Almost everywhere the Buffalo Blizzard goes, it is the same. Crowds increase. People want Tony Meola for autographs and, sometimes, news conferences. They want to shake his hand.
It has been that way in Buffalo. It was that way in Harrisburg, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Dayton. It probably will be that way when Meola and the Blizzard play the Spirit tonight at the Baltimore Arena.
And this is indoor soccer? This is the National Professional Soccer League?
Meola is the goalie and team captain who led the United States to the second round of the World Cup last summer and is now gracing the NPSL with his presence and name.
But maybe not for very long.
Only eight weeks into his indoor career, Meola will leave the Blizzard on Thursday to take a title role in an off-Broadway play, "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding," for a five-week stint. It is hardly a whim, for he has been studying with an acting coach for three years. When he signed with the Blizzard, it was stipulated he could leave if the part opened up.
"This is the longest-running off-Broadway show in New York," Meola said, noting that it marked its eighth anniversary Feb. 1. "I'll be the ninth Tony in the play, and seven Tonys have gone on to major motion pictures."
The NPSL prays that Meola will be back in time for the playoffs late next month. He intends to practice with the Blizzard in Buffalo on the cast's two days off a week.
The NPSL needs Tony Meola more than Tony Meola needs the NPSL. Credibility is the main thing he provides.
"He's a recognizable soccer name," said the Spirit's Tim Wittman. "To grow, the league has to capitalize on that."
Meola is the ponytailed, 25-year-old American who, with his World Cup success, is serving as a soccer role model, perhaps the most visible one this country has had. He had steady television exposure last summer during the World Cup, and he is doing commercials for adidas and Reusch, with at least two more to come.
"He is one of the most popular Americans ever to play soccer," said Harrisburg Heat goalie Scoop Stanisic, who was on the U.S. team for 1 1/2 years with Meola. "With Tony in the NPSL, kids will notice there's also indoor soccer. People may look differently at the NPSL now."
In Meola's NPSL debut, in Dayton, the Dynamo had its only sellout of the season. For his first game in Buffalo, the Blizzard attracted 2,400 more than its average. Before Meola, the Blizzard averaged 6,859; since he arrived, it has averaged 7,036.
In Milwaukee, Kansas City and Harrisburg, crowds were 675 to 2,300 more than average. The Spirit is expecting more than 7,000 tomorrow night, about 1,500 more than its average.
"Soccer purists have always thought that indoor soccer was totally different," said Harrisburg coach Jim Pollihan. "Meola is showing people that a good soccer player is a good soccer player, indoors or out. Purists thought the only real soccer was outdoors."
Meola is adjusting to the indoor game, to its smaller goal, different rules, peculiar angles and shots coming at him like rockets from only a few feet away.
"I've got to learn the size of the goal and not dive for balls that are going wide," said Meola, who, at 6 feet 1, 207 pounds, is an imposing presence in the goal mouth.
Meola's improvement has been steady, and he arrives here with a 4-4 record and two straight wins, including a shutout, rare in indoor soccer, against Dayton two weeks ago. In his past two starts, he has allowed only six points.
"Gary Hindley told me it takes two years to adjust to indoors," Buffalo coach Jim May said, referring to the Cleveland Crunch coach. "It's been less than two months, so I'd say he's done very well. He's smart. He'll learn the angles and refine them."
A New Jersey native, Meola was a two-time All-American at Virginia and won the 1989 Hermann Award as the top college player in the country after leading the Cavaliers to the NCAA Division I championship.
He went to Virginia on a dual scholarship for soccer and baseball. After he hit .400 twice, he was drafted as a center fielder by the New York Yankees, but opted to join the U.S. national soccer team.
A man of many athletic skills, Meola had a nine-week tryout with the New York Jets as a place-kicker after the United States was eliminated from the World Cup.
"The tryout was five weeks longer than I expected," Meola said. "I made the last cut two days before opening day. It was like living out a childhood dream."
The tryout was part of Meola's five-month respite from soccer. He had soured on the U.S. national team, in part because of disagreements with coach Bora Milutinovic. He was not pleased, for example, when Milutinovic waited until two weeks before the first World Cup game to name him as the starting goalie.
"A year before would have been the right time," Meola said. "Better to have one goalie 100 percent ready than two goalies each 50 percent ready."
Meola plans to play this summer for the Long Island Rough Riders of the U.S. Interregional Soccer League, wryly suggesting that only if the national team "has eight injured goalies will I get a ring."
SPIRIT TONIGHT
Opponent: Buffalo Blizzard
Site: Baltimore Arena
Time: 7:35
Radio: WWLG (1360 AM), WAMD (970 AM)
Tickets: Many available
Outlook: The Spirit has lost three straight to Buffalo, winning only the first meeting of the season on Nov. 18. Before losing to the Detroit Rockers on Tuesday, the Blizzard had won two in a row. U.S. World Cup captain Tony Meola will start in goal tonight. The Spirit has only two games in two weeks after a three-games-in-three nights stretch last weekend. The Spirit's Kevin Sloan and Buffalo's Paul Dougherty are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the National Professional Soccer League's points race. The Spirit's Omid Namazi is probable despite a sprained ankle.