Of course I will watch because I'm not just a soccer fan, but an American soccer fan.
If you put a gun to the head of one of my daughters to make me pick a team, before I beat you to a bloody pulp, I'd pick the Dynamo. I will say however that every time I see those two stars over that Houston badge it takes me back to the bitterness of the move. I put in a lot of work to try and keep the team here, and the pain and disappointment of not being able to do that still bugs me to this day.
The current version of the Quakes ain't helping to ease that pain.
I ran into David Alioto before the first regular season game before the Dynamo and Quakes. I'd mentioned the conflicted feelings I had because I personally knew those players now on Houston. I had no problem cheering for the new Quakes to beat the Dynamo, but at the time I had no ill will towards the individual players and coaches on Houston. Alioto looked at me like I'd grown a second head. He mumbled something about "they've moved on" and "they're just players" and other shit that most sports execs say about players that makes them into units of business rather than actual humans (a pet peeve of mine, btw). In that moment, I felt like he didn't get it. He hadn't spent the time we had as fans helping grow this league, and in that moment it showed, badly.
Fast forward to this season:
"I think for a long time, we didn't embrace our history and heritage as a club."
That was said by David Kaval, current president of the San Jose Earthquakes, during the broadcast of the last regular season game. WTF? If you're talking about this new Lew Wolff owned team, then yeah, I agree with you, if you mean longer than that, then I gotta ask where the fuck have you been? The team got renamed from the Clash as a fucking tribute to the history of the club. Johnny Moore? Remember him? Throwback jerseys? NASL Team reunions? Bringing back Krazy George? All this happened before this current version. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone has a clue in the front office. Please do something that shows me you've got a grasp of what's going on here.
I'll be honest, a lack of money has been the main thing that has kept me away from watching live games, but even if I had the extra income to go, I'd pause in giving the current regime my money. Personally, I don't plan on going to another game until I see construction start on the new stadium.
BTW, Lew, David, why haven't we had a US Men's game in the Bay Area in several years? I get that Buck Shaw is too small, but we've got other places here. I remember a kick-ass friendly with Japan at a packed Phone Company park. That was that last one I attended here in the Bay Area. If I knew now what I didn't know then, I'd have sucked up my pride and gone the the friendly at Spartan back in 2007. We haven't had one since then. What's up with that?
