Original Rowdies gave Tampa sports fans a 'kick in the grass'

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.tbo.com/sports/sports/2010/may/07/rowdies-were-kick-grass---and-way-life-tampa-sport-ar-44964/

Original Rowdies gave Tampa sports fans a 'kick in the grass'

By Joey Johnston | Tribune Staff

Published: May 7, 2010

Updated: July 11, 2013 at 05:01 PM

TAMPA - Three words from a time capsule. Three words from a wonderfully colorful era. Three words guaranteed to bring a smile, a nod of recognition. Tampa Bay Rowdies. "What was it like?" asked Rodney Marsh, once the "Clown Prince of Soccer," who is now 65. "It was wild. I'm telling you, wild." "We captured some magic," said Mike Connell, known as "Iron Mike."

"I don't think we'll see anything quite like it ever again," said Steve Wegerle. As the fledgling FC Rowdies open their home schedule Saturday night against the Austin Aztex at Steinbrenner Field, even the familiar green-and-gold Tampa Bay uniform colors can't disguise the all-new feeling. It's the U.S. Soccer Federation's Division 2 league, trying to find its way in a Tampa Bay sports market awash with professional and college football, baseball and hockey.

When the original Rowdies joined the star-studded North American Soccer League in 1975, arriving one season before the NFL expansion Buccaneers, the honeymoon period was long-lasting. The Rowdies immediately won the NASL outdoor championship and reached the title game two other times. At the franchise's apex in 1980, the Rowdies averaged 28,345 fans at old Tampa Stadium. In mid-June, for a game against the hated New York Cosmos, the Rowdies attracted a record crowd of 54,247, only to soon surpass that with 56,389 for the Fourth of July contest against the California Surf.

The Rowdies nurtured their foothold with fan-friendly accessibility that was insisted upon (and even written into player contracts) by Tampa Bay's cutting-edge front office. There were Rowdies player sightings at malls, civic lunches, school assemblies, youth league parades and even birthday parties. "It really happened," said Farrukh Quraishi, the franchise's first draft selection who doubled as the organization's director of youth development, which jump-started the Bay area's amateur soccer leagues. "Somebody would call to say they were having a birthday party. We'd send someone. They'd come walking up in their Rowdie uniform. That hadn't been seen before."

Nor had this. After home games, at popular watering holes such as Boneshakers or Victoria Station, the Rowdies partied with the fans. Inevitably, the late-night sessions were capped by a large group, arm in arm, belting out pub songs. "It might be like the Woodstock deal," Connell said. "You had to be there. Here we were, these foreign guys coming to town with these funny accents. We'd go to a school and demonstrate how to juggle the ball, something very natural. "But the people, who didn't yet know much about soccer, they thought we were magicians, like the Harlem Globetrotters. They kind of marveled at us.

And in turn, the raw passion of those fans, well, it helped make us into the team everyone wanted to be like. I'll be honest. I get chills just thinking about it all." Kick in the grass Deep in the recesses of the Tampa Bay area's sporting memory, there is an unmistakable soundtrack. The Rowdies run here, The Rowdies run there, They kick the ball around. "You couldn't escape the song," Connell said. "It was everywhere." The Rowdies run here, The Rowdies run there, Then they fall on the ground! "I was on a live radio program and this guy called in and said, 'Rodney Marsh? When are you going to get rid of that (bleeping) song? It's driving me mad!' " Marsh said. "And I thought, 'Wow, we have arrived.' " Oh, the Rowdies, the Rowdies, The Rowdies aaa-aaa-rrrre ... A kick in the grass!

"That jingle, we all knew it by heart," said Tampa's Scott Lawler, who was 5 when the Rowdies arrived. His family held soccer tailgate parties outside Tampa Stadium. Once, they interrupted a beach vacation because the Rowdies were playing and, well, they hadn't missed a home game. Lawler, a regular at Rowdies camps and clinics, played at King High School and Butler University, where he was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame. "The Rowdies," said Lawler, now 39, "were my way of life."

And it was true everywhere. "The Rowdies' name is (still) world famous," Ian Morris, 47, a soccer fan and retired stone mason from Great Britain, wrote in an e-mail interview. "The uniforms ... were out of this world, compared to the boring uniforms worn at the time in the U.K."

