''I would have said the 1978 & 1979 Cosmos teams'' You are probably right, because these teams managed to get a 24 - 6 record, and the 1980 team only a 24 - 8 Although maybe the 1980 season was the most competitive season ever in the NASL
Considering the fact that in 1980, the league had 3 consecutive years of 24 teams despite a few relocations, I'd think it was the most stable although it was the beginning of the end as many teams folded the next year and the next 4 years the league folded altogether. 1980 G W L GF GA PTS % Att. NATIONAL CONFERENCE Eastern Division New York Cosmos 32 24 8 87 41 213 .750 42,754 Washington Diplomats 32 17 15 72 61 159 .531 19,205 Toronto Blizzard 32 14 18 49 65 128 .437 15,043 Rochester Lancers 32 12 20 42 67 109 .375 7,757 Central Division Dallas Tornado 32 18 14 57 58 157 .562 6,752 Minnesota Kicks 32 16 16 66 56 147 .500 18,279 Tulsa Roughnecks 32 15 17 56 62 139 .468 19,787 Atlanta Chiefs 32 7 25 34 84 74 .218 4,884 Western Division Seattle Sounders 32 25 7 74 31 207 .781 24,246 Los Angeles Aztecs 32 20 12 61 52 174 .625 12,057 Vancouver Whitecaps 32 16 16 52 47 139 .500 26,834 Portland Timbers 32 15 17 50 53 133 .468 10,210 AMERICAN CONFERENCE Eastern Division Tampa Bay Rowdies 32 19 13 61 50 168 .593 28,435 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 32 18 14 61 55 163 .562 14,279 New England Tea Men 32 18 14 54 56 154 .562 8,748 Philadelphia Fury 32 10 22 42 68 98 .312 4,465 Central Division Chicago Sting 32 21 11 80 50 187 .656 11,672 Houston Hurricane 32 14 18 56 69 130 .437 5,818 Detroit Express 32 14 18 51 52 129 .437 11,198 Memphis Rogues 32 14 18 49 57 126 .437 9,864 Western Division Edmonton Drillers 32 17 15 58 51 149 .531 10,920 California Surf 32 15 17 61 67 144 .468 7,593 San Diego Sockers 32 16 16 53 51 140 .500 12,690 San Jose Earthquakes 32 9 23 45 68 95 .281 13,169
I agree with this. I'll also say that in 1980 the Dallas Tornado really should have beat the Cosmos in the 1/4 final series. We lost 3-2 at Texas Stadium in the first leg despite dominating the whole game. The Cosmos scored on their 3 chances that night. In the second leg we absolutely murdered them, at Giants Stadium 3-0. Anywhere else in the world the Tornado would have advanced and the Cosmos would have been out. Towards the end of that game Carlos Alberto purposley "did" our off striker Omar Gomez (Gomez was out for 8 months with a bad knee injury) And Alberto admitted as much to Paul Gardener in the Cosmos dressing room after the game. (Gardener mentioned this incident in a book he wrote and IIRC quoted Carlos Alberto as saying, with a wink.."Well you could see who the problem was for us".. In those days the NASL had their nut case mini game in the event that each team had won once....with Gomez out we lost our balance, lost the mini game and were eliminated...so instead of advancing 5-3 on aggregate we were out....I find the idea that the 1980 Cosmos were the "best team in NASL history" as laughable....in reality they were'nt even the best team in 1980.
Mike, as I mentioned earlier if the aggregate were in existence even with the shootout tiebreakers , the Cosmos, if what you say is true, (which I'm sure it is although I didn't see the Dallas NY series) would have then been eliminated 4 years in a row in 78, 79 & 80 and as it turned out 1981 when they lost to the Chicago Sting I believe it was.
1 - 1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies - Smethurst, Scullion, Best, Mausser, Firmani - Great crowds, great kits, great show 2 - 1973 Philadelphia Atoms - Provan, Fryatt, Rigby, Smith, Miller - Americans actually playing, great kits, greatguys 3 - 1977 Cosmos - Remember, Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto came mid-season - Record Meadowlands crowd - showed the USA soccer was real - Pele's last year
''I find the idea that the 1980 Cosmos were the "best team in NASL history" as laughable....in reality they were'nt even the best team in 1980'' I accept that the Cosmos was extremely lucky against the Dallas Tornados in the playoff games, but please admit that they had a great roster with Neeskens, Beckenbauer, Cabañas, Vanderelst, Chinaglia, Rijsbergen, Wilson, Eskandarian, Davis, Seninho, Durgan, Carlos Alberto, Di Bernardo etc... that year. That was a lot of talent on the pitch and I don't think that was repeated ever.
I just read an excerpt of Tim Hanley's Recollections of an NASL Soccer Career....how funny...I always knew the NASL Quakes were a bunch of characters but I never read about it. http://www.rsssf.com/usadave/hanley.html One last one. The general manager for the '81 Quacks was a Jim (actually John) Carbray. Jim thought that the American contribution to the worlds's sport would be white shoes. This is the same idiot that tried to get the Dips to where white shoes and he even had some success with the Oakland Stompers. One of his agenda items for the Quacks was white shoes. Fortunately I was on contract with Puma so every time he hollered at me I just told him that until Puma made a white shoe, I was wearing black. I had already decided however that I would never wear white shoes no matter what fines were threatened. Jimmy MacAllister in an attempt to adhere to the team policy takes a pair of Adidas boots and submerges them in white paint. This was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. The following day at training Jimmy is wearing sticky wet and now flaking white soccer boots. Every time he boots the ball pieces of white paint sail in every direction until the boots look like really really old chocolate, with the white and black lines all chalky and smeared. Only Jimmy Mac would think of sticking an entire shoe in a bucket of paint. And I thought keepers were stupid. Just kidding Mac!
Talking about bad investments In january 1985 former general manager Noel Lemon and a group of investers bought the rights to the Tulsa Roughnecks A few months later, with the NASL season not taking place and after 7 more or less unsuccesfull exhibition games the group decided not to carry on anymore One really bad investment if you ask me Unfortunately of course, because we all want the Roughnecks to be alive and kicking
This is a different scenario all together. NBA does not need FIBA, and I seriously doubt NBA owners could give a crap about FIBA. NBA is in a good position that no international board would ever mess with them. Now the international game is different of course, that the US will play by international rules in the Olympics and World Championships. But your right, FIBA has adopted some aspects of the NBA, only because it sort of had to in order to keep up with the joneses.
They probably got them for next to nothing, and the 7 exhibition games were played at the minor league ballpark, Driller Park and attracted about 4500 fans per game. The fans already knew the writing was on the wall, and playing the 1985 season at a minor league ballpark was just a final gasp before the team finally died that summer..... that ballpark couldn't have held more than 8k at the time, so 4500 wasn't all that bad, all things considered...
I remember Peter Briidgewater inherited or was given then Quakes name and logo and they played exhibition matches from 1985 -1988 against Mexican teams and they sold a lot of tix. He also made a little something from the WSA (league) he invented or discovered in 1985 and then supposedly, he made a pretty good living in those years. Well he did at least for the late 80's.
Soccer Bowl '83 -- 25th Anniversary..... http://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/article.aspx?articleID=20081005_216_B11_TheNAS647007
´´They probably got them for next to nothing, and the 7 exhibition games were played at the minor league ballpark, Driller Park and attracted about 4500 fans per game.´´ I know they happened a long time ago, but were these games any good? Did they have a strong roughnecks squad? Were the oponents any good or were they just college teams?