got you Potty,

havent looked at the schedule but is there anything on TV that afternoon worth bring your awesome set up out for? we should be there about 3 maybe a little before. and Kick off is at 6pm.

Just checked the tv schedule. I don't see anything interesting that will be on during the tailgaite. Now if we wanted to start the tailgate at 7 in the morning ...

Is the Timbers Army scarf still up in your box Buck?

USL1 has become less fun with loss of teams like Richmond and Charleston, but I'll be watching with interest... and hope for a great match.

after winning at the highest level of USL in the past, in some respects, it is a little bit underwhelming to win this particular championship (not to take anything away from the players or the opposition). Hopefully we some teams drop down to USL Pro next season.

?? What are you talking about??

With the MLS exodus, I do not see NASL being a viable, long-term Div 2 league. Teams are going to lose way too much money especially in a difficult economy.

I would not be surprised to see USL Pro become the default Div 2 league in the future...

USSF D2 Pro league IS currently the name of Div 2 soccer in America. That league is made up of USL1 and NASL teams, for one year only.

Charleston vs Richmond was the USL2 championship which is a regional league which only played a 20 game season, and has only six teams.

We call them Div 3 (in a friendly way) out of respect for the old Div 2 clubs that were forced to move down for financial reasons and were lucky enough to be in a region of America where a very small regional league with even smaller travel cost was actually possible. They are very lucky to have had that chance, if not, who knows where the clubs would be at this point?


...as teams realize that coast-to-coast travel is not feasible. It only makes good sense for Rochester, Carolina, Tampa Bay to play in an East Coast league with Northern and Southern divisions.

Of course then the current USL2 teams would have to agree to travel further than the very small distance they currently travel to...


And that would make sense..., unless of course it's your job as a second division to create national cable TV interest in your league, and also a marketing plan to highlight why people should come out to watch the second best group of players in North America...

I thought that I learned my lesson a couple of weeks ago on "celebrating with alcohol". I'm way too old for this kind of thing but, considering the circumstances? WHAT A BLAST!!!

Of course then the current USL2 teams would have to agree to travel further than the very small distance they currently travel to...

Amen!! This is exactly the problem that may keep new franchise owners/investors from committing to USL2PRO(whatever...) because of the unknown league structure and travel costs that could be required. You can't plan, you can't budget so you keep you fingers cross and hope which is bound to fail.

If you commit to a business plan that has a regional bus league , the league should maintain that pledge to all new franchisees for the forseeable future. Circumstances may arise make this this type of league untenable. If this circumstance arises the franchisee should have the option of opting out without liens or encumbrances. Seems only fair.

All I am saying is that NASL (Div 2) is not going to be viable. Whatever teams are left in a few years will merge into USL Pro which will become the Div 2 league.

Which would bring them right back to their starting point of USL1 (last year) which has not worked for many years now! Great plan.

the "bog boys" bullied Holt & Marcos and look where we are today

And look where Marcos and Holt are?? At least a few of the prisoners have escaped and gone on to MLS. The captain of SS USL Goindown may still be on his ship's deck but many of the hands that ran the ship have decided to have a swim for it on their own, knowing the boat was headed for the rocks. They stood up and at least took a chance at creating something better, a chance for real survival, not just accepting the status quo helplessly sitting on the deck with the old captain as the ship crashes ashore in the Caribbean.

And yet USL would not have gotten sanctioned it all on its own, with what was left now would they.

And now it looks like they aren't going to get sanctioned as USSF Div 2 all on their own again next year. If Marcos and Holt were in charge of their own future than the NASL would not even exists in their own little div 2 world. Yet, we still have 12 teams playing in a national wide league with games that will go well into October.

NASL is still alive, don't count them for dead just yet, they might be struggling at the moment, but many people do appear that way during messy divorces. There are people in this world that can help NASL after their first year is completed. After the league starts to wind down their first year and the games have all been played as planned and they have delivered the product they said they would. The poor wife always look bad in the divorce, daddy usually has a good lawyer. But eventually the NASL will be seen as a new separate league that is not any longer under USL big daddies thumb. Don't be too surprised to see a few new people step up to the plate after they see all the cards USL has to lay down while going throw their public break up.