"We were in Germany with friends for the last World Cup (2006) and we had Rowdie replica jerseys," Connell said. "The amount of people who recognized the Rowdie name and immediately connected it to Tampa Bay, it was just stunning. It's like it lasted forever."

A new era begins Of course, it didn't last forever. Marsh fondly remembers being swarmed by thousands of rain-soaked fans after punching in the clinching shootout goal to defeat the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and earn a Soccer Bowl berth in 1978. He became the team's head coach in 1984, but it practically coincided with the NASL's folding. The Rowdies franchise continued in lower-level leagues before it was extinguished in 1993.

"The dynamic that made the Rowdies was the togetherness with the fans, the love," said Marsh, who will handle commentary for Saturday's Rowdies-Aztex television broadcast on Bright House Sports Network. "I don't know that you can replicate those times. But you can build something new."

"I think the (Rowdies) name gives us instant recognition and credibility," said Perry Van der Beck, the former Rowdie who is technical director of the current team. "But it's a different era and even as we respect the past, we need to move forward. It's just a different time."

Is it ever. Quraishi laughs when remembering one of his first public appearances at a 1975 soccer clinic. "This little kid was tugging at me the whole time," Quraishi said. "He kept saying, 'My daddy owns Bern's! My daddy owns Bern's!' "Look, I had no clue. I was new in town. I had never been to Bern's. I didn't know who this little kid was."

It was David Laxer, who now runs Bern's Steak House, founded by his father. Laxer is part of the ownership group for the current FC Rowdies.

"In a way, it seems like we have come full circle," Quraishi said. "There are so many fond memories of the old days. Those memories will never die. They are part of sports history here. "I'm hoping this is the start of another Rowdies era that will always be remembered." Just like the song. Whether you're stuck on nostalgia or ready for a new beginning, who can forget? Oh, the Rowdies, the Rowdies, The Rowdies aaa-aaa-rrrre ... A kick in the grass!

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/features/new-rules-mls-expansion-big-spending-owners-geography-stadium

The new rules of MLS expansion: Big spending required beyond buy-in fee

Gone are the days when stadiums and geography dictate expansion. MLS needs its new owners to invest heavily to push the league forward.
by

Paul Tenorio

3 April 2017

The Major League Soccer expansion process should be all about the money – and I don’t mean just the $150 million expansion fee.

When MLS commissioner Don Garber announced that the league would add four more franchises and likely stop at 28 teams, there was a scramble of cities trying to grab one of the last spots. In the end, 12 markets submitted formal bids to be considered for those final four spots.

One major factor should be considered above all others in regards to viability of the market: the ownership groups’ overall wealth, and their willingness to spend money.

The dynamics of MLS have changed, and so should how we evaluate expansion candidates. No longer is it solely about geography. Yes, MLS should consider that it wants to have a stronger presence in the Midwest region. No, that shouldn’t outweigh whether it would introduce a club that isn’t willing to invest significant capital into its first team. There is a separation forming between the clubs which spend and those which don’t, and MLS needs more of the former than the latter.

Look around the league. Most teams that have entered in the last decade have helped to change MLS for the better. The Seattle Sounders, New York City FC, Orlando City, Toronto FC and, most recently, Atlanta United are significant players. It comes down to one major factor: ownership’s willingness to spend money.

It’s not just about Designated Players, either, though it’s worth noting that four of the five teams listed above are huge spenders on players, and the fifth has the highest-paid DP in the league. It’s also about soccer-specific stadiums; just look at Orlando’s privately-financed $155 million home. It’s about training facilities – Atlanta United spent $60 million on its facility, Toronto spent $21 million, Montreal spent $12 million. It’s about the academy system, where clubs are investing millions of dollars to develop youth players. It’s about a scouting infrastructure and personal chefs for teams and souped-up players’ lounges and locker rooms.

Through the first decade of the league, players could be sold on moving to the United States and living in big cities like LA, New York and Chicago. Does that still factor into the equation? Of course. We’ve seen and heard DPs talking about their desire to enjoy the big cities – Andrea Pirlo in New York and Steven Gerrard in LA, among them. But the league has grown up beyond that. When you’re competing against top-notch training facilities and scouting networks, it has to be about more than wanting to live in San Diego or Miami. Teams that don’t keep up will be left behind, and will have more trouble wooing players.

