USIndoor's Official Magazine is a quarterly publication, dedicated to owners, managers, program administrators and other professionals, startups and providers involved with indoor recreational sports facilities.
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most posts seriously even if they sound far-fetched. "There are some pretenders who claim they know what is going on, but are often wrong," says Hank, who is quick to note that he is the Hank from Sacramento, not "Hank the Dwarf," who often is very critical of other posters (including me!). "You get a poster now and then who's just an irritant," says Higginson, who moderates the board, "and I'll delete them occasionally, and every now and then someone will take something personally and then I'll try and change the subject and remind them it's not personal." One of the real characters on the ISF is Downing. Downing just became a fan of the indoor game in 1998, but has quickly become one of the game's biggest historians and boasts one of the most impressive collections of indoor soccer memorabilia around. Downing, who lives in Portland, became a season ticket holder in multiple cities in the WISL and has become well known to fans and players alike. There is a running joke on the ISF that former Monterrey coach (and Higginson buddy) Erich Geyer wants to tear Downing apart when he finally gets his hands on him. I let the ubiquitous Downing stay with me when he came to town to see Utah Freezz games, and in exchange for rides and a place to stay I made him my unofficial intern. One time when I was visiting Baltimore I heard a fan tell defender Iain Fraser that "Downing says hi." On a good day during the season you could have 50 new posts, including real-time updates of any games that are in progress. Even on a slow day there is usually something new every time I access it, which can be several times a day if I'm online a long time. Most of the main posters say they check it at least once a day, and many check it several times. "It is the home page of my browser," says MJ, who lives in the Milwaukee area. "Every time I get on the Internet, it is the first thing that I see." Posters are divided over whether or not the ISF is a community. The ISF is not restricted to just posts pertaining to indoor soccer. Many posts are related to the business of sports in general, while some posts are completely personal. You're as likely to hear about MJ's bowling scores or Hammster's CD collection as you are to hear about the latest player signing or complaints about officiating. If things get heated, Higginson, a former prison guard, will sometimes chime in with a humorous story to lighten the mood. Even though indoor soccer has a high number of women fans compared to some other sports, the ISF tends to be rather male-dominated. Spiritbrio, one of the few female posters, says it can be tough at times. "There are a couple of regulars in particular who are obviously chauvinistic, and being the outspoken type, I feel a need to stand up against those attitudes," she says. "It doesn't chase me away, it just more or less gets under my skin at times." All of the posters are indoor soccer diehards. They see the ISF as a chance to voice their opinions in hopes that someone in a team or league front office will listen. Debates are wideranging when it comes to things like marketing and playing rules, but the one thing the posters have in common is a love of the sport of indoor soccer. "The most useful purpose to me is that I get the fan's opinion, the most of dedicated fan's opinion, about the way things are or aren't," says Higginson. "Perhaps someday I'll be actively involved in a franchise or league somewhere and try a bunch of the techniques that have been discussed on the forum. At least then we'll know if we've just been full of it all this time." Fans Have Their Say on Internet Forums he very reason I'm here right now writing this article is because of that nifty, newfangled gadget called the Internet. More specifically it's because of Internet indoor soccer forums and the wonderful tool known as e-mail. In 1996 I met my first indoor soccer executive who e-mailed me after reading some of my posts on a now-obsolete AOL forum. That break eventually led to my writing for several publications and ultimately allowed me to pursue a dream by working for the Utah Freezz, where I met many of my idols, including Gordon Jago, Tatu, Daryl Doran, and Brian Quinn. Along the way, I snagged some free tickets to road games and got to play in an over-30 men's league (at the age of 23) with my all-time sports idol Mike Stankovic. Because of indoor soccer forums I have made a lot of friends and have compiled a lot of great memories. Currently, there are three major indoor soccer forums. The Indoor Soccer Forum (ISF) can be found at Let's Play Soccer 's website (letsplaysoccer.com/LPForum/forum.tmpl). This is the most popular of the three. The next biggest one can be found at Big Soccer (bigsoccer.com/indoor), and finally there is Dave Flax's message board at MdProSoccer.com (mdprosoccer.com/cgimdprosoccer/yabb/YaBB.pl). In addition to these, there are also several team-specific sites, but none are as big as the ISF. There were a few other forums that came and went over