Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever (aka yes, there will be a 2005 Quakes)

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever

As was said, this was all due to Hernandez, Moore, but most importantly to our SSV buddies.
Thanks for the enormous effort, guys.
I will be calling Maynard this afternoon to submit what I pledged.
I heart you, in fact we all heart you. :heart:

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever

It will be a while.

We will learn about Landon's future after his trip to Germany and before the new year.

We should know by this time next week which players will be protected by the Quakes from the expansion draft.

The offseason is going to be an interesting one.

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever

That day should be declared a local holiday, as is November 11, for personal reasons.

Hopefully by that date next year, the team's status is secure and we have much better news on that end.

As guamster said, there's a lot of other issues to be ironed out both in the front office and with the players, especially the status of who is protected and who's exposed for SLC and Chivas USA. Also will Landon remain here next season, but that's for another day. What's important is that the team will play in San Jose in Spring 2005.

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever

Heart.

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever

Oh yeah! Seriously! That's gotta be!

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever

When it comes to my heart, its all BLUE!

 

Count me as a non-Quakes fan who's glad to see the Quakes are staying put. As much as I want to see my Revs win every game against SJ, I really like the Quakes as a franchise, and hope they'll always be in the league.

No mercy in 2005, though....

 

RE: God bless us, everyone.

Ann Killion deserves some roses or something too.

 

Speaking of heart, I had posted this on another forum (which the mods apparently don't like links to from here). This is in reference to a little "compare and contrast" between the Quakes and Gals this year. It didn't play too well on that forum but I thought it might play better here in front of all the Quakes homers:

Yeah, but too bad you can't buy heart.

Heart is a team that sticks together through a rough season, never laying the blame on each other. This includes a game in which one of their key players is absent due to a personal tragedy, and they completely dominate the match in tribute to him. Heart is not a team that practically splits apart along ethnic lines and fritters away amidst constant gripes for more playing time.

Heart is a team that stands in full support of their coach all the way through a rough year. Heart is not a team that unceremoniously fires their coach midseason, with players going behind his back to trash him in front of their GM.

Heart is not measured by the number of supporter clubs present. Heart is when a group of fans heroically launch a grassroots movement to save the team when it looked like the end is all but inevitable, contributing their own money and countless hours to the cause, getting over 1500 fans to attend a rally for the team on a Friday afternoon, mobilizing local public officials, finding local investors, and garnering thousands of season ticket pledges for a season that wasn't to have been.

Heart is when your team picks up players coolly discarded from another team, and those players flourish and become league stars. Heart is not - failing to develop young players, cooling discarding them, and then watching them flourish and become league stars on another team.

Heart is a 24% increase in attendance in a stadium funkier than James Brown, in a year when the team's ownership has one foot out the door. Heart is not 20,000 fans, hands filled with Thunderstix but minds empty, sitting in the league's concrete paean to sterility.

Heart is a team that makes its own banner and unfurls it during pre-game introductions, requesting the owners and the league to keep them right where they are.

The Gals are the fair-haired frat boy with the nice car. He'll have a nice comfortable life selling insurance, living in a pleasant enough cookie cutter tract home and his and her SUVs. But ultimately it's a meaningless, soulless waste of an existence.

Yeah, the numbers favor the Gals this year, but I'd take the Quakes in a heartbeat.

 

I'm not quite sure where to post this, but did anyone read the quotes from Lalas (on Earthquake website) when he met the media yesterday? It's an expanded version than what you read in the newspaper.

This quote caught my eye:

Lalas, on the make-up of the team next year: "There are going to be some changes. Some of our making, and other ones like a situation with Landon or Dwayne De Rosario, who is out of contract and wants to test the waters. We wish them well. There are going to be some changes that we want to make, tactical changes. It will be a combination of myself, Dominic and John sitting down. Our first challenge is obviously coming up with the expansion draft and we will have to make some decisions going forward there. Once that is over, identifying players and going out and making some trades and making some moves and finding some younger players and finding some new players around the world. That is part of our responsibility."


Sounds like perhaps DeRo is leaving as well - or at least looking to go to Europe.

After reading all those quotes, though, I must say it's the first time I've come away with a good feeling after reading what Lalas says. He seems to be completely honest and not just giving a company line. Seems he's determined to make the Earthquakes a success.

 

Incredible post.....worth reading over and over.

 

Yeah, I plan on printing it out.

I've already repped him. Incredible.

 

JazzyJ,

That ROCKS, Man!!!

 

Thanks, Tony. And yet another thanks to you and the other SSV founders for all the great work done so far.

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever (aka yes, there will be a 2005 Quak

That is an excellent post, JazzyJ. No doubt about it. I think you rubbed their faces in it to about the right degree.

 

I don't get involved in rep. I don't even remember it's there. For the first time, JazzyJ's post reminded me I could do that. Wow. I don't know what else to say. Wow!

 

Thanks to SSV for making this happen!

 

Thanks for all the kind words about the "heart" post. When I first started posting here a year or so ago, I found a well-established legacy of, uh, "compare and contrast" between the Quakes and Gals. I guess you could say I've bought in.

 

Man has this been absolute torture for the whole league. Great work everybody. It's too bad the solution isn't permanent. When can we finally move forward with the rivalry that, 50 years from now, we'll be able to talk about in other countries?

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever (aka yes, there will be a 2005 Quak

That's the spirit! Fifty years from now, eh? See you then.

