No worries I don't take it personally. But most Quakes fans are quite happy with our name (especially given it's 35 year history and the Clash alternative), which is really all that matters since we're the customer base . But then I'm of the other school of thought anyway. I think the league's worst names are FC Dallas, Toronto FC, and Chivas USA. All too boring and generic to my way of thinking , not to mention I would never support the user of FC period. Not in countries where the F in FC refers to teams that play pointy ball.
Hey, as long as the Quakes fan are happy with the name, that's the important thing. I'm definitely more into the Euro-style names such as FC... but a little diversity would be good. I'm not in favor of calling every new team that comes into the league an "FC", as there are a lot of other creative ways to name a club in such a way that it is obviously targetted at adults. I think that might be my main beef with the traditional American-style names (and yes, I grew up with them in all the sports): with all the alliteration and whatnot, most of them seem like kiddie names. Whereas FC for example implies serious business for adults. I guess that's what it comes down to. But it's still a pretty minor issue all in all!
True minor issue indeed. But as far as the mix we have, I kinda like it. We've got the FC's we've got the Sounders coming in with a mix of the City Name FC, we've got a United, plus we've got a number of names like Wizards. All in all, a very eclectic mix with something for everyone.
Ij the 70's and early 80's European stars weren't getting all that much money playing in Europe. I remember Geroge Best was making $50k a year playing in San Jose in 1981 and also lived in a ritzy area of town I believe the house furnished by Quakes owner Milan Mandaric. Even though most soccer players were well paid playing in Europe they weren't getting that much even though they were stars and Best in 1981 was 35. I know for a fact the Eastern Europeans loved it here because they were making nothing playing in their countries at least compared to what they were making playing in the USA. Pele came here for that purpose also. I know he had a contract with an Italian team but Warner gave him a great deal that he couldn't pass up. Same goes for Chinaglia , Franz , Neeskens, Cruyff , Muller , Cubillas etc etc. I'm pretty sure that was why Kaz Denya , Steve Zungul and many other Yugos came over for that purpose also.
The big money in the game (mostly in europe these days) has only showed up in the last 15-20 years or so....long after the NASL folded. The most I ever made in the game was $36,000 per year and that lasted all of one year.....born too soon I guess....
I remember reading as a kid some interviews with some european NASL players and THEY LOVED the good salaries THEY LIKED the american way of life and the shootouts THEY DISLIKED the long flights and the airports and THEY HATED the astroturf
They may have hated the turf but they still performed beautifully on it. Especially the Cosmos. When I read some Euro threads on how Beckham isn't used to the plastic playing (field turf) surfaces and the long first class flights I just think poor baby.... Give me a break. I didn't hear as much complaining back then either. Heck Gordon Banks loved the team breakfasts in Ft Lauderdale and the after shock parties at the luxurious hotels the Quakes use to have in San Jose , were out of this world. Gerd Muller loved the weather in Florida especially compared to Bavaria....they were all in heaven.
They may have hated the turf but they still performed beautifully on it. Especially the Cosmos. When I read some Euro threads on how Beckham isn't used to the plastic playing (field turf) surfaces and the long first class flights I just think poor baby.... Give me a break. I didn't hear as much complaining back then either. Heck Gordon Banks loved the team breakfasts in Ft Lauderdale and the after shock parties after games at the luxurious hotels the Quakes use to have in San Jose , were out of this world. Gerd Muller loved the weather in Florida especially compared to Bavaria....They were all in heaven. There is a lot to be said to waking up to sunshine in the fall and spring months where in some parts of Europe its still freezing. The Cosmos players were treated like royalty on every trip around the world and the same goes for teams like the Rowdies and many others.
Sorry I forgot, they loved the weather as well. You re right. But the astroturf, NO WAY. I believe that Cruyff made like 700 K a year with the Dips, still he went back to Europe to make a lot less, but playing on real grass. That they performed well on that astroturf, I believe you 100 porcent, the NASL was a beautifull league to watch. And as far as the ´´graveyard for old europeans´´, in the seventies and eighties soccer players played a lot less games than nowadays, so even at the age of 30 or 35, they still had more or less good legs. I am sure that C Ronaldo at the age 25 will have played a lot more games than Pele at 35. It remains a shame the NASL ceased operations in 1985.
