I started to follow the Atlanta Silverbacks when the new stadium was built. Like most Atlantans, I had never heard of the Silverbacks and had no clue, despite being a bit of a soccer fan, that Atlanta had a pro team. I did, however, drive spaghetti junction home from work every day and wondered what the heck they were doing over there at the old drive in. Seemed someone was building a stadium, but why and for whom?
I'd ask these questions aloud every time I drove through spaghetti junction until one day my then eight year old suggested that perhaps we'd be better served by driving over there than by continuing to speculate on the matter. Fortunately, it happened to be a game night and it was nearly kickoff time. We paid our five bucks to get the car in and figured we had little to lose by giving it a go.
Coming down the hill, we saw a guy (Mario) with a drum that seemed to indicate he was of Brasillian origin. At a soccer game, a drum and Brasil is enough for me, so I asked him where he sits. So it came that we bought two tickets in section 109 and the experience was magical. The drum, the bells, the cheers, created a passionate rhythm that cannot be found anywhere else in the world of sport. After the game, the players would come over and talk to the fans like old friends. One player in particular, team captain Rodrigo Rios, seemed to take this dialog as a sacred obligation, not leaving until everyone who wants an autograph, a chat, a photograph, etc was satisfied. I had seen sports heaven and knew it deserved my commitment.
The team was mediocre, but that was very much secondary to my mind then. When they missed the playoffs, no one was surprised and no one was really very upset as everyone knew the Silverbacks weren't very good. 2007 was a very different story, however, than 2006. It was clear early on that this team was a lot better than the season before. On field performance now became a consideration as we were talented enough to beat anyone, despite the fact that we would lose game after game after game, often in the most ridiculous fashion imaginable. It was inexcusable as the team was simply too good to be losing like that. I was more than ready to weigh Jason Smith down with rocks and throw him into the nearest river!
One day the good USL2 side from Charlotte came to visit us for a US Open Cup contest and that day would turn everything around. While we had hitherto been dominating games but losing them in the stupidest ways, we were getting outplayed by Charlotte but number two keeper Ryan McIntosh absolutely stood on his head making amazing save after amazing save (including a penalty kick), almost single handedly willing us to victory. From that point on, the Silverbacks were winners, routinely defeating the traditional top teams that we had not beaten before. While the rest of the league was perhaps surprised by our run, they had to begrudgingly admit that we had the tools to give anybody trouble. As the Rochester USL Live guys explained it, we were big and strong and quick (especially up front) and that is trouble to deal with. Once Macoumba Kandji arrived from the PDL, there was absolutely no reason for anyone to expect anything less than victory after victory.I'd ask these questions aloud every time I drove through spaghetti junction until one day my then eight year old suggested that perhaps we'd be better served by driving over there than by continuing to speculate on the matter. Fortunately, it happened to be a game night and it was nearly kickoff time. We paid our five bucks to get the car in and figured we had little to lose by giving it a go.
Coming down the hill, we saw a guy (Mario) with a drum that seemed to indicate he was of Brasillian origin. At a soccer game, a drum and Brasil is enough for me, so I asked him where he sits. So it came that we bought two tickets in section 109 and the experience was magical. The drum, the bells, the cheers, created a passionate rhythm that cannot be found anywhere else in the world of sport. After the game, the players would come over and talk to the fans like old friends. One player in particular, team captain Rodrigo Rios, seemed to take this dialog as a sacred obligation, not leaving until everyone who wants an autograph, a chat, a photograph, etc was satisfied. I had seen sports heaven and knew it deserved my commitment.
The team was mediocre, but that was very much secondary to my mind then. When they missed the playoffs, no one was surprised and no one was really very upset as everyone knew the Silverbacks weren't very good. 2007 was a very different story, however, than 2006. It was clear early on that this team was a lot better than the season before. On field performance now became a consideration as we were talented enough to beat anyone, despite the fact that we would lose game after game after game, often in the most ridiculous fashion imaginable. It was inexcusable as the team was simply too good to be losing like that. I was more than ready to weigh Jason Smith down with rocks and throw him into the nearest river!
Many of us could not help but thinking that the Silverbacks would achieve their place in the USL elite in 2008, but this view was wrong headed. I spoke with Jason Smith extensively before the season and he explained that every team in the league had gotten a lot better and the obvious fact that teams with more economic resources had a greater ability to secure the better free agent players than those with less economic resources. The implications of his insights were lost on me at the time as i was too busy pointing out the I was looking for nothing less than a quadruple and expected him to produce said results.
Things became clearer pretty quickly though. This team was not as good as the 2007 side. The main off season acquisition, Mike Ambersley, was injured and out for the season. Whereas in 2007 we had four really good true forwards in Millwood, Ukah, Antoniuk and Wolfe, only Ukah returned and he was soon injured and out for the season. Just as in 2007, the 2008 teams would have to built up as a cohesive unit, only with less raw material to work with.
Parity was the advantage that made it possible us to make ourselves a top team again. There is no longer a USL elite to join as anyone can beat anyone at anytime anywhere (well, ok, we can't beat Seattle anywhere, anytime, but that is a story for another day). Simply put, the team that got it together and got hot in the last third of the season was going to win this league. Just a week ago, we very much looked as if we were going to be that team.
Then, incredibly, Silverbacks management sold Ansu Toure to cut the legs out from this team and undo at least 3 years of hard work. A deal so cynical as to be nearly unimaginable, it spits in the faces of the players, coaches and fans. The morale of the team in last night's game against Charleston was as low as I've seen here (fortunately, the Battery stink on the road and have US Open Cup on the brain, so we were able to get a point out of the deal instead of getting throttled). We will not win the league. If we make the playoffs, we will not last long. In a single moment of greed our dreams have been shattered and we are returned to Loserville.
After the game last night, Michael Oki, who, along with Steven Thompson, can be presumed to be the architect of this devastating deal, walked over to section 109. I presumed that he would be greeted with anger or at least would be asked to explain his destructive behavior. Instead he is greeted warmly. I even think I saw people kissing his ring like he was the Pope!
Nope, it isn't even Loserville, but the fucking Twilight Zone.
