When I was a kid, there was really only one soccer team that I knew: the Cleveland Force of the MISL. I know I went to Browns games as a kid, but those were a little boring and really cold; at six, that’s not really the atmosphere you’re looking for. Force games were the opposite of that. They were never boring (Darth Vader was our mascot), never cold (it was inside the Richfield Coliseum), and unlike the Browns the Force actually won stuff (or at least I’d thought they had; looking at their record, it would appear that they never won anything until they became the Crunch and traded in Darth Vader for a candy bar mascot).
Now, I’ve never really liked playing indoor; the game becomes a lot faster and, as a defender, any tactical positioning I employ to push you out towards the flank is easily thwarted by the fact that you can bang it off the wall and run around me. However, WATCHING indoor soccer is a different thing; it’s kind of like hockey without ice. It’s really fast, a lot of goals are scored (Yugoslavian forward Zoran Karić scored 651 goals in 339 games for the Force over a ten year period), and…well, that’s about it. It’s not real soccer, but it’s a fun diversion if it isn’t available.
So this morning I was vaguely interested when I received this .pdf in my e-mail from the Ohio Vortex (best I can tell, that second page was supposed to be blank), an expansion team in the Professional Arena Soccer League. The PASL was founded last season, and operates under FIFRA rules (to be clear, that’s the “Federación Internacional de Futbol Rapido”, NOT the “Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act”). I’d usually blow this off, but since I’ve got nothing else to write about today I decided to check the Canton-based Ohio Vortex out.
A quick visit to their homepage reveals that they are, in fact, a real team. Run by a guy named Nick (no last name is given, although he’s apparently got an MBA from Case Western Reserve), the Vortex employ a unique business model: unlike other sports, where there are franchises and corporations, the Vortex are keenly aware of their standing and operate as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (which is either incredibly pessimistic or incredibly prescient).
Apparently, there’s also a Mexican and Canadian version of the PASL (although the Mexican league consists of two teams, who presumably play each other over and over and over again). The whole thing has a relatively amateur feel, but it’s really the last remaining bastion of indoor soccer left after the collapse of the MISL and NPSL.
I’m going to end this piece with a question, actually, since I can’t find a lot on the PASL. Have any of you been to a game? Heard about the league? Had any exposure to this? There’s really very little information out there, so I can’t really tell if they’re a serious league or if they’re just kind of a glorified amateur thing.
I remember going to Indiana Twisters games when I was younger. They were a lot of fun, and my first exposure to any form of soccer. I remember they had a player named Alejandro Moreno, so whenever I hear the MLS player by the same name, I get a little wistful.
I miss the Force, what an exciting team to see, and the Cleveland fans really supported them. Its a tragedy they didn’t last, nor did the support. I never got into the Crunch but was a diehard Force fan. I can name players like it was yesterday — Ali Kazemeni, Chris Vaccarro, your namesake Kai Haaskivi, the Nanchoff brothers, the Schmetzer brothers, etc.
Can you do a Force retrospective? This lone reader would really enjoy it.
I’ll see what I can do; that would be pretty cool.
Force games were truly a spectacle in the mid-80′s. Good stuff.
Otto Orf approves this post.