 

theories on "heart"...

O.k.: Im all about the power of myth-making; I advocate revisionist history when it comes time to bring a group together for their survival. So please, know that I agree w/ the overall gist of JazzyJ's post. I didn't comment on the parts that I agreed w/ bc they are self-evident. Let it be clear that obviously, I respect and support the efforts of SSV.

But a bit o' reality might be in order at the same time...

Kudos to the Quakes for sticking through a tough season. But claiming the G's don't have heart b/c of locker-room turmoil...

I think we can agree that SJ won last year b/c of "heart". LA stunk in 2003 and July-Oct. 2004 b/c of irreconcileable differences in the make-up of the team. In the latter period, LA was 2-0-1 vs. SJ. They also finished 2nd, while SJ finished 4th. So how important is heart? LA obviously had more "heart" than SJ this year. I guess I'm confused about the randomness of your application of "heart." Couldn't we interpret the results as LA having the "heart" to overcome their turmoil and rise above their rivals?

So who fired the coach: The players or the GM?

Players have the right and at times it's necessary to bring things to the attention of the GM. Can't we agree that the 2003-4 Galaxy was not an effective group of players? And neither coach was equipped to handle this group.

That's not heart. That's group dynamics. Haven't you ever been part of an organization/group that just wasn't going to succeed no matter how much "heart" and effort put forth?

Study post-modernity and its representation in architecture, and report back w/ a detailed analysis in how HDC reflects shifting perceptions w/in the LA Basin and the US about the LA area as the quintessential, post-modern metropol. Then report back.

Random application of "heart" once again. If it makes you feel better, fine. But I would define heart as sticking by your team for 9 seasons, 8 of which had the highest attendance. 6 (?) sell-outs this year! How can you say that SJ fans have more heart when ... uh, they don't come to the park as much as LA fans do. If they had so much "heart", why don't they, I don't know, show up?

If you come at me w/ the excuses (most of which are legit, btw), couldn't I just right back at you w/ "the LA fans have more 'heart' and hence, go beyond the excuses to come to the park, like they have for 9 years."

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever (aka yes, there will be a 2005 Quak

So, there are these people in the Bay Area (other than Amanpour)? Who are they?

 

Re: theories on "heart"...

Hey, man, can't you let us wallow peacefully in the wash of this small but hard-earned victory for SSV? OK, with a few filth-seeking barbs tossed in a general southward direction . But the "heart" post was originally a response to a Gal post that compared the Quakes' season to the Gals' season in way that was, shall we say, a bit uncomplimentary to the Quakes. So, in context, it was a counter-attack, not a pre-emptive strike.

I think you're having trouble with the idea that I'm taking poetic license to use the term "heart" loosely to represent a number of traits related to character. When you say "irreconcileable differences in the make-up of the team" that indicates a lack of character to me. I don't believe there are any "irreconcileable differences" on a soccer team that couldn't be overcome by players who are truly unselfish and committed to the team concept.

And I never said that "heart" guarantees you results either. So you can't just say, "We had more points, therefore we had more heart!" Otherwise, we'd play Mother Teresa at attacking mid. But all other things being equal - skill level, training, strategy, good fortune, etc., "heart", in the form of teamwork, dedication, a refusal to give up, etc. gives you an additional competitive advantage.

Why couldn't the coaches handle the group of players? Again, if they were unselfish players committed to the team concept it could certainly be made to work. And the idea of going over your coach's head to dis him in front of the GM just seems highly unsavory to me. Did the players (and the coaches) have the character to talk about the problems, and work it out themselves like responsible, sensible adults committed to a team concept? I guess not.

Again, I don't believe the dynamics could be so disfunctional that it couldn't be made to work. All they have to do is learn how to play soccer together, it's not a marriage. It just takes people who are committed to a team concept and are humble enough to allow the coach to put the pieces together in a way that he thinks is best for the team, even if it means having to put individual ambitions / style aside.

I think the Quakes, maybe starting with Johnny Moore, put a premium on character, teamwork, and unselfishness in selecting players. I think that gives them a little competitive advantage over teams like the Gals who may have equal or more overall talent than the Quakes do. I think this is a critical difference in the teams, and if you're a fan of the "team" concept in sports or in anything in life, this makes the Quakes that more likable than the Gals. I hope Lalas and Dom continue with this strategy in player selection.

Ah yes, the patented uclacarlos "...then report back" idiom. Yes, the HDC absolutely "reflects shifting perceptions w/in the LA Basin and the US about the LA area as the quintessential, post-modern metropol". It's a soulless concrete wasteland.

So you're the fair-haired favored child and your daddy has given you a nice Porsche. That's great but in comparison things have come rather easily for y'all. We're busting our butts in our garage here trying to get this damn Pinto to run. It's ugly as heck but it will be a sweet day when the thing can roll down the street, and there will be a great feeling of accomplishment that something was done against all odds through teamwork, persistence and, oh yeah, heart.

 

I heart JazzyJ.

 

Re: Status of Contraction/Move/Stay/Sale Whatever (aka yes, there will be a 2005 Quak

The guys from SSV have told me, and others, that those people who are potential investor/operators (I was also told that there are more than five who are interested) have asked to remain anonymous for the present. They don't want their names divulged to the public. I think with the hooplah surrounding Amanpour's entry into the fray and his departure from it, such a request is reasonable.