NBA or MLS? (St. Louis: high school, move to, eat)

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by aaronstlcards

st. louis seems to be the soccer hotbed in the u.s. There is so much rich soccer tradition (most of the players from the 1952 world cup champion eam were from st. louis, and slu has the most NCAA soccer championships in ncaa history) and it's also really popular here... hands down, a soccer team is the way to go.

Few things...

1. There was no world cup played in 1952.

2. The United States has never won a World Cup Championship.

3. SLU hasn't won a Soccer Championship since 1973. Since then, Indiana, Virginia, and San Francisco have won Multiple Championships. Hell, even SIU-Edwardsville won it before the school went to Div. 2.

Im not saying MLS wouldnt be great in St. Louis. I would love it and attend games any chance I got.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by aaronstlcards

st. louis seems to be the soccer hotbed in the u.s. There is so much rich soccer tradition (most of the players from the 1952 world cup champion eam were from st. louis, and slu has the most NCAA soccer championships in ncaa history) and it's also really popular here... hands down, a soccer team is the way to go.

St. Louis is "a" soccer hotbed in the U.S. It is far from "the" soccer hotbed in the U.S. St. Louis has a long rich soccer history and soccer still has a great deal of local popularity.

1952 was a long time ago, so was SLU's last NCAA title in the early 1970's. The history is great as long as it is combined with more modern results, interests and success.

MLS soccer would do well in St. Louis.

[arch_genesis]

I'd prefer an NBA team over MLS. That's an easy choice to make. As far as soccer goes I think the WPS has the potential to have a better product on the field. Unfortunately women's sports are marginalized in this country. Just this past weekend a rematch of the women's world cup finals between Brazil and Germany, in Germany drew roughly 45,000 in attendance! There's no reason
the WPS shouldn't average at least a fourth of that, its attracting World Cup talent.

Most soccer enthusiasts will tell you the MLS isn't up to snuff and most Americans really don't like things they're not the best at.The WPS has a pretty strong footing on being the premier women's soccer league in the country MLS isn't even top 10 on the men's side. The drop off is very noticeable.

I think if St. Louis wants to see soccer they should go support Athletica. The WPS is all the soccer fix I'll ever want. The passing and the beauty of the game is much more apparent to me in women's soccer and Marta is a top 5 player male or female today. MLS and Beckham just can't capture my attention. I'll watch The World Cup for the international players and because its such an event.

Athletica is drawing an average attendance of 4k without any local tv deals and no love from ESPN. Its really a shame and I'd dare call it sexist, of course this is their first season but still, nobody shows them any love. Its going to be a great competitive league and I'd love to see it average 10k in attendance. It could average more but men for some reason don't like women's sports and women's soccer seems to be more inviting to tween girls. The league is working to diversify its demographics.

I honestly do not want an MLS team ever. I'd prefer to build the Athletica a nice intimate 10k-15k stadium in the city.

Even though this thread is old, put me in the column for an NBA team. The WPS is going to get my soccer money not the MLS.

Of course an NBA team is contingent on us growing but I'd rather wait and grow than continue to drain the market with a sorely unneeded MLS team. Give me NBA and WPS.

[STL4eva]

Maybe St. Louis should prioritize getting a competitive NFL team before soccer/basketball?

[arch_genesis]

Originally Posted by STL4eva

Maybe St. Louis should prioritize getting a competitive NFL team before soccer/basketball?

I take it you're the type of casual sports fan that chimes in with an insult whilst not knowing what's going on?

The Rams have had a tremendous off season and we're improving our O-Line and we have a blocker for SJax. We're young and on the move. I feel very good about The Rams and we had a pretty decent draft. New Coach, New GM, New Attitude. You might want to reserve a seat on the bandwagon.

[STL4eva]

Arch Exodus,

I lived through the joke known as Big Red from 1970-1987. Then I got to enjoy about four quality years of STL Rams football. I left STL in '05 for a much better job, salary and quality of life. Ironically, I now live in Phoenix and enjoy attending sold out Arizona Cardinals games - the team actually cares about its fans and doesn't ***** out 50 percent of its tickets to visiting fans. And unless things have changed, I don't remember St. Louis as being a very welcoming place to out-of-towners (childhood experience from Cards/Blues/Big Red games), so that must have really p*ssed off the diehards. Are you a Rams season ticket holder?

From what I've heard, there were MANY a St. Louisian jumping on the Arizona bandwagon last season, lying that "Oh, I've been a Cardinals fan all along!" LOL! No character.

At least the Rams got a decent offensive tackle in the draft to MAYBE help Bulgess get more than three seconds to make a play. That guy is a deer in the headlights.

I feel good about the Rams too - 7-9, a definite improvement and still about 5 games behind Arizona.

[arch_genesis]

Arch Exodus, funny. Yeah a lot of fans jumped on the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon due to Kurt Warner and them being in St. Louis at one point. It really made me sick that's why I'm glad they lost the superbowl so these people can start to move on. The modern sports fan sickens me, its disgusting. I've never followed Phoenix teams but your fans came out of nowhere, I don't think they've built that historic packers,steelers following. I expect the rams to overtime.

I'm not a season ticket holder, but I'm going to get to some games if I can. I also think we're going to beat you guys this season. I don't expect another season like that out of Phoenix. No 9 and 7 team should be winning superbowls and I expect to bring you guys down to earth next season. I don't think you guys have the division locked.

[STL4eva]

Anyhoo, back to the original subject - yes, STL could support an MLS team. Even though I played hockey and ran track, I know that STL is a soccer hotbed.
And yes, the team should play in Fenton, to cater to the West County/South County soccer people that don't want to stray too far out of their "comfort zones."

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by STL4eva

Anyhoo, back to the original subject - yes, STL could support an MLS team. Even though I played hockey and ran track, I know that STL is a soccer hotbed.
And yes, the team should play in Fenton, to cater to the West County/South County soccer people that don't want to stray too far out of their "comfort zones."

So you admit that your previous post was just you trolling then?

[STL4eva]

No, Skippy. It was just (1) a recommendation to improve an existing orgnanization in St. Louis and (2) I did voice my approval of an MLS franchise in St. Louis. Just trying to engage in an intelligent dialogue on the topic of sports in St. Louis, but since you've now spat up your banal rhetoric, I see that it's pointless to attempt such. Good day, sir.