It tool a lot longer to get started than I had thought, but I've got my first two videos uploaded to YouTube. As I add more, I will post as a comment on this thread. I had promised the 1999 WISL championship game, but that tape died. The playback was horrible, and then it just stopped... the machine ate the tape. First up... the February 1986 game between the New York Express at the San Diego Sockers, in what was to be the last game the Express played before the folded.
I remember watching the NY-SD game back when it was originally broadcast! I had forgotten that the Express actually scored the first goal! It's also weird seeing those small goals. I wonder what the scores would have been in the original days of the MISL if they had used the larger goals that we have today!
What drove me crazy was about 10 minutes of JP and Seamus prattling on pre-game (trying to build suspense for this potential dud), and about 10 minutes for halftime to do the extended Vanogan ad... but then the cut about 10 minutes of game time because it exceeded 2 hours!
I can’t wait for you to put up more. Really fantastic stuff. Cool Story Alert: When we traveled to The Odeum for the Cedar Rapids Rampage 2018 “home” playoff leg, a few of us took a tour of the place at halftime to let our kids stretch their legs. Above and behind the broadcaster’s perch is a field with the original Sting boards and goals, even all the old ad signs, the old MISL logo and everything. Guessing most of you probably knew that, but it was pretty wild seeing it.
Great era for the Wave. Looking for a match between the Blast and Wave from March 2001, if anyone has it. Probably the first or second Wave match I attended and I recall it was a good one. I can’t even find the result.
That used to drive me crazy too. If it was a live broadcast, I didn't mind the Volkswagen Van Jam because that meant I could have a bathroom/snack break at halftime. But during a tape delayed game, I hated it. Volkswagen must have been paying the MISL a ton of money. Too bad it wasn't enough money to keep the league alive.
A two-fer today. Also uploaded is an AISA match as the Canton Invaders come to the Milwaukee Auditorium to face the Milwaukee Wave on February 15, 1985. The Wave had been 9-7 in January, and shortly after, their caravan of minivans was involved in a multi-car accident on their way to a game in Louisville. Enough of the players were hurt that it caused the Wave to free-fall, culminating in a still-record 14-game losing streak. This was the first season of the AISA and this game was shown on tape delay on the local PBS station as a student project. Also, this is a third-generation copy, so even though the videotape itself is in decent shape, the image isn't. Art Kramer was playing for Canton, along with quite a few other players that AISA/NPSL fans will remember. Future USMNT World Cup coach Bob Gansler was the color guy.
On fire! Love it Mjames...keep em comin. Nice to just watch for a few!! Well done bud...Have a great Sunday and thank you!
One more this weekend... Another Canton Invaders at Milwaukee Wave, from December 1985 (mainly because it was on the same VHS tape as the Wave game from yesterday.
mjames1229 Thanks for uploading this! I don’t think I had previously seen much game footage at all from the Milwaukee Auditorium. So this was a real treat. And yes, a lot of recognizable AISA players in this game. Of course, I could probably rattle off the entire Invaders roster here. For the Wave, who could forget #5 Peter Knezic. At one point he was player / GM.
The next upload is the Wave's first New Years Eve game, played Dec 31, 1990 against the New York Kick. The history of the Kick is very "indoor soccer". The Fort Wayne Flames began play in 1986 and played for three seasons before folding/morphing into the Indiana Kick. The Kick played one season in Fort Wayne before moving to upstate New York (the Kick split time between Albany and Glens Falls). They finished the season with a very New Yorkian 3-37 record before receding to the annals of history.
Also uploaded today is Game 2 of the 1996 CISL Championship series... Monterey LaRaZa at Houston Hotshots.
One more tonight... this time from the Fox Soccer World (remember them) from late in the 1999-2000 season. It's the Harrisburg Heat and the Detroit Rockers from The Palace at Auburn Hills (speaking of "remember", I don't remember them playing there).
Thank you! Both of these are great additions. I completely forgot about this season at The Palace too, as it was my first year away at Iowa. The Palace was the Neon, and Joe Louis was the Rockers in the minds of any ‘90s Michigan kid. Though in the post-Illitch years, the Rockers would come once a year to play a regular season game at the newer Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids for us on the west side of the state. I believe they moved into Compuware Arena in Plymouth the next (final) year, which is where the Detroit Ignition would play during their entire existence. But I was a CISL fan above any other league, so I’m really geeked to watch the ‘96 final. I saw that a “Tim Hanlon” uploaded the commissioner’s half time interview for the 1994 CISL Finals, so maybe that’s on the horizon. These two other CISL games did get uploaded though, including a 1994 playoff match:
OK, these aren't mine, but I am counting them as I have both of these games on the same VHS. They are both the Chicago Power at the Cleveland Crunch from the 1994-95 season. The Power from that season is near and dear to my heart, as I had begun working with the outdoor Milwaukee Rampage in the press box in 1994 as they started 18-0 with a team of indoor vets like Michael Collins and future World Cup players Tony Sanneh and Brian McBride. Well, the Rampage players basically moved 75 miles south for the winter, as Rampage head coach Boro Sucevic coached the Power, and numerous Rampagers like Sanneh, Tag Gambatese, Jon Szczepanski, Dan Stebbins, Mike Huwiler, Brian Blaschka and Scott Kreitmeyer suited up for the Power. Oh, and they were horrible indoor. In the second game between these two teams that season, the Power started the game with Tony Sanneh as the 6th attacker.
I was at this game. Unbelievable atmosphere. 14,500. Marching bands in the stands playing the whole game. Everything worked except Houston lost.
I wasn't planning on uploading this one because I assumed that it was already on YouTube, but after doing a handful of searches, the 1988 MISL All-Star Game did not come up. Well, it is now.
I found another box of tapes to go through before I take down the impromptu studio that has been cluttering up my living room the past couple of months. Today's upload is the Cleveland Crunch at the Milwaukee Wave from the Bradley Center from February 1998. Unfortunately it starts about 5 minutes into the game because, well, um... I appeared to have taped over the start of the game with some Dead Harry Caray tribute coverage (as he had died a couple of days before this game).