The regular season finale is upon us! Final playoff positioning and opponents is potentially at stake in this one, and regardless of that, pride is at stake for the Strikers who have yet to defeat FCTB in 3 tries this season. Depending on the result of the FCTB-PR match tomorrow night, the Strikers could have a chance to move into 3rd place ahead of TB with a win on Saturday. Need a PR win or a draw in the Wednesday game for that to happen. Considering a hot Montréal could be the team #3 has to play in round one, we may not want that spot. But it would bring some confidence I think after being handled by Tampa all year long. If we do end up playing them in the finals(the only round we can meet in the playoffs), it would be nice to know we can defeat them. Even if TB wins Wendesday night, a win on Saturday would pull us even with them with 41 points, but keep us in 4th and facing Edmonton in round one. Whatever the scenario, I want a win on Saturday, as this will be my 4th trip to Tampa Bay, and so far I've had to drive home after a tie and two losses. Not fun lol.
FYI for anyone interested, we do have a group traveling to the game. You would be responsible for your own transportation and tickets at this point, but if you would like to join the convoy we are meeting at FTL Stadium(where we tailgate) at 9:00 AM on Saturday and departing at around 9:30. For those not going, the official watch party is at the newly opened Fritz & Franz in Fort Lauderdale:
ughgh you guys didn't do an organized road trip? We don't mean more than that to you? And you not only haven't defeated us in regular season play yet this year, you didn't defeat us last year. Only one win, granted it was the Open Cup and therefore comes with some bragging rights. See you Saturday.
Excellent Photoshop! you guys are talented somebodies, but too bad you can't Photoshop victory I will be in Myrtle Beach this weekend, so thanks for taking my place Strikers bring it on... GO ROWDIES
No we have a van going up plus a few cars. Should be around what we had on the 4th. Effing college football keeping a few people from going...
FCTB lost tonight in Puerto Rico, so that means the match on Saturday is for 3rd place. Relatively meaningless, but a prize worth gunning for I think. Strikers could use the confidence in knowing we can beat the Un-Rowdies if we do meet in the playoffs, and lord knows us fans could use a win against them. Getting 3rd place could very well mean facing a hot Montréal, but we're at home for round one and I'd rather go in to the playoffs winning and on a 5 game unbeaten streak then with a loss.
Lost 0-2......... Finish 4th w/9W-11T-8L record for 38 points. Will face Edmonton @ Lockhart on Saturday.
Another disappointing performance up there. What is it with our guys vs. FCTB? Ugh. The red card certainly hurt us. The pitch was horrid on the end we shot at in the first have and threw a wrench in the offense. We were screaming our heads off on the first TB goal which looked to be well offside. Oh well. The cup that matters will be won in a month's time, and the Strikers have as good a shot as anyone to win it. We went 2-1-1 vs. Edmonton, and thrashed them 3-0 at Lockhart the last time they were here. Should be a good one Saturday! Also, the one fun bit from Al Lang on Saturday:
yet we scored our two goals on that same end and if not for the puddles could have had 2 or 3 more. We own you guys. That is all there is to it. Also, please start taking the rivalry more seriously. We are tired of seeing a half dozen Strikers supporters in our stadium. Although props on the tifos so far this year. And what was the deal with sitting with and chilling with the moron Orlando City "supporters" who showed up? If they had been stupid enough to sit that close to us in Ft. Lauderdale we would end up giving them more hell than we give you guys. Not cool. You may as well have been holding hands with them.
You also scored those two goals after we were a man down. And the first one was offsides. We take the rivalry very seriously. If only our team would... We had 12 people in the van, unfortunately not all true hardcore supporters. We had 5 other people get hit with last minute work, and a lot of CFB fans who refuse to miss the throwball for a road trip. What are ya gonna do? That and the fact that the game was more or less meaningless didn't help drum up interest. And thanks on the tifo props. We do our best. You guys stepped it up for the game, although I must say I was not impressed with the similarity to Portland's tifo from their opener... City buildings, bridge on the right panel... c'mon. However I applaud the effort. It's the thought that counts right? The Orlando guys came and sat by us. We don't care. As far as we're concerned they don't exist until they join our league. If they don't then who cares. We're not gonna waste our time and energy hating on a team we don't ever play. Right now they are below us and not worth our time. They were rooting against you guys, so they were alright with us last night. Also WTF was up with the random "New York Cosmos" chant? That made no sense lol.
