Welcome to a slightly abbreviated version of the View this week as I prepare to burrow in my hole for the next few months. Just to get the announcement over with I'll be moving to a bi-weekly schedule over the off-season with the occasional report thrown in if the current news and situation dictates. Now on to your regularly scheduled ranting.
There's no denying that Rochester and a lot of their fans know what's going on and a lot of us out here in the cold without any silverware are jealous. Let's 'fess up now, it's true isn't it? We're all a little bit jealous of what the Rhinos have been able to do. Here's the question we all have to ask ourselves, though, and that is how can we do what they've done? We don't have single entity to magically induce parity and we don't have, nor should we want, promotion and relegation to allow the Rhinos upward mobility.
The Rhinos are a great representative for the A-League. Unfortunately for the rest of the league they just aren't that representative. We all know they're an MLS club in waiting but why should anyone begrudge them that fact? Sure, the league allows the Rhinos a good bit of leeway in some matters that should have been dealt with better, but in the confines of the particular situation you have to believe that no one wants to officially rip into the Rhinos or the League for their practices, though it remains a favorite way to pass the time during the off season by many fans.
So what's the bottom line? Simply put, all the teams that want to end what's quickly becoming an era of domination by Rochester will have to knock them off. I said it during the weeks leading up to Rochester's sound victory over Hershey and I'll say it again, don't bet against them in September and October, the same way in baseball you don't bet against Clemens, Jeter, Mussina, Hernandez, Torre, and Steinbrenner at this point in the year.
I'm not necessarily a fan of the Rhinos but I do like my A-League ball and I hope we'll soon see Richmond, Charleston, Vancouver, or even Milwaukee win a championship just to break up the monotony if nothing else. We all need to face facts when we get excited over the possibilities the start of a new season brings. Everyone has a shot until September and October when the playoffs begin.
Certain things need doing with the first of those being insuring the future survival of your team. Front offices around the league need to do earnest work on getting local coverage and local butts in the local seats. If the immediate local news coverage lacks go elsewhere to spread your message. The locals will catch on eventually. I am almost willing to guarantee it.
Be creative in the way that you get people into the stands because if there's one way that we know doesn't work now more than ever it's trying to over pay players in a market that doesn't put enough money back in. Anyway remember San Diego? Okay, how about a more current example: Hershey? I'm sure we've all heard the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses", well, most of us need to stop worrying about keeping up with the Rhinos and work on having a better franchise.
We also need to remember that each club is, indeed, a franchise. It's a business that relies on our patronage to survive and for those of us in cities such as Charleston, Rochester, and Vancouver we know how lucky we are to have an ownership that can afford to put a quality product on the field. In the long run a successful combination of the off the field work and on the field work are what creates the best teams in the league. If a team has a few more games played in the rain and attendance drops off slightly or the players on the field go through some rough patches in form or take a few nicks and bruises and drop a few games but still play well it's hard to argue that the particular club isn't working well. On the other hand, if a club is going about things in the wrong way and continues to do them in that manner then it's hard to say that they're improving.
I have a hunch that if there's one thing we should all be learning right now it's that to maintain our future around this league we need to take care of business at home first. We can't worry about what that team playing at Frontier Field is doing as long as there are battles to be fought on our own domestic fronts. Are we still a little jealous that last weekend didn't see one of our other clubs raising the championship trophy? Of course we are, but now we have to seriously consider how we plan on eventually knocking these guys off of their current throne.
It may not be all that far off in the distance that some other group of players will be league champions but how long will it be before another club consistently fills a decent sized park? There are clubs that aren't that far from some relative success on these scales but the biggest key is to continue to build consistently and not wildly. Don't, whatever you do, throw much needed money at trying to win a trophy you may not be ready to hold on to. Stop trying to keep up with the Rhinos and start worrying about building up your own club.
Last, but not least, congratulations to the Rhinos for winning another championship by whatever means they had at hand. Condolences to the Wildcats who we've just heard are gone. I held this opinion since the final and today's news has only reinforced that opinion. It's sad to hear that there will be no A-League play in Hershey next year but that just seems to be the reality around these parts.
Send your comments to the author or
Join us to discuss this article at usldiscussions.com