the years. Tom Higginson, President of Let's Play Sports started the ISF in 1996. There is no advertising and the ISF is a free site. You don't even have to register before becoming a poster. Higginson said it cost him about $3,000 for a server, and he "had some software folks in the building here set it up. Periodically those sites would disappear and then pop up somewhere else," Higginson said. "I just got tired of trying to find everyone again so I started up this one as something that was permanent." It has since become the place to be on the Internet for general indoor soccer news and views. There are only about two dozen frequentposters on the ISF, but hundredsof "lurkers", people who read the forum regularly, but don't post. Higginson, who also has a minority stake in the San Diego Sockers, says it's not just a site for fans. "Nearly everyone I know in the pro world reads it. Coaches, players, owners, previous owners, they all tell me they read it. In fact, when any front office people tell anyone what's going on behind the scenes, they always warn that they don't want to see it end up on the ISF, which has almost become a nuisance for Higginson. "No one working for a team or a league tells me anything now," he says, only half-joking, "because they're afraid I'll post it on the ISF." Some people post under their real names (like me, Tom Higginson, Dave Flax, Matthew Cuber, Ed Hromatka, and Patrick Dye), some use first names only (Marc, Hank, Rich, Brian, and Downing), and some use nicknames (Hammster, Spiritbrio, jayb, and MJ). Then, there are some anonymous posters who don't leave a valid e-mail address. These posters (such as "Me", "Hector," "Cedric Ceballos," and "jules") sometimes post real news while protecting their identity from their boss, but other times just post caustic remarks or false rumors looking to stir up commotion. In the ever-changing world of indoor soccer you have to take T GOAL Indoor • Aug.-Sept. 2002• 22 (continued from page 8) in place and leases signed, they set out to establish their rosters and play ball. Teams used a variety of methods to populate their rosters. The Philadelphia Fever and Pittsburgh Spirit relied primarily on signing local talent. Houston Summit Soccer and the New York Arrows, in contrast, imported entire NASL teams (Houston Hurricanes and Rochester Lancers respectively). That approach would prove successful, as those two teams dominated the first season. Besides Shep Messing for the Arrows, a number of other major players, both domestic and foreign, were signed to MISL rosters. In spite of these disparities, many more Americans had an opportunity to play in the MISL than they had outdoors. By the late 1970s, the United States had already produced a fair number of capable goalkeepers and defenders, and this was reflected in the MISL, as goalkeepers Shep Messing (New York), Keith Van Eron (Cincinnati), and Woody Hartman (Philadelphia) and defenders Jim Pollihan (New York) and Ed Sheridan (Philadelphia) performed impressively. However, as was common at the time, the number of creative, talented American scorers were few and far between: Joe Fink (Philadelphia) and John Stemlau (Houston) were the only natives to crack the top ten in scoring. Nonetheless, the league did deliver to fans scorers who would remain dominant throughout the next decade: Steve Zungul (New York), Kai Hasskivi (Houston), and 17-year old Canadian sensation Branko Segota (New York). On December 22, 1978, 10,386 fans piled into Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum to watch the hometown Kids take on the New York Arrows in the first Major Indoor Soccer League match. In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, baseball legend (and Kids co-owner) Pete Rose kicked out the first ball. Those in attendance viewed indoor soccer played under different rules than those used for the NASL exhibitions. While most of the NASL indoor rules had been retained, Tepper and Foreman (who was now the MISL Commissioner) introduced changes to aid scoring. As a result, the game was divided into four 15-minute periods, as opposed to the three 20-minute periods used by the NASL. More importantly, goal size was enlarged, promoting scoring chances by heading. When asked how high the goals should be, Tepper stood in a doorway at the apartment and indicated they should be as high as the door frame; as a result, the goals stood 6'6" high by 12' wide, as compared to the NASL's 4' by 16'. Tepper, predictably, was excited by their new sport: "Bringing soccer indoors provides all the speed and scoring lacking in the outdoor game. They are ingredients the American fans look for in a sport – and indoor soccer has them." On the field, Houston, with NASL veterans, emerged as the class of the league behind the scoring of Haaskivi and solid goalkeeping of Paul Hammond, easily winning the regular season crown and compiling an 11-1 home record. Philadelphia and New York recovered from poor starts to scramble into the playoffs with Cincinnati – also dominant at home, posting a 10-2 mark – and Houston. Remarkably, the heavily favored Houston fell at home to Philadelphia, while New York, riding the production of scoring sensation Zungul, easily defeated Cincinnati. In the MISL's