Actually the New York Cosmos chant made perfect sense... and was damn clever too!! Sadly, we here in Orlando are not a part of this rivalry until we are in the same league OR play the both of the teams involved in some manner. We (in ILF) have no bones to pick with either supporters/clubs at this point. (I partly just wanted to watch some football again since our season ended) Would of liked to talk to some guys from Ralph's mob before/after the game if we could. Maybe next time! Why we gotta be morons?
I dunno what the big beef is the Mob has towards OCSC. I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of the way the team's move out of Austin was handled, and the thought of another city coming in out of nowhere and swooping in on our shot at MLS is unsettling, but I have nothing against Orlando... yet anyway haha. OCSC has been a great success story and a positive for the sport in Florida overall. So have the rebirths of the Strikers and Sort-Of-Rowdies. We're slowly but surely erasing the notion that Florida is a wasteland for pro soccer. Hopefully we can at least see some kind of preseason cup between the clubs. Also I imagine we'll all be lumped in the same region of the USOC bracket next year. in 2010 Miami FC played the CF Kraze and then FCTB, so I think we should be in for a potential match up in the Open Cup in 2012.
Hate on the tifo all you want I guess. Any similarity to that particular Portland tifo was not intended. Also the original design was to have the skyway bridge in the middle panel and therefore symbolically connect the two skylines (Tampa and St. Pete). But the guys working on it got tired and painted the wrong words on the wrong panel and ended up having to switch them, it worked out fine. It was our biggest tifo yet, took alot of time effort and money and we are proud of it. Every big city has tall buildings and it isn't our fault that our Metro area has one of the most famous bridges in America which is also a major symbol of the Bay area. Regarding Orlando, maybe it is more that they are only 1.5 hours from us. Also we see them as a serious threat to our club's success. MLS would become something of a pipe dream if Orlando ever does join that league, and as our club stands now with support I truly believe we'd have a hard time surviving in the lower divisions if Orlando got MLS. Fans in Tampa would be drawn to the bright lights of MLS and the club only being 1.5 hours away could be brutal for our support. They come into Florida with no history, no heritage and running their mouths about how they are going to get MLS. I won't apologize for immediately hating on them. Rowdies vs. Strikers is the only soccer and rivalry that matters in the entire southeastern United States, IMO. OCSC directly cheapens and threatens that.
Fair enough on the OCSC hate. I can see the potential threat to you guys if they go to MLS. But I think with the history behind the Rowdies and a better stadium situation you'd be fine, whatever they do. Then again, who knows, if a few years time all 3 of our markets might be the most attractive for MLS in the Southeast. A 24 team MLS with TB, FTL and Orlando is certainly not out of the realm of possibility IMO. And I gotta take some shots on the tifo, duty of an opposing supporter.
We had 13 people on both trips, not a half dozen. Also you guys have not done much better. Maybe on the first game that got cancelled, but after that you guys have brought around what? 15-20? The last game at Lockhart it looked like you guys had about 12...
Just scanned through the archived game... even the FCTB commentator thought the Savage goal was offside. You can't see on camera where he was when the ball was played, but the commentator seemed convinced, and we were right about on the line and it looked obvious. And the red card seemed flaky. Both players came in for the ball, I saw no real bad intent from Arreita. A yellow, sure, but I don't think a straight red.
