May 17, 2008
Pro Soccer: MISL championship
Game's site sore subject
TV needs send Blast, La Raza to Milwaukee
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Blast owner Ed Hale's team is exactly where he wants it to be - in the Major Indoor Soccer League championship game.
It's the location of the final hurdle that has him aggravated.
"The worst of all worlds has come true," Hale said. "Monterrey versus the Baltimore Blast on Saturday night in Milwaukee. It's a shame our fans aren't going to get a chance to see us play for the title. The [league] owners just don't see this. Their position is 'We want to be on TV.' "
Hale has long lobbied at MISL meetings for the championship to be played at the highest remaining seed's arena. In this case, that would be 1st Mariner because the Blast is the No. 3 seed and Monterrey La Raza is No. 4.
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The problem did not arise last season when the Detroit Ignition hosted the final, losing to the Philadelphia KiXX. But the top two seeds were both eliminated this spring, including Milwaukee, which was the only city to submit a bid to host the game.
As in the past, Hale declined to make a bid for the title game because he opposes the format.
The Fox Soccer Channel wants a site set ahead of time, so it can make arrangements to carry the game, and the league complies with its wishes. Hale votes against that situation every year and calls it "the tail wagging the dog, wrong on so many levels."
He said Monterrey officials are likewise unhappy and submitted a plea to the league to change the format early this week.
"It's a nightmare trying to get our team and some of our fans on flights. I had trouble getting my mother on a flight and there are a lot of other people who want to go," said Hale, who sees sentiment rising to change the arrangement.
Hale was in Milwaukee on Saturday when the Blast ousted the Wave with an exciting 14-13 victory. "That game blew the plaque out of my heart," he said. "It's one of the mysteries of life that the game hasn't caught on more."
The Wave fans probably will be pulling for the Mexican team, an expansion franchise that lost, 21-2, to Detroit to even that series, then advanced on a golden goal in a stunning reversal.
"Some fans there that are normally nice were cursing and saying they'll get us when we lose to Detroit," Hale chuckled, referring to a team the Blast has beaten only once in its two seasons in the league. "I would have liked to have played them. But this has certainly been an unusual season."
NOTES // Blast goalkeeper Sagu yesterday was named to the All-MISL first team. Midfielder Denison Cabral and defender P.J. Wakefield were named to the second team.
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
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