van treading the line of good taste/sportsmanship in his tone and choice of words on the PA system when fouls are called or not called, to the camera operator pushing in to show a visiting player sitting in the penalty box, ( which to the best of my recollection, based on my travels, the Wave is the only organization that does that camera shot close up of a player in the penalty box). Again, unfortunate that this action could be perceived as having a laugh at the expense of an individual suffering from a serious illness, I really do not believe that was the intent. However, for anyone from the Wave to try to indicate that no disrespect was intended to the player would be disingenuous and for anyone that was part of the Wave organization to now take umbrage with a behavior pattern that has been in full effect at every game I have personally attended in Milwaukee for the last decade, is hypocritical.
There is no class in indoor soccer, the Wave included. Indoor soccer is a joke of a sport, holding on for dear life. What the Wave did (which I thought was kinda clever but should be regarded in the same manner as a tasteless joke... keep it between you and your friends, lest everyone think you're an uncouth boor). Sure, as with any cross-section of people, there are some (maybe the majority) of players, staff and owners with "class", but taken as a whole, indoor soccer is an insignificant laughing stock and all sorts of these incidents of which every team is guilty. All that the tiara on Hewerton did was to put another straw on the camel's back.
I wouldn't say I am hypocritical. As a coach, you don't pay attention to what's going on with the announcer or anything else that doesn't immediately involve the game. My focus was on the game. Am I aware of the antics that were going on during timeouts and blue cards while I was with the Wave? Yes. But there's a difference between being aware, and supporting it. I was never a fan of it. And never will be. It's a version of taunting and at times, poor sportsmanship. I've always held myself above that as a coach. And you know me personally, so you know my character. I know this stuff happens. and most times I just don't pay attention to it. but in this particular instance, it was in poor taste for several reasons I've pointed out. They picked a player who was with the Wave for many years and has, and will be a Wave fan favorite for a long time. Others may not agree with me, but this particular instance was just a bit disrespectful.
You always get far more wound up about my pointing out the Wave have some history with stunts like this, than I get about any one incident itself.
Dude, over the last year, I have been to games in Cedar Rapids, Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Chicago. Milwaukee has the most unprofessional game day staff amongst that entire group. Don't get me wrong, Milwaukee puts a great product on the field. I think that watching Ian Bennett alone is worth the price of admission. But don't put the other teams in the same class when it comes to in-game production. I think that right now, Milwaukee is the best team in the league. A couple of non-playing folks within the Milwaukee organization just don't seem to be of the same class level as the rest of the team.
I never singled out any team, player, owner or team's game day production. There is no class in the whole damned sport. At best - BEST - you have 17 ownership groups trying to keep the lights on. You think I like the Wave's game-day presentation? Van McNeil and I have become good buddies over the past few years (through bowling leagues more than through the Wave) and my constant refrain to him is that if the organization can't take the 2-1/2 hours of game day seriously, how the hell do you expect the general public to? Instead they are wearing "special" uniforms with dye sublimated abs (I think it was supposed to replicate a super hero, but it didn't work) and put a tiara on Hewerton. The music is non-stop and too loud, but I am told the game has to keep the young kids involved, despite their parents actually paying for the tickets. I mention how hockey doesn't blare the music while the puck is in play, and I'm told "we're not hockey". I respond "and with half the crowd on a good day". The Wave stopped identifying the opposing goal scorers two years ago and I think I am the only one that has noticed. The Rampage plays on an indoor football field (a ripped up one at that). The Mustangs also play on a crappy field and at the Ron Newman Cup final the PA intro'ed "Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Flores" (he's since dropped "Lord" from the intro). Indoor soccer history is littered with Chicago franchises that took the field so that the league has a presence in Chicago. Cedar Rapid bolluxed up the Jonatan Santos trade and were sanctioned. Ed Hale quit last March, MASL management publicly flamed him, yet his team came back before the off season was complete. El Paso and St. Louis fielded jokes of a team with no reason to. Detroit played 60 miles from Detroit last year and couldn't take care of the turf costing them a game. Teams play in rec centers. One team plays outdoors and had a game rained out. So you're preaching to the choir about the 2-1/2 hour auditory assault that is a Milwaukee Wave game. And if I didn't love the product on the field so much, the Sue Black era might have driven me away. Though the quality of the players (and therefore the game) has declined, there are still compelling storylines when the media bothers to cover the sport and the actual game is a good one. I could go on and on and on, but the fact is this league is a classless joke, no matter what you think of "Dammit Man" McNeil, Sue Black, Joe Hammes's wife or Todd Dusosky.
For the record class and aesthetics are two entirely different things. And the Wave superhero uniforms are 100X better than their regular uniforms and you could actually read the names and numbers on the back. I've only been to one Wave game and it was a School Day game so I didn't get the full game production, but from what I can tell there actually is one. They have planned things they do during the game and they use the scoreboard and they have sponsor tie-ins (I like the hard hat thing at the end of the games). In Baltimore you don't really get the feeling that anything coordinated is happening outside of the game itself (which is really the only reason *I'M* there to be honest, but there is also something to be said for "putting on a show" and production value).
I noticed this year, and I commented on the Wave’s FB page about how unprofessional I thought that was and aside from that, how some people actually want to know that information. As far as the Wave’s game-day production, I get that some people may not like certain aspects of it (myself included), but as Syd points out, they do a damn good job. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with poking some fun at the visiting team from time-to-time. Other professional teams do it. Heck, the whole country got a kick out of the Bucks’ “Bandwagon Cam” this year. And if you've ever been to a professional baseball game, you see things like that all the time. Showing an opposing player with a tiara on Princesses and Superheroes day is a ridiculous thing to get upset about. As for the uniforms, they did look better than their normal ones, and they raised a lot of money in the process.