This extends to small-market teams, too, by the way.

Sporting Kansas City and Portland may never be able to spend on the same level as Atlanta and Toronto FC, but their investment is very clearly still there. SKC plays in a $200 million stadium and is building a new training facility. As noted by Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl in his annual Ambition Rankings, Portland loses $4 million per year on its academy and USL systems and has a $10 million training facility. FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake have invested heavily in their academy programs, and RSL has a $50 million training facility under construction. When those investments are paired with the right mix of money committed to the first team, success follows.

If MLS wants to one day be a world-class league, it can’t welcome new franchises that slow down the process. Not with so many ownership groups willing to put the money on the table. Already we have seen a separation of teams based on their investment in teams.

There’s no greater example than Atlanta United, which entered the league and decided it wanted to be a major player from Day 1. Why is it that Atlanta doesn’t look like a normal expansion team? It’s about the cold, hard cash: $15 million in transfer fees, $60 million training facility, free-agent visits with first-class treatment of veteran MLS players and one of the highest-paid coaches in the league. (Atlanta playing on a turf field is about the biggest knock on the team.)

Conversely, while Minnesota is privately-funding a stadium, its lack of financial commitment on some basic levels – the club is behind on its academy, has no Designated Players and lacked a scouting infrastructure for far too long – contributed to a slow start. Minnesota may catch up, but it is well behind a team that entered the league at the same time.

There are several deserving markets in contention for those final four MLS expansion spots. When you look at the list of 12 cities, it’s easy to imagine MLS fitting in perfectly in any of them. There are also markets that – from the outside looking in – stand out because the ownership groups have the capability to jump seamlessly into a league that is moving fast into its next era of growth.

If MLS wants to get this final round of expansion right, it should make sure the last four ownership groups it admits have demonstrated a willingness to commit financial weight to the franchises. Otherwise, expansion could slow down a league that is trying to catch up to the global market.

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/growth-development/sd-fi-soccervote-20170404-story.html

SoccerCity headed toward fall ballot; MLS will wait

Roger Showley and Lori Weisberg

Proponents of the SoccerCity initiative to redevelop the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley said Tuesday they will seek to put the measure before voters this fall.

FS Investors said it will ask the City Council to place the proposal on an expected Nov. 7 ballot rather than ask for outright approval of the billion-dollar plan. It would appear on the same ballot as a measure, announced Monday, to raise the hotel-room tax to expand the San Diego Convention Center and generate funds for homeless programs and road improvements.

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.cltampa.com/arts-entertainment/sports/article/20856971/rowdies-earn-consecutive-wins

Rowdies rack up goals in second straight win

We want to bring a championship here.

Colin O'Hara

Apr 4, 2017 4 PM

I expected two things before Saturday night’s Tampa Bay Rowdies game started: a 5-0 win and an attendance equating to about one-third of last week’s record-setting crowd. I was nearly right on both accounts. Tampa bay pillaged Toronto FC II with a 4-0 victory, tying the team’s record for largest margin of victory.

“We were happy with the result and the performance from last week and we just talking about building on it,” Rowdies head coach Stuart Campbell said.

The Rowdies squared up against Toronto FC II, the reserve side of Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC. But the team more closely resembled the Toronto FC youth team. The average age of the starting lineup was about 23 years old, giving most of their players their first taste of professional sports. The Rowdies’ average age is 29.

Tampa Bay showed no mercy on the innocent Canadians and seemingly built a track from mid field to the goalmouth and rode the express train onto Goaltown over and over again.

Rowdies scored three goals in a 10-minute stretch, which featured successes from Damion Lowe, Georgi Hristov, and Joe Cole. The Rowdies out-passed TFC II 594 to 380 and out-shot the Reds 16-9, with nine of those 16 shots being on target for the Rowdies. Welcome to the pros, boys.

Goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald once again replaced the injured Matt Pickens and was scarcely tested during the match.

Deshorn Brown made his Rowdies debut in the 66th minute of play, and scored his debut goal only four minutes later to give the fans another reason to cheer.

“It was a good showing overall collectively,” Rowdies’ midfielder Michael Nanchoff said. “The goal was attack, attack, attack and be relentless. We have incredible fans and we wanted to put on a show.”

