DUDE... where's my soccer team?

[USRufnex]

It really is still surprising to find others in the few weeks I've been back in Tulsa who remember the Roughnecks.  Whether it's somebody who knew Alan Woodward or Iraj Danaifard or Victor Moreland, etc...

My boyhood sports-idol was Billy Caskey... Billy didn't take dives, he inspired them...
http://www.glentoran.com/heroes/players/caskey.html

It's sad that my favorite sport gets routinely disrespected by people who've obviously never seen a MLS game.  It's also sad that a Tulsa Now board member decided to use "Admin" and "TulsaNow" as sockpuppets for an agenda the Tulsa Now organization didn't endorse.  

Yep, dives and too many yellow cards tarnished last summer's world cup just like dubious refereeing tarnished the 2002 World Cup... if you like the United Nations, you'll love FIFA (world soccer's governing body)...

A pro-soccer game is done in 2 hours; the average pro soccer players runs over 5 miles in the course of every game... baseball games take closer to 3 hours... and major league baseball has been tarnished by strikes and steroids...

okiebybirth, one of the biggest problems with Tulsa's bid is that the prospective local ownership group all had confidentiality agreements, so the only person who could be publicly linked to MLS in Tulsa was former Mayor LaFortune.  Winnercomm and the Tulsa World were the main sponsors of the 2003 MLS exibition game.  I assume Winnercomm may very well have been one of the prospective owners-- but the locals sold their majority interest last spring so I'm not sure how that would have affected the deal... http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2371218&type=story

I still think Tulsa is a better market for MLS than Denver or Kansas City... and probably better than several of the other overextended sports markets in cities like St Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, etc... Tulsa's feasability study determined the city could expect to average 14,630 people at soccer games while a Johnson County (KC) study done by the same group estimated 12,000 fans per game...

This is less about market size and more about getting deep-pocketed super-rich folks as owner-investors and the ability to get 20k seat stadiums built with MLS as primary tenant... so unless a Warren or a Kaiser get deeply involved, Tulsa probably doesn't have a chance anymore.

And RM, on the subject of "multi-use" stadiums, if Global decided to build a stadium that could convert from soccer/football to baseball, why would the Drillers want to leave the fairgrounds to move to a 20,000 seat convertable stadium where they would be second tenant?  The above pictured Wantland Stadium has field dimensions at MLS specs... and Wantland will host the 3A high school football championship game this weekend... no baseball parks will be used for any high school football championship games this year...

[USRufnex]

This is kind of a shock... didn't realize this tragedy happened over a month ago...

http://www.legacy.com/kansascity/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=19616591

quote:Barry Daniel Wallace, 47, a beloved husband and Father of Lenexa, KS passed away at home on Tuesday evening, October 17, 2006. Barry was born April 17, 1959 in London, England. He started playing professional soccer at the age of 16 with the London club Queens Park Rangers and played there before signing here in the States at the age of 19 with the Tulsa Roughnecks.

Barry could arguably have been Tulsa's best  player all-time... he was voted 2nd team NASL all star defender in 1981 and 1982... was voted 1st team NASL all star defender in 1983...

For all of us who remember, he will be missed.