Had the NASL had the courage to simply contract a bunch of the weaker teams, you wonder if it could have survived. They shrunk a lot from 1981 to 1982, but they still didn't get out the weakest teams. New York, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Washington, Minnesota, and perhaps Chicago in the East and Seattle, Vancouver, Tulsa, San Jose, San Diego and perhaps Portland in the west would have given them a solid nucleaus of teams that had decent attendance. Had they hung on in a smaller form for even a few more years, the rise of cable sports would have given them a TV outlet form which to rebuild.
I think they held out as long as they could but then owners no longer wanted to keep it going. I think if the USA was awarded the World Cup in 1986, owners would have continued on. Even in 1985 when the USMNT failed to qualify for the WC, the league had already folded. Would it have come back had they qualifed? I don't think so.....The new WSA/ASL was really not a great option. I remember reading Paul Gardner's article in 1988 on a report of the new ASL's NY Eagles and he said the game was crap and those leagues pretty much weren't all that great. It wasn't so much the quality but there was no money behind them and they really weren't structured.
Don't forget how badly the early 80s recession affected the NASL. Most teams were money losers, and owners had very little interest in operating a business that was not only unprofitable, but had little chance of profit for the forseeable future.
Yeah but its not like the disco /Jimmy Carter days of the late 70's were any better for the economy. I think it also had to do with the eras , cycles and what have you...
I thought the mid 80s were an uplifting economic time. Do you think any future recession will spell doom for MLS like NASL?
I think its a different time though. Ontop of all the othe reasons ,stadia and whatever, there are now many Americans plating the sport as opposed to the olden days. I'm not sure but I think MLS owns SUM also and they own the rights to televise the World Cups. All the money generated the supposedly supposed to go back in the league.
Ah, memories. Back in the day, I wish I had a tire-iron for that legendary Tulsa cabdriver who described soccer as "a bunch of queers in short pants, a Communist game, too slow and boring" -- it was one of those clowns who called into KRMG radio 740 to tell Tulsans they didn't need a soccer team ... that inspired thousands of Tulsans to donate money to help the team in late 1983...... memories.... like the corner of my mind.... http://ussoccerplayers.typepad.com/ussoccerplayers/tulsas-charity-case.html On November 4, 1983 KMRG radio host Fred Campbell launched a “Save Our Soccer” campaign in a last ditch effort to make the payroll and save the franchise. Within hours donors were lined up outside the station, with Roughnecks players and staff handling phone pledges and Tulsa residents going door-to-door asking for donations. As Communications Director Allen McLaughlin put it, “this is more or less the fans bailing us out.” By the next day 12,350 fans had given $65,627 dollars, $25,000 more than was needed to make the payroll. I think any "future recession" will spell doom for the "build the stadium BEFORE awarding a team" mentality MLS has had for the past few years... to me, the collapse of the NASL had less to do with over-expansion to "smaller markets" than it did over-expansion to STUPID OWNERS.... Tulsa Roughnecks GM Noel Lemon had it right.... "We changed directions so many times, you didn't know what would happen next. Days after the biggest crowd ever in Washington, D.C., the franchise folded. We'd shift from foreign superstars to grass roots and back again." "Everyone thought soccer had arrived. People were talking about the Cosmos and Pelé. Even Howard Cosell was talking about soccer. Everyone had stars in their eyes because ABC planned to televise some games, but they were deluding themselves." "ABC showed the games on Sunday afternoons in the middle of the summer. I never stayed in to watch. I doubt if I'd have stayed in if the Roughnecks were playing. Then Madison Avenue started screaming that the NASL had bad ratings. The NASL got a black eye again. We should've stayed off network TV until we could command prime time. Then we could've thoroughly examined the ratings and seen where we stood." "We allowed Nelson Skalbania to move a club from Memphis to Calgary and fold it in a year." "We allowed an Englishman, Ralph Sweet, to take over Minnesota, one of our best franchises, and destroy it in 18 months. He closed it down on the transatlantic phone. A man called Bruce Anderson took one of our flagship franchises, Seattle, and ran it into the ground in a year. We lost a great owner in Lamar Hunt, one of the fathers of the NASL. All over the country there are scattered carcasses of NASL franchises."
I do see how the recession could scare potential newcomers and the eventual building of the stadia. However, I do believe Canadian teams and ownership groups could easily come in with their own SSS plans as well as a wealth of money and the MLS will love and have to oblige them.
The too rapid expansion in the late 70's was down to a few teams being desperate for their share of the franchise fee. Rochester Lancers was one of those teams. That Calgary team that lasted one season was the victim of soccer corruption on a big scale....check out who the Player Personel Director was and be afraid....be very afraid...for one day he may well replace Sunil Gulati....