Maybe on the first game? You mean when we had a full charter bus and a convoy of cars meeting us there? Yeah we may have had a few with us on the trip. 15-20 sure beats 6 people barely making any noise, like you guys last night at Al Lang. Good job. Epic. I do admit to failing once, the makeup game right before the July 4th weekend. No excuse for that either and I will make none here. We should have done better.
speedy, you are full of crap if you seriously think an MLS team in Orlando will diminish prospects for a team in Tampa. Look at the Storm and the Predators. The two of us are always 1-2 in the Arena League. I see MLS as still being largely in the same class of league as the Arena League (at least, what they were pre-bankruptcy). I seriously doubt an MLS team in Orlando would draw a significant number of fans away from Tampa Bay, and I wouldn't want them to expect to or count on that. It shouldn't be hard to convince MLS that all three of us, between the classic Rowdies-Strikers rivalry and the natural Tampa-Orlando rivalry, belong in MLS when done right. And you know you'll find no bigger fan of that than me. The three of us together could totally piss off the "true" South. You know, all the people who don't consider Florida part of the South when fan-wanking for an MLS team in the Southeast U.S.
A rivalry needs to be built that will open some eyes around North America. Strikers vs. Rowdies has gotten dusted off this year. If by chance we are both able to make it to the NASL finals, you'll see some epic crowds in both stadiums. But it would be incredibly easy given the geography and fanbases to build this into a three-way derby with Orlando as well. The key here is we need to play each other. That's the only way to make it happen. A derby between our three teams would certainly boost attendance for all three. Rays, you and your fellow supporters have got to work on Rawlins and Company to get into our league. Maybe he could be convinced to at least try out a pre-season friendly tournament amongst our teams. On the Miami Ultras radio show tonight, some other OCSC supporters talked about bending the ear of your FO to try and plant the seed. You guys don't need D3 for anything, your payroll and ownership could easily make the move to D2 and still be very competitive.
An MLS team less than one and a half hours away would potentially have a huge negative impact on a MINOR league soccer team in Tampa Bay. Maybe not so much one that is making all the right decisions and doing well, but definitely one that is already struggling. Would obviously love an MLS triangle in Florida and agree it could be something special, I'm just losing heart over ever getting MLS back in Tampa. I also fear MLS will approach the I-4 corridor the same way the NBA and NHL handle it. The Orlando Magic is OUR basketball team and the Lightning is OUR hockey team. Sigh
That's why WE (sorry, the extra emphasis was necessary) need to convince MLS to approach it the way the AFL does. And being in the same league will certainly help that.
Where do folks from Orlando go to watch baseball? Or NHL football? Do folks up there actually drive for an hour and a half to watch sports in each other cities? And consider those teams as "their" team? Such a concept!.......Too bad it won't ever happen down here. Just too far or not part of their comfort zone to even drive 40 or 50 miles for them. Sad..
I won't bother with the bolded. It's too easy. Before gas prices went sky high, I went to Rays games quite often, and I know plenty of Rays, Bucs, Jags and Lightning fans here. I did 14 games in 2008, including one of the ALCS games, and even when they were the Devil Rays I went to several games a year from the very start. I also go to at least one Marlins game a year, and hit the 2003 playoffs twice. MLB and NFL are completely different creatures, largely because of the capacities they have to fill. NBA, NHL and MLS generally necessitate 15-20k crowds. MLB wants 30-40k crowds, and NFL wants 60-80k crowds. So yes, it is untenable for Orlando to have an MLB team with the Rays so close, and especially so for the NFL with both the Bucs AND the Jags nearby.
I'm pretty sure that the Lightning and Magic draw plenty of fans from their opposite cities. We go to Magic games all the time and are big fans.
I'm not saying they don't; in fact, I acknowledged they do. I was addressing Antique's comment on MLB and NFL support in Orlando. They simply have much larger demands for in-stadium fans than the other leagues, including MLS. This is exactly why I went immediately against the Rays possibly moving to Orlando when the whole Armando Gutierrez-Tampa Yankees kerfluffle started last year. Back in the initial aimless rumblings, the media fueled them as MLB aspirations, including the possibility that the Rays might move. Early on, it was the Brewers, primarily because WESH (our NBC station) used footage of the Brewers in their first running of the story. My position is that MLB in Orlando would need Tampa Bay. The Rays moving to Orlando would alienate the market. And Orlando getting a team with the Rays in Tampa Bay would kill both teams. As long as the Rays are in the area, I will not support bringing MLB to Orlando.