It's kinda like a man who sits watching and waiting for his new love to be seen as getting herself out of her divorce all on her own. By doing nothing now he's helping her to creating her own new inner strength, which she may have never really had, or maybe just temporarily lost while living in the jerks house all those years. He's waiting for her to become single and available on her own, before he steps forward into the light and whisks her away to someplace better. All divorces end at some point. It usually best in the long run to not be seen as the factor that may have actually broke them up, when things settle down and everybody starts looking back at it.

The newest USL team for 2011 has already folded? That was well thought out by Holt... Maybe he needs a less aggressive divorce lawyer?

The sky is not falling down completely yet, the two groups of teams after all have a strong common goal (beyond who is running their league) and most of them will find a way to keep going forward one way or another.

The apocalypse tactic is a fear based scam to keep the timid in check and under control. The strong willed players in this game will find a way to fight another day no matter what happens in this first battle. The stupid will be the first ones storming the beach head of the Caribbean, an area with no real worth after all is said and done.

i wish the USL had of figured that out before the meetings in November 2004... but alas the "bog boys" bullied Holt & Marcos and look where we are today

For the most part, USL1 was relatively stable. However, with the exodus of teams to MLS a shake-up was inevitable. The league needs to rebuild/rebrand itself as an East Coast league. A coast-to-coast league is unrealistic.

Hopefully we (see) some teams drop down to USL Pro next season. With the MLS exodus, I do not see NASL being a viable, long-term Div 2 league...
I would not be surprised to see USL Pro become the default Div 2 league in the future as teams realize that coast-to-coast travel is not feasible. It only makes good sense for Rochester, Carolina, Tampa Bay to play in an East Coast league with Northern and Southern divisions. *Sorry for the ramble...*

I think this is where the road turned into stupidland first.

I'm supposed to just let an old USL1/current MLS guy talk to... (a six team league who only played a 20 game season with teams less distance away than my MN cabin is from Minneapolis) ...a USL2 crowd about how USSF D2 Pro is no longer needed in America, and not respond....? Really?

Nope, I'm not taking crap from Buck (who rehashed all this bashing again this week), or anyone else that is a non supporter of our nation wide league filled with the second best group of players in America, the second best owners, and the second best teams.

There are only a few leagues in America which are really are national leagues, USSF D2 Pro is the second best one (behind MLS) and they deserve to be supported strongly from above, and below.

Who knows maybe someday this sport will become very popular and the fans and money will start flowing all over america like an unstoppable river, and then your team (which will never be a MLS team because of your location and size of your market) will again reverse course and be begging to be included in a national league. Have you ever thought about that? Or, are you content to be the big sharks in that tiny little pond of USL2 for the rest of your lives?

My comments in this thread were all very positive, because I did enjoy watching the game and commenting on its play. It was a well played game and the show environment event of the championship game was also put on well.

But when people show no respect for our league, then the doors are opened and...

Congratulations to both teams in the final.
(33% of the league)

wow I sure am glad the Battery won

Perhaps You should start (yet) another thread somewhere and allow this one to stay on topic.

Do you mean stay on topic like you were doing here? I don't see one thing about the game in this comment. Maybe I missed something.

Some photos of the tailgate and a few from the match from Mrs. BT:

Tailgate Photos

Match Photos

andrew Millers blog and final thoughts on the 2010 season

http://www.postandcourier.com/blogs/battery/

Also, I’ll have something on the Indoor league and if Charleston is thinking about putting a team in beginning in 2011.

those were photoshopped.. photoshopped I tell you.. me? go to Charleston.. the auld enemy?? couldn't have happened.

Yet the tattoo might give him away....

Don't MAKE go all Yomby on you FFF! :-D

Guys, Guys Guys ! This was a Championship Game thread. It has became a totally different discussion. Valid, but clearly OFF TOPIC.
Can we take the State of the League and associated complaints to a different forum and new thread please !Thanks!Dan