A show indeed. Despite an attendance of 4,326, far less than last week’s record-setting crowd, the crowd enjoyed the display off football before them.

“It’s good the crowd came out tonight. We wanted to keep putting on a show and get the whole city behind us,” Rowdies’ midfielder Joe Cole said. “We look good at the moment and need to keep up the momentum. We want to bring a championship here.”

Cole was nursing a slight injury to his groin and hip, missing most of this past week’s training, but was still fit to start the match and score his first goal of the season.

“It’s always nice to get your first goal of the season, but the main thing is the team,” Cole said. “We need goals from all over the pitch.”

Only the clock showed mercy on Toronto II Saturday night, ending the match before Tampa Bay found a fifth goal.

This will not be the last time the Rowdies blow out their opponents this season. This certainly won’t be the last time the Rowdies play a reserve side comprised of youngsters getting their first sniff at a professional paycheck. This is the new league the Rowdies belong to. The United Soccer League is comprised roughly half of MLS II or B teams waiting to take a beating from a much more experienced and veteran-oriented club. The Rowdies have scored five goals, and given up none in the first two games of the season.

Their next opponent is fellow North American Soccer League refugee, Ottawa Fury, who played their first game of the season Saturday night, resulting in a loss. It will also be the Rowdies’ third straight match at home, giving them a chance to not only go undefeated, but make Al Lang Stadium a place opponents dread traveling to.

“We want to make this place a fortress. We want to make teams hate to come here,’ Campbell said. “It’s our home and we want to make it a fortress.”

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.tbreporter.com/transportation/ferry-service-success-kriseman/

Ferry Service a Success, Kriseman Says

TBadmin | April 3, 2017

By ANNE LINDBERG, TB Reporter

The six-month pilot won’t be concluded for another few weeks, but St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said ferry service is sustainable in Tampa Bay.

PINELLAS/HILLSBOROUGH COUNTIES –

With a month to go before the pilot is completed, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is declaring the cross-bay ferry a success.

“The numbers have been more robust than expected,” Kriseman told Pinellas County commissioners. “I think this pilot has been far better than expected. … There is a demand for ferry service in Tampa Bay.”

The Cross-Bay Ferry began running in November and is contracted to run through the end of this month. The six-month pilot, funded by St. Petersburg, Tampa and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, was designed to test the waters to see if a permanent ferry between Tampa and St. Pete would be sustainable.

Kriseman offered the data from November through February to say that it is.

During that time period, a total of 22,596 passengers rode the ferry. The highest paid ridership during that period was in February when there were 6,070 paid riders. There were 7,606 riders in November, the first month the ferry ran, but that includes free rides.

Kriseman said the ferry has had a big impact – about $920,000 – thus far on local business. About 60 percent of passengers said they spent between $15 and $40 per person once they were at their destination and more than 30 percent said they spent about $100 per person when they arrived at their destination.

The four governments each kicked in $350,000 to run the pilot. Kriseman said they’re already getting some of that money back. In February, after operating expenses were paid, Kriseman said a total of $54,602 was given back to the four investors – that’s $13,650.50 returned to each of four governments.

(Follow link for full article.)

http://saintpetersblog.com/rick-baker-works-tallahassees-adams-street-advance-possible-mayoral-run/

Rick Baker works Tallahassee’s Adams Street in advance of possible mayoral run

Peter Schorsch

Who was that tall Republican who burnished a reputation during the aughts for his strong conservative leadership walking the streets of Tallahassee on Monday? Jeb Bush? No, it was former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, who was SPOTTED meeting with several state leaders and capitol insiders to — we hear — lay the groundwork for a mayoral run later this year.

Baker, the president of the Edwards Group who is currently leading the effort to win a May 2 referendum that would allow for the expansion of Al Lang Stadium as part of an effort to entice a Major League Soccer team, was seen having dinner at Shula’s 347 Grill with future Senate President Bill Galvano, Sen. Jeff Brandes and his chief aide Chris Spencer, and USF Vice President Helen Levine.

We’re told Baker also met with several prominent Tallahassee lobbyists as part of an effort coordinated by Brandes to connect him with top Republican fundraisers in the event Baker decides to run for Mayor. On Baker’s call sheet were Brad Burleson and Chris Dorworth of Ballard Partners and Nick Iarossi of Capital City Consulting.

