I didn't create the FIFA team(I play PES mostly). Those jerseys were created quite awhile ago for fun. These days, I don't want anything to do with MLS unless it has the words "Fort Lauderdale Strikers" attached to it. Cheers. As for the Strikers match last night, solid road performance without two key players.
If people like it on FIFA that's all well and good. But that doesn't really mean diddly squat. If any Miami team started off in NASL, playing against the Strikers, that would kill the already slim chance that an MLS team comes to MIA. The last D2 team in Miami(Miami FC, now the Strikers) drew announced crowds of around 1,000 people, in reality they were much less(I was there). I see no reason why it would be any different for what would be a 7th time(6 professional teams, ranging from divisions 1-3 have all played, wallowed at the bottom of the attendance rankings, and failed in less than 5 years in Dade County). The "Miami" name alone played a huge part in the demise of the Fusion. They were handicapped from day one because they never gave up on the flashy image of "South Beach". Rather than capture that all they did was crap on the storied tradition and history at Lockhart. If anyone interested in bringing MLS to South Florida, either investors or the league itself, looks at the numbers and thinks Miami is a good idea, they are insane. "Markets" don't mean crap. MLS is pushing hard for the 2nd NYC team, and it's a mistake. It won't be an epic derby with RBNY like you see in England etc. with cross town rivals. It will be like LAG-Chivas USA, crappy and not a real rivalry at all. And Garber doesn't choose anything. He works for the MLS Board of Governors/Team owners who make the decisions on who to let in. The splashy market names aren't what matters, what matters is where the domestic professional game has a history of strong support. Places like Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Montréal... & Fort Lauderdale(and Tampa Bay for that matter). The league seems to have learned nothing from their recent success stories in the PNW. They put RBNY and LAG with their "stars" on national TV pretty much every week and the ratings still suck. Because nobody gives a crap about LA or NY when it comes to soccer in the US. They'd care about Miami even less. To your second question, I have a fine relationship with the Miami Ultras. I was one of the original members(the 10-15 people who actually gave a damn about Miami FC). However myself and a few others decided to form a new group in late 2010 dedicated to solely supporting the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, no matter what league they are in or what their ambitions are. If you've been to any Strikers games, you surely know the two groups get along just fine, we sit in the same section of the stadium and sing and cheer together. However in the event of some foolish investor purchasing an MLS(or NASL) team to play in Miami, Flight 19 would certainly not be attending those games. We'd be at Lockhart cheering on our boys in glorious Red & Gold. If MLS comes to back to Florida, which won't be until after NYC and then years after that, Orlando is in front not because of their market, but because they have people showing up to OCSC games. We on the other hand have decent support for the Strikers, but it's held back because some soccer "fans" in South Florida are too good for NASL and demand nothing but the over the hill stars and pageantry of MLS. I was at RFK stadium for DCU-Philly Sunday afternoon. MLS is great, but the play on the field is not really that much better than what we enjoy, certainly not enough for people to turn their noses up at NASL and the Strikers and wait around for a phantom team in Miami that would end up playing on plastic grass at FIU or in front of 50,000 empty orange seats at Sun Life on a good night. Rant over. Thread thoroughly derailed. OUR professional soccer team, that EXISTS, got a solid result on the road this past weekend. They play a big game at home on Saturday against the first place team. That's all that matters.
As always I am right with you DR. I am getting absolutely sickened by the tweets and FB posts about MLS to Miami. It's all total BS. For the life of me I struggle more and more, and I can't figure out if it's a matter of just plain stupidity, or if it's just about hate. I'm tempted to go on yet another rant of my own, but I'll digress in the name of keeping threads on track. LOL Solid road performance by the Strikers in Bayamon. I went into the night thinking a tie was a perfectly legit result for the Strikers, and seeing Matty and the D hold them scoreless was huge. The way we were all complaining about this backline before the last two games, it seemed like there was no shot we'd see another clean sheet the rest of the year. But despite more musical lineups back there, we got our second shutout in a row against a good offensive team. If the D is finally coming around, and can keep the damage to a minimum in the back, we might have just enough firepower left up front with Anderson, Herron (if he can stay on the field), King, and Hassan to make some noise in the playoffs. But the defensive MF and the back line are going to have to hold it together.
You know about half of it. It will take the combined 6,000,000+ population of all 3 counties, Miami-Dade, PLUS Broward and Palm Beach to make an MLS team fly in South Florida. Most of the people that seem to want an MLS team here fail to see that the 2 northern counties population outnumbers Miami-Dade's and it is these 2 that are where the supporters of the domestic game reside. Miami-Dade & Miami Beach's South Beach has the glitter, but South Florida, the actual market, is all 3 counties. Consider that if you actually do have an idea of bringing MLS here. Good result at PR. We have a dog fight against SA Saturday. They demolished the Rowdies in their last game. This will be a tough game for us. BTW, nice rant, DR.