Sport = Drama

        Sport is great drama.  It is live theater that unfolds itself on the playing field and often follows the classic story arch of building suspense, which culminates to a climactic resolution.  The beauty of sport is it's ability to create lasting narratives that can define players, teams, organizations, cities and nations.

        What makes a great narrative in literature is a great rivalry.  What would Romeo and Juliet be without the Montagues and Capulets, the West Side Story without the Sharks or the Jets, and the Outsiders without the Socs and Greasers?  Rivalries aren't just in the pages of a book, but everywhere.  Coke vs Pepsi, Chevy vs Ford, Ali vs Frasier, Ohio State vs Michigan, Manchester City vs Manchester United,  Sargent Slaughter vs The Iron Sheik, Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers, and Yankees vs Red Sox, just to name a few.  The beauty of a rivalry is not the antipathy that one side feels towards the other, or the creative ways that fans show their disdain for the opposing team, but the ability of a rivalry to bring out the absolute best in someone.  Just as Moriarty brought out the best of Sherlock Holmes, Bird brought out the best of Magic, Kahn brought out the best of Captain Kirk, and Ivan Drago brought out the best of Rocky IV, rivalries have the ability to elicit the highest level of performance from the greats.

        Some of the best games of the 2009-2010 PASL season were between the San Diego Sockers and the Stockton Cougars.  Whenever these two teams played each other that season, as a spectator, you knew that you were going to see a great game, but sadly the Cougars are no more.  Then came the Anaheim Bolts, which at first showed promise to be a good rivalry, but to have a good rivalry both teams need to be able to win some games, and that was not the case.  Sadly, the Anaheim Bolts never lasted long enough to see a Bolts win over the Sockers, and they too are no more.  Dallas has a rivalry going with the Sockers, but it is not the divisional type where the two side face off numerous times in a season.
     
        I am kinda glad that the Sockers lost to the Legends on Saturday night, because it isn't a rivalry if one team keeps beating the other team every time they face each other.  Plus, if we are going to lose to the Legends, it is better to do it in the regular season instead of the postseason where the season ends with a loss.  Both games that the Sockers played against the Legends last year were awesome.  Both games came down to the end, and both games ended with spectacular finishes.  When the Sockers went to Las Vegas this year, who were playing without Gonzalez and Richadino, I knew the easy win was not typical and that the next match would be different, and it was.
     
        The Legends are fast.  When I went to Ontario to watch the Fury host the Legends, the thing that I took away from that game was the speed and scoring ability of the Legends and for the Fury Israel Sesay's speed and the finishing touch of Tino Nunez.  When I heard that Sesay had joined up with the Legends I knew that an already potent offense just became even more dangerous, and it showed on Saturday night.  The shock and disbelief that swept through the Valley View Casino Center after the Legends leaped to a 7-1 lead was palpable.  I remember laughing because I was in such shock at what I was seeing on the field, and how stumped the Sockers were at what was happening in their house.  Austin, Mink, and I just looked at each other just dumbfounded.  There was one goal that just rolled into the net that reminded me of playing Foosball and having the ball slowly roll by your men as your spin and twist in vain trying to stop it with no luck. 

Velez's Elbow to Sesay

        I honestly didn't look at the PASL fan page on Facebook until I got home from work on Monday afternoon, and when I did I saw a number of threads with dozens of posts.  People were up in arms about the behavior of some of the Legends personnel, others were claiming that Sockers fans complaints were just sour grapes, people were brutal and cutthroat, and the emotions left over from the last weekends games were tangible.  Now I am going to weigh in on what I think about the play  that sent Velez off the field and Sesay to the locker room.  Are you ready?  What I have to say is profound, it is a game changer.  Are you sure you are ready?  Here we go!!!......Didn't see it.  I was checking the score of the New England vs Indy game on my phone wondering why the hell I picked the Colts over Brady and Belichick.  I mean the Pats go to the postseason all of the time, and I, like a dumbass, picked the team that pulled off a miracle win after turning the ball over repeatedly.  Then I was cursing Ron Jaworski for putting the damn idea in my head that the Colts could win.  And that brings me to another point.  I know Craig Elsten reads my stuff once in a while, and I want to thank him for putting that last caller to his show on Sunday night in his place.  The guy calls up comparing Jaws to Rivers and saying that we should have never got rid of Brees and Marty.  When I hear people bring up Marty I usually roll my eyes, but then saying to keep Brees, well that was a first for me.  Chargers fans should be happy with our season this year, no one expected the Bolts to go to the postseason, let alone win a playoff game.  The Chargers deficiencies are obvious and if we can bring in some free agents to fill those gaps, we are going to have a hell of a team next year.  But back to the Velez foul.  When he got the red card I was pissed.  We were already missing McNeley and Martin on defense, and then Velez goes gets thrown out at the beginning of the game.  That just put the Sockers in an even worse position.  In my opinion, every thing that happened that night, the good, the bad, and the ugly, has the makings of what looks to be a great rivalry in the future.  Maybe the Legends will be to the Sockers what the Raiders are to the Chargers, or the Dodgers to the Padres?  What do you think?

 Not All Bad
   
       There were some highlight to the night that I will never forget,  Like meeting Sydney Nusinov and chatting with him for a moment.  I also got two of my old Sockers trading cards signed by Paul Dougherty and Waad Hirmez after the halftime presentation.  They were all very gracious.