Baker also made appearances at political watering holes, Clyde’s and the Governors Club.

Baker running for a third term as Mayor of the Sunshine City has dominated local political conversations for more than a year. Polling consistently shows that if Baker were to run again, he would begin his challenge to incumbent Rick Kriseman with a modest, but definite, lead.

The most recent survey from St. Pete Polls did not ballot test Baker vs. Kriseman but it did ask about each man’s favorability rating. Only residents who have voted in a city election held during the last four years were polled.

Kriseman has a plus-13 favorability rating of 48 to 35 percent favorable to unfavorable. Meanwhile, Baker’s favorability rating soars at 60 to 23 percent favorable to unfavorable.

Despite these favorable poll numbers — or, perhaps, in the face of them — Kriseman is taking a possible challenge from Baker very seriously. He continues to raise money hand-over-fist. He’s also laying out a narrative that creates a clear contrast between him and Baker.

“I’m likely to face my own challenge this year,” Kriseman told a gathering of statewide Democrats over the weekend, “from a former mayor who campaigned for John McCain and called Sarah Palin ‘a great pick for Vice-President.’”

“He then served as campaign manager for Herman Cain’s (Florida) campaign and also served as Mitt Romney’s advisor on urban policy, and we all know how well Mitt did in urban areas,” the Mayor continued, before acknowledging that it’s not a given that he’ll ride easily to re-election.

“Regardless of that, I may have my work cut out for me,” he acknowledged. “I will need your support.”

Reporting from Mitch Perry contributed to this post.

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/baybuzz/two-different-calls-for-action-in-midtown/2319158

Two different calls for action in Midtown

Charlie Frago, Times Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 8:19pm
   
Mayor Rick Kriseman addressed a large crowd Tuesday at the city's first sponsored sustainability summit, saying climate change was a factor in the city's sewage crisis and promising that his administration was acting to address it.

"This stuff is real. This government is committed to addressing it," Kriseman told a standing-room-only crowd at the Enoch Davis Center, 1111 18th Ave S.

Kriseman related a recent neighborhood association meeting where a resident told him to stop talking about climate change and, instead, focus on fixing the city's sewage mess, which has resulted in about 200 million gallons of sewage spilling into Tampa Bay, city streets and local waterways.

"Part of the reason we have this problem is climate change," the mayor said.

Unlike other cities and the state government in Tallahassee, Kriseman said, he listens to scientists, who overwhelmingly argue that rising sea and more servere weather are the result of man-made increases in carbon emissions. It's why he created a sustainability manager in his administration, he has said.

Before Kriseman's brief remarks, the crowd listened to climate scientists discuss the effects---current and future--of climate change.

If sea levels rise by five feet, which many scientists expect may happen by 2100, Al Lang Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies will be flooded during normal tides,said Heidi Stiller of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Other scientists presented slides showing an inevitable slide into flooding, storms and rising temperatures.

But Gary Mitchum, a University of South Florida oceanographer, urged the crowd to talk to people they normally wouldn't engage about the problem.

"Most of the groups I go to like this...I'm preaching to the choir," Mitchum said.

Corey Givens, who is running for a City Council, noted that the crowd at Midtown's Enoch Davis Center was nearly all white. How did the city plan to other groups, asked Givens, who is black and running to represent DIstrict 6, which covers parts of Midtown, downtown and the Old Northeast.

Kriseman said that holding the event at Enoch Davis was an attempt by the city to widen the sustainability discussion.

Meanwhile, just over a mile away, a rally of mostly black union activists and sanitation workers gathered to draw attention to raising wages of low-income workers and removing cameras from the city's sanitation fleet.

Cynthia Swain, a 23-year city veteran, said she hopes the mayor will reconsider his support for the cameras, which run continously.

"It's nervewracking," said Swain outside the James B. Sanderlin Family Center, 2335 22nd Ave S.

Dorian Collins, who works two fast-food jobs in Hillsborough County, said it made sense for living wage activists to unite with sanitation workers.

"We're so much alike in our common fight," Collins said.

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.fccincinnati.com/news_article/show/777537

Djiby Recognized On USL Team of the Week

M – Michael Nanchoff, Tampa Bay Rowdies – Nanchoff recorded two assists and also hit the crossbar as Tampa Bay defeated Toronto FC II 4-0.