Retro night? Hopefully I can get a groundswell of support for this idea. How about a nod to us oldsters who remember the good old days? I think adidas would go along with it, also. (Please forgive the file versus picture. Just figuring out how to do this.)
Re: Retro night? While I don't think it's an entirely bad idea, DCU may have trademark issues? Guess I should have asked in the attorney thread By the way, Cannell was #9 or was it Alan Green?
Re: Retro night? Nah, if we go retro, we should go with the original United Unis...... what's the over/under for when somebody posts 'the uniform picture'
Re: Retro night? My God -- not only was every uniform in the league hideous, but two of the players modeling them have mullets! No wonder it took so long for MLS to catch on!
Re: Retro night? I KNOW that was Paul Cannell. Who could forget the pull-down-shorts protest he did a time or two. I believe Alan Green was #15. And Thomas Rongen was #20. Paul threw a pass at my sister in a bar way back when.
Re: Retro night? I think I remember reading somewhere that they weren't all players, and that a couple were models. Not sure though.
Re: Retro night? I am proud to say that only the DCU uni is even close to the first day. Simple design, basic non-dayglo colors. I do prefer the original Metros unis, though. Finally, why Colorado is no longer green, who can say? I think that was the only other uniform that worked pretty well. My gawd, no wonder why Tampa Bay failed.
Re: Retro night? I wonder who would continue to hold the trademark rights to a name like "The Dips" twenty years after the team folded?
Re: Retro night? I think this is a great idea and well overdue. I think the Fire did a Fire/Sting night a few years ago. Lest we forget DC had a championship soccer team before United. I'll give a cookie to anyone who can give me the name and year(s) of this team. I'll give a bag of cookies to anyone who can tell me the year(s) and name/association of the first ever team in the capital. But back to the subject at hand, I'd totally rock out to a retro night. Dude. Mustaches and permed hair mandatory. Sonny Askew you are not forgotten!
Re: Retro night? Can't answer your question, but I am sure there are others out there (paging LR) who keep track of all the NASL - MLS links. BTW, If we ever get a new stadium built I think an awesome idea would be to invite all the old Dips and Team America players, coaches etc. to the inaugural match. Some of those names should go up in a ring of stars a la RFK. It would be cool to see Johan Cruyff's name up there alongside John Harkes, Marco Etcheverry, Eddie Pope and Bruce Arena. Then while watching Freddy Adu run circles around the latest rendition of the Metrostars, my son could ask me who my childhood soccer hero was and I could just point up and say something like "I remember the day when Cruyff and the Dips were robbed by the refs in a packed RFK against the hated Cosmos on national TV. Fortunately son, those days are long gone and now the team in Giant Stadium is the one still searching for glory!" How about Thomas Rongen playing against us April 2nd will be just like old times facing Rongen on a Los Angeles side KGDG
Re: Retro night? He doesn't hang out on BigSoccer. Besides, retro nights are for team without a present or a future,
Re: Retro night? Oh well, I figured he would have all the details of the GIANTS of DC soccer -the fabulous Washington Whips and Darts - to answer Meridian's question off the top of his head. As for the concept of retro nights, I think they are actually of use. In the general sports community there seems to be a myth that soccer began and ended with the NASL in this country and is somehow unAmerican. Since the sport has such a rich history in this country, why not embrace it and use it as we build for the future. I commend all those history geeks out there to this piece Steve Holroyd on the 1st Professional Soccer League in the US KGDG
Re: Retro night? I believe it was the Washington Darts, and was the year 1972? I do know that the team moved to Fort Lauderdale to become the Strikers. On the other hand, Sonny Werblin is someone I would like to forget. He was the guy who owned the team and folded them after a crowd of 52,000 for a game against the Cosmos and 55,000 for the NASL championship in RFK that year. I still befuddles me why he would have folded the team after crowds like that. Lost his tax writeoff? (Additional: KGDG, you slug, you scammed the cookies from under me. While I was adding the historical note re: Sonny Werblin, you come up with the right answer. Fooey on you!)
Re: Retro night? How did they get crowds that big back then? Was the marketing that much better? How good was the NASL's level of play, anyhow?
Re: Retro night? I really can't address the level of play then, as I had nothing to compare it to. There (of course) were not the panoply of media outlets to give me other leagues to watch. On the other hand, Esky's daddy was playing with Pele and Chinaglia and likely a few other real good ones I can't think of right now, Cruyff was the considered the best in the world just before he signed with the LA Aztecs, the great Eusebio played for a Las Vegas franchise. Most of the talent came from overseas, and I am sure the vast majority of players denied the English third division of some talent. I suppose from top to bottom it wasn't as good as now, but the top was much better. It really wasn't marketed that well. I don't remember any extensive ad campaigns. At the time, soccer was "the sport of the eighties". Every team needed a star and spent big time to get it. The league was destroyed by this and by the recession that spoiled Jimmy Carter's presidency. As for why the Dips drew so well for that short period of time, I suppose the combination of seeing the games on channel 20 and word of mouth did it. Honestly, most of my friends in the Mount Vernon HS area followed the team at least peripherally. (Maybe we were not the norm, but it's still true.)