It's not the act of showing an opposing player with a tiara that bothered me. It's WHO they did it to and WHEN they did it that shows poor taste. Do it early in the game. Don't do it towards the end of the game when Cedar Rapids is already going to lose the game. And don't do it to a former Wave player who gave years of service to the team and is still a wave fan favorite. That's the part that bothered me. It was like rubbing salt in the wound at that point of the game.
If Sonora can score 34 goals in their final two games (both at home), they'll have the highest average goals-per-game for a single season in indoor history.
The Harrisburg Heat qualified for the MASL playoffs with their win tonight over the Florida Tropics. Gotta believe that Cabral needs to be name coach of the year.
Something to keep an eye on in Rochester; I hope Sam can get the right arena deal, enough sponsors and money to operate, and a good deal on worker compensation insurance. If he does get a team again, he needs to get a sports medicine clinic/hospital to sign on as a sponsor to manage injured player situations effectively. I would say that increasing the insurance rates exponentially over a short time was not fair to the Lancers either. Yes, a bunch of guys were injured over a time period, it happens; how can a small business survive without a more reasonable insurance system? The Lancer reportedly had arena problems too, but Sam didn't want to burn bridges with arena management because he knew he would try to come back at some point. It was easier to talk about the real problem of insurance costs. I wish him good luck.
Soccer Sam is one of those guys who needs a hobby. He needs something in his life to be passionate about. Luckily for fans of the game, indoor soccer and the city of Rochester that thing is indoor soccer. Incredibly lucky for all is Sam is a very rare man, he has the money to fund it.
The St. Louis Ambush owners (recall that Andrew sold the team to new owners group back in the fall) have posted a heartfelt statement on their Facebook page. Check it out if interested. They basically said that they are disappointed in the 1-19 record, are looking forward and not making excuses. Next week, the team is hosting 'fan forums', where fans can share ideas with team ownership directly. I plan to attend. I now give the opportunity to the members of this forum to pass along any comments or ideas that you want to share with the Ambush. You can PM me here or post, your choice. I will keep confidential the source of any comments, likely I will summarize general themes of the ideas received, if I share the feedback with the Ambush. Having talked several times with Shelly Clark & the other owners, they are sincere in their efforts to turn things around and really are listening to various ideas. Alternatively you could message the Ambush through their Facebook page, the owners read and respond.
Ask them if they are going to get a bunch of guys from the various 4 ethnic indoor leagues in Chicago to bolster the team next year into a powerhouse. Actually don't. They won't get the joke.
Lol - oh brother, not the ethnic leagues in Chicago! If we had more of those guys, we could win the World Cup lol! We'll take Taylor Bond if he's available though!
Well, it was like a reverse humblebrag. "We could say the franchise was in disarray when we bought it from the last guys, but we won't say that" is totally saying that. They needed a full offseason, though, and now will get one. Phase II starts as soon as you finish reading this.
View attachment 97482 Sonora needs 25 goals against El Paso. Obviously, it COULD actually happen. PROBABLY won't. Probably. I would not consider them the greatest offensive team ever even if they do get it. I think Cleveland from 1993-1997 was the most potent offense of the post-MISL I era. (And the Arrows are the gold standard from before that. They were shooting at smaller goals, remember.)
Without getting into details, it is accurate to use the term 'disarray' to describe what the new owners walked into. The Ambush were incredibly fortunate to have two excellent guys in the front office (Roth and Fowler) who kept things running as well as possible. Ownership (Shelly Clark, Dr. Perez, Tony Glavin) gave and worked selflessly this season to keep the team operating. There is a commitment to seriously upgrade the roster with actual indoor soccer players and change many other things. The accountability factor will be high. The fact that the team was so inept but still had decent attendance (with honest attendance numbers reported for the first time) shows potential for more fan growth if a winning team takes the field. Good owners can be hard to find in our sport but the Ambush owners are proving their mettle. Harrisburg Heat owner Delmont gave us encouragement on Facebook as well. The page is turning here in St. Louis.
I don't doubt that for a second. I was pointing out the hilarity of saying something while simultaneously saying you're not saying it.
It was definitely throwing the prior owners under the bus but simultaneously claimed to NOT be doing so, it was very creatively worded. The regular fans know how much we were hosed by our old owners so they felt that it had to be acknowledged in some way, then pivoted to 'the future'.
Kind of like when an athlete says "it's not about the money". Yes it actually IS about the money. (except in indoor soccer, there is no money)
Speaking of Ms. Black: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...-ducey-appointee-accused-misconduct/98490502/
It's hard to feel sympathy for a bunch of state employees but Ms. Black sounds like a real fun boss. If some of those allegations of firings based on race are true she'll also have a very ironic surname.
Back in '12 (before her Wave fling) I almost felt sorry for her when she was fired by Milwaukee County. There aren't a lot of County managers that you hear about, but Sue Black really did a great job as County Parks director. However, two things happened... well, we don't really know the first thing, but she was quickly and unceremoniously dumped and usually where there is smoke, there is fire. Then at some point her head swelled to the size of, um, really big because she began acting like her shyt didn't stink and she didn't care who she ran over. And to make things worse, she's a lousy bowler... (I really wanted to embed that YouTube video at the 4:37 mark where I share screen time with Sue Black and "Dammit Man" McNeil... two favorites of this board.)
I am a retired man. Done many things in many countries over many years. Born in USA, lived in Canada, UK, Italy (albeit only 8 months), China and Vietnam. I have been punched, thrown punches, been shot at, shot back, been in car crashes, two wives (as an aside, never get divorced. it is cheaper-to-keep-her), kids, grandkids, dogs, attacked by a mailman, lived out of a suitcase driving around Europe in a bus as a guide for 5 years, been arrested, worked for others, worked for myself, unemployed, been rich, been poor and a ton of other stuff that would sound like I am giving you my life history. Needless to say, when you get to my age, you've done some things. One thing I have never done. One thing I have never thought about, one thought that has never entered into my mind........whether or not a County Parks director has done a good, bad or indifferent job. Ever. That's impressive mjames. Seriously. I am not saying this in a condescending manner, that is impressive that you can tell if a county parks director has done a good job.
While we don't know exactly what to Black being fired from her Parks Director job in Wisconsin, seeing the allegations from Arizona (being careful to point that out) certainly brings the relationship between smoke and fire into focus. I am a bit surprised from an HR perspective that Arizona is apparently allowing her to continue working in her role while the investigation is going on. The state could just appoint an Interim person and pay her to stay home until the investigation finishes. How can such serious issues against a director be investigated if the director is still working? Politics are part of it, obviously, but this is poor form for an official investigation. She didn't seem to win many friends while running the Wave into the ground either. Glad the Wave survived that debacle.
All else about Sue Black aside (and there sure is a LOT to set aside), most people in Milwaukee know of the good she did for the Parks Department here.
I know the real story behind Sue Black, the Milwaukee County Parks, and the Wave. None of it is good. This recent issue with her in Arizona doesn't surprise any of us close to her situation when she was here in Milwaukee. I hope she gets what she deserves.
For their Fan Appreciation promotion last Sunday, the Sockers gave out some very nice Quinn #14 t-shirts.