Official DM Menace 2008 Thread - [R]

i play on occasion. just use my hockey gloves, helmet, and pads though. looks weird as hell. i remember being valley kids showing up at valley southwoods on occasion playing a pickup game of lax. but as for a league or anything like that, there isn't one.

there are enough of a east coast/chicago transplants here that play that cant because we don't have a team (like dm rugby club). be sweet, but i can't see it happening unless a dedicated person with some money starts it up.

 

That is kind of what I figured...

 

i've never played nor do i know much about the sport but i think i'd like it cuz it seems it combines my two favorite sports; hockey and soccer. i saw a couple dudes playing on drake campus the other day.

 

That has been my thought for a while too. I play hockey now and have played soccer in the past. Between the two, I would definitely say I am a better hockey player, which makes me think Lax would be a better fit. I've had a hard time trying to get a group together to play soccer, so I can only imagine how hard it would be to get a recreational lax club going...

 

We are on a short list of sorts along with Tulsa. I've mentioned other cities on that list before. Some of the same that you heard about back in the USL Insider thing on USL's website.

I think Tulsa may be better for soccer because OKC just got the NBA team. However, we have a stadium ready. It was the one be used in the previous MLS bid. We would have a team if we had some owners. I've been working on it by making some calls, but one person can't do it alone unless they've got tons of free time and/or cash. Been making some progress lately, but only time will tell.

I like the Drake stadium by the way. Is the field wide enough for a soccer pitch?

 

Speaking of lax and the possibility of an MLL and USL1 Menace team sharing a stadium: http://www.lacrosseforums.com/showthread.php?t=122263&highlight=iowa

 

I'm actually not sure if it is but just by eyeballing it, i would guess yes. they just redid it with the fake turf and there are the typical yellow soccer lines under the bright white "football" lines. USL requires 110X70 which is actually small i think. the only true hang up (besides finding an invester that has a pair) is the seating. USL1 requires 50% individual seats and 50% bleacher with back. to my knowledge, drake stadium is all bleacher. if the USL was unwilling to work with that, Principal Park (iowa cubs home but owned by the city of des moines) would be the only other venue in town that would work. but that would be much more costly, although the facilities there are first rate.

I've actually done quite a bit of research on the matter as of late and so far all signs point to des moines being a great choice for expansion. for ex DSM is the 4th cheapest city in the country for starting a new business venture and ranks 28th out of 242 for cities with the best minor league market. according to USL stats, the typical USL1 team will lose roughly $116 k its first year but with the stats i just stated and the already established popularity of the team (average 3100+ a game for only a PDL team), i think DSM has a better chance at cutting that closer to 0 than almost any other city in the country. i have collected gobs of info and am in the process of gathering more and organizing it. This will happen.

 

great. we're a joke.

as for trying to get together a lax club of some sorts who play on X night.

only, only, only way it would work is if we could get like 8 core guys, and a goalie, and than put like a flyer around drake and grandview and valley and dowling and roosevelt and be like "LAX?!? X NIGHT AT X PLACE"

than hope we could get more and more people to join.

first, we'd need peeps though. i could play on occasion, couldn't be a diehard who played every week though.

 

Yeah I think they are willing to be flexible on the stadium seating thing. For example, the stadium we have (Wantland Stadium at the University of Central Oklahoma) has less than half with individual seats. It's like 75% bleachers plus the rest in box on a home side and a level for suites, too.

Glad to hear you are working on it. And it's a great attitude to take. I suggest contacting someone at the team and also maybe someone at the league to let them know you want USL-1. And then have a couple thousand of buddies do the same. Well, you know what I mean.

 

good to know. i might have a couple tricks up my sleeve for getting attention.

im thinkin we desparately need some RA scarfs for next season. anyone know where we could get a small number made for cheap? and is anyone creative enough to design em?

 

I posted this earlier in the thread, this site has a min order of 10. Friend of mine used the site to have "wedding scarves" made as presents for the wedding party, they're good quality.
http://www.store4fans.com/

 

cool thanks man.

now whos good at designing stuff?
and who would be interested in buying one for about $20?

 

Scarves-wise, I've been waiting for someone to make Menace scarves. Honestly, I thought something basic like Red and White/Black bar scarf would be great.

About all of the pipe-dreaming, I must admit that I would love for us to move up for many reasons, the biggest of which would be a longer schedule than our 2 month season. Also, we have the average attendence to be one of the bigger teams in USL2 as well as just below average in USL1, and that's with our PDL team numbers. However, we obviously can't go USL2 until they start expanding the league farther west and we probably won't go USL1 for numerous reasons. We would probably be a lock had the stadium been built, and I've already offered my opinions on what I think of Drake's location and the stadium itself.

And about the Lacrosse thing, I don't think that would help us get a stadium any time in the next decade, if ever...